can a photo steal your soul? i doubt it, cab had ten photos on every wall. multiply that by how many years hes been skating. thats alot of photos and stevie still has alot of soul

jimmy rides for control boards cuz he rips     

benji left no wall untricked, backside boneless just thrown in there    

kyle berard showed up and took his pads off after things werent going to well. then along came this candy cane

lux had a buncha tricks he took from his pocket and put in this pocket

buckys got one hell of an ollie to fakie    

what did benji fall alot? thats what people asked me when they heard the results. no, he just probably wasnt on the judges good side that weekend..    

mumma had some crafty tricks, but this was one of his usual suspects    

nolan had original tricks in difficult spots along flowey lines and still didnt catch the right eyes in the auditions    

daniel cardone did like 2 tricks in the heats, but the judges musta thought he'd do some more in the finals    

ti coeling is the man    

pretty sure this is colin provost going over the hip    

linderman is a big name, but not the kind the judges wanted. but padless crail airs should be big points    

one styley cardone trick over the hip should get him in the finals    

alex indeed had the biggest air over the hip    

the judges musta missed this beautiful saran wrap because nolan forgot to wear his bulky pads- bloody wankers    

the scene at bondi that day    

mick had a huge bag of tricks, one of which was the 360 board varial

luxford had some tricks, but i think his name got him in the finals

the kangaroo kick by mick mulhall (the sole aussie in the master finals) who tore it up and had to be number two

 the bowl a rama at bondi was kinda good. i mean the skating was great,  lots of heads doing there thing in a vert bowl with pool coping. but the world cup involvement in the contest reminded me of some espn tv crap. they are just raping bowl skateboarders to make a spectacular show for the ratings (of what, i do not know). the final results would have been the same if there was a vert ramp in the parking lot, so why is it called bowl a rama? there was no credit given to padless rippers conquering the whole bowl, but if you flatwalled it and blasted big airs with full protection, the finals were all about showcasing your style.

i mean what sort of skateboarding organization doesnt let a skateboarder enter a contest? i emailed the world cup when i found out this contest was happening when i was gonna be in australia- asking 'if a 36 year old bowl skater could enter the masters'. i got a response from whom i thought was a secretary, sasha. (turns out he's the head judge and also one of the first 15 ranked WSC bowl riders)

At the moment, the event is only open to the first 15 ranked WSC bowl riders.
It looks like we have a full field of guys coming out. If space comes available,
I'll let you know.

i was about to jump in there during the masters heats, cuz the jam sessions were slow and included more than a few moments of no one in the bowl. but they hired some nimrod sound guy who kept playing the faction over and over and over. cab was hating it, asking for metallica or anything else. that threw my game off, but cab, fuck he skated so smooth and effortlessly. yeah, this was my first time seeing him skate in person, and it was something.

adam luxford owns a skateboard company down there called control

you could tell staab skated in more than a few contests. he kept it consistent and big backside ollies were no problem

chad ford was so happy his mate finally came downunda    

cams a victim- where lester did lipslides, cam did lipslide smiths and where lester did leins, cam did lein smiths. yet lester made the finals     
(a cut of 6, why 6? cuz thats where the big names ended)    

back to the judging, i mean casting for the showcase. i could not believe how they picked skaters with big names over others who were clearly ripping it like a bowl. its like they needed their special characters for their big show. big names only, so the show looks better. the bowl skaters did their part over the hip, shallow end tricks, sans pads, but that didnt matter. the big world cup skateboard showcase is all about big names and big amplitude. i mean what else could it be when flatwallers like renton placed high and padless pool trickery from nolan didnt even make the cut?

i could go on forever, in fact i will, with all the captions i have to write for the shitload of photos i took. but my point is, ive heard alot of bad things about the world cup (from skaters) and i believe them all. its all a show and it sucks to see the talent ignored and brand names pushed to the top. its no wonder tons of rippers never enter that crap, or get out because of the frustration of it not being about skateboarding. do yourself and others a favor, put on your own contest. we do it here in colorado all the time, with great success, without the manipulated hype.

                

benji was one of the few messing w the hip via lip. riding the difficult line should be appreciated more    

luckily the world cup will never do a contest at mikes bowl. then id have to look at this stupid logo crap painted forever on my favorite bowl    

when is rune not at the top? this hip only looks hard to ollie    

rion linderman skated it like a bowl, drawing nice lines and leins to tail    

granted, nolans madonna wasnt 7 feet tall like rentons, but it was in the shallow, where renton just cruised waiting for the flatwall    

alex went huge

omar skated solid- the bloody seppo

bucky had a full on boner by the end of the nite, winning like ten grand

skunk made top ten 2 years in a row- on ya skunkos

second year in the finals for otavio

renton kept blastin and blastin

sergie was a big hit with the crowd and im sure this 360 varial was a big hit for the casting crew

benji backtailgrab

corbam harris had it going on with lotsa fakie tricks, like this piv grind around the corner

jeff "skunkos" williams flip to fakie

with tons of flip tricks, its no wonder jeff rips street also

this is mick, from the masters, getting back in there at the end for the best trick, with his 360 varial

big heelflip into the pocket. i would have deducted points for not going over the pocket

sergie kickin it

benji prays to the lord, and he still got robbed. big on the boneless

i would have picked him the winner, great lines forwards and backwards hittin every spot    

blastin into the sun, sergie

bucky tailin it around the corner    

classic omar    

ah here it is after a ton of tries, the heelflip frontal    

renton did like one lip trick and a hundred sick airs. contorted 540

made staabs backside ollies look small

huge ollies which way, any way

otavio neto came from brasil and showed off his nollie shuv

omar was a target for the cameras. getting in 5 mags with one trick is entirely possible for him

they should have a criteria on the card for power. omar would have 9s and 10s on every run

modern australian backside tweak

i think lux was the fastest guy in skateboarding for a while. he (and everyone else) had to slow it down a bit, cuz the bowl was slippery as an eel

how to judge a rodeo in a bowl contest? pads might even this out a bit

the doubles came about pretty often, and sergie was usually involved. he pumped the crowd up more than anyone

rune way stale, stone the bloody crows!

rune had tricks all over the place

rune tailin thru the slippery pocket

whys that so high? its a skunky blunt

bucky made the backside noseblunt look so easy