Tag: Ben-G

First off, let us start with some facts about this tour.

The Facts.

  1. On this trip, we had Vincent Huhta, David Jakinda, Hugo Corbin, Santiago Sasson, Marc-A Barbier & Juan Saavedra.
  2. It was a nine-day trip.
  3. We had one full dry day.
  4. Rotterdam, Antwerp, and Lille were the places we traveled to.
  5. In Holland, we stayed on a houseboat.
  6. We spoke a lot of our own little twisted Brazillian influenced Portuguese (or that was what we were thinking).
  7. Obrigado, irmao, vagundo, caralhao, poa, valeu, todo, junto, vagabundo where the words of choice.
  8. I got to wear that sweet ass Palace Avirex Jacket for a hot minute and flex for a bit.
  9. Juan Saavedra uses beard oil to keep his shit looking correct.
  10. Santiago did the best line we have ever seen from him. It was like a stripper jumping out of a birthday cake.
  11. David & Vincent are like brothers from different mothers. The only difference other than the obvious being that David packs like a Kardashian & Vincent packs like a 1920’s train-hopping blues singer.
  12. Marc-A Barbier really loves to facetime with his girlfriend.
  13. Both filmers have very similar names Petr and Peter. They also shared a bed which was easy when we needed to wake them up.
  14. Scandinavians are simply better at life than the rest of us.
  15. Hugo Corbin got injured on day one and had to go back home.
  16. Bringing a Nintendo Switch was necessary even though I was skeptical at first.
  17. Juan’s phone got stolen 🙁
  18. Barabakaa is a Russian street spy and he will capture anything weird going on in the streets. Trust me watch the video!
  19. Belgium has the best fries, Holland has the best-fried food and France thinks they have the best cheese! (I can already hear Santi, & Marc-A protesting)
  20. We played a lot of bar sports but surprisingly didn’t drink that much.
  21. Marc-A Barbier is the best house guest ever, he cleaned the boat every morning. Marc-A “Tu es bonne à marier!”
  22. Santiago ordered way to much Nike stuff to the house so all of our guests ended up getting a nice pre-Christmas present.
  23. IT RAINED 8 OUT OF 9 DAYS!
David Jakinda – On his way to the airport while being blessed by some fresh drops.

The Weather.

So basically this tour was preceded by some of the best weather Europe had seen in a long time. Like the year before it seemed like we would be having an almost endless summer. But as luck would have it, as the tour grew closer so did the clouds. As soon as we all arrived in Amsterdam (our meet up point) the signs weren’t good.

What was good though was the food, we went to:

  1. A Dutch-style snack bar. (also known in some regions of the Netherlands as brown fruit)
  2. We ate Surinam food.
  3. Iranian food.
  4. Indonesian food (must have).
  5. Belgian fries.
  6. Traditional Chinese food (fried pork belly!).
  7. Had some German meat-heavy food.
  8. Thai-French fusion.
  9. And every morning someone made sure we had fresh eggs, some juice, coffee, toast, yogurt, and Nutella.
Saté sauce, mayonaise & onions that is what the Dutch call “Patatje Oorlog”. Vincent Huhta caught some shrapnel in the snack bar.
Traditional Dutch food.

The Travels.

During this trip we traveled by train, which to be honest is still the nicest way to trave because nobody is forced to drive, we didn’t have to go through security, there is enough room for all the bags and you can still buy coffee in the vehicle without stopping. Also, Greta Thunberg travels that way so…

The Places.

We also have to give it up for all the great parking garages inside of the cities of Rotterdam and Antwerp. The security guards also let us have our fun so an S/O is in place!

David Ja-king-da!
Juan Saavedra – Backside Tailslide in Antwerp.

The Homeys.

We also had some great guests in both of those cities Pascal Moelaert, Aaron Tiekink, Sneep, Ziggy Schaap, Alex Raeymaekers, Yannick Gores & Wallem. You guys really helped guide us through the raindrops to the right spots at the right time. Without really ever complaining, chapeau!

The BFF’s.

Vincent Huhta and David Jakinda have been best friends for a long time. How far back? Well, David told me his mom used to grip Vincent’s board when he stayed over at their house when they were young.

This was their first tour together and when we asked them they both said I’ll go if he goes. Vincent even cut short a London trip just so he could come skate with David. Obviously they roomed together the entire trip and it feels like they motivated each other a lot as well not only verbally but also by actions.

When one would film a trick and was having a hard time the other usually skated the spot with him just to back him up and keep the vibe right. Which often resulted in us getting way more tricks from both of them at spots that weren’t typical. They would often make it a little sesh together and all we had to do was point and shoot.

Because of their bond, they also were at ease at almost all locations and truth be told just fun and easy to be around their friendship also extended and made us all as a group become a bit closer as well and that is worth a lot.

When you get to that early 2000’s Osiris level!

The Shops.

Last but not least all the skate shops, Ben-G, Skatestore Rotterdam, Lockwood & Zeropolis are all places that helped us and help their scenes on a daily basis. We all know that with the current situation things aren’t easy for them so don’t forget them and show them your support in both easy and hard times.

Bomb drop – Marc-A Barbier
Time to press play and hit the switch, Nintendo that is!

In Cooperation with Nike SB.

Photo & Video by Barabakaa.

Additional filming by Peter Buikema

This article was written by Roland Hoogwater.

For those of you that don’t know about Spot The Spot it’s an event that was first started by Frisco and now by same people under the Pop Trading Co. umbrella, this year the event had its 10 year anniversary. The formula stayed basically the same, a group of people gather together and skate from spot to spot having a session at each spot. the timing has stayed the same as well, every year just before the kids and the students go back to school Spot The Spot brings people together for one last great day of skateboarding. This tradition started in Arnhem for seven years before it started to travel around Belgium and The Netherlands and now in 2016 the Dutch capital was selected and thus saw its first edition.

The whole thing started at 2 with a nice crowd that had gathered in front of Ben-G skate shop. Nike sponsors the event and thus there were some shoes and some spot the spot apparel made for you to win during one of the sessions. As most of us know skaters can be unpredictable and that means that sometimes unplanned spots get skated as well, this year we saw Spot The Spot veteran Jaap van Marle try one of the “worst street gaps” in Amsterdam. Unfortunately, he did not get to ride away but it is people like Jaap that create the atmosphere that makes Spot The Spot something you want to participate in every year.

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Tim Zom Frontside Boardsliding in Muska-esque atire.

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This guy was raging at every spot without any regard for his own safety.

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You should try and meet the guy with the red and blue cap on and go out skating with him
he will light up your day.

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A detail shot of the ground at the “worst street gap in Amsterdam”

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Spot the Spot would not be the same without Jaap van Marle trying something you did not think was possible.

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Santiago Sasson traveled down from Paris and did this nice Frontside Wallie Backside 180.

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Product toss photos are always the best to look at determination and defeat all captured at once.

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Photos by Danny Sommerfeld
Text by Roland Hoogwater