Hoverboards are real, or at least more real now. We’ve seen hoaxes, models, and experiments, but this latest incarnation of the dream of the future is the closest thing to a Back to the Future reality. Before you get too excited, it costs $10,000 (!) and it requires a special surface to ride on in order for the magnetic field to keep the board floating 1 inch off the ground. That, and lots of extra batteries, because where the technology stands today, the ride only lasts a few minutes. That 10K price tag is ridiculous, but they aren’t really marketing it as a consumer product. They just want to generate money and interest to further develop the technology, and not just specifically for hoverboarding. Hovering stuff? That’s cool, but everybody recognizes the hoverboard as the modern equivalent of the Jetsons flying car, in terms of where is my ____ of the future? It was an inspired decision to build a miniramp, however slight the transition.

[Source: Sploid – New York Times]

– Thanks to Jack H. for the tip.

This Free Former skateboarding helmet that Grover picked up at Goodwill somewhere in Western Oregon has to go down as the find of the year or maybe even the decade, considering he only paid $2.50 for it and it’s essentially mint. It may look like a hockey helmet that was made in Canada and sold for skateboarding purposes… well, because it is. Aside from the Free Former logo, these helmets appeared with the Cooper hockey logo as well as the Hobie logo. It’s amazing what passed for safety equipment back in the 70’s. These things are basically a bunch of folded over plastic stitched together with some padded envelopes.

I was out of town last week in an area with zero phone/internet access, and thus there were no posts. And now I’m back, and miracles of all miracles, I skated an honest to god vert ramp in Portland over the weekend. It’s 40 foot wide with 9.5 foot transitions and 1.5 feet of vert. Instead of kickass skate photos, I took a few of an uncooperative goat that calls this ramp home.

Dave England performs a public service in this video by RossAngeles.

– Thanks to Matthijs for the tip

Adam needs your help…

Willits Bowl, A.K.A. Adam’s Bowl is a super sick DIY in Northern CA. The deck around the bowl is only half finished… The forms are set for the second section of deck, which will include a corner hip off the big quarter pipe and a Derby style berm. Now we just need a little help to pay for the mud. Many have come to shred, Few have donated to the cause. Let’s get it poured!!!

Anybody who donates is of course welcome to come out. If you don’t know where it is, I guess you’ll have to be content with watching it in videos.

Learn to skate with Sportskool, just don’t try to learn how to spell. Instructional books and videos for learning how to skate are nothing new. The only reason I paid attention to this one is because I happened to catch a video shot with Omar Hassan at Pier Park, here in Portland. (There’s another one with Omar skating in West Linn Oregon too.) Sportskool has videos and DVD’s for the whole gamut, including Extreme!™ sports and even fishing, but sadly, no curling that I could see. Some of the videos are available for free via Youtube channel, but others require a subscription fee. Choose your discipline, street, bowls or vert. Who are your instructors? Omar Hassan, Mike Vallely, and Andy McDonald. Did you know Mike V. wrote a book? Would it surprise you to learn that it appears to be about a fight he was in? (FISTFIGHT VOLUME 1: THE CKY3 FIGHT EXPLAINED) It’s important to note, as every Sportskool video will remind you, Sportskool is not liable for any injury or accident “befalling” any viewers of their programs. The large image above is from “How to Skateboard a Small Bowl with Omar Hassan.” Unfortunately, it’s all general skateboarding instruction, and it doesn’t actually teach you how to get ahold of Omar and skate a small bowl with him.

[Source: EPM]

This ‘Thrill Seeker’ is your typicall, cheap 80’s skateboard and it’s also a bootleg. The top design is some Jaws-like creature (I think), but the other side is definitely stolen from the Keith Meek ‘Slasher’ graphic. Found it on eBay a while ago.

Off the Lip Radio interviews surfers and skaters in a studio in Santa Cruz, California. You can listen to them on the radio (KSCO 1080AM in the Bay Area, Tuesdays at 7PM) or listen to them online at OffTheLipRadio.com. TheSurfChannel.com also compiles and streams in studio videos of the broadcasts. I decided to check out Jeff Kendall being interviews in his capacity of VP over at NHS, although it mainly had to do with his skating days at Santa Cruz. The bit about being interviewed for a job/let go from the team at the same instance is pretty interesting. This show format is bit slow, and they switch guests in the middle, coming back to Jeff later. I’m not sure why they do that, because it’s distracting. Maybe they feel it’s better for the radio format. (Skip to the 6:55 to get to the start of Jeff’s interview.) And if you’ve got a half a day to kill, you can check out other interviews with Steve Olson with Rich Novak, Rob Roskopp with and without Rich Novak, Keith Meek, Keith Meek and Scott Foss, Don Bostick (World Cup Skateboarding), Jimbo Phillips, Steve Caballero, Jane Mckenzie and Judi Oyama, and of course, Rich Novak. Want more? there are other assorted skate related episodes as well.

Way back in the 80’s Kendall came through our small town in Illinois for a demo, and he wasn’t available for a Skate and Annoy interview, or had to leave in a hurry, or some other drama that we made up, so we got mad at him and slagged him off in the next print issue of Skate and Annoy. ( I’m pretty sure this is the umpteenth time I’ve told that story here.) We were real mature. Once again, we’re sorry Jeff. Watch a real Jeff Kendall interview after the jump.

An article form the Economist:

The new waterway is part of the biggest water-diversion scheme in the world: the second arm of what is known as the South-North Water Diversion Project. This is designed to solve an age-old imbalance. The north of China has only a fifth of the country’s naturally available fresh water but two-thirds of the farmland.

The article goes into detail about the gross mismanagement of China’s water supply for industrial and agricultural uses, and how this canal is not really going to do much for the country as a whole, especially long-term. All you care about is that it won’t be skateable after October 31st, because that’s when the water starts flowing.

– Thanks to Gene Sato for the tip.