West out East

Jul 23, 2010

Author: Curtis Rothney. Photos: Curtis Rothney

West 49 in the Maritimes

Blah, blah, we’ve all heard the same cliché Maritime article over and over again. We’re incredibly hospitable, friendly and always willing to sacrifice our time to show a bunch of out of towners around to our little gems (if you can call them that). Let’s not get into that though, because it’s been drilled into our heads over and over again and I’m tired of it. From now on, and this goes out to every photographer and writer, just talk shit on us. It’s okay, it’ll be a welcome change and we’ll still barbeque for you and let you drool on our couches. I mean, that’s pretty much what happened on this tour except we had the luxury of hotels. I guess that leads me into actually talking about this trip. It was cool; actually, we had an amazing and productive time. From beers and mini ramp sessions overlooking epic landscapes to taking the rental van on a journey better suited for Austin Stevens and a landrover, there was no shortage of shred.

Hotel Life

Derek Carriere, Hardflip

   We started off in my hometown of Halifax where I met up with the West 49 crew consisting of Kirk Harriott, Terrill Sands, Colby Hanson, Tony Myshlyaev, Derek Carriere, Matt McFarlane and Pasi Posti- our beloved driver, team manager and filmer extraordinaire. After handing out copious amounts of gear and warming up at the park, we finally decided to skate street. Boards were broken (and smashed into my fisheye), lines filmed, Subway eaten and I tried to get everyone familiar with Spring Garden Road, or rather Skin Garden Road. I don’t think I need to say anything further about that topic.

"...shoving food into my face faster than Takeru Kobayashi eats hot dogs"

Kirk Harriott, Nollie Boardslide.

After learning we were actually leaving to Saint John that night (instead of the next day which I was told previously), I was dropped off at home to pack like a frantic old lady out of tea biscuits. After feeling like I forgot 1000 things and shoving food into my face faster than Takeru Kobayashi eats hot dogs, the crew arrived back at my house and we were on the road. I couldn’t have been more stoked.

Now what can I say about Saint John? You know it’s going to be a good week when you arrive and the first thing you see is an endless view of the valley, a giant bonfire and a mini ramp. I don’t think I’ve ever been more stoked to eat a hot dog than that night, and I don’t even really like them. We were feeling good and it was a good kick off party before any real skating actually went down.

Terrill Sands, Nosepick.

"I was dropped off at home to pack like a frantic old lady out of tea biscuits."

You know that guy who you can hang out with and instantly feel like you just downed 9 Red Bulls? The guy whose energy is just that contagious and makes you laugh constantly with the best jokes? Well that guy on this trip was Kevin Murray. He’s been off the board for a while now because of an injury but he still came and hung out every day, hyping everyone up beyond any words I can type up in a word document. He came into our hotel room one night screaming like the Hulk, pounding the bed with his fists and making me feel like I was going to die from laughing. I seriously had never seen anyone in my life before be that psyched to just hang out and have a few beers. Kevin, I’ll take this paragraph to say that I love you and I’ll try to make it back to Saint John soon so we can make some magic happen with cameras and skateboards.

Besides Kevin making everyone feel like we were having the best time of our lives in Saint John, there was a little ole’ place called Rocky’s Sports Bar. Home of one of the best, greasy $3.99 breakfasts I’ve ever had and a pretty damn cute waitresses. I don’t know why we were so stoked on this place because it was a standard sports bar that you’ll find in any town. Maybe I was fooled by the girls and how cheap it was. I do remember one of the waitresses tripping trying to walk sexy for us and knocking a bowl of candies off the table. I think she was bummed after that, breakfast was good though.

Tony Myshlyaev, Switch Backside Flip

Have I even talked about the skating we did in New Brunswick yet? Regardless of getting out of the hotel at 2pm most days, we still managed to get at least 3 photos a day. It was blowing my mind on how productive we were being while still managing to be on the verge of being piles at night and in the morning. Maybe I’m exaggerating a bit, but our hotel room got pretty messy. I think it was more of a matter of celebrating how much work we were getting done. There’s a lot of gems out there in New Brunswick (Saint John was especially rad), you just have to keep an open mind.

Kirk Harriott, Frontside Bigspin.

Matt McFarlane, Fakie Flip.

"...made me feel like I should have been shooting for National Geographic instead of an SBC article."

One spot in Saint John that comes to mind is what everyone calls the Airport Ledges. I swear to god, this place had the most epic view of farmland ever. While everyone was filming lines at the spot, I grabbed my Hasselblad and went on a journey to find myself in the fields. Or maybe to just finish a roll of Portra, whichever way you want to take it. The journey to this place was something else though. Our GPS completely blew it and took us down this random ATV trail and made me feel like I should have been shooting for National Geographic instead of an SBC article. We stopped at the end of the trail, and wondered just why the hell we ever went all the way down it in the first place. We managed to scratch the rental van to hell which got completely annihilated on this tour anyway (thank god for zero deductible). It was at this point on the trip that my phone decided to disappear completely into thin air. We looked everywhere, even drove down the trail again after skating the spot to look for it- nothing. This situation turned out to be a common theme throughout the trip. Broken sunglasses, lost shoes, lost shirts and more. I guess now would be a good time to read up on black holes or maybe it was those gnomes from South Park that took everything.

Matt Lane, Noseslide.

"...just talk shit on us. It’s okay, it’ll be a welcome change and we’ll still barbeque for you and let you drool on our couches."

I honestly think all of the interesting stuff that took place on this trip happened while driving to spots. The same day I lost my phone we were on the way to skate these gaps when we saw black smoke in the distance. Feeling pretty curious we drove closer to the smoke which was coming out of this industrial looking place which we later found out was the paper mill. Flames started coming off of the building and me and Pasi rushed to get our cameras and get some footage and photos of this fire. We beat the newspapers to it that’s for sure which is what led us to contact CTV and the local newspaper to see what was up with submitting things. Pasi had no luck because they didn’t want to pay for footage and I lost my phone after giving the newspaper my number so to this day, I don’t know if they ever called. I think I’m having trouble sleeping at night because of it. If anybody from the Telegraph Journal is reading this, help me sleep at night. Contact me.

Tony Myshlyaev, Kickflip.

Kirk Harriott, Fakie Flip to Hill Bomb

"...taking the rental van on a journey better suited for Austin Stevens and a landrover."

So let’s do a little summary of this whole tour in point form. Interesting facts, quotes; basically the stuff I wrote down on the notepad I took from the hotel room.

•   Kirk brought $100 dollars on a 12 day trip and thought it would last him.
•   I ate my weight in Subway. I’m pretty sure I had at least a foot long a day so that’s 12 feet in subs. I think I’m too used to finding good food in Montreal and when I can’t… I break down and eat the beige.
•   Tony skated commando a few times and got photos. Does that give him bonus points?
•   Our rental van was brand new when we got it. By the end of the trip it sounded like it had taken one too many kids to soccer practice over the years. 2234km’s and a bunch of body scratches later…
•   I walked away with only one lens hit on the tour which actually happened the first day I met everybody.
•   Derek Carriere has really good hardflips. In fact, he called into work, got it off to come skate with us and was at the spot within an hour. Did something extremely gnarly and went home with his girlfriend. There was a pizza eaten at the spot too, good work Derek.
•   “By the way, you’re off the team.”
•   Kirk slept in past 11 or 12 every day. If he was up before than, it was back to bed in a matter of 30 minutes. I guess he needs his sleep to jump on 10 stair rails nollie.
•   On my way home on the bus, the dude sitting behind me yelled out “Fuck yeah! My charges just got dropped, looks like I’m not going to jail for a year!” Interesting crowd on those things.
•   Is “true say” a Toronto thing? I think I heard Kirk say it 1000 times.

Matt Lane, Frontside Smith.

So that was the West 49 trip. Through all of crazy Toronto driving from Pasi, mass amounts of Subway and flying skateboards, I managed to get out of there alive. We got some flicks, had a good time both on and off the board and enjoyed the sights and sounds of the Maritimes. I’d say it was a pretty perfect tour, I certainly couldn’t complain, can’t say the same for the rental car agency though. What am I doing still writing this? I have more Subway to eat and false hope that I’ll get a call from the Telegraph Journal.