Hello faithful S.C. Soldiers! What is going down on your side of town? There is a whole lot going down up in here, or shall I say going up. Like Charlie Morace being bumped up to the pro team roster for the NorthWave/Drake conglomerate, or Robbie Sell being bumped up with the big guns on both the Quiksilver and Electric pro team rosters,as well as, being added to the Active Ride Shop snow team.
While on the topic of movin’ on up, everybody’s favorite hood rat Curty “dirty birdy” Woodman has moved on up to the 11th grade. After a full season last year full of filming and traveling who’da thunk he woulda got an education as well, we did of course. Curtis is a hard working little critter not only on a with a snowboard and books but with the ladies too.
Our other wham, bam, thank you AM Aaron Keene is now factory team guy with Mission 6, Electric and Tech-Nine plus getting flow from the mighty DC boots people, so obviously our AM crew is a hot commodity and much sought after by accessory lines throughout the industry. “Those S.C. AM’s so hot right now.”, mandatory Zoolander reference.
Our pro bro-brahs finding some new products being unloaded out of the UPS truck and on to their doorstep would be Stephen Duke getting extra baggage from the people at Clive and Gian Simmen now being protected from going snowblind by the good people at Smith Optics. Gian just returned from the islands of Hawaii where he was attending the wedding of are European Team Manager, Ruedi Herger. Gian played the roll of best man and by all stories that floated our way over the Pacific ocean it sounds like he did the job well seeing our good friend Ruedi into married life like a true friend should (story withheld). Congrats to Ruedi and his new bride, Nadia. That1s all for now, see ya’ on a hill near you soon because the snow is a comin’!
SC Snow team rider Charlie Morace is on the road in Europe and this is his last report…
GERMAN ROADTRIP by Charlie Morace
Titus Bamberg, Surf In Schweinfurt , Titus Rosenheim, Titus München , Titus Augsburg, Sportscheck München , BIG AIR Berlin
Dani, Gian, and I started this trip with a three day shop tour. We hit up two shops a day to sign posters and stoke out the kids. For fun we would watch the new snowboard videos in the shops, fingerboard, and play Tony Hawk 3. In one of the stores we actually held a Tony Hawk 3 contest. I got to take a break from signing and played the top players there. Although none of the kids could beat me they did teach me some new moves and we awarded the winner with a backpack. We also raffled off snow skates, c-type snowboards, and weekend resort packages. There is no doubt the everyone was stoked.
After the shop tour Dani and Gian went home and I met up with Ale Bennussi and Ale Boyens in Berlin for a FIS big air world cup. Qualification was on Friday night and the finals Saturday. The ramp was huge and the jump was about 10 meters long with a nice long, steep landing. Next to the contest, the world’s largest erotic festival was being held. During the day the riders were very entertained by the festival. We were able to take pictures with some of the hottest porn stars, see some very exciting demonstrations, and I even got Larry Flynt to sign a hustler for me.
Unfortunately Friday night it started storming. With 65 riders in the field this ment a lot of standing and waiting in the rain and wind. There was about two hours of practice and then the competition started. Each rider got one jump. The top six would go straight to the final and 7-26 got another jump. The judges would then pick another six for the final. After killing it in practice Boyens fell and did not make the first cut. I, as well, did not make the cut because of I reverted on my landing. Bennussi however had another jump to perform. His second jump he stomped a perfect inverted backside 720. The crowd went crazy. He got 3rd place, good enough to make the final.
>Saturday night the weather was better. The rain had stopped but the wind picked up. The level of riding was very high. Team Finland was ruling it. Some of the tricks landed were cab 900s switch backside sevens and front side 900. Each rider got two jumps and their best one counted. Bennussi came super close to landing a cab 900 but he sat down as he landed. It was good enough for 7th place. After the contest all the riders went to disco Matrix and partied all night. I came back to the hotel at 530 am and knew this was a great experience.
Thanks a lot to all Shops for there support to Santa Cruz and a special thank to Zermatt Bergbahnen ( Anita ) for the Free Lift tickets..
