Written by Quinn Feldman
Photography by Jonathan Labez
There were some highlights from this first round, Like Sneaky. He has been killing it for quite a while but when you get to see him skate in person it really is a privilege. He has a very com and solid style and his tricks get very technical. My favorite and what was also close to best trick on spot 1 was his AO top soul revert 360 out. This revert 3 out was one of the most solid I have ever seen on a ledge. Tyler Hester also threw down a nice true farv to top soul. Russell Day SD local killer was throwing down some action as well. Tim Franken a local New Yorker who migrated to the California dream was skating very well. But the best trick had to go to Anthony Williams AKA A-DUB for his true top soul to revert fish brain.
After the first spot we quickly moved on to the ditch which was the premier spot of the competition. The sad thing about this spot was that we were busted by the cops and we’re forced to leave. Santee really worked hard on this spot and it showed. They built a straight ledge, a camel hump rail, a rainbow box, a curve wall ride, and a shot gun rail and cemented all of it in with extra boards everywhere for good run up. This is an epic spot. Now this spot is never a problem and we never get busted here but someone on the way to the spot ran a red light and cut a women off trying to stay up with the caravan and then pulled right into the parking lot where the spot was. “This is why we give you very organized directions guys” of course the woman could have let it go but she didn’t she called the cops and we had to hit the back up spot.
The second spot was at memorial skate park which is a local dog town skateboard park so we didn’t mind completely taking it over. We skated the down ledges in the front and although there was some ruckus from some of the boarders there it really didn’t matter because they all ended up sitting and watching the competition. Russell Day stood out the most here, he laced so much stuff but I think the best trick was his gap 450 back farv on the down ledge. He skated so slow to it but managed to luckily or I should say skillfully lock it right at the top and hit it perfect. Anthony Luna and Tyler Hester also were doing there thing here and that got them a spot in the finals. Franky Murcia hit a nice full true porn down the ledge and Anthony Yepiz was lacing some nice fast plant switch ups there. Nacho Romero laced some good switch ups, but my favorite two tricks of the at this spot were Daniel Rosado’s Top soul 180 out and Chris Calkins’s true miz on the kink ledge.
The Finals turned out to be at the back up final spot. It was a high, skinny, mellow down rail with two high short side rails for transfers. The finals went down hard as all ACF finals do. We started with 10 people in the finals but it quickly weeded itself down to 4 people really battling it out. Tim Franken hit a bunch of cool tricks but the solid full cab true top soyal that was laced right after the toyal looking one got him 4th place. Anthony Luna who laced, Negative makio, negative top acid to true missue, AO negative mistrial and the best trick of the round which was the soul transfer switch kind grind got him 3rd place. Russell Day came in with all his solid moves like ao top acid, KG, 360 top torque soul, TTS, AO top soy and a top torque soul transfer sweat stance all of which placed him 2nd. First went to Tyler Hester. Don’t be fooled by his constant smile and his always having fun personality. He may be the dude who is always a blast to session with but When he is in a competition he is there to win and skate his hardest. He laced, Half top acid, full true missue, 360 soul, 360 acid, true spin negative mistrial, true spin negative mistrial to top soul, true spin farv, hurricane sweaty and hurricane top soul in that order. He took home $500 which quickly put him back into his normal hyped up party mood. The great thing about the finals were that all the skaters were feeding off each other’s energy. It wasn’t all competitive in the heat of the moment. It was more a group of skaters pushing each other and hyping each other up to hit what would usually take any of them a long time to attempt. The results were announced at the spot and the money and prizes were given out. Thanks to the sponsors we had enough product to make sure that every competitor got some good stuff and we had more to throw out.
The after party was great. It took place at the new SDSF house which is so cool looking. Kato made one of his famous french dishes over an open flame in this giant stir fry pot. Sneaky showed off his skill in the ever tactical game of beer pong hitting 11 cups in a row at one point. Nick Wood premiered the new Fester video starring Joey Chase, Jon Bolino, Cornut, Nick Wood, Damien Wilson and Lyle Shivak which was very good and the day overall went amazing. Can’t wait for Santee #2 next year.
Thanks to all our sponsors. Big thanks to our local organizers Nick Wood, Damien Wilson and Lyle Shivak who really helped organize a special event that I know everyone had a blast at.
-Quinn Feldman
