5Boro NYC Commercial with Danny Falla & Joe Tookmanian!

Ludovic Azemar made this 8 minutes video edit from the Antiz Skateboards Morocco trip! 2500 km all around the country from the ocean to the desert, from the shitty road to the camel, from the mint tea to the magic cigar, meeting amazing people, an amazing culture and an amazing country…

Alain Goikoetxea has been skating for Volcom since ’98. In order to celebrate these 15 years of loyalty, he put together a full online video part with footage he’s been gathering over the last few years!

Arto Saari is the newest recruit to the WeActivist crew! The skateboarder and photographer is now WeSC ambassador and will be starring in the “Welcome Arto” video. Take a look at the short teaser below!

1. Sparky, Zwolle
2. Burnside, Deventer
3. Sevenply, Rotterdam
4. Honderd Procent, Eindhoven
5. Fier, Dordrecht
6. Eightdayz, Utrecht
7. Ben-G, Amsterdam
8. Revert, Haarlem

Robian Fifield /// Backside Overcrook /// Vans Shop Riot 2013
Photo: Nicola Debernardi

Bas Janssen /// Backside Noseblunt /// Vans Shop Riot 2013
Photo: Paul van Nimwegen

Bas Janssen /// Frontside Bluntslide /// Vans Shop Riot 2013
Photo: Paul van Nimwegen

Robian Fifield /// Frontside Tucknee /// Vans Shop Riot 2013
Photo: Nicola Debernardi

Ricardo Paterno /// Backside Hurricane /// Vans Shop Riot 2013
Photo: Paul van Nimwegen

Ewoud Breukink /// Kickflip Backside Lipslide /// Vans Shop Riot 2013
Photo: Paul van Nimwegen

Max Kovacs /// Krooked /// Vans Shop Riot 2013
Photo: Paul van Nimwegen

Robbin Oost /// Frontside Grab /// Vans Shop Riot 2013
Photo: Nicola Debernardi

Already infamous for some of the best miniramp skating that Europe has to offer, great music and good times, not to mention the stunning beachside setting, this years Off The Wall Spring Classic promised to be epic.

With the cities of Milan, Genoa and Nice all nearby, skaters, press and visitors flew in from all over the Europe to be greeted by the Fiat Freestyle Team cars, who brought them right to the beach in time for a warm up on the ramp before the accolade of ‘Best Miniramp Trick’ was dealt out. With some great riding going down already, it was a hotly contested event. One of the first arrivals, Denmark’s Dannie Carlsen took to the ramp quickly, and it paid off as his half cab blunt 360 kickflip out saw him walk away with a 250EUR cheque. As newly crowned Dutch Champ, Daan Vanderlinden’s frontside nosegrind down the spine feature was another winner, as was Chris Gregson’s frontside flip disaster backside revert and a frontside noseblunt backside revert from Mason Merlino saw all four win cash prizes.

As the main contest kicked off the next day, the sun shone on Varazze for the Vans “Off The Wall” Spring Classic. The fifth edition of this already infamous annual event saw a pretty epic set up, with a new spine feature and extension section giving the mini a heap of possibilities for innovative lines and allowing the skaters to get a little technical. Combined with the sunshine and an awesome lineup for the evening’s music concert, this promised to be the biggest Spring Classic ever.

65 skaters made their way to the beach for the qualifying rounds, and with the bar really raised for this years event, places for the finals were hotly contested. The Euros were joined by some of the world’s finest, and as Mason Merlino had already proved in the ‘Best Miniramp Trick’ contest, the Americans really stood out, with Mason and Chris Gregson skating hard and impressing the judges. The UK’s Chris Oliver and Daan Vanderlinden really made use of the new spine, which featured flat-to-down coping, transitioned all the way to the flat. Nevertheless, the accolade of ‘best trick’ in qualifying had to go to another Brit, Josh Young, for his Ollie up the extension to frontside nosegrind. Another young shredder, the native Ivan Federico of Italy, also went big, riding away from a crowd pleasing McTwist. With the level really pushed this year, a few of the guys paid the price, with France’s Guillaume Mocquin ending up in an ambulance, but still managed to skate in the last jam. While Chris Oliver and Andy Scott fell too much to make the points necessary to get through, their riding impressed the judges, who awarded them a wildcard for the finals. They joined Denmark’s Dannie Carlsen, who went through in first place, to complete the 28 riders who made the grade for Sunday’s finals.

“In the past two years we’ve had fifteen to twenty solid riders who were easily identifiable, but this year, it’s been closer to forty or fifty, and all have to potential to walk away with a prize from the final” said Vans Sponsorship Manager Alexis Jauzion, who’s been involved since the first “Off The Wall” Spring Classic five years ago.

Saturday also saw the skaters session the street course, where once again prizes were given for the best tricks. Here Vans’ European team dominated. Italy’s own Jacopo Picozza hit the ledge with a smith grind flip out and a crook nollie flip later on, while Kris Vile (UK) made the most of the handrail with a 270 lipslide, and a nollie inward heelflip down the stairs and Czech’s Richard Tury impressed with a bigspin heel boardslide, feeble flip out and a switch heel backside boardsilde, which earned them all a cool 500EUR each. Killian Zehnder was the fourth to win 500EUR, with a frontside feeble frontside 180 out.

After the skate showdown the focus moved to the Monster Stage, where Italian rapper ENSI opened to the biggest crowd to ever descend upon Varazze. With his acclaimed freestyle rap and renditions of tracks from Rage Against The Machine, amongst others, the crowd audience were already calling for more. Fellow Italians Extrema then brought their own brand of heavy metal to the stage, getting the mosh pit warmed up for Strung Out, who saw looked out across to thousands of people all head banging. Finally, the evening’s headliners and longtime Vans collaborators Millencolin came out, and with tracks like ‘Happiness for Dogs’ and ‘Penguins & Polarbears’ the whole town rocking out.

Unfortunately the Californian spirit didn’t last, and the next day sore heads were greeted with heavy rain. Despite the best efforts of all involved, the weather is something that could not be influenced and as a result, the finals had to be cancelled. Riders and spectators piled into the nearest bar and the guys from Lovenskate laid on some creative entertainment whilst the Uppercut Deluxe barbers set about giving the guys some sharply styled haircuts.

As the rain was not letting up, the prize giving commenced, with the awards for the ‘Best Trick’ sessions first, followed by cash prizes from the 12,000EUR pot being given to the top skaters from the competition. As the rankings hadn’t changed, Dannie Carlsen’s laidback approach and technical skating saw him take the top spot and a cheque for 3,000EUR. Young ripper Aurelien Giraud (FR) came through in second place, and took home an extra 1,800EUR pocket money, whilst Italy’s Ivan Federico was presented with third place and a cheque for 1,600EUR.

In all, Vans’ fifth “Off The Wall” Spring Classic in the beautiful town of Varazze was a massive success, with an unprecedented level of riding, an epic ramp and good times all round, it’ll have provided some stories and great memories for all that were there. Here’s to next year!

Oh yeah, in case you wonder, what are the results? Here they are…
1st Place – Dannie Carlson
2nd Place – Aurelian Giraud
3rd Place Ivan Federico
4th Place – Mason Merlino
5th Place – Chris Gregson
6th Place Vanderlinden
7th Place – Trevor Johnson
8th Place Ross McGouran
9th Place – Danny Leon
10th Place Josh Young
11th Place – Ewen Bower
12th Place – Juan Antonio Centenro

Aurelian Giraud /// Frontside Nosebone

Danny Leon /// Stalefish

Mason Merlino /// Frontside Crailgrab

Oliver Gordon /// Fronside Grab Transfer

Nick Bax /// Frontside Tailbone

Dannie Carlson /// Fronside Nosegrab

Tobias Springborn /// Frontside Smithgrind

Daan van der Linden /// Fronside Nosegrab

Björn Klotz /// Fronside Rock’n'Roll

All photos shot by Nicola Debernardi /// Varazze Italy

We found a technology that magically makes print interactive and in a way we think it should be. No stupid QR codes or whatever… You just cannot see which page is interactive and which isn’t. Surprise yourself! It is almost like finding skatespots for the first time…

So if You have a smartphone or Ipad, or different smart device, download the LAYAR app and take another look at this magazine. We truly believe this is just the beginning of a new era, where print magazines finds a new dimension in a digital world.
The magazines are being delivered as we speak to the following Skateshops in the BLX:
Dreams Scheveningen (NL) /// 100% Skateshop Eindhoven (NL) /// Real Deal Mortsel (BE) /// Manus Skateshop Den Haag (NL) /// Frisco Arnhem (NL) /// Burnside Deventer (NL) /// 911 Skateshop Brugge (BE) /// Independent outlet Amsterdam (NL) /// Supervet Utrecht (NL)
Bonk Breda (NL) /// TOMS skateshop Amsterdam (NL) /// Skatepark Amsterdam (NL) .
So if you want to get your hands on a printed copy, get Your ass over there!

How it works:
Step 1. Download the free LAYAR app for iPhone or Android.
Step 2. Open the Layar app, hold the phone above the page and tap to scan it.
Step 3. View the interactive content and enjoy.

Filmed & Edited by
Willem Vleugels
www.willycank.tumblr.com

This year the tour kicks off in Deventer, Holland, on May 12th, before descending upon both Germany and Israel on May 25th. Over three months, the series continues across a further 10 European cities before returning to the UK. A full list of dates and locations as well as a round up from each leg will be available to view at vansshopriot.com

Through building recognition for these stores and scenes, the Shop Riot series illustrates Vans’ ongoing commitment to the core community and ultimately, the roots of the biggest and most significant success stories in independent Skateboarding.

The finest stores from each country will put forward their top shop teams, to battle it out for one day in their best Skateparks. With local rounds taking place in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Switzerland, Israel, Holland and for the first time Estonia, Sweden and Russia needless to say that the bar will no doubt be raised yet again, building on the insane level of skateboarding that we have seen over the last 4 years.

The winning team from each country will qualify for an all expenses paid trip to the UK where they will battle it out in the European Shop Riot Finals, pitting their skills against the European Elite for a slice of the 5,000 Euros prize pot.

New for this year is vansshopriot.com, a site dedicated to the series, where you can see who is taking part, edits from the local teams as well as round-ups and exclusive content from each stage of the Vans Shop Riot series. The site will be regularly updated with footage, news and results from each stage, and be the one-stop-shop for you to follow the teams all the way through to the finals.
Check out Vans Shop Riot dates, locations and teams at www.vansshopriot.com and facebook.com/vanseurope #vansshopriot