AV13 Trailer is online. Premieres are happening next week, so keep a look out for dates.

adidas South Africa in Maputo, Mozambique 2011

The adidas South Africa team headed out to Mozambique earlier this year. The edit above featured in AV12 and we have the full feature in Issue 46, out now! Check it out. It sets a new standard for skate video edits in South Africa. Filmed and Edited by Sam Clark and Adriaan Louw.

Top Left to Bottom Right: 1. The big rail before being cut off to become a gap to rail. 2.Flat bar across The Rock Gap. Shoulda been diamonds… 3. Ishod wallied that ledge and landed in the bank. MOST! 4. The smaller section where Joubert rolled his ankle ollying up the 2 stair… 5. Skater run stands. a Dope AV Session brah. 6. WillyT on the hustle! 7. South Africa’s big hole. 8. Vert ramp perfection. 9. The 4 storie Mini-Mega Ramp. The real one is 9 stories… serious.

(Kimberley, South Africa — October 2, 2011) – Today, Ishod Wair claimed the Maloof Money Cup Skateboarding World Championships title and $100,000 cash in Kimberley, South Africa. Hometown favorite Tommy Fynn, born in Durban, South Africa, beat Ryan Decenzo in the semi finals for a shot at the title, but fell just short of Wair and claimed second place and $40,000.

Local officials and newspapers cited the impact on the local business community as thousands of skate fans from around the country descended on the small town, once famous for its diamond mines. Hotels sold out all weekend, restaurants and businesses hired additional workers to help with the influx of fans and the local government relaxed alcohol laws to allow for all bars and restaurants to stay open 24 hours throughout the three days of competition. Dozens of busses arrived, carrying fans from cities across the Northern Cape and local campgrounds overflowed with tent cities filled with fans eager to see the best skaters in the world compete in their backyard for the first time in history. Officials from the Northern Cape Provincial Government said “we haven’t seen anything like this since the World Cup.”

Today’s Street Finals saw incredible action, as the young guns of the skateboarding world, like Ishod Wair, Manny Santiago and Tommy Fynn showed skateboarding masters like Andrew Reynolds (winner of MMC D.C.) and Greg Lutzka (winner of MMC NYC) they’ve earned their stripes.

Elliott Sloan landed his first-ever 900 with an incredible 900 tailgrab, easily taking the Mini Megaramp Best Trick contest. The 900 was also the first on the continent.

“This was absolutely incredible,” said Joe Maloof, creator of Maloof Money Cup and owner of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings and the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. “I’ve never seen anything like it. The fans were absolutely incredible. And Tomny just did an incredible job and did his country proud. It just upped the level of excitement for the fans, and you couldn’t even here the announcers over the cheering crowd. The people here in South Africa, and Kimberley welcomed us with open arms and we’ve had the time of our lives. This is an incredible country and we are excited for the future of skateboarding here and I’m confident we’ll see a champion from South Africa emerge very soon.”

According to Hazel Jenkins, premier of the Northern Cape Province, the event was a resounding success. “By hosting this prestigious event, we did not only focus attention on the province as a supreme adventure sports destination, but it was also a great nation-building exercise. This event has really galvanized the people of the Northern Cape to come together and show the world what we can offer. We are extremely proud of what we achieved and I want to thank everyone who helped make this such an inspirational event. To all the competitors, thank you for giving us three days of pure adrenaline and the best skateboarding action this country has ever seen. Thank you to all our visitors over the past couple of weeks and we hope that we’ve provided lasting memories and that you return to our beautiful province soon.”

For full results, visit maloofmoneycup.com. To download photos from the finals, go to www.flickr.com/mmcsouthafrica.

We want every single skate store to stock Session, but we need you’re help to get them on our mailing list! Email or post their details on our facebook fanpage and we’ll take care of the admin.
Get involved, make shit happen.

Whether you’ve been waiting for it for years, or just noticed something felt different about this issue, Session has just been given a a facelift for our Ninth Annivesary issue.
From what I can tell from the response I’ve received, most of you are happy with it. Which is the biggest sense of relief I have ever experienced. I’ve been subconciously stressing my figurative tits off that there would be posts of “Session’s over!” or “What the fuck is going on with Session?” all over facebook and I’d have to sneak out at night to go skate to avoid getting my ass kicked by some pimple-ridden 14 year old with a die-hard mentality for our one-and-only skate mag. So I just want to say thank you for the supportive feedback. It is MOST appreciated and motivating.
And yes, you’ll see the same idiotic errors you’ve come to expect from Session. I did try. Next time I’ll try harder, but to me it represents the character of skateboarding. We’re all a bit fucked up, and we all learn from our mistakes. When we bring out an issue with no mistakes, we’re going to have the biggest party EVER!

But enough with the pleasantries, onto the issue at hand…

Darren Jacoby and Adrian Day get in each other’s faces in this issue with Darren’s first full interview. Peeps are hyping it as a really good read. The sarcasm and satire bundled into those pages should not lead you to think  Jacoby is not a stand-up guy. He really is a decent chap, and we’re all amped he’s finally doing something with his computer skills. Partner on the site, Luke Jackson has the absolute best youtube links for skateboarding that doesn’t necessarily make the headlines. Check it out when next you’re  searching for skate-spiration.

This issue, Luke reviews The Plankie video (which has it’s own full feature), Not Another Transworld Video and The Real video. Adrian Day reminisces over the days of the Beastie Boys and the shananigans that they back-tracked.  You can also win a limited edition Nixon Timeteller Beastie Boys watch if you enter the comp next to the reviews. What’s the comp? Where’s your mag huh?

And speaking of competitions… Where was the DC comp winners???? My humblest appologies to DC and the entrants for accidentally dropping the winners announcement. Marcel Yslie took it this issue with his photo of Craig Leak backtailing at sunset. Nice one Marcel! You’re package is on the way! Keep sending in your best photos and stand a chance to win some DC gear for your efforts.

Cover boy Moses dropped by a little while ago to tell me about his trip to NYC for Manny Mania. He was hyped man. I told him it was kinda ironic he skated and chilled with Gonzalez, seeing as he has our cover this issue and Gonzalez’s Volcom ad is the back cover. Mosey’s response was: “Are you serious? Yoh, that’s jas!”.
He regaled a bunch of stories and I listened as I best I could, but given that it was 6am and he’d just woken me up after getting back from a night out with Frankie, I can’t remember any more of them. We have a feature on the Manny Mania final in Joburg this issue as well, which is possibly the last layout Bod will have to do for Session… And those are his own words.

We also have a sequence of Mosey’s huge frontside flip in our Ghetto Rolling article where we hit up some lesser travelled sides of Cape Town. Don’t hate on the Enjoi board he’s riding okay Mr Critic? There’s reasons for such things. New kids on the streets Pedro Sinclair, Frank Prinsloo and Wesley Schroeder also feature in the article and my homie Andre Visser makes his photographic debut. The man is making known.

Most of us see the vert scene as this money-driven, big comp, big hype kinda thing, and in all fairness, that is what it became. But right now, with Maloof and Street League and all that, isn’t street skating exactly where vert used to be 20-30 years back? In that light, the guys with their 2 or 3 vert ramps in SA are by far the most underground of us all. No recognition, no coverage, no sponsors, just sweet, fluid transition skating.
I stumbled across this clip of an 8 year old doing a fakie 720 at Woodward. Vert is definitely not dead.

And speaking of Maloof, the biggest gathering of South African skateboarders is right around the corner. Revolution have been doing a good job of posting updates of the progress. It is looking good. Apparently Mr O’Brien has taken Woodies Ramps up to lend a hand with the vert ramps and what what. Yeah son!

Woodies and RampinSA’s latest effort in concrete shaping can be seen in our Edgemead mini-gallery. Supported by their consistent monthly competition for donations. If you havn’t donated, what are you waiting for! SAM CLARK shot the photos by the way. Sorry for forgetting the credits there, as well as on the I-Ams… doh!

We have an All New Closet Envy going from this issue. We’re getting skaters to actually test the product out, or at least go skate in it. It worked out pretty well, but can only get better. We’ll be doing further Closet Envy’s in different town’s so be on the look-out for posts regarding where and when.

Lastly, you’ll notice we aren’t putting the whole mag online. Just bits, pieces and teasers. It’s intentional. We want you to buy the mag. Not so we can make more money, but so we still HAVE one. In an age where everything is digital, making sure SA skaters have a legitimate skate mag to page through remains our number one priority, but we can’t do ANYTHING if you don’t buy the mag. It’s up to you whether or not you feel you need to support South African skateboarding…

The next issue will boast the Fallen Tour, happening now; The Adidas trip to Mozambique as featured in AV12; full coverage of Maloof and a couple of surprises. Here’s to the future and the exciting fucking times we are entering.

Yours in skateboarding,
AD Henderson

Christie Wiehahn asked Juan for some advice on how to skate these things… He then proceeded to shut them DOWN with 10 minutes. Backtails of the nipple.

Juan Smit Frontside Feebles around the pocket. If you don’t do anything else, just 5-0 carve this pocket.
Best Feeling EVER!

Leon Bester clears the nipple with a front tail.

Gavin Moses Adams. Getting higher than most.

Follow the instructions. Try it ’til you fail, then try some more.
1) Well, start by going up the ramp like you’re going to do a proper air. Out the lip, in the AIR! So go fast.
3) As your board gets about level with your chest grab it frontside and pull it board towards you compressing your knees so as to get the full Tucknee effect. (See clip 7)
2) Have your feet setup in regular ollie position and pop a solid ollie just before you hit the lip. Bring the board up towards your chest with your legs and get ready to grab frontside.
4) When ready simply release, land and roll away…..Frontside Tucknees good for any ramp anytime of the day, aight!

Photos: Clinton Theron