Issue 53 – Behind the Cover

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Our 53rd issue turned out to be 80% black and white. Having a Latent Potential with Jansen van Staden probably influenced that. Nonetheless, we wanted something on the cover that fit the monochromatic imagery within this issue. Sam Clark and Leon Bester produced the goods with a secret pipe spot mission.

Where did you find that spot?
Sam Clark: It’s outside Stellenbosch on an old closed off road, I was shooting the Cape Epic a few weeks back and they rode straight through it… It looked a hell of a lot easier to skate than it was!
Leon Bester: Sam randomly phoned me up and told me about this spot he found while shooting the Epic. He asked if I’d be keen to go on the mission and see if it’s skate-able.

Who all went on the mission?
Sam: Pieter Retief, Dylan Vaughan, Leon and myself.

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Why did it have to be Leon?
Sam: The pipe was super dirty with water running through and everything, Leon isn’t a pussy when it comes to cleaning spots so he was the obvious choice.

What was the biggest challenge about the spot?
Leon: Super tight tranny (the ramp kind), water, mud, worms, spiders and the fact that where you popped you could barely see anything.

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What did you guys have to do to make it skate-able?
Leon: First we had to block of the water coming down the mountain. We used a giant plastic bag and filled it with mud we dug out and put it in front of the opening. Then we made 2 little dams further up to catch most of the water coming down. Then finally we were able to clean the pipe. Scraping away thousands of worms and heaps of mud. Then we started drying it with a towel and a brush.
Sam: Dam some water and do some sweeping…

How was skating it? Looks pretty rough?
Leon: Myself and Dylanie started hitting it and tried to find a place to start from before figuring out a line. Pieter rolled once, looked at me and said, “Cheers boys, enjoy”. Haha. I took my filmer board with because Sam said it’ll be rough. After one go with my normal board I switched to the filmer board. It took me a while to get a line and keep the board under me, at one stage I thought it wasn’t going to happen. I’m pretty sure Sam thought the same but I got into it and it happened. Then Sam made me go another 100 times, haha. I was totally covered in mud.

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You get hassled by any farmers?
Sam: Nope, this thing is in the middle of nowhere.
Leon: Nope, we actually went to go see if we can’t find some more spots in the mountain by the dam.

Are you amped on the getting the cover Leon? Going to Hooters to celebrate?
Leon: Yeah man I am super happy! I think after that dirty ditch, hooters might seem like a convent. Mavericks anyone?

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Photos Sam Clark & Pieter Retief