Check out more entries from SBC's Best Contest Ever!

My favorite place in Canada to skate is Wheatley,Ontario. I've done alot of traveling but Wheatley is the best. It's a small community still classified as a village, the town built a pretty big skate park and it has everything to skate, no one is ever there, so when you go , you and your crew have the park to yourself, and since it's in the middle of no where and there's only a cop in town like every other day or when needed, you can bbq it up and drink some beers and no one cares. Every time I skate Wheatley I can't help but think that this is the way skateboarding is meant to feel. Awesome.
Heres a quick montage we made in the fall
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo421CRRPEc
—Cam Crazy
 
My name is Tristan but go by the name LocalCat, and i'm from a little town called Langford witch is 10 min outside of Victoria on Vancouver island.
About 3 hours and two short ferry rides from my home town there is a TINY island called "Hornby island". To put it simple this island could be referred to as "Hippie paradise" it takes 10 minutes to drive from one end to the other, population of maybe 800 people all of witch are serious hippies.  In the summer lots of family's and groups of people go there to bask in the secluded peace and beauty of Hornby and to hang out on possibly the most amazing beach on the west coast "Tribune bay".  Every year in july for the last 6 years me and my close friends go for a camping trip to this little slice of paradise, witch has always been awesome however there is nowhere there to skate besides flat spots.  I always wished there was a skate spot there because it would make what was already such a great tradition into an even better one for obvious reasons.
This year i had a stroke of genius when i was checking out a local vender's arts and crafts studio, i noticed he had a stack of ply wood sheets that appeared weathered as if they had been there for quite some time.  I asked him to buy them and he sold them to me for 30$.  10 minutes later we were unloading them at the Famous "Tribune bay" and spend the rest of the day on the sand setting up the sheets of ply into gaps wall rides manny pads and added creative use's of the surrounding beach logs for pole jam's, slides and grinds.  We had a day long beach skate party complete with frosty corona's and plenty of canada's fine young lady onlookers :)  This was BY A LONG SHOT, the BEST place i've ever ridden my skateboard in canada and i cant wait for next july to do it again.
Thanks for reading my entry
and thanks for making a kick ass canadian skate mag! you guys rock!
Peace and Respect
LocalCat
 
 
The best place I've ever skated in Canada would have to be none other than
Vancouver,BC. Yes, I'm sure that's a common answer, but can you really
argue that? In the past 5 months I've traveled most of the country,
starting in my small town of Timmins, ON (one of the worst places to skate
in Canada), made my way to Vancouver for a month(stayed in surrey/downtown
and visited Whistler), then back through the east coast all the way to
Halifax. Although that Commons skatepark in Halifax is pretty sick along
with some pretty nice street spots, nothing beats heading to the Plaza to
warm up with the homies and hitting the streets of downtown Van.
Another amazing things about Vancouver is how accessible everything around
the city is thanks to the amazing transit system.You can start at the
plaza and take a 10 minute sky-train ride to Bonsor for another crazy park
session. Not only that, but head downtown towards the seabus and get to
North Van in 30 mins to bomb some hills! I was there for a month and rode
around in a car twice.
Vancouver is the best city to skate in Canada because of it's amazing
spots, parks and transportation.
 
-Pat Bolduc
(ps. that prize pack is amazing!)
 
I don't really do road trips that much but i definitely think Calgary's a really tight place to skate. You got the Millenium Skatepark for warm ups and to meet up with friends then you hit the streets. Lot's of sick spots downtown which is all skate distance away from Millz. Driving distance no matter what spot probably isn't that far away either. Edmonton's got the sickest locals! and all of 'em just skate for fun but should be am or at least sponsored and getting free stuff. They got some pretty sick spots though but most them you get kicked really fast and you drive far to get to them but i'd say it's worth it with tight locals in the car (TIMMY OBERG RIPS!) you got it going.
—Adrian Beaulieu
 
As you know I am about to describe the best place I have ever rode a stunt wood.
well this place is located right in my basement, and no its not your average mini pipe or slash and burn quarter pipe either. This basement skate area is called the "Flat Pipes" and it consists of two 3 foot high banks on each side of the room. Each bank has legit coping, and or obsticles like wall jams and any other shit you can think of to put in the way.
      now before you say "I am not reading any more, because this sounds lame as hell" just hear me out, because I have had more skaters come and shred the shit of this epic area than our local skate park.seriously. When it comes down to obsticle simplicity, the skater has to dream up new ideas so that they can destroy the next guy.
I mean have you ever seen a smooth frontside 450 smith,bigspin to tail, backside 270 revert before? How about a kickflip-sex change blunt, fingerflip to fakie? No? well...it gets worse than that trust me. Thats just after one season, you can imagine the crazy shit skaters like us can dream up.
      This aint your typical basement of random junker obsticles, this is the land of imagination, beers, and more imagination. The best part about it? Well you can ride it all year. You can ride it in between your snowboarding sessions, and after parties when you think you can land that trick infornt of the girl you brought back to the house.
I have a solid 20 skaters that call me every other week, just because he/she needs to land something they drew up in their mind. I know skateboarders have their secrete spots, but no skater has a place like this. The pure fact that it is all seasoned, in my basement, and can be re-built in any way in less than five minutes...kills every other spot I have ever been to.
       Now that I wrote to you, some other skater will probably tell you some crazy spot in wich kills this one, but honestly think about this spot. Every skater knows the feeling when you have a group of skaters sesh that mini in your buddies back yard. Every one of them feels the sense of gnarlitude, the drive to impress, and the drive to invent and bro down. That feeling is everyday here.
If I dont win - Then skate fast and live free, because thats what the skateboard gives people.
It makes them see the word different, so never put it away.
Yours gnarly
Alan Thomas Weir
 
Home sweet home as the saying goes and home is Edmonton.
Edmonton is rich with spots uncovered and covered to make the harsh winters bearable. Along with the spots we got a few indoors and numerous outdoor parks with some in the works too. We in Edmonton definitely don't lack spots and if you find any local at the park if your driving they'd be more then happy to show you around. We have rails and sets of all sizes and all the stock crap that every city has and of course the few hiding and unique gems here and there like natural trannys and such.
Edmonton has an amazing scene with tons of diversity but lots of unity. We have the freshys and the heshys and the in betweens and there is very much a sense of community in Edmonton. Not to say there aren't haters but for the most part everybody is pretty tight and if they are a hater they just hate and everyone knows their full of shit.
Our scene is definitely supporting itself in a way to. Guys like Timmy and Nile both had photos in this issue and two shops are keepin it real with adds in the mags trying to in turn support our community so you can't ask for anything else in a skate friendly city.
John W
 
    The best memories of skateparks in Canada for me have always come from Seylynn in North Vancouver. As a teenager in Campbell River, BC in the late 80's meant the only parks to ride were in Vancouver. Which always added up to a road trip. We would pile in the car in the middle of the night and bomb for the first ferry to Horseshoe Bay. We would ride all day long, Stopping only for food and drinks usually from 7-11. From there we would find lodging in the car in the alley between Hastings and Granville, which meant sketchy people and not much sleep. As crazy as some of the trips were it added up to the best memories of skateboarding that I have had.       
Thanks for the memories,
Wyatt Stoppard
 
 

“The best place I have ever skated is Ottawa because it my home town and it is home to the best skate shop in the world— topoftheworld.com, well it least to it is to me.”

—Stephen Arm

“Montreal Big O is definitely the place that I most enjoy skating in Canada. I love tranny, but this one is something else. All the soul that come from this spot is awesome.  There is a full pipe section, and a mini-section that is super quick!  Everyone who loves tranny will fall in love with Big O. The local rippers kill it too. The spot always changes how it looks as well— the city of Montreal paints it and cleans it once a year. Every skater likes it when the spot is cleaned— no rocks, sand or shit... CLEAN.This summer, I'm going to B.C. to discover and ride other skate spots all over Canada!”

-Maxim Garant Rousseau

“Saint John, New Brunswick because it’s all on a hill and fast as hell there!”

-Nazan

“I haven’t really seen and skated alot of Canada, but I like skate down town Toronto a lot. The spots aren’t amazing, but they’re petty good. The best spot I have ever skated is my in front of my house, though. I know that sounds weird, but I set up my rail and there’s like a million banks that are legit to skate. Some are four feet tall or so, I waxed them and now they are amazing for slides. Also on the corner there’s a little grass gap that you can learn tricks on, plus there’s a bunch of waxed curbs.”

-Nolan Waller

“Skating the old S&J warehouse, with Pozie on an Ocean Pacific surf board. That to me was epic times. Word”

-Alcatraz Skateshop

Check out SBC's Wesite for the whole deal.  www.sbcskateboard.com/win

The question is.... 

What’s the best place you’ve been in Canada to skate?

Email your entries to contests@sbcskateboard.com with the subject: "Road Trip Prize Pack". Then keep your eye on S&J's website to see their favourite entries and to find out who won.

Here's what you can win:

Element:
Refugee Rolling Bag
PSP Case
Towel
Survival Kit—Tools, wax, bearings, and more.

Spitfire:
Park Burner 51mm Wheels
Knuckles Tattoo Gloves

Krooked:
Zig Zagger Dudelz 8.6” x 32.38” Board
Zip Zinger 65mm Wheels
Zip Zinger Mug
ToeBoggin Beanie

Thunder:
Appleyard Flashbacks
Extra Kingpins

DGK:
Fast Life Desarmo 7.63” x 31.06” Deck

Expedition:
New Era Hat

Gold:
XXX Curtin 51.33mm Wheels

Anti-Hero:
Money Clip
 ‘It’s in the Wood’ 8.38” x 32.56” Deck

IPath:
Ankle Socks

Consolidated:
Leopard Print Blanket

Hoven:
Pladium Glasses

No Kidding!   It's a huge prize pack!

Steve

I know many of you have heard about Seth Godin from me…well, here’s another email.

Here’s what he said in a recent interview.

We'll give away 3 copies Seth's book "SMALL is the NEW big" to anyone who can answer this question (providing they have not won a book in over a year)

What is the hedgehog principle?

Cheers

Michael

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1. Recognize that you’ll have less competition ________________________________________

You should know that this is the best thing that ever happened to you because it makes it easier to be the winner when so many people are dropping out.

The dip is closer and shallower then it would be if these were the boom times.

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2. Focus on building value

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The emphasis should not be on “how do I raise money and hire people.” The emphasis should be on “how do I build value today.”

Because, every day you’re doing this, you’re building value, connecting with people who find you irreplaceable, then you will become irreplaceable.

________________________________________

3. Expect your costs to go down

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Understand that in a down economy, not only is there less money for people to spend on you, but you have to spend less money to make stuff that’s worthwhile.

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4. Don’t hire like it’s 1999

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It makes me sick to see organizations that race out to hire 50 people, because they think that get big fast matters. And then “it’s not their fault” when they lay off 20.

Well sure it is. It’s totally your fault Mr. entrepreneur, because you shouldn’t have hired 50 people to start with.

________________________________________

5. Focus on the irreplaceable

________________________________________

The goal is NOT how fast can you hire as many people as you can. The goal is how irreplaceable are your people. How much can you boil down the essence of what you’re building?

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6. Get lean to beat the behemoths

________________________________________

When we look at the home runs online. They are not the Daily Beast with $18 million and hundreds and hundreds of people. They’re Twitter, with a tiny team of people who have a very fine focused, vision.

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7. Be disciplined about what you’re building ________________________________________

One of the things the guys at 37signals say is, if you want to be on budget and on time, what you have to do is, the day you hit the budget, or the day you hit the deadline, you have to ship. And it’s a race.

So that’s how you do it. You don’t say how do I get more money to match the spec? You say, how can I get the spec out there for the money I have?

Michael

Michael Brooke

Publisher

Concrete Wave Magazine

1054 Center Street

Suite 293

Thornhill, ONTARIO

L4J 8E5

www.concretewavemagazine.com

905-738-0804

cell 416-807-0805

skype: skategeezer1

view a complete pdf of Concrete Wave

click here http://www.turnit.ca/#section/featured/publication/26580