Alley Oop

When you consider everything it takes for a contest to be successful a lot of things have to come together. The weather has to cooperate, the format has to be right, and most importantly, people have to show up to it. While last year’s Skim Dance Revolution was a step in the direction of a non-traditional skim event, it left Jason Wilson, Steve Taylor and myself all thinking one thing “next year we’ve got to blow this thing up and make it better!” With a year to think about it and prepare ourselves this years Skim Dance Revolution was just that, Bigger and Better!

The 25th of February was a glorious morning! Temperatures were in the mid 70’s, there was glossy shin-to-knee high bumps on the water, and hardly a breath of wind. It was truly a morning that only a place like Lauderdale-By-The-Sea can provide. Which made the morning set-up a little more enjoyable and left us as organizers optimistic that the day would go well. It was definitely an upgrade from last year considering it was 52 degrees and drizzling rain (not exactly a Florida kind of day). It also helped with attendance because the registration sheet showed close to 40 more competitors than last year. So far so good.

After morning registration and Jason and I explaining how the day would go to all the competitors, it was time to start. Last years format of all amateur riders and progressively harder tricks until there was one competitor left standing, was abandoned. The amateur divisions would go back to a regular timed heat format. The professionals however would be a best trick format with a little twist from last year. It would be a double elimination, head on head heats and judges are looking for the best “trick” of the heat. This attracted some Florida Professionals such as Brad Domke, Alex Hood, Rob Morris, LBS local Danny Rodriguez and last year’s expression session winner Josh Hill. Not to mention the newest Alley Oop Pro rider Blair Conklin made the trip with Steve Taylor to test his technical skill. And with a first prize of $500.00 you know your gonna see something crazy!

After a good solid morning of amateur and pro preliminary heats, mother nature would showed up and make her presence know once again. It was what Jason and I had been quietly cursing at weather.com all week leading up to this event, storm clouds and 20mph + winds. But like normal Florida weather the storm clouds would leave just as quickly as they showed up and the winds would die down to a manageable 15 knots (after we weighed down the tents with buckets of sand that is).

Competition didn’t slow down a bit during all of this. The pros continued to battle each other through the elements, busting some big tricks for the judges. The final match up consisted of local Alley Oop Rider Danny Rodriguez and Exile’s Brad Domke. Both entered the match-up with no losses under their belts. Danny Rodriguez skimmed very fluently, busting some big airs and nice frontside bigger spin but that turned out to not be enough to take out Domke. Brad busted 180-benihana air and a 540 shuv-it with a 360-body varial!

A notable amateur bout came in the Men’s division, as it became the Wyatt Krapf and Alabama’s Colton Wallace trick for trick battle in the final heat. I’m talking 360 shuv to 360 shuv to 360 shuv combos. It pretty much came down to who didn’t complete the combo got second. It was pretty sick. With that heat ending it was time to wrap it up on the beach and head back to the shop for the awards and dance battle!!

The highlight of last year, the dance battle proved to be as epic as ever. The difference this year was that we had brought down our close friend DJ Woody B to control the musical flow. He didn’t mind doing it for another couple hours after blessing our contest goers with his steady flow of all kinds of your favorite tracks. The rules were simple. You had 30 seconds to do your thing to whatever he played and cheers from the crowd decided whether you would move on or not.

Mini division winner Roman Hager (age 6) proved to be impossible to beat in this competition. Even runner-up for the second year in a row Brad Domke couldn’t beat the little break-dancer of fury! The crowd spoke, loudly, and Roman was hoisted up on Domke’s shoulders and collected his $50 purse donated by Danny Carter’s Dance studio, who happens reside directly about AO FL. His parents were proud to say the least.

This years Skim/Dance Revolution contest was an event to remember. A lot of fun was had by all and that is what it is really is all about. When you have been attending skim contests for as long as I have you can appreciate a contest like Skim Dance Revolution. No points, no big arguments about how things are being run, just pure enjoyment was had by all. I’m glad I had a front row seat to such a great event!

Big up’s to all our sponsors: Alley Oop, Exile Skimboards, Vitamin Water, Windjammer Resort, Aruba’s Beach Café, Village Grill, Opt2web, Argenti Jewelers, LRG, INSIGHT, and X-TRAK.

Check Out a Video Recap of the Event:

Special Thanks to DJ Woody B for spinning all day for competitors and spectators alike. Killed it, as usual!

Words – Corey Mahoney
Photos – Drew Cornwall

Video-Kevin Muggenborg

Click the images below to check out our event sponsors web pages! Big Thanks to Vitamin Water and Windjammer for stepping up as this years gold sponsors!