The Triple 24.12.20

Twas the night before Christmas / and as you can see / the session was raging / with these Instagram three.

This is the (slightly early) Triple for this week.

3. Le’Andre Sanders Madonna

I’m always down for a big old hip transfer. I love blasting out of a quarter, feeling like Grant Taylor, and landing in another quarter – just bombing around bowls and parks is my favourite thing to do on a skateboard, and I love seeing footage of it too.

This clip of Le’Andre Sanders instantly became of my favourites this week because it reminded me of blasting over hips in the height of summer. What made it a candidate for The Triple was a fully extended and boosted Madonna, with Sanders’ leg as far off the board as you can get. I’ve tried these over hips before and only ever got as far as landing them onto a bank, but they are really hard to boost. It’s super sick, and got me stoked for more transition fun in the new year.

2. Callum Paul’s Nose Manual 360 Revert

There’s something to said about the simple act of skating a curb. They are surprisingly versatile and fun despite being the most abundant skateable obstacle on the planet. Slappy Grinds, manuals, stalls… Last week I even spotted a clip of someone doing a frontside ollie out of one like it was a quarter pipe!

As I’ve said in a previous Triple – seeing professional skateboarder types hitting up curbs and putting their immense talent to work on the most humble of obstacles can lead to some pure gold. This clip of Callum Paul is proof of this, with a mind bending Nose Manual where he does a 360 revert in the middle.

This thing took me by surprise, as people usually opt for a mid-manual flip trick or a 180 revert – Callum spiced it up with a full 360 on the nose. How he kept his momentum going is a real head scratcher, and I was really blown away by this clip.

1. Taihou Tokura’s Nosepick Wallbonk

The Japanese skate scene is full of absolute shredders with some incredibly sick tricks. In a lot of cases it’s not that they are any more talented than their Western counterparts, it’s just that their scene has cultivated a different way of viewing skate spots, leading to some familiar moves done in surprising ways. It’s this approach to skateboarding that has produced some rad skaters such as Taihou Tokura.

An example of what I mean by “familiar moves done in surprising ways” is definitely on show in this clip from a recent Nike SB edit. I’ve seen BS Nosepicks before, and I’ve seen the Frontside variation done as a Wallride Bash before as well. I’ve never seen a BS Nosepick Wall Bash before though, and I definitely haven’t seen it on a spot like this.

The spot is a crusty oververt quarter, with a vertical wall coming out from the overhang. You basically need a lot of speed and pop to throw yourself up there over the oververt and hit the wall. Getting yourselt onto a wallride bash would be impressive enough, but getting yourself up there with a Backside Nosepick style move is even more impressive. A great way to close out 2020!