CROWN
JEWELS
DIAMONDS, RUBIES, SAPPHIRES AND EMERALDS cannot
compare to the beauty of a well-shaped pool. Precious jewels
are only worth money but empty pools bring riches of a much
fuller kind. On a recent sojourn to deepest, darkest Ontario, a
renegade pack of swimming pool swashbucklers discovered
unimaginable riches that were previously buried under oceans
of chlorinated water. With a treasure chest of abandoned bowls
to plunder, Captain Salba led his crew on a cruise that sought
out only the finest, most sparkling gems of cement and tile.
The first pool we came upon was christened the Upland Rose.
A nice right-hand kidney with baby blue tiles and lovely bulbous
coping, its setting was a frame of latticework fence. The death
box, facewall and shallow end were polished to a sheen by the
boarding party of Julien Stranger, Peter King, Sal Barbier, Ruben
Orkin and 540. King in particular hit the bowl with high velocity
crailslides, setting the pace for the remainder of the journey.
The Fontuckee Jewel was a sweet left-hand kidney with a lux-
urious shallow end line over the steps and back into the deep.
Salba lacerated the bowl with his cutlass, carving every inch of
it down and around-over the box, around the stairs, out for air
and in the deep between the steps and the handrail. Barbier expand-
ed on his ample street skills by hitting backsides over the light and
grinders in the shallow end. Then Salba dared King to ride the bowls
nude or take the harried walk down the plank. King came back with at
bare booty double-axle bark and somebody whispered that Salba just
wanted to get a look at King's package.
As if this was not enough excitement for one day, the gang headed
over to Kelly Belmar's clamshell. The crew in attendance there includ-
ed Kelly, Jeff Grosso, Christian Fletcher and assorted other rad locals.
Salba dealt nosegrinds and lien to tails over the death box. Fletcher
pegged frontside grinds and laybacks and said he preferred Kelly's
pool to surfing overcrowded beaches because Kelly's was always ten
feet and glassy. Grosso went at it with backside airs, sweepers and a
crazy 50/50 over the death box, around the corner and through the
channel. The Grossman piled time after excruciating time on this
maneuver and still refused to give up. Late in the night he was seen
limping into the shadows and vowing to go at it once again.
The rising sun called for a trip to the San Fernando Valley, home of
valley girls, valley dudes and them fine ass valley pools. John Swope
was along for the ride and there was no doubt he would be fucking
shit up. The first pool was an egg Swope pummeled with backside lay-
back grinds over the love seat and precision body jars. Then came a
square that Swope slashed up with power carves around the corner
love seats and rocks to fakie in the shallow.
The next freshwater pearl was located in the depths of an aban-
doned apartment complex. It was soon dubbed the Piss Pool after the
discovery of the urinary substance collected in the drain. When it
came time to clean up it came as no surprise when those who usually
handled the bailing stepped quietly aside. The Piss Pool was a wide
greenish-blue right-hand kidney where Swope pulled frontside disas
ters and Stranger scooped an insanely high frontside air.
The final pool of the day was a medium capsule located in another
abandoned apartment complex. Here Swope pulled backside disas-
ters, Stranger freight-trained frontside 50/50s and Salba powered
through the curves like nobody's business.
As the sun began to set in the San Fernando sky the crew dispersed
to return to their individual ports of call. They left in their wake an epic
pool weekend with memories that will beckon until new ones come
along to replace their tantalizing call.
Julien Stronger jebave
plays it cool in the pocket with
e carve grind over the fontuckee steps
Shuffling through the airspace above the coping, Peter
King (top) prepares to crack a crailslide. John Swope (opposite right) hovers
above an impending bedy jor in the Valley, Captain Solbs (opposite left) airs out a Fontuckee slob
74 THRASHER