8:20 AM
Words and Photos
By Salba
Pools
in OMε Day
8:45 AM
B
reaking records is stuff that dreams are
made of. With Mark McGwire hitting
more home runs than anyone else in
a season and Terrell Davis being only
the fourth running back in pro football's 80
year history capable of rushing for 2,000
yards in a season, I felt that within the realm
of skateboarding something just as exciting
and challenging could be done. With recent
unprecedented feats being accomplished by
skateboarding's top elite (Mr. Way's heli-drop
and the loop-de-loop make by Tony Hawk
and Peter Hewitt, for examples) the idea
came to mind to skate as many pools as pos-
sible in one day...something I've always want-
ed to do. I set up a pool mission of six skaters
including myself who I felt I could trust to
work, help organize, and document as best as
possible. My old record was something like
11 or 12 back in the Valley in 1990,
and my new goal was to skate at
least 20 different pools in one day.
For some foolish reason this hair up
my bum would have to take place
in the dead of winter, and recent
rains made it extremely hard to
keep on top of things. It took seri-
ously over three months of drain-
ing and constant surveillance to
get things ready for the planned
assault that would ultimately take
place over the Christmas break.
While Ozzie, Toby, and I did most
of the work, I have to give credit
to Nick "Maddog" Henderson and
Kevin Rucks for toiling on one of
life's finer things: skating in a
backyard swimming pool.
Saturday morning
6:00 AM. The alarm goes off just as the phone rings, thus
waking the wife up, who is extremely pissed at my skater
friends for always calling at weird hours of the day and
night.
I run to the phone down the hallway corridor and
notice that the front room light is on, with Ozzie sitting on
the couch as I pick up after four rings.
6:03 AM. I suddenly realize that Oswald spent the night in
order to hit the dawn patrol.
6:15 AM. After a quick shower I call Ruel on his cell phone
and he says he's near the 57 and Imperial. "Running a little
late Sarge," he replies. I give him new coordinates and times.
and tell him not to be late, hoping for a miracle.
6:20 AM. Loading up the truck takes about five minutes or
so....stuff like brooms, buckets, cups of various sizes, a turkey
baster, a french fry cooker for no leaf clogging, extension
cords, drain covers, towels, the SCUM bucket, pads, extra
shoes and socks, dry shorts and shirts, shades for every sit-
uation, spare parts like an extra hanger and baseplate, hard-
ware, griptape, the ever important duct tape, bearings,
9:09 AM
9:25 AM
9:45 AM
10:07 AM
10:27 AM
wheels of 88, 95, 97 durometers for every occasion, and the
most precious thing of all: the map with directions.
6:30 AM. Upon entering the 10 freeway I describe the
plan for the first assault to Ozzie, who was in the USMC
in Beirut t when it all went down. He likes it and we syn-
chronize our watches.
6:50 AM. We arrive at a pool I want to drain before
everybody gets ready to start the day. Ozzie blocks the
right entrance of the unlocked gate with a large trash
bag so we can hear somebody coming. We decide the
coast is clear.
6:53 AM. I drive around the block and park in the driveway
unive
of another HUD house, which just so happens to be behind
the other house with a perfectly immaculate-looking empty
other
pool, except i t has three feet of water purposely put in by the
real estate company to keep people like me out. Little did
they know that I'm a crafty sum'bitch when I want to skate
something real bad.
6:55 ad.
AM. After
After assessing the situation, Ozzie and I get the
SCUM bucket over the block wall fence that separated the
two houses and prepare the pool for drainage, commando
style. We use their electricity in the enclosed patio, which is
locked, and wait silently, checking our positions while
the Santa Ana winds covered our tracks.
7:00 AM. I could tell that it was going to take a while
so we decide to go drain another amoeba by hand
since it only had six inches in it, grab a bite to eat, then
go
o back to finish up our early dawn patrol mission
which would be an added plus to our collection
could pull it off.
we
7:18 AM. I call Rueler's cell phone number to get his
whereabouts. He's 15 minutes out. I can't believe it.
7:20 AM. We arrive back at Koontz and she's still not
all the way drained. Silently we slink over the fence
hoping for the best. If we pull this off it's a major coup
for the skateboard world.
10:45 AM
11:40 AM
12:01 PM
12:16 PM
12:38 PM
12:51 PM
1:15 PM
The cast:
Dave Ruel. Former Team Alva rider who cut off
his dreads, moved to OC and became a star,
appearing in numerous Hollywood commercials.
One of the best pool riders in the business.
Toby Burger. A kid I met at a park one day while
playing baseball-an accomplished ollier who
skates pools with a wickedly delightful smooth
style. He's prepared for everything and maybe
even a little delicate. The Mongolian Monk.
1:33 PM
Chris Rooney. Known to most as Rhino,
this 6'4" former high school basketball star
gave up a career in the NBA to skate with the
bros at Eastern Boarder. A talented skater
who can grind with the best of them and is
fun to be around.
Preston Maigetter. Another Eastern Boarder
transplant to Cali, the creator of the video
Justice, was used exclusively for his skate-
board/camera skills that will hopefully be in the
Guinness World Record books for the most pools
skated in one day.
1:42 PM
Alan Ausburg. Ex-Woodward
camp commandant who always
dreamed of moving to Cali to see his
boyhood dreams come true by
learning to skate pools. An ex-
Marine trained in the medical field,
Ozzie literally saves lives and has
the spunk of a 13-year-old kid who's
not afraid to ask anything. A little
overzealous he may be, but it's his
youthfulness that makes him ready
to skate a pool at any cost.
82 THRASHER
2:26 PM
2:46 PM
4:07 PM
4:27 PM
4:36 PM
5:00 PM