The Kimberlaaities Tour was a youth tour featuring some of Kimberley’s up and coming rippers and Kumba Skate Plaza management staff. The goal was simple: show the kids an awesome time while giving them the opportunity to explore their beautiful country and skate spots and meet friends along the way. We hit the road on the 2nd day of last month, July, and headed towards Port Elizabeth. Here’s a few photos from the first two days of our journey. Next up we’ll take you through our trip to George, stay tuned!
Here was the Kimberlaaities crew, the guys who would be wreaking havoc in the van for the next week. From left to right: Will Meleng, Alec Balie, Darren Joseph, Brad Balie, Erwin Lyon, Theo Setsetse, and Martin Kotze. Profiles on the crew can be found here in case you missed it a few weeks back.
On the drive to PE, just before exiting the Northern Cape, there’s a stretch of highway on the N12 that’s just full of vervet monkeys. Here’s a few of the lil’ guys hanging on the telephone pole. Martin shot this one.
I want to hit you guys with a witty pun here, but I can’t think of anything for the life of me… This van was just too good to be true.
We wanted to do something special for WSGP intern Erwin Lyon’s birthday, as he celebrated his 23rd year as a breathing human on his first skate trip. Our waiter was kind enough to hook Erwin up with a special birthday tune courtesy of the guy outside. The song was stuck in all of our heads for the remainder of the trip.
On to the beach. Here’s a few Erwin took with the GoPro.
Not too sure what Theo was writing here, but I’m sure it was of some significance to him.
Thumbs up for King’s Beach.
Theo gets wet.
Kimberlaaities on the beach: Group shot 1.
And another on the boardwalk.
On to check out the skatepark. King’s Beach Skatepark is easy on the knees and has something for everybody to enjoy. In plain view we’ve got a nice and mellow hip, a speed hump, a 3′ quarter complete with pool coping, and a girl taking a cell phone photo.
On the other side of the park, there’s a nice bank to ledge, another speed hump, and a tight barrier/quarter stashed away in the corner. Smooth ground and fun obstacles call for good times. Definitely worth checking out and the go-to warmup spot.
Here’s Martin with a noseslide.
Brad with some quick boardslide action down the rail.
Theo blasting the ol’ one-footer over the hip.
Curious by our camera gear and large crew, new friends Sarah & family spent some time with us at the park before we hit some spots. Sarah’s younger sister, although coping with a muscular disorder preventing her to move in certain positions, was fascinated by skating and wanted to give it a shot. Erwin was down to help her enjoy a ride.
If you stay up with any of the AV Skateboarding videos, you may have seen this spot before. Although the bank to ledges are the most frequented parts of this path, cruising the hill and powersliding around the corners calls for some good fun. Just watch out while carving some of the banks, you could get got. Perfect warmup spot, and also easy to get caught at all day.
Alec takes a breather. Good times at this spot.
Words/photos: Chinner
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