BUCKY’S BOO-BQ

BUCKY’S BOO-BQ
OCTOBER 27, 2012
ENCINITAS, CA

After a call and invite from Chris Conway to roll to Bucky Lasekland for his annual Boo-BQ, we were stoked to attend this private event and fundraiser for Grind For Life, so at noon on Saturday, October 27, 2012, we hit the road from L.A. to Bucky’s. A few hours later, we arrived on the scene and were immediately greeted by Bess Conroy of WMG as she welcomed us to the party. Making our way up the hill to the bowl, we passed a variety of party-goers in full costume with smiles on their faces.

At the top of the hill sits the enormous 13-foot deep bowl with 85-feet of grindable coping. If you’ve never seen Bucky’s bowl in person, it’s like Alice in Wonderland when, all of a sudden, you feel like you went from being over 5 feet tall to being under 2 feet tall. It’s that big. Anyone who skates Bucky’s has to have guts to get any glory in that thing.

Of course, being that it is Bucky’s house, some of the world’s best skateboarders were there and they all made it look easy to rip. Andy Mac, PLG, Bucky, Bob Burnquist, Tom Schaar, Cookiehead, Zach Miller, Peter Hewitt, Darren Navarrette, Daniel Cuervo, Cory Juneau, Rich Sanchez, Austin Poynter, Tony Mag, Jeff Hedges, Paul GreenIssue, Brad McClain, and many more took Bucky’s bowl for a ride.

As soon as we got up to the coping, Tom Schaar landed a 720 in the monster bowl and was attempting a 900. Skateboarding highlights included Brad McClain’s smooth nosegrind around the corner, Bob Burnquist’s switch hurricane grinds, Rob Lorifice kickflip stalefish, Bucky’s ridiculously humongous backside ollie through the corner, PLG’s 360 flip to fakie with a hatchet in one hand, Austin Poynter’s bionic backside airs through the corner and Cookiehead Jenkins overall ripping while dressed up as a whoopie cushion.

The weather was perfect and the session was heated all day as tricks for cash was the name of the game and a few thousand dollars was given to the riders who brought the tricks for treats. They had awards for best costume, while cans of food were collected and donated at the door to benefit the San Diego Food Bank and raffle tickets were sold throughout the event to benefit the Grind For Life charity helping those fighting cancer. Bull Taco served tacos all day long, RockStar Energy kept everyone amped and Fred Water kept everyone hydrated. Puma put together gift bags and sponsors included GoPro, Pabst Blue Ribbon and Pantech. Thanks to Chris Conway of Who Skates who is a big contributor to this event and helps Bucky put it all together.

Bucky turned on the East Coast hospitality button and made everyone feel welcome. Props to the Lasek family for opening up their home for such a good cause. The crowd surrounding the bowl was a Who’s Who of skateboarding, surfing, and entertainment, with some really great costumes and great energy. Sergie Ventura and Dave Duncan kept the session live with their announcing all day long. The vibe was great and this was a first class event from beginning to end.

The session ended when everyone jumped in the pool for a group photo as the sun started creeping towards the horizon. Many thanks to Bucky and all of his crew for a damn good time. Until next year….

WORDS AND PHOTOS BY DAN LEVY