Slam Skateboarding 230 Winter 2021

The magnitude of sorrow that Trent Riley’s family, his girlfriend, and his best mates are going through is difficult to fathom. One night, in the weeks after Trent went missing, I found myself revisiting an online letter that struck a chord on dealing with grief, and it may resonate with some of the people trying to cope with the despair of Trent’s disappearance. Nick Cave’s The Red Hand Files are a direct one-to-one online correspondence with his loyal disciples (e-newsletter followers). And in a particular question put forward late last year, a follower from Stockholm wrote about the heart-wrenching loss of his wife and his brother. The question posed was, how does Nick go on after losing his son? [Arthur Cave tragically passed away in 2015 at age 15]. Few words can…

It isn’t long now until the Tokyo Olympics and for the first time in history skateboarding appears at the world’s largest sporting competition. Love it or loathe it, chances are we’ll all be tuning in to watch. While some will want to see who wins, others will care less about the medal tally and more about witnessing what crazy shit Aurelien Giraud decides to ghetto bird over – or into. But that’s not the only side event that’ll capture our attention during the games. Here are a few more things to look out for: Gotta Catch ’Em All Unfortunately, at the same time as the Olympics there’s also a bit of a pandemic running through society… You might have heard about it. In the lead up to the games, a large group of Australian hopefuls…

It’s incredible how nostalgic skaters can be. We talk endlessly about tricks and spots and the skaters who have contributed to the history of skateboarding. This tendency to self-mythologise plays out in all sorts of ways, from re-watching old videos to telling stories about pro skaters’ antics to visiting famous spots in unfamiliar cities, sometimes just to look at them. Skaters have always been good at documenting our collective history and paying homage to the pioneers who came before – mostly through video and photography. But for some, the history of skateboarding is appreciated through hardgoods. Collecting boards has become massively popular over the past decade. The average skate collector skews a little older – in many cases he’s a bloke over 40 who’s looking for mementos of his youth to…

“I’ve just been head down, bum up all week,” says Rob Lewers, founder and owner of Concrete Skateparks. It’s a Friday arvo and it must be nearly beer o’clock down on the NSW Central Coast, where Rob’s working on a new skatepark at Narrara. Rob has spent the past 25 years building skateparks all over Australia, from Paddington to Belconnen to Nimbin to the more recent Sydney Park, which he describes as an “absolute nightmare”. It takes many different skills to build a skatepark, from design to surveying to earthworks to formwork to steelwork to concreting. There are also negotiations with councils, contracting and then pulling together a solid crew to get it all done. A lot of that can go wrong. Before the interview begins, I ask Rob if he’s…

As you’ve no doubt heard by now , Trent Riley went out fishing on April 14, 2021, and he has been missing ever since. Trent’s boat, ‘Lydia’, was found that afternoon in Moreton Bay, near Mud Island. Nobody was aboard, but the boat was still driving, unmanned and uncontrolled. Just hours earlier, Trent had posted an Instagram Story revealing calm conditions out on the water and nice weather. A few days later, Trent’s hat was recovered in the water, but no other trace of him has been found since then. And it wasn’t for lack of trying. The search mission for Trent spanned 11 days, involving hundreds of volunteers, scores of boats, jet skis, kayaks, helicopters and a $73k GoFundMe campaign. The Queensland Water Police, the Coast Guard, and Volunteer Marine Rescue…

Kyia Evans Trent’s Girlfriend There are so many things I could say about my lover boy, Trent Riley, but we already know how truly special he is. There are so many stories, secrets, inside jokes and memories I could mention, but for some reason, they seem too intimate to share. These secrets are what make my love with Trent feel unparalleled to anyone else’s experience with him, and I treasure the bond between us too much right now to give them away. But to my person, my love, my only one, I will say this… Dear Trent, thank you for giving me your soft and gentle heart to hold onto forever. Thank you for teaching me that love and kindness are the most important things. Thank you for teaching me to be a lover…