Mike Xavier from Globe sent me some shots and a little story on the construction of their new skatepark in Bali. The park looks pretty awesome and is lit till 9pm every night. Check below the cut for words and photos by Gregor Rankin.
First thoughts to have the bowl … We had some spare land in front of the Globe warehouse that I just kept looking at, and imagining what sort of bowl we could fit in there… after the demise of the Base skatepark, that pushed the whole project along, cause we really needed more places to skate in Bali. Jaya Dawg heard I was keen and contacted me about building it… and it all went from there.
Who designed it? … The design is a combination of a few different things I have skated over the years… the 6 foot keyhole I based on Skate City Whittiers clover pool, 4 foot square corner touches vert and is from the shallow end of Upland combi, volcano is from Sadlands, and the top bowl 3.5 feet deep from Newlynn, Auckland
How long did it take? … It took just over 3 months from when we first started to “dig a hole” until the final pour.
How many people involved? … Jaya Dawg, Carter, and Pak Triono and his “Zombie” team.
Any dramas? … There are never any dramas when building in Bali! Every thing when smoothly to plan… we did have 1 pour we had to rip out again, because we got the mix wrong and it wasn’t going to dry in time… it just kept falling down. Apart from that all went well, especially considering what tools and products there were to work with.
Who did the art? … Clayton Barr did the mural, which adds a great vibe to the set up.
Why did you build it? … There is not a lot to skate in Bali… this thing will be here for a long time to come, because we have the land for another 15 years.
Who skates it? … Local rippers are Yogi, Remot, and Dewa… but I imagine that list will get longer real quick! There is usually a crew of 15 or so skating every night. The lights are on till 8 or 9 at night. It’s too hot to skate before 5pm… so everyone turns up around then and skates through till 8 or so.
What’s the scene like over there? … Up and down depending on whether there are places to skate or not. But there are a surprising amount of keen skaters, we just need more spots. There are other people talking about making more parks, if that happens I think skating will get a lot bigger here and fast!
You’ve got a new store opening soon, what’s the go? … Our new Globe store will be open mid October. It’s is on Sunset Road, Kuta, Bali. Often with the traffic around Kuta, people don’t want to deal with going in to Kuta Square to get stuff… everyone uses the Sunset Road so it’s a really convenient spot to get to if you need surf or skate equipment if your going surfing on the Bukit or on your way to our skate park. We plan to have lots of skate gear at good prices.
Anything, everything you think crew not from Bali would want to know about it! Probably be some crew from Bali seeing this also, and definitely people that travel there. If you surf and skate… Bali just got even better!!!
