The BoardFree Diary 2005
Just in case this is your first visit to this page, the most recent entries are at the top with the originals down low. Start at the bottom if you have the time!
As this year of change draws to a close I hear about the death of Ben Lockwood, who for two years slept in the bedroom that is now mine. He was riding his moped on Christmas Eve and was involved in a car accident. We didn’t always see eye to eye but we had laughs and long talks about the world and he was unique and now he’s gone. Everytime I meet up with friends from the early days of University a story about Ben comes up. His unannounced travels to Eastern Europe, his craziness, the way he would always turn up when food was on offer. His guitar playing and his friend who juggled at a friend's birthday party while Ben rapped. I have a video of my 21st birthday, which shows 30 people standing and sitting in amazement while Ben breakdanced and landed on furniture and people. There was a lot of laughter that night. He lived life to the fullest, he knew no other way. It's a sad sad end to the year.
December has flown by. With barely enough time these days to update my diary (I promise this bad habit will be eradicated with a New Year’s resolution) I wake up on a cold Friday morning to realise that it’s the 23rd December. In exactly one year, if all goes to plan, this is the day that the Australian journey ends. The day that I roll into Brisbane on a yellow longboard. The day that BoardFree has been gearing up for since its April conception in the same bed that I woke up in this morning. I have four people ready to jump into a support van and by the second week of January there will be five, the full hand. A couple of months ago Becki, Rae, Phil and Simon will have all had vastly differing plans for 2006, now they’ve been thrown together by a plan in action, and this time next year they too will be rolling into Brisbane, probably a few metres behind the longboard in a large van with a BoardFree logo on the side. It should be overwhelming to be in the middle of project that has developed so quickly, but it’s not. It’s exciting, mesmerising, so unbelievably fulfilling to know that a simple little idea one morning can turn into reality, a concept that in 2006 will involve thousands of people, and effect even more. I sit and look at the map of Australia on my wall and smile at the fact that even now I have to turn my head to take in the expanse of road we’ll be covering next year. Before that it’s the UK, top to tail concluding with what will hopefully be a barnstorming party at Land’s End at the end of May. I have a couple of quiet days with the parents to look forward to now, a chance to sit back and take stock of the last year’s events. 2005 was memorable, 2006 might just be a bit special. This is very exciting as its my 1st blog. But don't believe that this is the first time I have written about boardfree - I have a very sexy little book where all my thoughts on it are written, and have been since October. Watch this space for some juicy quotes...
Boardfree started for me when me and and my flatemate, Annie, were going for an afternoon walk along the seafront, when we ran into Dave and some big yellow thing with big green wheels. He told us about boardfree, but at the time I had some silly crush on him that had gone on for a couple of years, so I didnt really listen, but arranged to meet up for a pint. (for the record - this crush no longer exists - I now know Dave!)
So we met for a pint, and since then, BoardFree has become a way of life. It started out just helping him, including dedicating some of my handbag to the cause, then I applied to be a roadie, then I got picked to go in the support van, and the rest is history...
I'm going to Australia... And its so exciting! There's a long way to go yet - lots of fundraising, poromotion, planning and blagging, but its all very exciting. Australia is so close, yet so far away. So much to do, and so little time to do it. But its christmas!
Tonight, myself, Dave, and Rae and Phil - the other Roadies, are having dinner tonight and swapping pressies, which i'm really looking forward too. Just think, this time next year, we'll be on the home straight to Brisbane....
This evening I sat with Rae, Becki and Phil and called Simon Thorpe on speakerphone. There was one reason for the call, to tell him that we wanted him to come to Australia as the BoardFree cameraman. Two weeks ago Si turned up to the selection get-together as a stranger. He settled in straight away, easy to get on with, very chilled out chap. Between then and this morning myself and the Roadies had no doubts as to Si’s character, we knew he was well suited to a long journey in close confinement, but we hadn’t seen proof of his camerawork and editing skills. The morning after the selection party Si took some footage of myself and Elsa (the board), this morning a padded envelope fell through the letterbox and I loaded the video onto my computer. Proof was in the pudding, the 4th seat in the support van was his. Click here to see the video that handed Si a trip around Australia! The Calendar is off to print! The end of a tiring week means a relaxing weekend ahead, much needed to recharge the batteries before a busy drag into Christmas. After a shoot for the calendar with Sam, Graeme and Ben from Dog Days, we got to talking about Australia and the potential dangers ahead. It was considered that perhaps the most poignant bother I'd face was an indigenous snake that chases things. Apparently it can wriggle up to 30 miles per hour. I'm still not sure about that, but it leads me on to thanking Will Clive for his recent Dare Dave offering, which funnily enough involves racing an Australian animal of some description. Longboard vs Beast, which will win? After a long day of naked photoshoots for the BoardFree calendar I'm skating along a pavement besides a busy road when three kids decide to step in tandem towards the pavement, blocking off the gap between them and the road which I was about to skate through. Traffic was roaring by and if cynical old me hadn't half expected the kids to do what they did I would have been roadkill. When they realised I wasn't swerving they jumped out of the way laughing their heads off, but they were too late and I caught the one on the end with my arm, which I had outstretched to brace myself, figuring it was better to collide with a human than get run over by a truck. It was just a glance and as they were still cackling I guess the kid was ok, but I nearly went down over the kerb. Furious, I was! We have roadies! Becki McKinlay, Rae Howells and Phil Poucher are the first members of the BoardFree support team. To have three people of this calibre willing to commit to several months in Australia is a huge privilege and BoardFree as a project can only benefit from their selection. It's also a personal relief to have the spine of my support team picked. This project is growing on a daily basis and it's into first gear from now on, I can't do it all myself, to have all of the roadies living in Swansea is a big comfort. So, with two seats in the van now available there is less than a month until the full team is decided. Two applicants for the photographer and cameraperson positions came down for Saturday's party, I won't talk about them until the selection has been made except to say thanks for taking the time and effort to travel to Swansea and stake your claim.
Last night's Australian theme night in the Swansea Union bar was a great success. We sold over 200 wristbands and raised a fair bit of awareness. The night was soured a little by the news that half of the door take would not go to the BoardFree charities as originally planned and a lost camera (if anyone finds a black Sony Cyber Shot filled with photos of the night's preparations and my yellow board please get in touch!). Big thanks go to Owen Morgan and Caz from the Ents team who worked all day yesterday to prepare Divas with some brilliant decorations.
It's the end of a big week, the beginning of a bigger weekend. Three thirty Tuesday, Rae Howells, editor of Swansea Uni's newspaper, suggests we do a BoardFree naked calendar in time for Christmas. By half five we had a printer, gawd knows how many volunteer models and a new fundraising project was in the pipeline. The 'I'll need your 80 inch longboard" jokes started to surface, and every girl in the Uni media centre was asking to take the April shot, a couple of hundred footballers naked in the mud.
The next day a group of Swansea peeps travelled to Cardiff to watch Alan Fletcher, aka Dr Karl Kennedy from Neighbours, do a gig in Walkabout with his band, The Waiting Room. I met up with 'Fletch' straight afterwards, he prodded the Australia map on my hoodie and said, 'mate, this is going to be awesome, let's meet in Melbourne and let me know how I can help out.' During the gig my mad friend Laura Kelly (mad in the best possible way) forced her way to the front of the screaming crowd and waved a BoardFree wristband at Dr Karl for about 20 minutes, she got hideously groped as a result and I can only say LK, you're a star!
Tonight is a BoardFree Australian theme event in Diva's, the Swansea Uni SU bar. With a bit of luck and hard work from dedicated RAG staff and BoardFree luvees we might pip the £1000 fundraising mark by early Saturday morning.
Finally, tomorrow night is the first of a series of support team selection events. I can exclusively reveal that the roadies to join the BoardFree support van will be chosen by midnight. Just under a month until the photographer and cameraperson get the nod. Who will the lucky people be?
In one week the room in which I sit now will be filled with friends and strangers, people who are vying for a position in the BoardFree support van. This journey is an adventure for some, a life changing experience for others, certainly a period of life that will be related to children and grandchildren. I'm in a fortunate position to be guaranteed a spot in this mad escapade, but have difficult decisions to make that will disappoint too many people. Am thinking that perhaps I should scout around for an Australian double decker bus so I can avoid the inevitable heartbreak and take everyone to Oz. At the moment excitement at the formation of a team is mixed with burden. For once, I think this week is going to drag on, seven days until BoardFree moves into first gear means seven very long days indeed.
In nine months the Australian journey will be one day old. Thousands of miles ahead, barely tens behind. It seems like an eternity, but it's just around the corner. Jubilation mixes with nervousness, silly questions like what happens if I twist an ankle getting off the aeroplane at Perth airport, will there be people waiting to join the skate away on Day 1, will there be a crowd in Brisbane on Christmas Day next year? I'd quite like to do a deal and have 48-hour days between now and then, sleep isn't around in abundance at the moment, there's an awful lot to do!
Wow, what a day. It really doesn't take much to get people talking, here's the proof: Bee, my housemate, sends me an email this morning with a hefty list of longboard forums she's visited to post info. on BoardFree. Bee doesn't longboard, she doesn't visit these forums for a laff, she just did it for BoardFree. And now I'm posting wristbands to New Zealand, chatting to a Sam from Perth, getting skaters from Oz wanting to join the journey at some point. Thanks Bee, star!
On another good point, friends of mine who are in a band went to see an Australian guy called Xavier Rudd play a gig in London last weekend. See the messageboard for the result of this.
Last Friday Emma Hallet, an old friend from Swansea, went-a-wristband-selling at the surf/skate convention in Cornwall. She flogged a serious amount of bands and got a load of companies interested.
To sum up, picture the scene. I'm in Edinburgh scoffing a burger, it's the biggest meanest burger I've ever encountered. After two bites I look up painfully at partners in crime Becki and Owen and mouth the word 'HELP'. Owen looks at me like I'm three years old and says, '
Dave, do you need a support team for everything?'
'fraid so, anyone else want to join in?!
With less than two weeks to go until the spine of the support team is
chosen I'm finding it hard to write diary entries whilst keeping
things under my hat. I spent the weekend in Edinburgh, driving along a
bit of the route I'll be skating between John o'Groats and Land's End in May and talking to Australians who think I'm mad. So far the general conception has been, 'wow, amazing idea, amazing journey, but
boy are you going to find it hard.'
Now and then, whether I'm with someone or alone, I glance off into the distance and chuckle. I can't wait for BFUK to kick off at the start of May. Yep, it'll be tough, but if there's a lot of road ahead
there's nothing better than putting your foot down and pushing off. Otherwise we'd never get anywhere.
The applications are coming in for the support van. My back is aching after the half pipe TWO days ago. In a month there are going to be faces other than mine on the Team page. I'm wondering if there have been any articles about BoardFree printed recently that no one has told me about. I'm wondering whether I'm thinking too much about BoardFree. Or am I thinking too little? In nine and a half months I'll be in Perth, preparing to get very very tired. Currently designing some skinny fit tees for girls. Struggling with a slogan. Maybe 'Life Is Good'. What do you think, reader?
Well. Birthday today. The best possible present is the idea that in exactly ten months I'll be leaving Perth. I'm kind of hoping the trip will be organised by then! Efforts at the moment are being concentrated on the Length of Britain Challenge, to be known from hereonin as 'BFUK'. Universities are being asked to show their support by arranging a fundraiser on the night I skate through their city/ town so if you're connected to an institution get on the backs of the Students' Union and let's organise something!
A couple more newspaper articles this week. Both in student papers, one at Manchester University and the other at Aston. Almost without warning we're approaching November, time is flying and if anyone out there has any connection to the media and think they could push for BoardFree coverage please do so. 10 months and four days left before I leave Perth. There's a lot to do and it will be done, but I'll never turn down any help!
This week I've had some interesting conversations. First was an old friend I hadn't seen for over three years. She asked a question nobody had asked, 'what do you think the mental toll will be on you, after skating everyday for four months?' My answer: 'I'm not so sure there will be a toll. I'm ready to do this and I know what I'm facing.' Two days later a chap at Swansea University voiced what I'm sure a lot of people have been thinking but very few have actually said it. 'I don't think you can make it.' It's a fair concern, if no one has done it before then what makes me different? Quite simply, I'm attempting it. Finally, Peter Sanftenberg, the head of rolls rolls, who are providing boards and parts for the trip, -including my beloved Elsa upon whom I travel everywhere - called me up to discuss the possiblity of a promotional skate tour in March 2006. He had been talking to Jack Smith and the other members of the Skateboarding Across America (SAA) team, who hold the present 3000 mile record, about the best ways to train for a long distance skate. 'There are two ways,' he told me, passing on the information from the SAA, 'you must learn to switch [legs], and the rest is mental.'
It's been all go on the student newspaper front this week. The editor of Queen Margaret's University College's SU publication, the Echo, kindly invited me to write a first-person article on BoardFree, a refreshing experience after being the focus of journalist's questions for two months. Next week Manchester Uni's Student Direct and Cardiff's Gair Rhydd will feature BoardFree, with more articles from elsewhere following shortly.
Yesterday I attempted my first half pipe. In fact, it was the first time I'd ever perched on top of a normal skateboard and a day and a half on my hips are slightly plump. In five months I'd quite like to be able to do what they do on the Xtreme Sports channel. This is doubtful though, video evidence provided here.
Another week away from home means another catch-up session on the Diary page. The press attention has started to pick up again and the next two weeks are going to be hectic, with the primary aim of getting articles in student publications throughout the UK and Australia. It is now less than eleven months before the big send off from Perth and the question 'where are you going to be this time next year?' can be met with a vaguely interesting answer. Today, a year on, I'll probably be rolling along the first stretch of the Nullarbor. Excellent!
The search is on for a four-person crew to fill the support vehicle. Photographers, filmmakers, medics, mechanics, writers, drivers....who fancies 4 months seeing Australia from a unique viewpoint - from the slow-moving vantage point of the BoardFree support van?
This morning the Swansea University newspaper Waterfront, a publication I edited until March 2004, featured a large article on BoardFree. Written and compiled by Guy Stewart and Rae Howells it took a refreshing new slant on all aspects of BoardFree, although the title He Was A Skater Boy seems a bit pesimistic, don't you think?
It's Friday but feels like the weekend has just ended. Last Friday the server housing this website had a minor, shall we say, fizzle. In other words, we were offline until Tuesday morning and it took muchas time and money to rectify matters. All said and done, it's a relief to have the site back up and running - it was startling to realise just how difficult this project would be without the internet.
The BoardFree launch in Swansea's Sandbar was a great success, with folks trawling in from all corners of the UK (and further afield) to add to the 150+ crowd. Screwloose donated a fine looking Mindless longboard as the raffle's top prize and Gower Graphics chucked in some fancy BoardFree mouse mats as runner-up bait. On the night we raised just over £200, but more important were the extra number of ears that heard about BoardFree that Saturday. For all the newspaper articles, tv spots and radio interviews we're getting nothing is going to spread BoardFree around more effectively than word of mouth. What can I do except beg that you tell your friends to tell their friends about this!
Just gone 6pm and I've just had an email from Steve Hopper at Insect Skateboards across the pond confirming that Insect will be the official sponsor for the BoardFree Initiative. In short, this means that 
everyone learning to longboard with BoardFree will get to do so on an Insect board, and we'll also have Insect boards, tees and other stuff to give away at charity raffles. Finally, the support van in Oz will not only sport a fancy Insect logo, but we'll have a nice supply of Insects onboard so the crew, celebrities and other taggers-on can strut their rolling stuff. Cheers Steve!
Now online is the latest press article about BoardFree (click here to read The Weekly News piece) and I'm also working on a more in-depth description of the charities and how donations will be used.
Settling into my study again after an eventful weekend in London. On Sunday morning I met Andrew and Lorraine Thomas of the Lowe Trust, after an all-women 5k fun run in Hyde Park. This was our first face-to-face and it was super to meet their son Oscar, a Lowe boy, and his friend James. This was also my first encounter with Lowe Syndrome children and as I skated away after an hour or so I felt my resolve growing to give this charity as much help as possible. I've spoken to a number of doctors since BoardFree began and not one of them had heard of Lowe Syndrome. Speaking to Lorraine about raising Lowe's profile I gained a further insight into the lives within the family-run Lowe Syndrome Trust. It isn't a job, it isn't a voluntary thing, Lowe is interweaven into the lives of the Thomas'. Lorraine agreed that it was hard educating people about Lowe with competition from another thousand and one charities. "All I want to do is keep my son alive," she said. It put everything into perspective.
After a short holiday I've been back on Elsa, and it's good to be back! The arrival of hundreds of tees and thousands of wristbands has ensured that walking in a straight line through the house isn't going to happen for a few weeks. My cousin Kate in Sydney, the main Sailability contact in Oz, is promoting BoardFree by introducing the project as something being undertaken by her 'mad cousin'. As Kate tells me,' the Ozzies love to "bash the Poms" and they all
think you are certifiable so its a possible platform to use for publicity!!!'
In other news, Arthur Hendey is soon to be the owner of his very own rolls rolls board, and he is now learning to longboard downhill, nail-biting stuff.
At 08:25 a five-minute slot on Good Morning Wales Saturday began with a mispronouncing of my name by the introducing presenter, but then continued with Arthur laying down the gauntlet to any wannabe stand-up comedians out there. The man pulls one-liners out of the bag again and again. It's not much that has me giggling like a child before half past eight in the morning.
At 10am I meet Arthur by the sea-front at the same place as the first lesson on Monday. Before we start Treeva Fenwick from the BBC interviews us and gets some soundbites for a piece to be aired tomorrow morning. Then we got going. To make the lesson easier I'd brought along a 58" board which I hoped would make it easier for Arthur to balance on, it's a lot steadier and wider than the rolls rolls. The plan worked, we drove down to a wider part of the cycle path and within a few minutes Arthur was boarding two footed for the first time. His grin was wider than his face by the end of the lesson. Now that's satisfaction, our old dude was surfing (see the photos and video).
Another page 3 article by Geraint in the Post today, with a superb photo of Arthur crouching on Elsa. The headline: Total Respect to an Old Dude. Brilliant. (read the article). What a mad day. 2-3 minute slots on the HTV news all day long. The slots were great, really well put together. Two downsides though - all mention of the charities was cut out, and there was no link to the website. But as far as awareness goes, can't complain. An evening roll to mumbles was accompanied by a plethora of honking horns and 'good lucks' from pedestrians - so people do watch the news! (See the news slot)
A 6pm lesson with Arthur Hendey turned into a veritable media circus, as the Evening Post and HTV turned up to cover what they must have been sure would be a 70-year old topple-fest. They were wrong! Arthur's most painful moment came before the lesson, when a Post photographer asked him to balance on the board for a few shots. 4 minutes of crouching later, poor Arthur got cramp! (See pictures). Although the skating progress was slow and frustrating for him, Arthur played to the cameras like a pro, he's a funny guy and I told him he could have as many lessons as it'll take to get him up and rolling. Looking forward to the coverage tomorrow.
Today has been the day for wise heads. This morning Geraint Thomas from the Evening Post emailed to say that a 70-year old named Arthur Hendey wanted to talk to me about skateboarding lessons! I called up Arthur, left him a message and later he called back when I was out training. His message is quite possibly the best reason I can think of to support the invention of answering machines, and you can listen to it here. I'll be teaching Arthur to longboard early next week, and the Evening Post will cover that too!
2nd wise head came along in the form of 75-year old John Comley, who stopped me outside Sainsburys to check that I was the guy who was skateboarding around Australia. He was a grand old man who couldn't have been nicer, and John officially donated the first funds raised by BoardFree, a shiny pound coin! Thanks John, you're a star! Thanks also to everyone who honked their horn or said hello during the Swansea-Mumbles training sessions today!
First press article! It's huge. Open up the front cover and there's my ugly mug with Elsa. Well written by Geraint Thomas, and photos not so cheesy! Such a relief. I suppose with the first article there will always be nerves, but it couldn't have been out any better. Read the article.
Good Morning Wales phoned up today after seeing the article. Was going to do a radio slot tomorrow but that was rightly cancelled to cover today's explosions in London.
On other notes, thanks to Andrew Thomas from the Lowe Trust the t-shirts should be here in a couple of weeks. So many people have been passing on the word about BoardFree to friends and families and slowly the feedback is drifting back, it's all positive.
A journalist from the South Wales Evening Post visited my house today and we chatted about BoardFree. He left, and the photographer arrived. I changed into something appropriate and we drove to the Sail Bridge, a sweeping footbridge across the River Tawe. I don't like photoshoots and I hate to force a smile. It felt cheesy, it felt painful! The Post snapper was great, and before the end of the shoot uttered the immortal words, 'whether you like it or not you have to smile, it has to be cheesy, they don't give money to miserable bastards.' It is true, and I'm so far from miserable. Looking forward to the article tomorrow! This evening was the first of (hopefully) many longboarding lessons I'm going to take to benefit BoardFree (see here for more details on lessons). Mother and daughter combo Jenny and
Reneé Bull had never been on a skate or longboard before but initial nerves disappeared in minutes. After 30 minutes they were off, "can we go to the end of the pier?" pleaded Reneé, with the glint of an ice cream in her eye. The evening summed up...2 small wipe-outs, pushing, riding and carving mastered, 5 miles boarded each, ice-creams all round and big smiles and shakas at the end. Who's for the next lesson?
I received a call from Andrew Thomas of the UK Lowe Syndrome Trust today. He was positive that the Trust and BoardFree could work together and mutually benefit each other through awareness programmes. This weekend in the Sunday Express Andrew's son Oscar, a Lowe sufferer, was featured meeting Penny Lancaster, one of the Trust's patrons. Andrew hoped that through another patron, Piers Morgan, BoardFree and Lowe could be featured in a future tabloid. Brilliant news!
On a now daily training pelt around Swansea Bay I stopped for a halfway drink in the Mumbles, where the woman behind the counter took an interest in the rolls rolls. Her husband and three kids then appeared and I told them all about BoardFree and offered the eldest son a go on the board. They were genuinely interested and I wish I'd asked for their names, if they read this at some point, thanks for the support, it means a lot!
Although the full website isn't live yet, this is officially the first BoardFree 'diary' entry. It's midnight between the 6th and 7th July. It is over a year before myself and a presently non-existent team fly to Australia, but the slow progress of putting this website together is proving to be good therapy for the itchy feet that prompted this mad mission in the first place. I guess we gotta start somewhere, roll on the days and weeks...