3. Brandon Westgate – Emerica Part

Ancient cavemen surfers were known to coin a phrase, which went something like “when you catch a wave, ride it as long as you can.” Flip knew it, Plan B knew it, Powell for a while knew it and now Bay Stater Brandon Westgate. These past couple years Westgate caught a hell of a wave that may or may not have crested yet, depending on his next moves and how you personally rank homestyle hammers such as tiling a bathroom. For a few different reasons I responded more to this Emerica part released just three or four months past his vast and crushing opener for the “Stay Gold” vid, maybe because it was shorter, more condensed and potent, maybe just because of the last trick. He’s still got his teeth sunk into the San Francisco hills and I think this is some of the most impressive skateboardering this year from a physics perspective, partly cuz you never see a car or motorcycle pulling him up to those bump/bars. Also do we agree at this point to elevate the 360 flip over the bar to the Hall of Kings where it can sit alongside Josh Kalis’ one at the end of “Photosynthesis”?

Oy Flips?

The Buffalo, NY dirtbag with the toilet-centric onomatopoeia surname, Dan Plunkett, now does his thing for Skate Mental boards, which you could take any number of ways. It does reinforce certain shadowy conspiracy theories around Staba’s stacking of the squad with Nike endorsers, which we’ve ruminated on in the past, sure. But the above pic has me curious if we’re also seeing a new front in the war on 360 flip form – the antithesis of YWS’s hated “yo flip”?