Articles

Ian Beattie

Ian Beattie

by Sim Bradley
13 / 08 / 2008

There is no easy way to break news like this, so I am just going to say it. This week one of our greatest friends, Ian Beattie, passed away unexpectedly after suffering from a heart attack. Ian was on holiday in Cornwall with his family at the time, taking a rare break for such a dedicated photographer.

2008.4

2008.4

by Sim Bradley
12 / 08 / 2008

The latest issue of Alliance hits the shelves today, and it is crammed full of home-grown content. We start out with an interview with one of the most under-rated and unknown riders to come from the UK, mainly as he lives in Spain where it’s a little bit sunnier. Jamie Oliver tells us more about himself, how he got into riding and what it’s like to be a Brit abroad. We have the Coming Up Special in this issue where we feature three guys who we predict will be big names next season. I won’t spoil it for you now, you’ll have to pick up a copy to find out who they are.

Rococo Finals

Rococo Finals

by Sim Bradley
09 / 08 / 2008

All good things must come to an end, and today marked the finals of this year’s Vans Rococo Rail Tour. The day started out with a lot of sore heads and unwillingness to get out of bed, something that wasn’t helped by the continuous rain that had been going all night. I arrived at the backstage car park at midday and spent 10 minutes sliding around the muddy field and down a hill trying to park my car knowing that trying to get out later on would be a nightmare. After eventually parking, it was over to the Vans tent to shelter from the rain and watch as literally tens of people came through the gate onto the festival site. The first band onstage came out and shouted ‘Hello Newquay’ to the four onlookers of which one lonesome guy screamed back. It wasn’t a promising outlook for the day.

Rococo Stop 3

Rococo Stop 3

by Sim Bradley
08 / 08 / 2008

Continuing the second year of the Rococo Rail Tour, a bunch of wakeboarders have once again descended on the not so quaint seaside town of Newquay, for the third stop and to decide the overall tour winner. The thing with doing rail jams like this is it’s difficult to keep things different, and this years trip to the south west has definitely had a feeling of déjà vu. I rolled into town early yesterday morning and headed to the site where I was greeted by the same security guard as last year, wearing the same cowboy hat and oakley’s, there’s the same food stands and bars, the MotoX and mountain bike guys are next door, the music acts playing Boardmasters were reminiscent of a certain welsh festival not so long ago and there are Vans beachballs all over the place. That said, the only thing that does seem to be different is the two rails for the pool gap.

Newquay Part 4

Newquay Part 4

by Tim Woodhead
07 / 08 / 2008

Well my friends it’s the end of the day on Thursday and as I write this we have moved out of our crazily poor, nasty, cheap hotel and moved into a posh 4 star beauty, complete with swimming pool, bar, breakfast options, nice comfy beds, carpet, toilet roll, kettle and proof that you get what you pay for in life! We are here for the weekend then its back to the sh*t hole for the pool gap take down. We are about to take an adventure to the SUSO party in town and meet up with Matty C and a few others so it could turn messy. The office staff have arrived (hence the posh hotel), the pool gap is 98% complete and the water level has eliminated the little question mark that was floating around my head.

 

Newquay Part 3

Newquay Part 3

by Tim Woodhead
06 / 08 / 2008

Yet again more rain - all those daft websites and forecasts that I looked at before leaving Abersoch are a load of rubbish. They told me Sun all week and we have had rain and wind. The entire pool gap nearly flew when we tried laying the liner in the launch pool, we must have resembled Richard Branson about to cross the Atlantic. The wind really is the biggest pain in the ass for any part of our sport.