Like Kelly Slater, Shaun White and Tony Hawk have cemented themselves among their respective sport’s royalty. Unlike Slater, though, White and Hawk are veritable multidisciplinarians. White famously has taken home X Games gold in both snowboarding and skateboarding. He’s also a surfer. Hawk’s pedigree in surf is lesser known, but he dabbles. And at 50, the fact that Tony’s skating vert ramps at all, much less ripping is impressive.
A few days ago, worlds collided in Lemoore in a day dripping with Olympic subtext. The Founders’ Cup just rolled out of town. White, a medal-winning Olympian was on deck. So was Tony Hawk. Recall skateboarding also will debut in the Olympics in 2020, and White has even said he’d like to qualify. Then, of course, there’s Kelly who has said he’d love to surf in the Olympics if he qualifies – and even if he doesn’t he wants to see competition happen in his wave pool, which KSWC is hurriedly building somewhere in the greater Tokyo area.
Both Tony Hawk and Shaun White explained that before heading to Surf Ranch they’d never been properly barreled – Tony qualified it saying he’d never gotten properly barreled on his backhand.
Word is Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder was also present for the collision of these titans of board sports. No footage of Vedder in the tub has emerged. We’ll keep you posted.
