With no plans on the horizon, Alex, Amber, and I loaded up the truck and headed north up the 5 late Friday evening to Santa Cruz. It’s a boring drive, filled with traffic, cows, dust, heat, and plenty of gas station scenery. Hence our night time departure. We arrived safe and sound after arguing metaphysics through the well-known theoretical model of Schrodinger’s Cat (for those keeping track, Alex disagrees that the cat can be both alive and dead).

The next morning we headed out in search of waves and found none. So to make lemonade from lemons we hit up Scott’s Valley skatepark. Alex and I ripped around while Amber sat on the Dad bench. Someone asked her which ones were hers, to which she replied “the two 30 year olds”. If you’re in the area check the park out. It had good flow, good pools, and the concrete was poured nicely. All escaped uninjured.

The next day while Amber was out playing some beach volleyball, Alex and I headed out with one of our gracious hosts, Don, to travel north to find surf. We found some water being blown into formations which we decided to call waves (a stretch by definition of the word). Now, I thought I had been in cold water before and was prepared for the surf session with my trusty 4/3 O’Neill Psycho 2. That was until the icy water first lapped at my bare hands. All I have to say is that I have a new appreciation for the warm waters of San Diego. My hands felt like they were being dipped in liquid nitrogen and my head felt like I beer-bonged 40 ounces of milkshake. That water is cold! I can’t complain though, no sharks decided to nibble on our chilled limbs.

Now for the part of the trip that was my favorite. The Santa Cruz skatepark. This place is awesome! I spent every day at the park and logged multiple sessions of skating glory. The combo pool with the full pipe has now taken first place as my favorite pool in the world. The flow is amazing, the concrete is fast, and there are lines everywhere. To top it all off the scene there is very chill and I had a great time talking to the locals. It reminded me of skating FDR and the spirit was very much the same. If you skate and are in Santa Cruz…go there!

On the ride home Alex took the backseat as Amber and I scrolled through some classic country Americana tunes. As John Denver, the Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and the Marshall Tucker Band played throughout the Explorer, Alex slowly faded into the dark shadows of the backseat, realizing he was entering a world not of his Long Island upbringing. I can only hope that we left him with the taste of some country classics and he could imagine the slow rivers rolling through the green meadows and trees of the country, fish jumping through the glassy water. You’re welcome Alex, you’re welcome.

The trip was a good one and I look forward to returning soon! And it’s good to have the memories of flying through the bowls on my skateboard. As of now I’ve put myself on bans from skateboarding, less I injure myself right before my 2 week surf trip to Tamarindo, Costa Rica. Mmmmm…Cooosssstttaaaaaa Riiiccccaaaaaaaa….

Not one to back down, I did some research and am going to assert my rights to my neighbors. Read my handy-dandy letter which I will be hand delivering to my neighbors. More after the jump…

To my neighbors,

Matt Hough

     Well, after all of these years a dream comes true for this skateboarder. I finally have my own backyard mini-ramp! Max and I built the ramp over the past two weeks. So far we’ve had a few sessions on it and it is a blast! It’s 3′8″ tall, 25′ long, 12′ wide, has a 7′ transition, and 8′ of flat. Also has a 2′ deck and a 3′ deck. More about the construction after the jump.

In building the ramp my main concern was the sound. My neighbors are fairly close and mini-ramps are loud so I was a little worried. I looked into different soundproofing options: carpet pad, bales of hay, mass loaded vinyl. The thing with sound from a mini-ramp is two-fold. The first noise is the ramp surface itself and the second is the coping. After all of my research most soundproofing ideas turned out to be cost prohibitive and didn’t seem to have the right bang for the buck. So what we did was brace underneath the ramp to keep vibrations down. After that we closed in all open spaces in the back and side of the ramp with 3/4″ ply. Then we built 10′ tall sound baffles (similar to highway barriers) and used sound absorbent sheeting that you can find at Home Depot. It seemed to do the trick fairly well. Ramps are noisy and unless you build them inside they’re going to make noise. Good, solid construction will help along with a visit to let your neighbors know that they can approach you if it’s a problem. We also instituted a no-skating-after-dark rule.

For the construction of the ramp it was a pretty standard mini. We cut the templates from 3/4″ ply using a 7′ transition. All of the 2×4’s were drilled in 8″ on center. For the surface we put down 2 layers of 1/2″ ply (staggered so the seams wouldn’t be laying on one another). Then we topped it all off with 3/16″ Masonite, aka hardboard. For the coping we used 2″ outer-diameter steel pipe and just drilled it on. To do this you take a drill bit that’s about the thickness of a screw and drill straight down through the pipe and through the other side so you have two holes. Then the top holes you simply use a slightly larger drill bit so you can fit your drill bit through. Once you can do that just screw the coping on.

The key to building a good mini-ramp is planning. The main things that need to be in proportion are height, transition, and flat-bottom. You don’t want less than 8′ of flat bottom. And if you only have 8′ I wouldn’t build it higher than 3′8″ (this assumes you are using a 7′ transition). Transition is also very important. A lot of people get this wrong and make their transitions too tight. It might look mellow as a template, but everything changes when you surface it and add coping.

And our last important point on mini-ramps: coping. This is another element of a mini-ramp that people mess up. You only want the coping to stick out at the most 3/16″ (unless you like the gnar). You’d be surprised how much moving coping forward or back 1/16″ can make. When adding coping it’s best to have it out too far rather than too deep. If it’s too far take it off then take a circular saw and cut the top back a 1/16″ at a time. If it is too deep add some shims until you have it right.

If you have any questions about building mini’s please post a comment and I’ll answer you in the comment thread.