Ramp Build: Day #3

He was this close! (Picture me holding up my thumb and forefinger only millimeters apart from one another.) But he lost time on the build yesterday when he had to leave early because his spouse had been locked out of wherever it is they're staying. Today? He brought her with him. As you can see from the pictures, she knows her way around a drill. They were both working away. It will certainly be finished by tomorrow morning.

There's only one thing wrong with that. I haven't surfed in weeks. I'd planned to paddle out tomorrow for sure. I must now wait for the ramp build to be completed, especially since I'm the one holding the money to pay them. I need to stick around anyway. It is my ramp. So, I will sit and wait. (Note to self: Buy helmet. Buy helmet!! Girl, dreadlocks don't provide enough padding when you fall on your big head. Buy helmet!!! Stat!!!!)




I would love to have been able to afford something like Skatelite Pro or Ramp Armor. That I couldn't swing financially. It just wasn't going to happen. However, I'm not at all distressed. All of the wood on the ramp is pressure treated. When one of the guys working on the house saw the wood in the backyard prior to the build, he immediately commented on it. "That stuff won't rot. The termites won't eat it. That stuff will last." I never said a word about the wood. He volunteered this information with much interest.

I told the guy building the ramp I was a bit worried about splinters from falling. He said gloves will take care of that. He'd laid the plywood in such a way that we'd be falling away from/against/in the wrong direction of the grain. (Okay, I don't remember what the hell he said; I understood what he meant though.) He said that if we were really worried about it, we could use skate paint on the wood after the wood dries out.

I'm stoked. I can't believe I actually had a ramp built in the backyard. I wasn't even allowed to skate as a kid. I used to sneak out when my parents weren't home. Then I'd inevitably get busted and punished. I suppose all that skating I wasn't allowed to do as a kid is now coming to the fore, begging to be let loose. And soon I'll have a ramp. I'll be able to skate whenever I damn well please. I'll also be able to fall and kook out in the privacy of my own backyard.

This is a 40 and over ramp. If you want to skate it and you're under 40, you must get advance permission from the owner. No, I'm not kidding. The young folks can go to the skate parks. The rest of us need our own private Idaho.

Pray for good, uncrowded surf.