APPLEYARD, SHECKLER, BUSENITZ, CHIMA AND SUSKI IN DUBAI
4/4/2006
This past week, the part of the skate team headed to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates to explore the new spots to be found in the beautiful and ultra modern city of the middle east. Ryan Sheckler, Mark Appleyard, Dennis Busenitz, Aaron Suski and Chima Ferguson were on the trip, along with Lance Dawes and Jake Phelps from Thrasher, Andrew Mapstone and myself. We arrived on the 25th, all after extensive flights from all over the globe and were immediately picked up and given a whirlwind tour of the city from inside a Hummer limo. We were told that everything in Dubai is "over the top". This translated to a whole lot of money and flare. It seemed like everyone had and expensive watch and a car to go with it. Even the cops were driving BMWs.


CHIMA, GAP TO LIPSLIDE DURING THE DEMO.

The trip started as a mission to explore a new city. Dubai was nothing but sand dunes 20 years ago. 10 years ago, the main strip had a dirt road, now it has a hwy with 5 lanes going each direction. There are high rises sprouting from the sand like wildflowers coming out of the hills in spring, and with this there are tons of virgin spots to be skated. The place is paved in marble, so everything is fun.


CAMELS FEEDING ON DATES.

We spent a week in Dubai. We did one demo and a autograph signing at the local shop called Rage. It is in the Mall of Emirates. This is a massive mall that also has "Ski Dubai", an indoor ski slope. After the signing we went snowboarding. It is weird to think back and say that we rode camels one night and then went snowboarding the next in the middle of a desert. It was an amazing experience, thanks to our guides: Shahriar, Shahin, Evan, Colm, Maysam and Alex. I will not go on and spoil the article that will come out in Thrasher in coming months, but you can bet that you will see a ton of spots. Dubai is a city that is begging to be skated. It is on track to double in size in the next couple years, so expect to see and hear more about this surreal city in the middle of the dunes in a far away land.


THIS SPOT HAS NOT EVEN BEEN SKATED YET, WE DID NOT EVEN SKATE IT AND IT WA ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE HOTEL.

-Steve Stratton