Bondi bowl bash 2025
Damn, it’s been a minute since my last blog post, but you know, sometimes real life has to take precedence for a while.. 🤪
It’s also been a much longer minute since the last Bondi Skateriders Club comp, but we finally got there..! 🤠
So anyway, wow..
It’s been six years since some real heat was rolled onto the surface and ground through the coping of the iconic Big Blue Bowl. 2025 marks what would have been the 20th anniversary of one of the most exciting international vert bowl comps. Early in 2019, Bondi Skateriders Club held a qualifying event for what should’ve been the 15th Bowlarama. But unfortunately, due to financial woes it never happened. 2018 was the last time we saw that amount of international vertical bowl-bashers sweating it out under the Bondi sun. It was also the last time that many of us would see our dear friend, mentor, skaterat, avid competition director & head judge, industry stalwart, and lover of life, the one & only, Sasha Steinhorst. When Sasha skated, people would stop to watch his rawness, or if they weren’t watching, they stopped simply to get out of his way when he was charging left, right & centre around any park, bowl or street course that he laid his wheels on, often leading the charge as a (former) team manager, accepting no complaints about the terrain’s skateability. When he ran events, he brought people together from the grassroots to keep it real. He loved Bondi, and aspired to live here one day. But alas, cancer took him much too soon. Hence, the Bondi Bowl Bash is dedicated to his legacy.
The Bondi Bowl Bash is in loving memory of Sasha Steinhorst. Eggplant at his home away from home, at a Bowlarama warmup session many moons ago.
Pic by Dean Tirkot
The day began after I finally got my car, with the whole comp infrastructure in it, out from my garage where I was unceremoniously parked in by a pest controller (irony much?). Just a mere hour late (this time), we started with a community coaching session facilitated by the prince of Bondi, Ryan Helm, while some practice runs also took place.
The junior’s then hit the deeply dugout stage, with local Zachy boy setting an example of how to get around the quick curves for the rest, throwing in a stale Cab to entice the discerning judging panel, which consisted of Newcastle’s OG Russell Grundy (sporting a Sasha Steinhorst laminate) and master skatepark builder Shane Serena, with some occasional opinions thrown in by Nextdoor Sydney’s keymaster Zane Hedley, and myself.
Samson Scott came back strong from a little hi-skatus and threw down lines and his first 5 in a while to take the win, with fellow Shire shredder, Dusty Darby, right on his tail (not literally..).
The OG’s of many years then got involved in the Master’s jam, showing the youngsters some deep history, carving, grinding, slashing and fakie-ollieing with style, to show that age is no barrier to how long one can enjoy our beloved four-wheeled pleasure sticks (remember, there’s no true pleasure in life without some pain..!). Freshman to Bondi, John Pearson, took the sweet little bowl-replica trophy hand-made by the second-place earner, none other than Scott Spring, original Bondi shred-dog, and whom also shared the podium with myself & the legendary Adam Luxford at the first Bowlarama way back when…
Junior’s, Women’s and Master’s divisions. Most pics by Canberra’s legendary lensman, Luke Brown AKA @vagabondedit, except for where noted on each photo. Thanks for making the mission, Luke! 🙏🏼
Then it was up to the ladies to adorn the Beauty of The Bowl. Isla Lillie showed her well-travelled control of the curves to take home the final stash, while Her Hip Highness, Amelie Zrilic, came in second, and local corner crusher, Luella Stanley taking the magical number 3.
The days irony continued into the “Men’s” division, with half of the field unable to enter most of the licensed Beach Road Hotel, one of our generous sponsors, where some of the skaters were staying, and dinner and our post-comp gathering would be later in the evening.
While there may not have been any international pro’s, there was certainly no shortage of outright shreddery – or cash to hand out during each of the no-holds-barred jam sessions!
Open Men’s field, pre top 4. Most pics by Canberra’s legendary lensman, Luke Brown AKA @vagabondedit, except for where noted on each photo.
Ryan Helm displayed his regal dominion, with no shields in sight, bar a pair of Nextdoor denim sheaths and tshirt, commanding his wooden stallion to slay the concrete, bringing a heavy disaster to every corner of his concrete kingdom. But it was not the prince’s or his elder brethren’s day, as burgeoning younglings fought their way to the top to claim the spoils. The nimble Novocastrian, 15 year old Taj Wolfenden, claimed the coveted title of “Beast of The Bowl”, and made off with the lions share of the loot, as well as the bespoke ceramic bowl. Deftly navigating the terrain at hand on his wheeled wand, he wielded wizard-like moves, cab heel flipping, nose grinding, back-tail sliding, then dazzling even himself when he rode out of a perfect kickflip body-varial 540 first flick, a feat rarely seen in the blue behemoth.
Fresh off of a magic carpet ride from Southern California, fellow youthful magician, Eddie Acres, flew into second place with a newfound sense of power in his arsenal, and loft in his airs. He also cranked up the spinning top into a 720, another Bondi rarity.
But the moment of the day was stolen by Hudson “Huddy” Walker.
The top 4 “Men” Bowl Bashers: Taj Wolfenden, Eddie Acres, Huddy Walker, Louie Daiguchi. Most pics by Canberra’s legendary lensman, Luke Brown AKA @vagabondedit, except for where noted on each photo.
The previous afternoon I was poolside catching up with Scott, Huddy’s dad, and after having stomped a ridiculous 900 at the Mangawhai Bowl Bash (the comp names are purely coincidental, FYI) a month or so ago, I curiously yet completely unexpectantly asked him if Huddy was thinking of going for a 9. He said no probably not, as Huddy apparently didn’t feel comfortable with the run-in approach, which is definitely weirder for goofy backside, given the hip-through-waterfall set up, not to mention landing towards the tight corner’s imperfect transition. I agreed that that was fair enough and didn’t think any more of it. Fast forward to the end of the final jam, and Huddy was obviously feeling the vibes and threw one, committing, but taking a pretty decent body check on the flat. The Best Corner Trick jam had officially started, but our co-commentators, Life Without Andy’s Mitch Tomlinson, and Shannon Farugia of Terrible Happy podcast, called him in for another shot. Not hesitating for anyone, he went for it again, copping a second and slightly heavier body check. The crowd wanted it, and so did Huddy. He got back up, dropped in, schralped the shallow to rip a 6’ backside air for optimal propulsion, came back around and snapped the perfect spin to smoke the first 900 achieved in the historical proving grounds. The crowd erupted, and everyone that was skating were deadest stunned into submission, as pretty much no skating happened for what seemed like 10 or so minutes, even though the comp was still going. The vibe needed settling and resetting. I gave him nine $20 notes (I had run out of $50’s), the most for a trick so far, and Huddy received third place for his efforts overall (the 9 was after time, and Best Trick was to be done specifically in the tight corner).
Second placer, Eddie Acres, went on to wrestle the corner into submission with an alley-oop 5050 to backside revert, yet another hectic NBD, seizing the cash for Best Corner Trick on his last attempt.
The High Air session rounded out the day, and ended up in a battle of three adept aviators, all spreading their wings magnificently for all to marvel at from below. Josh Matwijiw, son of 80’s vert master blaster, Steve Higham, has battled head-to-head with the fearless warrior, Lachie Abbott, in numerous air-off’s, but today it was Eddie “The Eagle” Acres that was seemingly outflying the padless beast, until one mighty updraft assisted a methodical throw of legs above his head into an extremely crooked cop, and Lachie claimed an aerial victory once more, by about the difference of a bee’s stinger.
The vibes were higher than all of the airs combined, but it was officially all over – hooray for pack-down time!
High vibes and high flyers. Most pics by Canberra’s legendary lensman, Luke Brown AKA @vagabondedit, except for where noted on each photo.
It takes more than one to put events like these on, so thanks to Zane, and Ryan, at Nextdoor Sydney clothing co for the collaborative assistance in putting it all together on the backend.
And of course, immeasurable gratitude goes out to our amazing sponsors, without which no one would’ve showed up, coz let’s face it, cash is king, and we pilfered around $7,000 off of them to give away. Many of the parents likely (and understandably) simply brought their kids along to hopefully get a piece of the purse as some recompense for all of the travel miles and expenses accumulated in recent years getting their progeny around to such events - cough up, kids!! Ahaha
But most of all, a massive shout of appreciation goes out to all who attended, as without everyone being there, skating, working, helping, or watching, it’d just be a few dudes hanging out under some gazebo’s, with a wad of cash not knowing what to do with it all.. Well actually, I’m sure we could’ve found plenty to do with it, but the sponsors probably wouldn’t have liked that, so it’s lucky you all came to stop the temptation!
‘Til next year!
Support those who support grassroots skating, so I encourage you all to please show your love to these fine businesses: Nextdoor Sydney, Redz Ramp Surface, Beach Road Bondi, Boardworld, Opera Skateboards, Slappy Trucks, Life Without Andy, Terrible Happy, Beach Burrito Co, PDR Dent Removal Ballina, Waverley Action for Youth Services.
I just really liked the vibe in this wide shot of the bowl, in a soft black & white, to finish up with. Nice work Luke @vagabondedit
#bondibowlbash
Article authored by Ti Coleing, lifelong skateboarder, industry guy, and head coach & fun-provider at Flow:Skate.
We offer coaching for all levels, however our main focus is intermediate to advanced skaters looking to take their skills & mental fortitude to the next level.
