My Dad called me up this morning and asked for a hand on his fish boat. My sister couldn’t devote time until 2 weeks from now and his crew was long gone so he had no one to help him put his net away for the winter. Anthony and I did the hour drive to Steveston, got a lost a few times, and eventually ended up at the dock where my Dad moores his boat. My Dad’s a commercial  salmon fisherman, none of that sport bullshit, he’s got a big ass man boat and has been at it for almost 40 years. I used to spend a lot of time with him on the boat in the summer, but haven’t gone out in nearly five years. It was nice to spend a bit of time on the Miss Trimar again, even though a bit of work was included in the visit. I have a lot of great memories and stories from growing up fishing and being out on the water. It’s a really big part of my childhood and had a huge impact on the way I was raised. I love the mountains, but I don’t think I could ever live without the ocean.

While we were putting the net away we met an awesome swan that was super tame and really into white bread. I had never seen one in person before, nevermind have it eat out of my hand so willingly. He wasn’t too down with me petting him, but I got pretty close. He chilled for a long time and ate a ton of bread haha. It was a really cool experience, they are one of the most beautiful animals I’ve ever seen, I wanted to take him home with me.  All of the wildlife is a huge perk of fishing, the amount of animals I’ve gotten to see up close and personal because of the boat is kind of crazy. Hell, we weren’t even at sea and we got to hang with a swan, that things like a magnet.

Anyways, it was a pretty fun day and one that was out of the norm for me for this time of year. I thought I would share. Thanks to my Pops for having us, it’s always fun hanging with him and being on the boat. Makes me feel like a kid again, all I was missing was my raingear and gumboots!

Talk soon,

S.

A few weeks ago I headed out to Toronto for a RedBull camp that revolved around trampoline training. Former US Aerialist Coach Matt Christansen set up the entire week for us at SkyRider’s gym in Richmond Hill. SkyRiders is owned by Canadian National trampoline coach David Ross who was gracious enough to host our crew for the week and give us all some pointers on proper jumping. Bobby Brown and Mark McMorris were the other two athletes with me and we spent five days out there jumping around and trying out new tricks. A lot of people will probably think this is completely gay. The entire concept of it and the fact that we’re using trampoline methods to become better snowboarders. Hell, people still think going to the gym is stupid and not what snowboard is about but I don’t see that way. Everyone who rides wants to be better in some way, no matter how small or big. I go to the gym all year long to be a better snowboarder, I spent more time in there than I care too and only because I know it helps my riding. Trampolining is the same thing, it’s a way to stay in the air when there isn’t any snow and it’s a way to work on new things and make myself a better and safer jumper. I learned a lot of basic trampoline skills during my week with Matt and David and I learned a ton from Mark and Bobby. Having those guys there to tell me that I’m corking too much or not looking under my shoulder or looking too late was such a huge help and it was really fun getting to hang with them and watch them push themselves to new levels. Check out the videos I posted below of them killing it and trying way too many triples. Another cool thing about the camp was getting to watch the Canadian National trampoline team train. It’s an entirely different sport and extremely strict, but it’s really impressive to watch in real life. The trust they have in themselves, each other and their coaches is something I haven’t seen before and it was cool to see the ladies sending it as hard as the boys. Triple twisting triple thinger, hah.

Before I headed out to Richmond Hill I made sure to spend a few days in Canada’s biggest metropolitan city and home to some very good friends of mine. Deidre picked me up from the airport and we went straight to a great dinner at Parts and Labour on Queen’s West with a lot of old friends that I hadn’t seen in years. Deidre was such a sweetheart to arrange it because I wouldn’t have seen a lot of those familiar faces if she hadn’t of, so thank you Dee! It was really nice to catch up with old friends like the lovely Susi, Nat, Andrew, Jon, Matt, Pete and to meet some new friends like Tash, Chris and Danielle. The next day we did what girls do best and went shopping at some great vintage stores and hit up the new Top Shop. Dee was feeling under the weather so Susi and forged on without her and I spent the night with her and her man playing pool downtown. A morning meal at Parts and Labor, a bit more shopping, quick meeting with Dee’s lovely parents and some chocolate chip cookies later we were back downtown and heading to the movies to see The Town. Awesome movie with great people and a happy end to my short lived weekend in the T Dot. Thanks to Dee for being such a gracious host even though she wasn’t feeling that great.

Thanks to Gabe at RedBull, David at SkyRiders, Mark and Bobby, Jordy at RedBull and of course the man behind it all Matt! An awesome week that was really valuable. I’m hopefully going to hit up a drop in night tomorrow with PLO so we can practice some tricks. Only ONE MONTH until I head to Breckenridge…holy shit.

Talk soon,

S.

You can view the videos here.

So last April I did a shoot at Buttermilk at Aspen with Mike Basher for the cover of Snowboard Mag. Well it just came out and I’m really excited about the final result. I think I did about 1000 back 3′s that night, but it was well worth it. Basher killed it and I had a great time hanging with him and Grete, who also got the cover of Freeski that evening. Her’s turned out awesome and I think all in all, two covers in one night is a decent outing. Huge thank you to Chris Owen and everyone at Snowboard for the opportunity, to Basher for the awesome shots, to Grete for the excellent companionship and to Greg Boyd and his team for building the jump and making sure it was perfect. Go pick up a copy now!! If it ends up being their best selling issue ever, it’s probably because I bought 90% of them.

Talk soon,

S.

The November Cover Shoot With Spencer O’Brien from Snowboard Magazine on Vimeo

Sorry for the massive lag in updates this last month. I guess I got a little too comfortable being at home and having nothing to do. Anyways, here’s some photos from my last few weeks in NZ. A few from the Burton catalogue shoot and some from hanging ten with the Pash Palace. I miss it there, lots of good times were had.

Talk soon,

S.