The use of airbags have ushered in a tidal wave of progression across action sports. Offering lower consequence landings, they give athletes the confidence to practice tricks without the fear of serious repercussions. Now we have a similar concept with harness style aids in skateparks.
Not the first time we’ve seen this kind of bungee setup (there’s one in Hawaii Kia Lenny uses) but its the first one we’ve seen at a skatepark open to the public. Figure skaters have long used similar devices and with skateboarding now an official Olympic sports, it’s not surprising to see them on dangling over curved sheets of Skatelite.
Check out this footage from TR7 Skatepark in Newquay, UK to get an idea of how it works. You might be in the camp where slamming is all part of the process but just getting over the initial hump of dropping in without the bumps could open doors to people who would never dream of trying it. Pretty cool I say.
