Skoone DIY 2023

June 13, 2023

Jarmo Kangro

words and pictures by Nicolas Bouvy

Skoone Bastion has always been an iconic spot for the Tallinn scene and that for more than 15 years, once they poured fresh asphalt on top of the little hill. After that, the first concrete obstacles started to appear around 2012. Earlier, the park was really not the place to hang out, unless your goal was to have a good time around dead needles that some addicts left after they drew some blood in the abandoned buildings. Over the years, locals have always added more obstacles, some resiting the elements better than others. For sure the place looked like it was in need of a do-over. And here comes Siim Sild, the most dedicated dude, ready to devote his time and energy to give us a better scene in town. Being involved in Loigu and other events, last November he was approached by the Redbull DIY project and the permits were asked from the city administration to give the spot a well deserved a beauty treatment. So Siim got the big Redbull company to fully fund the project and brought all the community together to sacrifice some sweat and put their muscles at test during a few long working days.

All generations gathered during these 4 days, from the fresh young riders to the old generation, and went nuts on reviving the park under the Mind Work Ramps supervision from Latvia. Fricis Štrauss was the man trying to make Siim’s first plans/ideas become a reality. And he’s one heck of a creative builder, always having new ideas and ready to bring more crazy adaptations. He loved the place since it’s DIY, there’s more room for creativity for the concrete to be laid down.

Jaagup Mägi at his best !

And if sometimes it seemed hard to believe that in 4 days around 10 different modules could be built, he had such a positive attitude, calm and peace were levitating around him. It really helped everybody to keep on going and made this possible. Siim probably got some white hairs popping out his scalp since the supervising of a project that size is such an accomplishment. And success was on its way. So thanks to all the community, the work you guys did is so insane, now we have the best concrete park in town … finally!

Johannes and his friends got their hands dirty for the community

Not to forget our friend Sylvain on a trip to Tallinn who brought his time everyday to help, even finishing last concrete work on Monday early morning !!

Sylvain our devoted Swiss friend

The final outcome is a pro-standart achieved, even tho it’s a DIY park. Curbs, rainbows coping, freaky killer quarter at the end, just pure joy will come out of you riding this park. And it flows, your old legs won’t need much of pushing since pretty much everywhere you gonna find a good speed bump in front of your deck spinning its wheels. So after 2 weeks for the crete to cure, and some cleaning and painting here and there, the party was up last Saturday. Again Redbull treated us with support in collaboration with Kaifuun, Surfhouse Skateshop, and the best burgers in town were provided to all the contestants by VLND Burger. They, by the way, sent their best cook on his 4 wheels, and he got his ticket to Simple Session next September. Congrats to Nils-Eerik Vesberg for the 1st place ! Siim Sild did get his place on the podium as 2nd and Meelis Erm, with some crazy moves like only his own wild mind can imagine, got 3rd. Best tricks went to Andris Kaldvee, Jeremy Vaask, Silver Kroos, Jarmo Kangro and again Siim and Meelis as well. Now the place is ready for more blood sacrifices, this time captured from young rippers doing what they love, skateboarding.

Here's some pictures of last Saturday jam session.

Nils-Eerik Vesberg