Scott Lembach, manager of Muir Surf & Skate, is stoked. It’s a primo SoCal day in July, and a handful of groms from Ramona are milling around the popular skate shop on the UC San Diego campus in La Jolla, which is about 30 miles from their hometown. Lembach is talking to two of them.

The explosive growth of longboarding is undeniable. From freeriding, to sliding, to racing, cruising and carving, all types of skateboarding are getting more exposure than ever. Pockets of riders and small communities are forming and popping up all over the globe. Although most types of skateboarding are very much male-dominated, there are not surprisingly more and more females getting involved in downhill skateboarding, especially here in BC. Whether it’s because of the endless terrain or the huge population and tight community surrounding the sport (much thanks to Coast Longboarding), the number of women riding here is constantly growing. The first girl to ever race at Danger Bay was Louise Leslie, a.k.a. LouDogg. She was a huge inspiration, and within two years of that there were 11 girls lined up to race.

O N E R O A D , M A N Y S T O R I E S , 100% SKATEBOARDING There’s a lot of talk these days about “divisions” within skateboarding. There are some who believe that if you’re not sliding down a rail or grinding coping, then you’re not really a part of skateboarding. In my opinion, exclusion and intolerance are absolutely everything that skateboarding should NOT be. At Concrete Wave, we’ve chosen a path to tell a variety of different skate stories. While I am quite aware that not every vert skater wants to see photos of freestyle or slalom, and not every speedboarder is interested in street skating, the fact is ALL these types of skateboarding exist and are thriving