Full-Size cover from the Winter '08 issue, featuring the art of Jim Philips.

But it goes beyond just increasing the number of female skaters. We’d like to see to see increased prize purses and coverage. Currently, the gap between male and female prize purses is absolutely enormous. Take the X Games for example. Cara-Beth Burnside took first place in vert and was awarded $2,000. Pierre Luc Gagnon also took first but wound up with $50,000. In fact, if you look at the overall prize purse for the X Games, male skaters had a total prize purse that was twenty times that of females. ($343,350 for the men vs. $17,000 for the women.). Thankfully, things are changing. Thanks to Burnside’s dedication, she has been able to get prize purses increased (most recently at the Slam City Jam).

Earthwing, Neversummer, Purple Skunk, Longboard Larry

Welcome to 2007…it’s gonna be a great year for skateboarders!
The renaissance for skateboards that turn & burn continues on with
a boom in design and materials, not to mention opportunities for
great skating! This winter, if it’s rainy or snowing, hit your local parking
garage for speed, slalom or freestyle. Check out some of what’s
coming this year:

At 15” in width, the El Cochino deck takes most people by surprise the first time they see it. After all, it is monstrously wide. But as you can see in this photo, it’s quite possible to do frontside airs with the El Cochino. Many years ago, boards were 5” to 7” in width. Wes Humpston and Jim Muir started tinkering with deck sizes and skateboarding wound up with 10” and 12” decks. For vert skaters in the 70’s, the wider boards were just more functional to ride. As many of you know, decks haven’t just changed in width, they have also changed in length. The resurgence of longboarding has meant not only an influx of new riders but a return by many folks who left skateboarding. Wheels have gotten quite a bit larger than the 39mm from the early 90’s. The demand for wider trucks has also increased.