'How To Survive a Skate Tour': an illustrated survival kit

A skate tour is a dream for every lover of this sport: travelling in great locations spending days skating, looking for good spots and hanging out with other skaters and friends. Starting from their own experiences, Davide Martinazzo, Vans team manager, along with director Alberto Chimenti Dezani, have decided to create a very funny handbook on how to actually survive to a skate tour, entitled How To Survive A Skate Tour. Among the tips to remember: never miss your flight, never trust the map - always ask the locals, eat healthily and don't party... too much. 

Shot in Fuerteventura and first presented on the occasion of the Skate & Surf Film Festival, How To Survive A Skate Tour is a little gem made of stunning frames, amazing locations, incredible tricks, a pleasure for the eyes, even for those who don't know anything about skateboarding.

We reached Davide Martinazzo and Alberto Chimenti Dezani who told us about the inspirations behind the video. Here's what they told us. 

#1 How did you come up with the concept of this video? 

D: The concept of the video comes from the will to tell what actually happens during a skate tour to those who've never been on one. It's 15 years that I've been on the road with Italian, European and American teams. I thought it would be nice to do a funny handbook. The skaters did relate to this. 

A: It was Dave who came up with an idea for the video this year, and I have to say that I was immediately on board since I found interesting cues also from a visual point of view. I'm not into traditional and conventional skate videos, so I thought this leitmotiv could work for us. 

#2 Fuerteventura is not the first location you think of when you talk about skateboarding. Why did you choose it? Did it turn out to be a good location for your needs? 

D: Fuerte is famous for surfing of course, but having to make an illustrated handbook we said to ourselves that there wasn't a better place than a desertic island. We stayed at Casa Maccaroni: a BnB of an Italian friends always ready to accomodate skaters, surfers and to participate in shootings. The combination of these elements made the island the perfect movie set. 

A: That's what I thought too. Even right before leaving, talking with who has been there or with who goes there often to surf, I wasn't particularly relieved from their words. I had to change my mind since day one though. Fuerte is actually an island full of interesting and different spots: from more traditional ones to the ones that require more creativity to be skated, but I have to say, all beautiful in my opinion, both from a practical and a visual point of view. It's definitely fundamental to have a good guide to find them (which is also one of the tips that we give in the video) but Enrico from Casa Maccaroni was the perfect guide.  

#3 In the video you give out tips on how to survive a skate tour. There are other suggestions that you didn't put in the video? 

D: Yes, of course. From the classic situation where 10 skaters look at a wall because none of them has brought the wax, to always bring an extra back-up deck in case yours breaks.... or ends up in a deep pool of water in an abandoned aquapark, as it happened. 

A: Yes, we could have added a thousand more, but we had to make a selection. I have to admit that I wanted to put 10 tips to make a real decalogue, but in the end we settle with 8. Who knows, maybe one day we'll make a sequel! 

#4 Can you tell us a bit more about the skaters who star in this project? 

D: In this movie I've tried to include a part of the Vans Italia team riders and a couple of skaters who are part of the French and European Vans team. A mix of skaters that loves to tour both street and bowl. With us, there were Pietro “Pepe” Tirelli, Mattia Turco, Aref Koushesh, Will Odiete, Indro Martineghi, Sam Partaix, Quentin Boillon and Alessandro Mazzara in his first tour (he's 15 years old). The combination of skaters coming from different teams added an extra boost of energy. It's always cool for a skater to confront with other skaters, to see a different approach to the same spot and in this way raising the bar of the performance. They felt like a team since the first moment. After leaving the luggage at home we were already at the first spot. 

#5 The movie was presented at the SSFF, an event that has grown incredibly over the last few years. Do you think it's a particularly important moment for the Milan and Italian skate scene? 

D: SSFF has turned into an event that, thanks to the relevance of the movies presented, has a big resonance in Europe too. As a consequence, it has become the most important showcase to present your work. Right now Milan is particularly reactive and receptive and the festival has become a meeting point for all those who want to know more about this culture. So we couldn't miss it. Alberto actually has worked until the very last minute to edit a perfect video in time for the premiere. 

A: For me, the SSFF is one of the most anticipated weeks of the entire year. It's an occasion to gather with old friends, an occasion to watch very interesting pieces of art (often as a premiere) and of course it's a great excuse to party. Over the last three years, I was lucky enough to preview two of my works there (one in the first year and this year How To Survive A Skate Tour) and it's always great because it's the perfect ending of the long road that lies behind a project. Besides being a particularly important moment for the Italian scene, the festival has become quite influential in Europe as well, and this third year proved that. I think that thing will only get better! Big up for Luca Merli, Enrico Cerovac and the whole team! Go on like this!