Box of Rocks II

The homeowner stood in his backyard and stared at Lance and I. He looked over at the pool thoughtfully. He mumbled to himself. “So, you want to cut the rocks off and cement it flush?” He asked a whole string of questions. Lance and I went over it all. We looked closely at everything involved. It was a massive undertaking. After careful consideration, the owner gave us permission. For obvious reasons, we decided to do a section on the face wall. We weren’t quite sure how the cutting of the slate top and rock would be. We had no idea on the degree of difficulty involved.

MRZ, Lance and I drove over one day in December and started in on it. It was pretty gnarly work. Lance cut the top away and scored the rocks underneath. I took a huge chisel and a hammer and broke the rocks as flush with the pool plaster as I could. We did a fairly long section of the face wall. Our lower backs were screaming after a few hours bent over at the waist. We stretched, ate lunch and mixed up cement. We slowly moved our way back across the lip and troweled the cement into the holes. We finished it flush and cleaned and rolled the top lip.

It was getting colder and late in the afternoon when we were done. We cleaned up and let it set for a few days. The following Sunday, Lance, MRZ, myself, Ripperside Shawn and Gopa met together at the Box of Rocks for its trial run. The transitions were so good, we could all maintain our speed really well. The new lip was smooth and functional. Grinds and airs were put down. We were elated.

Everyone talked about the new lip and how amazing the pool would be once we completed the entire circumference of the pool. I knew that this scenario would take awhile. It really was a gnarly undertaking to just get it this far! Over the next few weeks, I brought the Volcom crew back out for a film day. Pedro Barros and his Brazilian friends tore the pool into bite-sized pieces and gobbled it down. David Gonzales and Omar Hassan punished, Arto flowed through the pool like water and CJ Collins spent more time above the lip than below it.

The homeowner continued asking for things each time we went there. I understood. He has a large family. Many children. We had set him up very well during the first few weeks and I thought he’d be content for awhile… it wasn’t to be. I soon realized that if we were to keep the pool going on a regular basis, it would take a decent financial commitment on our part. It couldn’t continue as it was. In the end, maybe this is the way it should be. We took nothing and made something. Everyone received a good time, gifts were given and the Box of Rocks lives on in the Volcom Holy Stokes video for everyone to see and admire. Why ask for more? Thank you to MRZ and Arto Saari for images. Thank you to Lance Mountain for the assistance and knowledge and thank you to Russell Houghten for the video footage. Thank you to Remy Stratton and Volcom. Skate - Ozzie

https://youtu.be/9T_KuvFamcg

Box of Rocks Part 1 - BOX OF ROCKS PART 1