Eastbournes best Skate Newsletter…
29/06/2009 by tim.
Newsletter Housekeeping - Ladies and Gents - it’s that time of year when we trim our databases, to try to reduce overheads - as there are thousands of people getting the Sk8school Newsletter now and there is a small charge for every one we send out! With this in mind we’ve instructed the database to purge accounts that have “bounced” newsletters, or had some other kind of recent technical problem. If you find you don’t have the Extreme Weekend Issue of the Sk8 M8s and Sk8school newsletter by 2nd July then email Tim and he’ll send the newsletter to you and ensure you are reinstated on the database. Many thanks.
Hailsham Carnival Skate! - Sk8 M8s Supporting Lark in the Park.
27/06/2009 by tim.
Our reccie of the Hailsham Carnival Skate, was a great success and as you’ll see from the pictures it was a packed event!
Lark in the Park should be very pleased with them selves and Sk8school and the Sk8 M8s will be pleased to organise a much bigger presence at the Carnival next year. We have in fact already worked out the theme and costumes! More pictures and the full story can be found on the Sk8school Facebook Page (become a fan for full access).
Hampden Park Route - Sk8 n Chips
27/06/2009 by tim.
Now firmly established a favourite route, this one feels great - part country adventure, part blasting along good surfaces and hills! Some of the roads mean you need a confident attitude - but its all so worth it!
For the full story and all the pictures - check out the Sk8school Facebook Page (become a fan for full access).
Street Skate - Hailsham Carnival Procession
24/06/2009 by tim.
Sk8school and the Sk8 M8s are organising the skaters at the Hailsham Carnival Procession.
If you want to be involved check out the Sk8school main page and contact Tim!
Sk8school - Skate Lessons in Eastbourne!
Brighton Picnic Skate Review
07/06/2009 by tim.
The Brighton Picnic skate was a bit of a weather gamble, but one that paid off. As we arrived on the Brightom Marina roof we were greeted with a light shower of rain, but before we’d even got our boots on, it had cleared and looked safe enough to start out.
The wide open spaces, once out of the Marina complex pleased some of the Sk8 M8s!
And soon we stopped at the Pier for a few breakfast doughnuts!
Pressing on - to meet up with the Bognor Sk8 M8s ….
Seeing the sights along the way…
And sampling the surfaces we came across.
All very different to Eastbourne and other home turfs.
It was not long before the sun was out and we were feeling the heat…
We’d come a long way to the Picnic site, little did we realise how far we were going to end up going!
After the picnic some of us decided to continue “for a bit”.
A promising start into Hove…
And for some reason we didn’t stop…
Except for grooming!
And Photo Shoots! All because Liz’s sister lived in Shoreham and we’d been promised tea and biscuits!
So over the bridge we went… (once Liz had eventually shown us the right way!)
But happiness prevailed
and we were soon there…
And a warm welcome awaited!
Winnie the Sue!
The going was tough on some of the Shoreham surfaces - but luckily a handy van was on standby to give us a lift part of the way back.
Plenty of room for all….
Any more for a ride?
And we bail out ready for some more skating!
Where shall we stop for a cuppa?
Finally 6 hours later we get back to the Marina - 14 miles of happy skating and a lot of wrong turns and mucking about!
Well done everyone!
Annual Sk8 M8s Treasure Hunt Review
09/05/2009 by tim.
The Eastbourne Sk8 M8s were ready to do battle once again for the prestigious trophy on the Annual Treasure Hunt!
5 teams raced for the prize:
- The Hairy Bladers
- Dirty Harry and Scrappy Daddy
- The T Stoppers
- The PC’s
- and the Blue Smarties!
The teams arrived around 10:30 and were presented with the instructions for the hunt. They were also given a demo on how the “spot the ball” part of the hunt would work. Alas one team managed to avoid reading the instructions completely!
The teams started at 5 minute intervals to try to ensure there was no copying!
Somehow one of the last teams to start - the T Stoppers - raced ahead of the field and were nearly finished before most of the other teams had managed to get half way!
By the time I’d caught up with them - they were just figuring out that the treasure hunt was more than 7 questions of spot the ball and if they’d just read the instructions, and perhaps flipped the map over - they’d have found the other 2 sheets of 30+ questions!
Which meant they had to split up, with half the team heading back to the start to fill in clues they’d missed! DOH! (But hey - us gave the judges - and all the other teams a laugh).
Imagine a scene out of The Apprentice - where a team just realised they’ve seriously blundered and need to blame someone - and sort it out promptly to try to catchup ! - that was the scene!
We met up with all the teams at the finish and worked out who’d got the best scores on time to finish, treasure hunt and spot the ball! It was quite close with many factors coming into play.
Amazingly the T stoppers - after the split up - and doing 3 times the mileage of anyone else - still managed to finish before the deadline with 2 minutes to spare.
More amazing than that - they eventually came second! Not bad for treasure hunt virgins!
Scores as follows:
1st - In 1 hour 44 minutes - with 39 points - the PCs
2nd - in 2 hours 25 minutes - with 35 points - the T stoppers
3rd - in 1 hour 49 minutes - with 25 points - the Hairy Bladders (last years champs)
Honourable mentions to Dirty Harry and Scrappy Daddy with 25 points and the Blue Smarties, that had to leave half way through!
See you all next year!
Please read the instructions - it saves your legs!
On the way back - there was a chance for all the teams to review all the answers and find out what they’d missed!
A Big thank you to John and Teresa for organising another brilliant day for their Sk8 M8s!
Sk8 n Chips Tours - Eastbourne Night Skates
09/05/2009 by tim.
The Sk8 M8s have started to arrange - off seafront tours, rather than the usual routes. The skaters attending need to be more mature and skilled - but that keeps the numbers sensible - so much the better!
Take a look at some of the sights that abound on the new Sk8 n chips route to Pevensey.
Skating through the Marina brings all sorts of joys and challenges - like crossing the locks!
The route can get very dark on the way back and the lighting in places is sparse (unlike in the photo!) so Skate Lights and torches are recommended!
Some of the tarmac is wonderful and rarely used!
Long stretches are just open wonderlands of black stuff!
And you can watch the wild life on the route!
Apparently there are several more routes under consideration - including Hampden Park, Hailsham - via the cuckoo trail and even Meads!
Ride n Joy comes to Eastbourne
22/04/2009 by tim.
Sk8school met Pauline of Ride n Joy whilst checking out the Treasure hunt this week!
If you want to try out these amazing bikes get in soon!
Eastbourne Skate Lessons - HDI Skate Streetwise - Review.
22/04/2009 by tim.
The half day intensive - Skate Streetwise course is the Eastbourne Skate Lesson, that gets you using your skates as transport! - Read this from Peter Maisey on the latest course he attended!
Quote :-
Peter Maisey
Last Saturday I went across to Eastbourne to take part in a Streetwise Skate course, run by Tim Wheals of Eastbourne Skate School. With the arrival of the warmer weather and my wanting to skate outside as much as possible in the run up to Goodwood, I decided a bit of safety advice wouldn’t go amiss. The course was based on Eastbourne seafront, all of which we managed to use and abuse in one way or another.
We began with simple heel braking on the flat, probably aimed at Tim being able to assess our capabilities. That was quickly followed by downhill braking on a fairly gentle slope into an empty car park with a big run out area in case we lost control.
My first “new ” experience was skating off kerbs. I have always taken the approach of stepping off sideways, parallel to the kerb, which Tim did cover. But with a couple of demonstrations, and some very clear instructions, I was happily skating perpendicularly off kerbs and enjoying it. I am a cautious skater by nature, so to me this was something quite adventurous.
We then moved off the tarmac onto the grass. Firstly the grass stop, making us all aware of the necessity of the scissor. Then attempting to skate on grass, an exercise intended to give us more ooomphh to our push. It was remarkably successful, and something that would become very useful when we got onto some of the rougher sections of the promenade.
Tim then gave us a brief demonstration on crossing roads safely.
Onto another slope, this one much steeper than the last. We were introduced to the lunge turn as a means of using the hill itself to check our speed. This was the point at which I realised how much weaker my turn to the right was than my turn to the left - something to work on.
For easier skating, although not necessarily quicker at the moment, Tim demonstrated some introductory exercise to Stride Three. Not easy, but I could see the benefits if I persevered.
With the number of pedestrians beginning to increase, we then turned to skating in a train, as much out of necessity to get through the crowds as making things easier. It was very noticeable how easy it was to skate at the back of a line of six skaters, and how it became more difficult as I moved forwards through the line.
By this time we’d been skating for about three hours, and had reached the far end of the promenade from our starting point. How fortunate (well planned I think) that we ended up at a café. Soup for me, something with chips for others, and salad for the more health conscious. A half hour sit down also gave us a chance to quiz Tim on skating generally.
Leaving the café we then headed back to our start point, into a strong head wind. Skating in line became a necessity. We also took the opportunity to go back over the Stride Three exercises and the lunge turn downhill.
By the end of the course I had much better appreciation of safety outdoors, and my skating weaknesses. So I got what I wanted out of the course, and a lot more besides. Tim Wheals is an excellent teacher, able to give clear explanations and demonstrations. I can recommend this course for anybody who wants to start enjoying skating in the great outdoors
-: End Quote
As usual we finish off with a little tea and Ice cream - dished out by Mr. “James Ice Cream”.
Sk8 n Chips roll - in dodgy weather!
22/04/2009 by tim.
Well the weather looked uncertain, so once we’d met up we planned a shorter roll to the Marina instead of the “good old” tried and tested route.
Our favored destination “the Chippy” above had finished serving by the time we got there - so we had to opt - after several other attempts in the area for the Harvester 
Alas although the weather did hold off, the catering left a lot to be desired and we will need to research this route further to ensure we all get fed!