Jordyn Barratt

Arianna Carmona

Hannah Zanzi

Julz Lynn

Pauline Branom

Bucky Lasek & Dave Duncan

Julz 3rd , Jordyn 1st,  Hanna 2nd

                                       Photography Joanne Barratt / Island Style Images

MedMen, Hot Nife & Nug put on the 420 Games at Venice Skatepark this past weekend with a total  prize purse of $20,000. Invite only, it showcased some of the best skaters around. In the women's division - Jordyn Barratt, Julz Lynn, Hanna Zanzi, Arianna Carmona and Pauline Branom battled it out.  There was a band, some rad skating and a fun day on the beach skating under the sun. We are stoked to see that they included female skaters in this comp and had prize money for them!

Podium Results

1st    Jordyn Barratt    $1,500
2nd   Hanna Zanzi.     $1,000
3rd   Julz Lynn            $   750


Huge thanks to Joanne Barratt for sharing these images with us!

Photos Ian Logan x Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word - all rights reserved

The legendary Nude Bowl. You've most likely heard about it, or maybe you've even seen it in photos and videos. It's a place that is on almost every skater's bucket list. It's way off the beaten path in the California desert, and a 4-wheel drive is your best bet to reach it, as there are no paved roads. Even with its remote locale, the artwork in the pool itself changes almost daily it seems. Night sessions with portable gennys and lights are not uncommon.

Some days the place has an air of danger (according to some people we have spoken to that have recently made the trek) - which is not surprising when you see bullet casings littering the desert floor, broken bottles and beer cans and remnants of parties that most likely have gone on long into the night. Yet on other days it just feels like a calm slice of paradise that you have all to yourself. The day we were there felt just like that.

The Nude Bowl's history is pretty interesting - like most renegade places in skateboarding history it's had a few previous lives. The name "Nude Bowl" comes from the fact that the site was once a nudist resort called "Desert Gardens Ranch" which was either built in the 30's or 50's or 60's depending on who you talk to. It's hard to believe looking at it now, but back in the day, it had a few buildings, this kidney-shaped pool and lots of nudists enjoying the warm desert sunshine.

When the resort closed in the late 1970's skaters seemed to find it, and it became a popular "underground" skateboarding spot from the late 1970's to the early 1990's. Unfortunately in the late 1990's parties and violence became a regular thing at the bowl and skateboarding took a backseat. The police and the city decided to demolish the pool to put a stop to the unrest.

Skaters just assumed it had been demolished completely - until skateboarder Jeremiah Risk decided to rent a backhoe and started digging. He found out that the pool was there under mounds of dirt and still intact. It hadn't been demolished as previously reported - they had actually filled it in with tons of dirt. Thanks to Jeremiah and his hard work in 2015, the Nude Bowl has once again been a place where you can skate like we did in the 70's - a place free of real-world restrictions. No memberships, no fees, no pads, no rules.

Want to know how to get to the Nude Bowl? Start researching, look at photos, old videos and ariel maps, because we're not going to give you step by step directions, we believe that any location worth skating is worth the work to find.

TIPS: A 4-wheel drive is a must. Bring water and some food. Be respectful of the locals. Leave it better than you found it. Don't post directions, maps or pins. If you see Jeremiah there, thank him for what he's done and offer to buy him a beer - it's people like this that keep renegade spots like the Nude Bowl alive and well. HAVE RESPECT.


For videos and images of female skaters at the Nude Bowl, check out these previous posts:

Jordyn Barratt for Black & Decker

Las ChicAZ Crew - Road Trip

For more  renegade skate spots that should be on your bucket list to skate check out this post:

Freedom to Find - 10 Skate Spots you Need to Find

Local Venice skater, Vianez Morales is the girl on this years event poster

This is one of our favorite events of the year! So many female skaters of all ages and levels in one place, with Venice Skatepark all to themselves.  There are prizes for each age group listed on flyer and give-a-ways all day long - thanks to the sposnors listed above.

But more than competing, it's just a fun day to get all your girl friends together and skate under the warm California sun, right on Venice Beach.  You get to meet and connect with so many other female skaters - it's the best!
  

THIS IS A FREE EVENT! 

Venice Ladies Jam

Date:  April 28th, 2018
Time:  10:30 - 4:00 PM
Location:  Venice Skatepark

"Candy Bombing" Dungan

Candy & her daughter

Candy & her fiance Aaron

Candy "Candy Bombing" Dungan

One of our favorite videos featuring Candy

UPDATE 7:30 PM PST :  a GO FUND ME has been set up to help Candy & her family with medical expenses - you can read about it and donate --->  by clicking HERE


About an hour ago downhill racer Candy Dungan's fiance, Aaron, released a statement via his personal Facebook page letting everyone know that Candy, also known as "Candy Bombing",  had a serious accident while out riding this morning....


Dear family and friends, life can change in an instant. please keep Candy in your heart.. while skating this morning she hit a guardrail with her back (while wearing a POC spine protector) and is going in for surgery in the morning. The Dr says it is not impossible that she will walk again.. so we have our fists up and are going to attack PT with everything we have. Please message or comment any love you can offer Candy during this trying time..


Candy is one of our favorite downhill girls, not only to watch but for all the positive things she puts out into the world daily. We met her a few years back at the Maryhill SheRide  and we were immediately drawn to her fun and welcoming personality, and her badass ways on the hill. But she is not only a downhill racer, she has spoken out candidly and fought for sexual assault victims via her movement #SkateToFight, heads up teh Rad Girls Krew in Colorado, she runs Momentum PR with her fiance Aaron - a company that we use for all our press releases here at GN4LW - and she is a great mom to a little girl who is growing up to be a badass just like Candy.

We are sending positive vibes out to Candy to get through surgery and walk again - we need this rad lady back on her board. She is always the cheerleader for everyone else, now it's our turn to be there for her.

We love you Candy!

We are stoked to see Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word team rider, Zoe Benedetto, in the April issue of Stuart Magazine in an article about "The Next Generation".  This rad young surfer is already on the Olympic development team and has surfed her way to more wins than you can count. Not too mention being a 4x East Coast Champion!

You can follow Zoe on instagram at @zoe_benedetto

Congrats Zoe!!

 via Buzz Feed

We are so proud to be a small part of Calleigh's journey. Calleigh was our very first Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word micro grant recipient for her cross country skate adventure this past year. More important than skating across the country, is the fact that she is speaking out about being transgender, the kindness of strangers, and why she craves adventure.

Calleigh is a badass in the skate industry - from downhill events to ultra marathons, everyone knows and loves her. Now it's time the rest of the world does too.  We are so glad she is sharing her story!

Please click over to BUZZ FEED to read the whole interview with Calleigh ---> HERE

Nice interview with Pro street skater, Lacey Baker, this morning in the New York Times - if you'd like to read the entire interview jump over HERE.

Julz Lynn comepting at a past Vert Attack Contest  / Photo Joanne Barratt

Watch the LIVE webcast right here on Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word!  

You can watch the LIVE Web feed of the WOMEN'S FINAL right here  - just click above!

Tune in on Saturday, March 24, 2018

5:00 PM CET  - Sweden
9:00 AM - PST
12:00 Noon - EST


Girls who are in the FINALS:

Nicole Hause - USA
Bia Sodre - BRAZIL
Arianna Carmona - USA
Leticia Goncalves - BRAZIL
Allysha Le - USA
Lilly Stoephasius - GERMANY
Slivia Rula - SPAIN



  

We LOVE this new video WOMEN ON WHEELS, featuring our "It's Not About Pretty" book designer Elise Crigar. Sit back, listen and be prepared to be INSPIRED!

This is Elise. A graphic designer and skateboarder living in Southern California. Skateboarding has been considered more of a male sport but Elise is trying to change that. This is the first series of Women On Wheels.

Skateboarder: @elise_crigar
Director: @alyssafior
DP: @tatsuyakawauchi
Editor: @kristenvee
Music: Car Ride by DUALIB

Heading to Vert Attack this week? Make sure you check out the Queer & Grrrl Skaters Photo Exhibit by Marie Dabbadie while you are there. It's going on from March 20-25 at Bryggeriet Skatepark.

Marie also creates a gender queer skate zine that will be for sale at event -  XEM SKATERS is only $2.00 and is 52 pages chock full of interviews, poems, photos, illustrations, playlists and more.

Can't get there to purchase one? You can order online at Xem Skaters online store HERE 

Watch the LIVEwebcast right here on Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word!  

You can watch the LIVE Web feed right here  - just click above!

Saturday, March 24, 2018

5:00 PM CET  - Sweden
9:00 AM - PST
12:00 Noon - EST


Vert Attack will be back on the 22nd – 24th of March 2018 at Bryggeriet Malmö Skatepark. The best vert comp on the planet, live music, art exhibitions, market place, bar and a whole lot more.

Bryggeriet Skatepark
Ystadvägen 44
214 45 Malmö


Together with Vans we have set the stage for an amazing event, the legend of Vert Attack continues, filled with entertainment in the form of live music, exhibitions and most important of all, the main attraction the Vert show.

Girls who are slated to compete (so far)

Nicole Hause - USA
Sarah Thompson - USA
Bia Sodre - BRAZIL
Arianna Carmona - USA
Leticia Goncalves - BRAZIL
Sky Brown - JAPAN
Allysha Le - USA
Lilly Stoephasius - GERMANY
Maite Louisy - SWEDEN
Valeria Bertacini - ITALY
Slivi Rula - SPAIN

Please join us on March 22 – 24 at Bryggeriet Malmö Skatepark and if you can’t make it over you can follow the web cast on Saturday March 24 for all the final action of the festivities. Live webcast starts at 10:30 AM CET

  

We loved the Old Navy commercials featuring female skateboarders, and now their new spring dresses campaign features rad girls riding BMX bikes - well, not just riding,  taking jumps,  sliding, and being all around badasses. Very cool!

If you missed the Old Navy commercial featuring the female skateboarders, you can check it out HERE.

It's been a long wait, but there are finally skateboarding emojis! And the best part is, there is a big selection of rad female skate emojis to choose from. You can grab the download from Bit Skate Emoji in the Apple App store for just $1.99. This is the first ever skateboarding emoji keyboard app developed for a diverse skate culture.

They say that the emojis are made for use on Snapchat and other social media sites as well.  *Although at this time we were unable to get them to work in our instagram captions *

We also need to mention that this is not an extension of your regualr keyboard with its emojis - it's an app you'll need to access from your keyboard, then select which skater you want to drop in and copy + paste it. So not the fastest or easiest - but at least we have some damn skate emojis now!

Right now the download is available in the Apple App store for IOS 10.3 and will soon be available in the Google Play store as well.

We do have a couple suggestions for the developers of the app

1. We wish the female skaters came up first, so we didn't have to swipe right through a ton of male emjois before getting to the women.

2. We don't understand why there is not a female skater/filmer emoji?  Girls do film you know.

3. We are also missing the Falling, Mongo, & Air  emojis - please add!

But after all is said and done, it's great to have some emojis to illustrate our  texts!

Photo of Poppy by Sarah Huston of  Yeah Girl

The results are in, and Bowlzilla Gold Coast has an awesome turnout!  Huge thanks to Bowlzilla and Yeah Girl for making sure the women's division had some equality in prize money this year - that is huge!

1st Poppy Star Olsen
2nd Taniah Meyers
3rd Shanae Collins
4th Ava Godfrey
5th Charlotte Heath
6th Indiana Barnard
7th Aimee Massie
8th Krysta Ashwell

The Matador Network is one of our new favs - travel, skating, surfing - what more could you ask for?

This short film is the first in a two-part series, Tribe without Borders: Israel follows 5 young women from 5 different backgrounds on a journey through the Middle East. Here in Tel Aviv they connect with the next generation of surfers to promote peace and stoke. Beautifully filmed by Nicole Gormley.

Here's to rad road trips with our girlfriends! 

Settle in tonight and watch this new video titled "Please Don't Grab My Boob" from NHS and Thrasher Magazine. This whole crew of female skaters put together an amazing edit. So rad. Featuring Lizzie Armanto, Nora Vasconcellos, Lacey Baker, Samarria Brevard, Allysha Le, Nicole Hause, Brighton Zeuner, Yndiara Asp and many others.

Bowzilla AU is almost here - and this year they are all about gender equality and are doing a great job! The girls prize purse is $10,000 total which means firts place is $2,500 and it pays down to 10th place! We also love that our rad friends at Yeah Girl are involved in this as well - if you haven't checked out what Sarah at Yeah Girl is doing, hop on over to their site and give them some love!

Here is some more info on the comp:

This is the largest Equity in Skateboarding prize purse in Australian history.

This is the third year of BOWLZILLA Gold Coast. This year the whole week is growing yet again thanks to the amazing support of Yeah Girl Surf Dive ‘n Ski, the City of Gold Coast, TEQ, Goliath, Fiik, Gold Coast Skateboard Coaching and our other sponsors.

BOWLZILLA Gold Coast is a Park comp with four divisions; 16 & Under, Women, Open and Masters 40+. The Open, Masters and Women are Pro/Am with prize money and for the first time this year we have Equality in Skateboarding for the Women’s division.

We have a prize pool of over $25,000 in cash and prizes. All prize money will be paid in cash on the day and prizes will be handed out on the day.

16 & Under is an amateur division with over $1000 worth of prizes.


“BOWLZILLA Gold Coast is the biggest gathering of skateboard generations in Australia at a by skaters for skaters event. We are about our community 100%. The incredible support we receive from GCCC, TEQ, Yeah Girl x Surf Dive ‘n Ski, ASF and everyone else in supporting skaters as they want to be supported and represented is something we work very hard to honour year in year out. What we are achieving this year is a huge testament to our communities strength. Equality in Skateboarding has taken another step forward. ” Chad Ford; BOWLZILLA – Director.

Girls Competing (that we know of so far)

Poppy Starr Olsen
Shanae Collins
Izy Mutu
Taniah Meyers
Ava Godfrey
Charlotte Heath
Aimee Massie


Want to watch the web feed?  Looks like they will be doing a LIVE FACEBOOK feed the day of the comp. Just remember that Saturday in Australia is Friday here in the USA. Times of live web feed still TBD

Event info:

14th March: Gold Coast Grill – local hosted BBQ skate session

15th March: Tic Taco art exhibition + the Australian premiere of Joy and Sorrow 3, an all female Japanese skate film by @yuriyuri_desu -  Beach Burrito Company; The Strand Shop 25/26, 72-80 Marine Parade, Coolangatta 4225

16th March: Gold Coast Grill – local hosted BBQ skate session

17th March: BOWLZILLA™ Gold Coast competition - Pines Lane, Elanora QLD 4221

17th March: Yeah Girl and Surf Dive ‘n Ski hosting; Dive In – official after party – Beach Burrito Company; The Strand Shop 25/26, 72-80 Marine Parade, Coolangatta 4225

It's Spring Break so head over to Vans Skatepark Orange at 4 PM tomorrow (Thursday 3/15) and join the Hotshots Skate Gang - Nora Vasconcellos, Nicole Hause, Allysha Le, Lizzie Armanto, Brighton Zeuner, Samarria Brevard, Lacey Baker, & Yndiara Asp and the #MudSweatInBeers crew where they will be demo-ing down.

Grab some Pizzanista while you are there, get some goodies in the product toss,  then at 9 PM head over to The Good Bar in Long Beach for the Thrasher Magazine video premeire "Please Don't Touch My Boob, and "Mud Sweatin' Beers".

4 PM  - Pizzanista Party, Skate Jam & Product Toss
Vans Skatepark Orange
20 City Blvd W
Orange, CA 92868

9:00 PM - Thrasher Video Premiere
 3316 E. 7th Street
Long Beach, CA 90804


Get hyped tonight & watch the full Hotshots Gang video below.

If you've been watchig social media, you know that the Vans Get on Board event at Vans in Orange County this past weekend was amazing!  There were build a skateboard stations, skate clinics - for all levels of skaters, a rad band playing, photo gallery show, art, Minx nails and much more. So get ready east coasters - now it's your turn!

The House of Vans in both Brooklyn and Chicago are hosting events this Friday (Brooklyn) and Saturday (Chicago) - make sure you RSVP via the links below becaiuse these sessions will fill up fast!



On March 16, 2018 House of Vans Brooklyn will host workshops dedicated to women and girls to learn how to build a skate deck with private skate lessons with Vans global skate team athlete, Lizzie Armanto alongside Vans Brand Ambassador, Atita Verghese from 5:30 – 8:00 p.m. PST. Workshops and skate lessons will be open to the first 66 women via RSVP. House of Vans will also host a photo show led by female artists along with a video screening, panel discussion, giveaways and more!
Beginning at 8:30 p.m., House of Vans Brooklyn will open its doors to the general public for an open skate jam and will end the night with an epic live performance by Bully.


 

FRIDAY, MARCH 16 @ 5:30 PM | RSVP HERE

FRIDAY, MARCH 16 @ 8:30 PM | RSVP HERE

House of Vans Brooklyn 25 Franklin St.
Brooklyn, New York

On March 17, 2018 House of Vans Chicago will host workshops dedicated to women and girls to learn how to build a skate deck with private skate lessons with Vans global skate team athlete, Lizzie Armanto alongside Vans Brand Ambassador, Atita Verghese from 4:30 – 7:30 p.m. PST. Workshops and skate lessons will be open to the first 66 women via RSVP. House of Vans will also host a photo show led by female artists along with a video screening, panel discussion, giveaways and more!

Beginning at 7:30 p.m., House of Vans Chicago will open its doors to the general public for an open skate jam and will end the night with an epic live performance by Bully.


SATURDAY, MARCH 17 @ 4:30 PM | RSVP HERE

SATURDAY, MARCH 17 @ 7:30 PM | RSVP HERE

House of Vans Chicago
113 N Elizabeth Street
Chicago, IL

Girls Combi 2018 from Caro on Vimeo.

Check out this awesome video of the Vans Girls Combi that Caro Vilain put together!  It's seriously awesome!!