Foreign Report - Harry KO visits with the German Sewer Skaters
During my many years of travelling I have seen many things.
From the Smash Guru's of Matagaska to the vine jumpers of PNG I have seen xtreme sports people in every culture, race & country. Being a somewhat cynical old fella I had thought I had seen it all, that was until I visited Berlin in Germany & found the Sewer Skaters.
These folks ride through the spaghetti network of rainwater & sewer pipes that honeycomb the subterranean Berlin. Sound pretty straight forward?, you should try it! These overlords of the underworld deck themselves out in full armour complete with 2 way radios, satellite position locaters and halogen spotlights. Some of the pipes they skate go for over 60 km, most with directional gradients allowing for xtreme high speeds & some mind blowing tricks!
Hanging out at a favourite Sewer Skater haunt called "Miami Beach" (it is a natural sand embankment formed in a huge 'cathedral' tunnel where 5 storm water drains turn into one) I was witness to skaters pulling full 360's around the pipe as they come screaming down the tube at around 60km/hr. 'Miami beach' is fully decked out with armchairs, car seats, assorted amazing junk that washes up, a much loved & beaten Boom Box, there is even power & light (stolen from the city mains). The 30 or so inhabitants on this day are a mix of german squatters, skaters & 'Sewer Rats' as well as the more hardcore Sewer Skaters.as they like to call themselves.
The larger 'cathedral' pipe runs for 20km and is big enough to offer all of the benefits of any conventional half pipe I had ever skated, but with the added benefit of being real long & having no lip! Some Sewer Skaters tell tales of doing physical battle with large sewer rats that also inhabit the pipes. One reported " you just don't see em till its too late,
next minute your rolling down the pipe getting smashed up by your board with a rancid rat chewin on your face"
another remembers "one time when it didnÍt rain for 6 weeks I was sleeping down here & I woke up to a rat trying to chew through my cheek to get to the water in my mouth!" All par for the course in Berlin where street skating is frowned upon & subject to heavy fines, even imprisonment!. All the skaters I talked to would rather skate the sewers than try their luck on the streets, "we've got the whole network nearly completely mapped out, you can cross the city & pop up anywhere you like"! - These folks certainly add a new meaning to the term 'underground movement'
So, if your trailing around the sights of Berlin bored senseless on that Woman's Weekly discovery tour, and you see a feral looking skater disappear down a drain pipe with his board in hand - jump in after him! chance is your missing out on the real sights of Germany! - Harry KO - Live from Berlin (guess where I spent new years Eve!....... in the Sewer!!)
Email Harry Ko at harryko@xtreme.net - Stand-By Next Week -
Harry Ko gets bailed out of prison - gets drunk on unknown mexican spirits & spills his guts on all the world surfing dirt!
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