Slams #3: David Gonzalez

David Gonzalez is a pure thrasher. He attacks tranny and rails like few others with an almost reckless, crazed mindset to put aside any pain as he battles for his tricks. Look at Possessed to Skate to see some of David's rough bails. Starting things off at 0:45, David battles the Muska rail to get a back 50. From getting caught in the rail for some serious shinners and gut shots to getting pitched down the second set of stairs straight to the shoulder, David gets heavily bashed around getting this trick. At 1:41 David sacks a kinked rail very straight on. What makes it worse, despite David already being short enough to not avoid sacking easily, is that the rail rides up against the wall and David can't even move away after sacking the rail because he's pinched up against it, sustaining that moment of pain. Also, he nails a gnarly kinked front board but only after a rough battle at 3:52, which is highlighted in the Hall of Meat above.
A couple other Hall of Meats for David include some serious bruising while slamming his knee into the ground trying to backside 360 down the Cherry Park stage gap, and also falling straight to the arm here while trying to kickflip front board a long wooden rail. For the latter bail, it's not human for someone to simply shake off the wrist after landing with all their weight directly on it, but David's definitely different.
Now this clip of David trying to ollie a 22-set is 6 years old but still shows how hungry he was to try the gnarliest tricks. The very first bail is scary because David's head smashes super hard into the ground, but then again every bail after that just hurts when you watching his body uncomfortably compressing into the ground and sliding/rolling out.

Slams #4: Figgy

Justin "Figgy" Figueroa without a doubt skates some gnarly rails. The fact that I've seen him in more torn up, shredded T-shirts than whole ones should demonstrate that. Not only that but his hands are always cut up from the battles he must go through for his difficult tricks. He's a pretty big dude so when he's tossing his carcass down some hefty rails and something goes wrong, the results are rather sketchy.
Though the clip is fairly old by now, the video above from a Skate Rock tour gives a nice view of the bone-jarring thud you hear when Figgy slams hard. Ankles, face, just a full body blow. Try not to grimace.
Figgy's stand-out part in Stay Gold was extremely rad because he skated so hard to get his gnarly tricks. All of Figgy's B-Sides from Stay Gold are great to watch for both the makes and the bails, but the main falls for me include the couple harsh and fast slams on the long tre flip at 1:51, the broken ankle and weird bending of his leg while trying to switch flip the ATL 5 block at 3:28, and the horrible sound of the bashed head on the front feeble bail at 4:19 where he just so happened to get a board to the head as well. Insult to injury. There's also a smith grind from the part where Figgy sacks the curved rail rather nicely that's fully explained here; the spot is also carried into the next part...
From Stay Gold to Bake and Destroy, Figgy didn't stop working and skating really hard. Right away you see the cut up arms and hands at the start of the part immediately followed by two gruesome bails involving some skidding on the ground and that impactful thump that never sounds good. The giant gash in his hand seals the deal. Getting totally flipped over the rail at 0:46 to the point where his legs just add to the weight crushing his head and neck into the ground adds to Figgy's list of rough bails.

Slams #5: Nyjah Huston

Nyjah Huston dominates the skate contests but when he's out skating in the streets, he heads for the steepest, longest, and gnarliest rails out there. It's only natural that he's experienced some hard falls with his territory. One of the craziest bails I've ever seen came from Nyjah's work for his Rise and Shine video part that cemented his status as one of the greats of the generation. Above is his crazy 18-stair back smith bail (primary angle at 5:29 in Rise and Shine) that still jolts me every time I watch it. Twisting body parts always hurt to watch, but there's something about watching Nyjah's body legitimately bounce off the ground after falling from the top of the rail that never leaves your head.
Some other noteworthy bails from Rise and Shine include that opening sack down the long rail at the start (at about 0:14) and his huge 24-stair smith grind bail at 5:16, which also has a behind the scenes look.
Now on the other hand, as Nyjah was getting tech-gnar for his welcome to DC clip, he misses the rail here while trying to lock in before the drop down and gets very twisted. From long falls straight to the ground to big rail sacks to almost scorpioning into the grass, none of these bails looked fun.

Next Week: Slams

Slamming is inevitable for skaters. From the random pebble that just jumps out in front of your wheel to the disorientation of balance that throws everything off, slamming comes in the most unexpected ways. It's the harsh reality of skateboarding and the pros know this particularly well. It's been said that pros (let's include am/flow skaters for argument's sake) slam more than other skaters, which I wouldn't argue with one bit. Going hard for tricks when you're as practiced as these guys are make the slightest change in their environment the biggest factor for slamming. Some skaters know how to come out of bails smoothly from experience, some just go straight rag doll and take the full impact. Some skaters play it relatively safe with their terrain, some skaters go balls out at the gnarliest spots. Regardless, this week I'll go over my top 5 skaters that come into my head when thinking about slamming.
Here are some other skaters that have had some pretty hefty slams too:
Jereme Rogers' opening two clips from Yeah Right are just painful to watch. Getting tangled up in the rail/hubba to flipping over looks rough on the entire body, but then the sack on the rail is quite possibly the worst one I've ever seen. And by worst, I mean the most direct sack possible. Jereme's cringing face explains it all.
Nate Akers' Hall of Meat for his ollie down a huge gap (in Washington state I believe?) is never going to be forgotten. I still trip out at the fact that you can hear 3 distinct snaps: the wheels landing on the pavement, the board breaking in half, and then that from his leg.
While I tend to pay attention to most things street-skating-related, there's no way I could not mention Danny Way's shin-shattering slam into the Big Air coping at the X Games or Jake Brown's frightening fall straight to flat off the Big Air quarter. It's a true testament to the sheer strength and willpower of these two guys to get right back up after slams like that.