november2011

NC2SanDiegoMagazine.comNovember2011

❯❯ NORTH COUNTY | Profi le

against all the top dogs. He blew everyone

away with his adept technical skills and

uncanny ability to skate switch-stance

(both directions), which led to a fi rst place

win out of the gate. Sixteen years later,

Burnquist stands as a global icon, a re-

vered role model, and still racks up the

gold, most recently at this summer’s X-

Games in the Big Air comp. “I was pretty

banged up with a couple of shoulder in-

juries. So I was pushing it and tiptoeing

on eggshells. But it worked out, and I’m

excited about that.”

Burnquist moved to the States in

1999—fi rst to San Francisco. But he ad-

mits, “It was just way too cold for me. I

couldn’t handle the fog.” Since several

of his sponsors and fellow skate amigos

like Danny Way, Bucky Lasek, and Tony

Hawk lived in San Diego, he headed

south to check it out. He fell in love with

the weather and the beach and the fact

that “people are more open-minded.”

When it came time to buy a house,

Burnquist had one goal in mind: “The

only thing I was looking for was a place

to build a ramp.” He landed in the coun-

tryside of Vista, which reminded him

of Brazil, and got out his hammer and

nails. “It started with a vert [ramp]. A er

that, we built a loop for a special event

called ‘King of S.K.A.T.E.’ Then I brought

in a full pipe and a corkscrew. A lot of

guys build stuff and have to tear it down.

I’ve been fortunate enough to build and

keep all of these things, almost like

monuments.”

When he ran out of room, a neigh-

bor tipped off Burnquist that a developer

owned seven acres around his property.

The community joined forces to stop the

development. “So I off ered to buy him

out. All of a sudden, I had seven acres to

build a mega ramp.” His 197-foot ramp

is longer than a football fi eld and on it

“I JUST SPENT TWO HOURS FLYING

SOLO for the fi rst time in a helicopter

today,” beams skateboarder Bob Burn-

quist, 35.

“I love being in the air,” declares the

X-Games gold medalist and the fi rst man

to land a Fakie to Fakie Indy 900 (transla-

tion: he skated up the quarter pipe’s wall,

lo ed 40 feet above ground as he spun

around two and a half times, and then

landed on the same wall—backwards).

A kid from Brazil, he showed up in Van-

couver at the 1995 Slam City Jam, skating

In his backyard are both a

mega ramp and an organic

garden. Skater Bob Burnquist

takes us to his Vista home.

Ramped

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