Most of us have driven past this spot and imagined skating it when whizzing by at 100 kph. It’s on what’s probably Aotearoa’s busiest section of motorway — they don’t call it Spaghetti Junction for nothing.
Karl messaged me one day and said he was going to try to drop in on it at 1 am the next morning. If I was free, we would meet at 11 pm and devise a plan.
Tolo would be on the overbridge above where the western and northern motorways meet. He’d be on the phone with us and let us know when all lanes were clear. Harry and I would be on the Symonds St Overbridge shooting and letting Karl know when to go, and Chey would be circling in his car, slowing traffic.
Once Karl ran across the four lanes of the motorway and climbed up, I realised just how steep the back of the platform is — his board would be almost in a blunt position to set up, and if he made any false move, causing him to fall, it would be certain death.
Seeing him up there and the scale of how small he was compared to the obstacle made me instantly feel incredibly scared for him and wonder if perhaps we’d taken things a little too far.
Karl got two attempts at this. On the first, he kicked out when rolling off onto the motorway (It’s over a head-high drop), and on the second, he landed, but the impact was so great that his tail broke, causing him to do the splits and hurt his knees and back.
Karl was lying in the middle of the motorway’s outside lane and couldn’t stand up. I panicked and began screaming at him to roll off the road, which he was able to do. Chey was close by and scooped up Karl, stuffing him swiftly into the back of his car.
We regrouped with adrenaline levels peaking and then got Karl straight to A&E. Fortunately, he hadn’t broken or torn anything but did end up in hospital for a few days and has spent a fair bit of time recovering since.
I guess this is a bail shot, as he didn’t roll away from the whole thing, but the fact that he had the guts to get up there and drop in from about five stories up makes it more than passable.
First published on the cover of Manual Magazine, issue 72.
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