GAB JACQUES | ON THE SPOT

Last winter Gab Jacques went to Sherbrook, QC, and got this front board pop over. Here is a little explanation of what went into getting the shot…

“We had to get there pretty early, there’s a buffet restaurant right at the inrun that opens at 8 a.m., so we showed up at about 5:30 a.m. We built the bigger stuff the night before and then the landing and drop-in only took about 30 minutes to put together. It was pretty quick. After that, I started trying to frontboard the rail and just pop back onto the safe side. Just to feel out the rail. I did that twice, then said, ‘I’m going to go for it.’ So, I frontboard, pop, and it’s a pretty big drop. I landed on the first bank with way too much compression and fell back. I realized I really had to be square on my boots on that first drop. If I was too much on my back foot, I was slipping out. If I was too much on my front foot, I’d go over. When I landed too far on my front foot, I went straight to my face on the lower landing. That was the sketchiest one. Yeah, I had to be really square. And I think on my fifth try, I got it.

After we looked at the clip, I went up to do it again for this Ren Rob photo. Only Finn Westbury had hit this spot before; he did a boardslide popover but the rail was different when he hit, that’s why I really wanted to try it. 

Once we were done we packed up and went into the restaurant to eat breakfast. I had some crepes with lots of chocolate sauce.”

— Gab Jacques