Interview: Taylor Rosenbauer!

Name : Taylor Rosenbauer

Age: 16

Years FB: Almost 2

Sponsors: Flatface Wheels, Prete Decks, Summit Hardware, BC Rails, Blackriver-Ramps flow, Capsule Trucks

Contest/Video: 1^st - FFI Rail Jam ‘08, 6^th – Rail Jam ’07, SU3, SU4, Bacon, Egg, and Steeze, Softies Griptape,

We are here with Taylor Rosenbauer, winner of the Second FFI Rail Jam! Taylor’s Rail Jam entry was flawless. He pulled off amazingly tech tricks with a butter-smooth style. Also, the Nollie Flip B/S Boardslide to B/S Crook 180 out was my favorite trick of the whole rail jam. When I finished watching his entry I knew my hopes of winning first, along with everyone else’s, vanished into thin air.

You won the Second FFI Rail Jam, which is the ultimate online fingerboard video contest. There were over 50 entries from around the world. What are some of your thoughts winning such a large and diverse competition?

Seeing over 50 entries from all around the world was so great, and to be a part of that was just awesome. The American scene really stepped up this year, especially the Flatface Fingerboard Team which swept the top 5 places. There were so many fantastic entries...I'm still surprised I won.

Since I came back to the fingerboard scene, I have noticed how you have evolved in  your fingerboarding. It's amazing that you have become one of the elite fingerboarders in such a short amount of time. I remember some of your earlier videos where you popped the board reallllllly high. It still looked good though haha. But now you are doing some amazingly technical tricks, and your style is flawless. That's the only way I can describe it. What I'm trying to say with that longwinded speech is how did you get so good?

Thanks for the compliments. ;) I think both motivation and influence have helped me improve my fingerboarding. Watching people like Eric Smith and Taylor Lucas taught me so much about style, how to do certain tricks properly, and how to put together good videos. People who watch my videos on youtube are always asking me, "Dude, do you ever land sketchy tricks?" The truth is, I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to making fingerboard videos. I end up doing the same tricks countless times till I'm 100% satisfied with them, then they make it into my videos. I'd say the key to getting better and making good videos is to do tricks the best that you can possibly do them, and practice practice practice.

Do you have anything to say to the organizers of the contest? (Tina, Martin, sponsors and judges)

I can only imagine how much work both Tina and Martin put into making this contest as great as it was. A big thanks goes out to both of them for doing a great job this year. All the judges deserve a lot of credit as well for all the time they put into reviewing all 50+ entries. I doubt I could have done that myself. To the sponsors...you guys are what made this contest so exciting. I was astonished at seeing prizes awarded to 15 places, that's a really great thing to see. I hope next year's contest is as big as this one!

What were some of the positive/negative aspects to the rail jam this year? What can be built on to make the Rail Jam even better next year?

Well, the entry fee could be viewed as both positive and negative. For those that may not be the best, it might have pushed them away from entering if they felt they didn't have a good chance of winning. But it is also a great addition to this year's contest because it enabled Tina to get some really kick ass prizes, and those prizes really pushed people to do their best. The only suggestions that I could possibly come up with for next year's contest it to maybe switch up the rules and obstacles. Having team entries (Team USA, for example) with a montage of people representing their country would also be very interesting.

What do you have to say to someone new to fingerboarding who is looking to become the next Taylor R?

Haha, my biggest advice is to just have fun. If you're not having fun with fingerboarding, why do it? If you plan to be as good as Eric Smith one day, I advise you to never give up and continue to practice. Fingerboarding isn't a natural talent (at least it wasn't for me!)...it must be learned. Practicing is the key to learning, and that's the best way to get good at something. Watch some good fingerboard videos too, because doing that is what inspired me to be good. I'll never forget watching Mike Scott's fingerboard videos over a year ago and thinking, "Damn, how the hell does he do that? I gotta figure this out." From there I just took people's advice and did my best to progress.

Any upcoming plans/video parts/ etc?

Currently I'm working on a small ad for Prete. Keep an eye out for both the Prete and Flatface videos...I have a part in each. My Prete part is one of my favorite parts I've made yet, especially since I filmed a lot of it outdoors. Hopefully these two full lengths will be released soon, along with the Rendezvous III video which I'm also a in.

Thanks for the interview Taylor! We look forward to hearing from you in the future!

The results are in...

And the winners for the second annual FFI rail jam are.....

1st: Taylor Rosenbauer
2nd: Chris Daniels
3rd: Mike Schneider
4th: Tim Hurley
5th: Taylor Lucas
6th: David Lyrio Auster
7th: Matt Lieber
8th: Andrew Bowman
9th: Guillaume Ouellet
10th: tobias phieler
11th: Rodrigo Rossi
12th: Tim Zagrebelny
13th: Jader M�ller dos Santos
14th: MASSERRA
15th: tim alexiel
16th: Ethan Ebeling/Edgar Vargas
17th: Dimitar Krasimirov Kanev
18th: Philipp Reinhard
19th: Brody Davis
20th: Jay Linehan/Martin Beckmann
21st: Vinny Germade
22nd: Ben Beebe / Aaron Kuppin
23rd: Harald Sch�n
24th: Julien Radiu
25th: Daniel Durku / Tobias Engelhardt
26th: Nick pearson
27th: Peter Ringel
28th: Zahari Tsonkov
29th: Justin Rodriguez
30th: Erik Vehmeyer
31st: Ramon Angelow
32nd: DARIO MARCHINI
33rd: Jeremy Forget
34th: Rafael Costa
35th: Kyran Barry
36th: Rafael Malmegrin
37th: Chad Spradlin
38th: Shane Young
39th: Kyle Seis / julien macaluso
40th: Maggie Nadeau
41st: Nico Frank
42nd: Alan dos Anjos Teixeira
43rd: LAUPIES Thomas
44th: Eddie Sharples
45th: Daniele Comuzzi
46th: Brandon Sentnor / Giovanny Mendez
47th: Filipe Caba�a Rodrigues
48th: Vebjoern Pedersen
49th: Jake Hart/ Tim Dufour
50th: Dan Cordero
51st: John Friedl
52nd: Marc Carrillo
53rd: Tom Phillips

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS!
Well done to ALL who entered the standard was so high this year.

CloseUp Auctioning Decks!

Emmanuel Lavaux from CloseUp Fingerboards is selling complete fingerboards with the proceeds going to help Martin and Tina from the bandwidth expense caused by the FFI Rail Jam contest! Thank you!

http://fingerflipinc.com/forum/index.php?topic=22007.0

Click the link and start buying!

FFI Rail Jam Results Postponed

The FFI Rail Jam results have been postponed due to an AWOL judge. Hopefully, the results will be released on June 3rd.

In a related story, the bandwidth for the FFI Rail Jam site had been exceeded by a large amount resulting in a hefty £200+ fine. The entry fees alone were not enough to pay the cost of shipping the prizes, and now with a fine incurred, winners will have to pay the cost of their own shipping. I, along with a few other people, have donated money to Tina to help alleviate the cost, and I encourage everyone to try to do the same. If everyone donates a little bit towards the cost of shipping, there will be some excess for which we use to help pay for future contests. Tina and Martin should not have to pay out of their own pockets to make these great contests happen.

Paypal donations go to: martinillsley@yahoo.co.uk

Please consider making a donation no matter how small. Every little bit helps!

Team News

Eric Vehmeyer and Josh Toy have been added to the team over at Anchor grip.

Tomorrow the winners of the FFI rail jam will be announced, keep an eye out for the postings.

Team Changes

Some team changes as of late. Tim Alexiel has jumped from Summit Hardware to Arctic, Shane Young has been added to the roster over at Anchor Grip, as well as Ben Mullen.
In other news, Portuguese deck company Yellowood is officially open for business, you can buy products at www.yellowoodstore.com
although they are currently sold out at the moment, expect a restock sometime in the near future.
Entries have officially been closed for the second annual Finger Flip Inc. Rail Jam, expect to see the winners posted June 1st.
All of the entries were sick, good luck to all competitors.
Be on the lookout for the new Make Believe Marble ledge, it looks sick.

And the flooding begins!

I am astonished with the quality of fingerboarding entries in this year's Rail Jam. There are soooo many great entries that I think deserve to place so far. Unfortunately only 15 can place, so the judges get the fun task of sorting through all the entries and determining who deserves to win.

I am pretty happy with my own entry. There are some tricks that I got close to landing that I really wanted to get, but other than that I feel good about it. I need to invest some of the money I have been earning from work into some nice Black River Ramps and a new Panasonic G-Series Camcorder so I can film some nice stuff at school.

News about my boring personal life:

I just started working for a development company this past week and so far I am having a blast. It's really busy and stressful at times, but I've known most of my co-workers my entire life and have been able to have some time to relax and mingle a bit with them.

Currently, there are two major projects the company is working on. 

The shiny building in the center is currently called the 5th and Columbia tower, which is going to be the 5th largest building in Seattle. It also is going to be the only high-rise office building in Seattle to achieve the LEED Gold rating, which means it is sustainable and environmentally friendly. For more info check out the website for the building  Here

Anyway, here's my shoddy attempt at a Rail Jam entry:

Rail Jam Update

 Rail Jam News

The Rail Jam deadline is within sight! At the moment, 17 people have submitted their entries, and over 60 people have registered. So far, the submissions have set the bar very high. Tim Hurley's Nollie 360flip B/S Nosegrind Nollie Kickflip out was smooooooth and his Nollie F/S Tailslide Hardflip Late Revert out was ridiculous! The Nollie F/S Tailslide 360flip by Andrew Bowman, 360flip B/S 5050 kickflip roll thingey 5050 180 by Mike Schneider and Jay Linehan's Polejam tricks all stood out to me. 

With more entries sure to pour in at the last moment, it certainly will be a fight to the end.

My own Rail Jam entry is nearing completion. I feel it has some of the most difficult and smooth tricks I have done, so I am feeling pretty excited to get it complete. I do feel, however, that I am not yet done. I am going to film one more trick tomorrow night and hopefully upload it Thursday morning.

Tim Hurley released a mini video.

So good.. Lol at the anger though :)

FFI Rail Jam Preview

(The fight for the top prize will be intense.)

With the FFI Rail Jam well underway, I have decided to write some of my thoughts on some of the competitors I expect to place well.

Eric Smith - (1st) As defending champion of the last Rail Jam, Eric has a target on his back for this years rail jam. Eric performs super creative tricks which he executes flawlessly, and it will be tough for the other competitors to dethrone him. Eric hasn't released any footage in the past three months, but hopefully he is saving up for the Rail Jam.

Taylor Lucas - (2nd) Last year, Taylor proved he is one of the elite fingerboarders in the world by taking 2nd place. If it wasn't for Eric's fingerboard perfection, Taylor would have had the target placed on his back. Taylor performs super difficult tricks with a very clean style.

Nic Herzog - (3rd) Nic's video was the most visually stunning of the lot last year. I was actually surprised when Nic placed third, as I had thought he was going to win it all. The tricks he did film were really smooth, but I don't think he filmed as wide of a variety as Taylor or Eric. Anyways, expect Nic to show up for this contest.

Boris Dietschi - Boris displayed his mastery of Nollie popshovit variations. Even with perfectly performed Nollie 360 Shovit Nosegrinds to Nollie 360 Shovit F/S Blunts, Boris did not make it to the top 3. The judges felt that he did not perform a good variety of tricks.  This year I expect him to put together a video with greater variety of tricks. If Boris has more variety in his entry, it would be no surprise if he got in the Top 3.

Elias Assmuth - (Did Not Enter) Elias Assmuth is one of the most skilled fingerboarders in the world. A butter smooth style coupled with robot-like consistency, Elias has proven himself by winning contests in Germany. Who knows if Elias will enter this year, I personally doubt it with Fast-Fingers 11 just around the corner. If he does decide to enter, he could easily win it all.

Alex McMillan - (Did Not Enter) Alex didn't enter last year. Alex doesn't know if he will enter this year. Alex is super good. Alex better enter because Alex performs the most technical tricks possible.

Other people I expect to place high would be Mike Schneider, Taylor Rosenbauer, Tim Hurley

My Predictions:

3rd - Boris Dietsche, Taylor Lucas, Alex McMillan, Nic Herzog (Any of these dudes lol)

2nd - Elias Assmuth

1st - Eric Smith

I have around 25 seconds worth of stuff I am going to use for the rail jam. All my tricks are going down within the first ten or so tries. It's almost ridiculous. I was disappointed with my submission last year. I rushed it out and filled it with only a couple tricks I thought were good. I was lucky to get 9th place with the crap I submitted. So far my submission is much better. Every trick I have done for it is as difficult as any trick I've done in my life. I don't know if it will be Eric Smith-quality but I'll let the judges determine that ;-)

Welcome!

My goal in creating this blog is to create a place where people can get a quick and detailed picture of the latest news in the fingerboard scene. Also, I hope to have multiple people provide articles, interviews and trick tips to share with the rest of the community.

Featured video: David Auster tears it up with a new Berlinwood.

Some News:

FFI Rail Jam #2 starts in 1 day!!! Last year's Rail Jam turned out to be a great success, and from the looks of things this year will be even better. FFI Rail Jam #1 had contestants participate from a wide-range of locations including Germany, US, UK, Ireland, Luxembourg, Italy, Brazil, Poland, and that's just the contestants I could remember off the top of my head! With enough prizes for the top 15 finishers, this years Rail Jam will not only be larger, but also more widespread! I am sure there will be some amazing entries. Start filming!

The prize for 1st is incredible.. 

Mike Schneider announced the official date for Rendezvous 4. Head on over to Andover, Massachusetts July 12th if you want to attend the biggest gathering of fingerboarders in the United States!

More information at here!

Fast Fingers 11 is coming up fast! Be prepared to experience the best finger-boarders from around the world duke it out on May 24th! This year it is located in Schwarzenbach/Saale, Germany!

Team News/Changes:

FlatFace is coming out with their team video shortly. From the looks of the team, the video should be absolutely insane.

Tim Hurley has joined Arctic Hardware. Tim rips, so be on the look out for him!

Nollie Wheels has announced they have new opaque bearing wheels AND new 1.6 mm diameter bearings (they fit normal screws)! Buy them here!

Substance Wheels announced they will be closed for a short time.

Flatface is selling BlackRiver Ramps again!

Homewood announced their 2nd video titled Happy Hour 2!

Contact me through email  or AIM: cdplaya0 if you have anything to contribute =)