The good people over at Antiz Skateboards – i.e. André Gerlich, Thanos Panou, David Sanchez, Robin Bolian, Joel Juuso, Julien Bachelier – sent over an audiovisual postcard from Reunion Island, with photos by Loïc Benoit and video material by Alberto Della Beffa, beautifully packed into an edit by Fred Mortagne and narrated (as down below) by Joel Juuso.

Hey Joel, we don’t get to see tour videos from Reunion Island everyday. I know it’s been a while, but could you tell us a bit about it?

We went there last year in spring and originally, I was not even supposed to go. I’ve got this thing with trips, you know? Either I get hurt right before or during the trip (laughs). So, Juju [Julien Bachelier] was a bit worried that I would get hurt again, and this time around we’d be on a fucking island in the middle of nowhere. But well, someone had to fill in for Marco [Kada], cause he had gotten hurt. I gotta admit that, at first, I was like: “I don’t know, dude.” But eventually, it’s thanks to my girlfriend that I took the chance. She really hyped me up. 

From Finland to Reunion Island then?

Yes. As soon as I got out of the plane, I could feel the heat. The air was just still, humid and felt like a thick wall, that you had to walk/skate through (laughs). It was crazy, I’ve never experienced anything like that. I mean, I’ve been to Sao Paulo before, but the climate on Reunion Island was a whole different ball game. I usually hate skating in shorts, but over there I just had to get used to it. The only short I’ve had was kinda pinkish, though. And I after the second day or so, I started to wear a knee brace for the rest of the trip. Some kind of pinkish shorts plus a knee brace? When I look at the clips/photos now, I’m just like: “Goddamn it!” (laughs)

How come you needed that knee brace?

So, of course, Juju had told me in the beginning of the trip to keep it easy, you know? With my history of injuries on trips and stuff… But I mean, I can’t really keep still and by the second day, my knee just started swelling up. I’ve had two knee surgeries already, but the swelling appeared in my other knee, the good one. Not sure what exactly happened, but I guess, that it was probably linked to the heat and maybe the dehydration. So, I had to buy this knee brace at some mall and it helped, but well…

The footage and photos still look good, at least to us. Any other advice, apart from pinkish shorts, on how to adapt to the Island’s climate?

Don’t wear black in the sun, that’s a good advice for sure. Oh, for everyone from up North, like myself, make sure to always put on sunscreen, otherwise you get burnt within like five minutes. A swim here and there would help, too. But don’t just jump into the sea over there, cause there’s some sort of shark highway around the island. Apparently, there’s more sharks around Reunion Island than pretty much anywhere else in the world. So not an ideal situation to cool down in the sea after a skate session, especially when you’ve got some scrapes and bruises (laughs). But despite the heat and all that, I’d be down to live on this island. Life’s pretty easy going over there. There are fruits everywhere. I remember these dragonfruits that we’ve had. These are something else, man. I haven’t even tasted anything like that before (laughs).

Fair enough. How about the skate scene over there?

I was really surprised. There’s a skate shop called 9skate4 and there’s some really talented locals over there. Lawrence Ravail for example, he’s from Reunion Island. Him and some other local legends joined us for a demo at some festival on the island. 

How’d the demo go?

As far as I remember, I didn’t skate too much. Juju gave me a pass (laughs). I mean, Robin [Bolian] was flying through the park and putting on a show, anyways. He’s getting fired up by having many people around, and I’m just the opposite. So, I spent most of the demo somewhere in the shade. The crowd was super welcoming, though. We would also have some smaller demos all around the island and we’d hang out with the locals. That was more my type of thing compared to the big demo at the festival. 

And how about the volcano downhill session? Could you tell us a bit about that one?

For sure. I’ll never forget that one ever. Where I’m from there’s no volcanos. I had never even seen one and all of a sudden, I’m bombing one. We had a long night before that session, though. When we finally went to sleep around 3am, Juju and Loïc [Benoit] told us that we’d have to be ready again by 5am. At first, I thought it was a joke, but well… We did get up at 5am, climbed into the van, hungover as fuck, and went for an hour long drive up to the volcano. We saw the landscape change. For the first part of the drive, everything around us was green, farms and fields, and then all of a sudden, you’re on a different planet. It was kinda sketchy to bomb the volcano, though. The road was pretty curvy. Some curves were super steep. There were cliffs on the sides of the road and obviously, you don’t wanna die there (laughs). But despite the hangover and the lack of sleep, we bombed it like ten times. Loïc took the photos and Alberto [Della Beffa] filmed a bit. It was such a wild scenario, but one of the best experiences of my life. And afterwards, we had a little hike. Tough day (laughs).

Wow. Didn’t expect a backstory like that, thanks Joel! Last but not least: Any good Thanos stories from the trip?

Fuck. I mean, you know the guy. But I have to admit that I can’t remember any particular one from that trip. He’s just intense and always on a mission. Same on Reunion Island, of course. He gets the crew hyped up and motivated on this shit. He had these crazy fucking speeches… as usual (laughs). When I was in the middle of trying a trick, he’d always come over and just stare at me. I don’t always believe in myself. But when Thanos lets me know that he does, I’ll get hyped up for sure.