Tuesday, June 24

Burton Summer Session -- Kelly Clark

By Dave Finger
EXPN.com

What happens when you take three pro snowboarders out of their element and throw them into New York City? We found out when we interviewed Keir Dillon, JP Solberg and Kelly Clark of the Burton Snowboards team last week in their Scando-designed NYC showroom. Besides the summer shred, we touched base on scoping hotties, killing sleds and shark attacks. Our second edition of this three-part Summer Session comes from West Dover, VT local and all-around u-lump destroyer, Kelly Clark … enjoy.

EXPN.com: So you're back home in a way, being an East Coast girl and everything. What have you been up to in the city?

Kelly Clark: We've been talking to people. Being here in one place, it's nice because we don't have to run around the city and do a bunch of stuff. It's nice that we're here and people can just come to us because it saves us a lot of taxi hassle. But basically we've been showing product, talking to the media, eating good.

Keir and Kelly show off their 2004 sticks during our visit. Bonus cool guy fact -- if you're a big time pro you get to ride these boards late in the 2003 season.

JP and Keir inexplicably seem to think there are no hot girls in the city, so what's up with the guy scene?

From what I can see, they're all collared-shirt wearing pricks.

(Keir Dillon): Yeah, and I had my collared shirt on last night.

(Back to Kelly): And you felt like one of them, Casanova. He's in the city now, so oh, we're losin' him. No, I don't know. It's not my style, really. I'm from Vermont, so we're a little bit mellower. It's like they need to have a gun or something … just kidding.

Bang bang, you're dead … So I heard you just got on the Global team.

Yeah, I'm excited about it. It's nice to be part of it and you know, at Burton, you get listened to so much in the development of products: boards, bindings, clothes. To really be part of it, to give back to them is great. They give me so much, so it's cool to give back. That's one of the things about the Global team, there are roundtables (about product development) throughout the year.

Don't sweat the technique -- Kelly checks the method in Mammoth's perfectly groomed 8:00 a.m. pipe.

Is that what you're doing with your summer?

Well, for the summer I'm hanging out in Rhode Island and Vermont. My parents live in Rhode Island and I surf. It's pretty fun. I'm catching a train back there tomorrow. It's been pretty good. It's like chest high right now. It's pretty fun. My parents have a condo in Cocoa (Florida) too, so I go down there sometimes. It's a little bit sharky, though. I've seen two or three in Rhode Island. I saw one on the dock, once. In wintertime, you can go to the end of the dock and throw stuff in the water and the sharks come. And that's when I paddle out. Just kidding.

Have you seen many down in Florida?

This one time, I duck-dove into one. It was crazy because the water is so choppy and murky down there, like you can't see your hand if you put it under the water. Plus, it was like the "Summer of the Shark." There were eight shark attacks the week before in New Smyrna, which is like eight miles away, so it was pretty sketchy already. So the water was pretty choppy and I'm paddling and paddling. And you know how when you get tan, and you're dark, and the palm of your hand is white? Well my hand seemed like it was flashing under water when I was paddling, and it's like, "Shark bait, shark bait. Get me, get me." Then I duck dove this wave, and I ended up gettin' tossed on the inside, and I felt a whop.

My hand hit a giant something and I saw a tail and fin swoosh down and I was like, "See ya guys, I'll be outta here," and paddled back in. In Florida, the sharks are pretty small, sand sharks and nurse sharks. They're like five-feet long, maybe. But in the cold water, they're bigger. I saw a Maco once and that was scary. Top three man-eating sharks: Mako, Great White and Tigers.

Ahh, the rough life of a professional snowboarder ... free food, free gear and a couch full of homies -- Keir, Kelly and JP hold it down in the NYC.

Do you miss snowboarding during the summers?

It depends. We all stay busy. We're always doing stuff: promos, tours. I'm going to be on snow for like three weeks, I think. I'm lucky enough to have the option to take a tiny break for three weeks or a month or so. I'll be real busy doing this type of stuff, but also it makes me want to snowboard again. When you get away from the snow, you can actually clear your mind and think about things and you're like, "Ah, I can do this trick. Or whatever." It's great for the mind.

Check out what Keir had to say in our first installment.