Dezeen Magazine

Floating skateboard ramp installed on Lake Tahoe for pro-skater Bob Burnquist

This skateboarding ramp floating over the clear waters of Lake Tahoe was put together in just four days by design-and-build team Jerry Blohm and Jeff King for Californian skater Bob Burnquist (+ slideshow).

Floating skateboard ramp on Lake Tahoe by Jeff Blohm and Jeff King

Brazilian-born Bob Burnquist was part of a group of California residents invited by non-profit organisation Visit California to "make their dreams possible" and "think big". He came with the idea of skating over water.

"Dreaming big man, that's what I do every day, I just try to dream as big as I can and then go make it happen," he says in a video about the project.

Floating skateboard ramp on Lake Tahoe by Jeff Blohm and Jeff King

Miami art director Jerry Blohm came up with a design for a wooden structure featuring one half pipe, one quarter pipe and one 45-degree ramp.

Floating skateboard ramp on Lake Tahoe by Jeff Blohm and Jeff King

He also developed a concept for attaching weighted riggers in case the ramp oscillated too much in the water.

Floating skateboard ramp on Lake Tahoe by Jeff Blohm and Jeff King

Once complete, the wood was stained with different colours to create horizontal stripes. The ramp was then towed out onto the waters of Lake Tahoe, which straddles the border between California and Nevada.

Floating skateboard ramp on Lake Tahoe by Jeff Blohm and Jeff King

"It took about four hours to get it there going about four knots," said Blohm, describing the installation.

Floating skateboard ramp on Lake Tahoe by Jeff Blohm and Jeff King

"We had a host of folks coming up to the ramp on the way out to see what it was exactly. When they got close most could not believe it," he said. "It looks like it is fake, floating with no supports."

Floating skateboard ramp on Lake Tahoe by Jeff Blohm and Jeff King

Footage of Burnquist using his skateboard on the ramp was included as part of a 24-hour stream of footage that Visit California aired on YouTube earlier this year.