James Astle

One guy, one skateboard, and an urge to explore. That’s all it took for James Astle to ride his board 400 miles solo across The Philippines.

We had the pleasure of sitting down and speaking to James Astle, the man behind ‘Rolling Moments’, a documentary telling the story of his journey travelling 400 miles across The Philippines … on a skateboard.

James has always been adventurous. Growing up in downtown LA, he recalled when he was younger, he’d jump on his bike with no phone or map and cycle for hours just getting lost in the city. When he was 7, his brother introduced him to skating and since then it’s been a big part of his life. A humble guy, James plays down just how good he was. Sponsored by a local skate store as a youngster, his ability in the documentary speaks for itself.

The LA influence didn’t stop there though, “when you drive around LA, you see lots of graffiti and street art, in school the teachers would say how graffiti is a big part of the culture of the city and art was very much encouraged”. As well as the being influenced by the skate culture and art in LA, James spoke fondly of how diverse it was, thanks to the large Hispanic and Korean communities.

Based full time in Hawaii, where he originally moved for university, James’ desire for adventure has not dwindled one bit. “I’d visited the Philippines a number of times and one time I just thought of how great it would be to skate there because of the small narrow streets and open rice fields.” Once the idea hit him he simply couldn’t shake it off.

“You just have to commit to a date. It’s about having fears and knowing they’ll always be there, but you’ll never experience what you want to experience until you do it.”

So he booked a one way flight to Manila and spent the next month on google maps planning possible routes. 

It was the first day of the 400 mile journey that James found himself on a beach in Claveria, in the North of the country. In the sweltering heat he thought to himself, “How am I gonna do this? I’m tired just sitting here”. The concerns soon subsided as he started kicking. It was clear that locals were taken aback by what he was doing as they took pictures and stared from their cars. As he made his way through the Philippines James met incredible people who he spent much time with. The obvious connection he has with the locals is a highlight of the documentary.

“The biggest challenges were the heat and luggage. It was so, so hot I had to drink a bottle of water every 20 minutes to avoid dehydration. I had the one backpack with all the camera equipment and just a few tees. I didn’t have a second board or even any spare parts or tools. I thought so many times about just leaving the bag on the side of the road so I could just enjoy skating free.”

To say James is an optimist may be the understatement of the century. Riding completely solo in the remotest of country backroads with no back up plan comes with obvious risks but if there was ever a moment that the fear of that took over the fun he never lets it show. He just laughs at the idea that it could have been dangerous if something happened out there.

A memorable stop on his trip was surfing in San Juan, “I arrived right as a huge swell was coming in. The waves were crazy. The line up was so cool, it was very family friendly, I was amazed to see little old grandmas out there learning to surf too!”. A skilled surfer, James spent 5 hours riding the waves on what he described as “a relaxed day”. His passion for the water doesn’t stop here, James wants to make board shorts (yes, he also makes board shorts!) with the profits going towards teaching kids how to swim.

As he moved into the final 60 miles of the journey, James had pulled his calf, which compounded by the heat, made skating extremely difficult but he kept going fused by the challenge. As he got into Manilla, he was skating along busy highways, skitching on the back of buses, much to the amusement of the passengers. 

“At the end to be honest I was most looking forward to just getting a shower and relaxing” - well earned to be fair!

In a lot of ways James epitomises what it means to “Pay Creativity Forward”, when we asked him what that means to him, he said: “Giving back through creativity. We all have talents and skills, we all are creative, but often people don’t recognise it or block it. It’s your God given right to use your skills to go out and help others and bless others. If people realised what they could do for others, the amount of good would be astronomical. You can use your creativity to make things better, more amazing, more interesting. It’s sad to see how many opportunities are missed.” 

Couldn’t have said it better ourselves!

Watch ‘Rolling Moments’ Now on Amazon Prime.