Back in the Spring of 2022 we heard from a company that was looking to set up a skate ramp for a private party at the Ritz Carlton of Dana point.  

The company was involved in the technology + software industry that were wanting to celebrate and honor their top sales reps of the international company. The three day event would consist of going to Catalina, checking out the beaches of Laguna, Newport and Huntington as well as going to Disneyland.  They wanted to host a really cool dinner the first night on the lawn at the Ritz hotel that overlooks all of Salt Creek beach.  This particular company knew of our reputation of creating the industry’s top skate obstacles and doing demonstrations with the world's best professional skateboarders.  

We then decided to set up a walk-through meeting so that everybody involved with the event could walk through the property with the owner of OC RAMPS, Tyler. Iron out any details, questions and logistics. Tyler then met the event coordinators and planners from the Ritz and they discussed how to bring the ramp in, where they would set it up, how they would remove it, and when + which route they would drive out of the event.  As you can see there’s a lot more factors when you’re involving a large corporate hotel that has full capacity of guests.  We clearly do not want to disrupt any of the hotel guests by making noise with our loud tools or vehicles and trailers.  It is our responsibility to create a setting that is professional, quiet and efficient.  We all came into agreement with our plans and set a date for the event in August 2022. 

We then prepared the ramp at our warehouse and made sure that everything was pre-cut, pre-drilled and even painted before the event date. We also met with our decal and sign company to create a few custom logos and stickers to brand the rental for this particular occasion.  After the items were prepared we then stacked everything carefully onto the trailer — playing Tetris as best as possible! 

When the day for the event finally arrived we headed out early that morning towards Laguna Beach/Dana Point. The road to get to the Grass Bluff area was extremely tricky – we had to drive down the road towards Salt Creek Beach then turn a sharp left and go up a very narrow road that led to the hotel grounds. Driving a large pick up truck with a 20 foot flatbed trailer is not always easy! Fortunately, we’ve got a great staff with multiple qualified and professional drivers! 

We then immediately began to unload and start piecing together the half pipe.  The ramp was going to be 5 feet tall by 16 feet wide by 30 feet long.  One corner would have an extension making it just under 7 feet tall. Altogether this ramp consists of about 5000 pounds of lumber. For whatever reason we decided to build on the hottest day of the summer! It felt like over 100° on that sunny bluff with no breeze. Nonetheless, our amazing staff was able to assemble the ramp in about five hours.  Once we finished the ramp there was about three hours until the event would actually start. A couple of our builders were also going to be skateboarding in the demonstration so we all decided to take off, rest up and shower before coming back for a long night of fun. 

The event began at 6pm.  We had 9 pro skateboarders as part of our OC Ramps Skate Team; Mark Appleyard, Dalton Dern, Kanaan Dern, Chris Hiett, Mike Berdis, Karly Moreno, Kaydin, Tyler P, Andrew Miller.  Everyone began skateboarding immediately and having a great time on the flawless mini ramp. The guests walked in after about 20 minutes and all took their seats at a table as they continued to eat hors d’oeuvres, appetizers and drinks. 

The skaters enjoyed themselves as they rode the ramp for three hours straight.  The guests really enjoyed watching the skating action - a few of them would pick their favorites and root for them as they'd skate.  There were a couple of other sources of entertainment at this event as well — a live band performed and they also had the legendary surf OG - Laird Hamilton, signing books.  But needless to say, everyone’s favorite part of the evening was OC RAMPS!

When the event ended at 9 PM our breakdown crew showed up within minutes and began disassembling the half pipe. We loaded up our truck and trailer and we’re off the property before midnight. The OC RAMPS staff and Skate team all slept good that evening - we were beat up!

It was an honor to be present at the Ritz Carlton and to have our brand part of such an incredible private event.  If you are thinking about bringing something new and different to your next event don’t hesitate to reach out to OC RAMPS – allow us to be the great entertainers of the party!  

Check out the video to see all the fun footage & behind the scenes good stuff!!