Popular American skateboarder skates dangerously along arch at Henderson Waves bridge 36 metres above ground during S’pore layover
A professional street skateboarder’s spot hunting of Henderson Waves and subsequent session at Singapore’s tallest pedestrian bridge has incurred the wrath of local netizens.
American skateboarder Jimmy Larsen, known by his social media handle @offgridskater, shared videos of his short layover in Singapore during which he recorded stunts at the bridge which he says, “looks like a skate park”.
“I only had a few hours in Singapore, but Joe from Skatan Skate Shop showed up with a skateboard, gave me a place to crash, and helped turn the layover into a full skate mission,” says Larsen in the description of his YouTube video.
“A few hours later we were hiking up to Henderson Waves — a huge wooden pedestrian bridge that looks way too skateable.
“The spot ended up being much harder than it looked. Strange transitions, sketchy reaches, brutal heat and a serious drop on the other side. Most of the session became figuring out what was actually possible — misses, adjustments and eventually the makes,” he adds.
Larsen also shares a short reel of the spot on his Instagram account which has garnered more than 103,000 views and 94 comments since it was shared on Oct 5.
S’poreans chime in
Netizens among Larsen’s sizable online following loved the videos, but Singaporeans were far less impressed.
Many pointed out on various platforms that skateboarding was not allowed on Henderson Waves, an iconic, 274m-long, wood-panelled structure opened in 2008.
“Skateboards and similar rolling items are strictly prohibited on the Henderson Waves Bridge,” said a YouTube user.
“No, you cannot skateboard on Henderson Waves Bridge,” said an Instagram user, adding that scooters and roller blades are also not allowed and that cyclists have to dismount and push their bikes.
One Threads user even made a post criticising Larsen, using images from his video.
“Why is it always an unwashed white man in Southeast Asia? That bridge is beautiful and meant for walking. Pretty sure they knew skateboarders would be tempted by the curves, which is why they put benches there,” said Threads user @sparklingcuriosity66.
Several took exception to the danger of his stunts and did not want youngsters imitating him.
At 8:34 of his YouTube video, Larsen climbs over the railing onto an overhead arch.
“Oh my God, there is a drop on this side, dude, I didn’t even notice it,” he says as he walks on the arch.
Falling off the bridge, which is 36 metres above Henderson Road, would be like falling off the 12th storey of an HDB block.
“Hey, that’s my neighbourhood. I don’t care if he endangers himself but if there was a fall, traffic and people below could have been affected causing a serious chain reaction of accidents. It’s an active road 24/7,” said a Threads user.
Another said: “We don’t need that sort of hype or influence on teens or any other to try this and endangering themselves just for views and just cos it looks cool to ignore safety fences.”
Several even thought what he did was disrespectful.
“Please respect and follow Singapore’s park regulations,” said a netizen on YouTube.
“So disrespectful,” an Instagram user said.
‘Pretty sure the government will step in’: S’pore skateboarder
One local skateboarder, while considering Larsen’s video cool, felt he was doing more harm than good for the local skateboarding community.
“On one hand, as a skater myself, it’s a cool vid and I’m glad you enjoyed skating it. But as a local, I’m pretty sure the government will now step in to skate stop it because it’s generating a lot of negative feedback on our local forums.
“We are already losing a lot of our legal skate parks as people view skaters as a nuisance and damaging public property,” said the YouTube user.
When contacted by Stomp, Joe of Shop of Skatan said he wasn’t aware of any restrictions on skateboarding at Henderson Waves.
“We actually found the location listed on Singapore Skate Spots as a skate spot, which is why I brought Jimmy there,” said Joe.
“Now that this has been brought to our attention, we won’t be heading there to skate again,” he added.
Stomp has reached out to Larsen and NParks, which manages Henderson Waves, for comment.
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