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ged 26, Korahn Gayle has spent more than half his life on a skateboard, having first jumped on one when he was 12. Since then, the Bristolian has picked up big-name sponsors, honed a fearless, devil-may-care skating style in national and European competitions, such as Simpel Sessions, and travelled worldwide with his wheels. But, on this grey, overcast Monday, he’s just 10 minutes from his house, in the city that’s also home to one of the UK’s biggest skate scenes, sitting in a café drinking a latté and waiting for the weather to clear up, something a British rider has to get used to. He’s wearing a very-new-looking hoodie the same colour as the sky, made by Skateboard Café, a board company and sponsor of Gayle’s whose logo may or may not resemble that of a well-known coffee company, and has to mute his phone to stop the relentless beep of new messages. His trademark Afro hairstyle has recently shrunk, but otherwise he’s just as his online persona, built from skateboard mag articles, Twitter comments and
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countless YouTube videos: affable, quick to laugh, and keen to talk. He only pauses his stories to illustrate a point with an Instagram video or to knock on the window to wave at the many friends who pass by. His motto, ‘don’t worry, be happy’, seems to be working out for him. : Korahn’s an interesting name. Where is it from? : My name’s pronounced like the Muslim holy book, but it’s not related to that. My dad went to Morocco before I was born and liked the name. I have an interesting middle name too – Alexandra. I don’t even know why I was given a girl’s name, which kind of sucks. My mum was laughing about it. I was like, ‘Hang on, you gave me the name!’ She’d always told me it’s a Jamaican thing, that it’s not a girl’s name over there, but I’m starting to doubt it. Are you getting used to all the attention that comes with being a top skater? It’s fun, man; lots of new opportunities. But it’s strange, too. I recently did an advert for a French snack company. That was random as hell. I ended up flying through the air eating a sandwich. Did you ever imagine you’d be doing that when you started skating? No! But I always wanted to get sponsored, I dreamed of it aged 12. My friend Louis Gane is a really good filmmaker, so we’d always be out together with a crappy little camcorder at the start. Then it progressed and we made skate video Bristol in Bloom when I was 14. That got me my first
Gayle force: Korahn has turned his passion into his business