Southern Cape Dominates

Hello everyone, its update time and this is definitely worth a read. After a very successful weekend Bianca Buitendag and Shaun Joubert win the Mr Price Pro Junior in Durban. In tricky, small and shifty conditions both Bianca and Shaun to win the woman's and men's U/20 respectively.

Binaca was very fortunate to advance through her semi final when she had an interference call within the first five minutes. It was through pure guts and determination that she came back to score a magnificent 8.7 ride to still win the heat.

In her final she again cause an interference but stayed focused on what she needed to do and that was to win the final. On her last wave she went to town and score an 8 point ride again proving to her older counter parts that she was and will be a force to reckon with. She took the final amongst stiff competition.

Shaun Joubert was on fine form throughout the competion. In the final he went to town on one wave and scored the only perfect 10 of the contest to become the Mr price pro Champion. Shaun was looking good all through the event and took the win in style with big committed turns. Congratulation kids i am so proud of you. Keep up the good work. Both have been working really hard over the last two months and clearly the win today is their reward.

News Flash

News flash, news flash, Bianca Butiendag has won the Rip Curl Junior pro Durban. After starting the contest with solid heat scores she went on to win the Rip Curl pro in style. Bianca and myself have been working together for about two months now and since then she has finished 9th at the World Games in France after a stellar performance.

It has been a privilege to work with such a committed, dedicated and enthusiastic, talented young individual. The girl has mountains of talent and is showing maturity beyound her age group, her back hand surfing is also second to non. She has been working really hard over the last two months and already the results are starting to show, Well done Bianca i am so proud of you.

Congratulations and a big shout out must also go to my little champion Benji Brand for winning the u/12 and u/14 division and to his Big brother Davey for placing second in U/16 after winning at the King of the Groms in Mossel Bay the previous weekend.

This week i am off to Durban to coach, Shaun Joubert, Daniele and Bianca Buitendag and the Brand brothers while they are competing at the Mr Price Pro Junior. We will be look at doing well in the event but also mixing the trip up with some hard core training and marketing.

Stay tuned for results and updates

King of the Groms

Hi Guys, sorry for not being in touch just been really busy and don't for one second think we have not been scoring waves cause we have. In fact thank goodness the onshore is here today so we can rest.

WOW, what a weekend for the Quiksilver king of the Groms, Inner Pool, Mossel Bay. The weather was amazing both days with light and variable wind making for ideal contest conditions. Saturday was a little inconsistent but there were still some bomb sets it just meant that you had to be a bit more patient and tactics also came into play.

It was sad to see my young guns Reubin, Arthure, Danile and Vincent fall at the way side not because of ability but simply down to wave selection. I was very proud though to see each and everyone of them try their hardest and give the other competitors a run for their money.

Sunday we woke up to a glorious sunrise,offshore breez, low tide and pushing, with a rising swell how could the kids not be amped to demolish the ever increasing perfect inner pool waves.

Stand out at the event in my eyes were, Klee, Steven Sawyer, Davey and Benji Brand. Big shout out must got to my main man and overall winner of the u/20 King of the Groms, Shaun Joubert. Congratulations my friend on a fine performance.

World Champs

What and exciting end to last month with the Junior world champs help in France. Two of my students Bianca Bruitendag and Shaun Joubert were right there in the thick of things mixing it up with the best Juniors from around the world. Both finished 9th overall with some excellent performances in some heats.

Shaun started the event with a massive heat score of 18 out of twenty in his first heat. Bianca on the other hand had a slow start but was consistently making it through heats and then came the big heat scores. Both Bianca and Shaun surfed impressively throughout the event and certainly turned some heads and gave themselves a solid reputation.

South Africa finished 9th over and 4th overall in the tag team

I am really and truly so proud of my two kids I strongly believe they both have the talent and the focus to win a world title it was just not the 2007 world title. They will both however in the future be winning world titles.

Keep up the good work kids and good luck with the rest of your exams. Enjoy the weekend rest up and study hard,training starts on Monday.

Other pleasures

What a beautiful weekend! It does not matter where or when you are in the Cape or South Africa, one just can not ignore the fact that we live in such an amazingly gorgeous country despite the more controversial problems we experience. My good friend Jason Louw and his wife invited us last minute and boy am i glad i did.

This weekend we spent camping on the Breede rivier at a place called River Zicht. No reason for the get away other than to get away and experience life away from the coast. Where we were was very close to Route 62 where all the wine farms are.

This time of the year is a little chili but thank goodness for electric blankets, although we are going into winter, it did mean that it would quite and peaceful. Our bush camp was right on the waters edge which was so amazing waking up to first thing. Sunday morning there was a light mist which added to the already peaceful serenity. Fishing was the highlight of our day although we weren't catching a thing not getting even a bite but we all know it was not about catching the biggest fish. All in all a great weekend with friends family and close ones made for a great weekend that everybody enjoyed.

I love this part of the world so much to see and do.