Hurley SA champs Warm Up sessions

 

Hurley SA Champs kicks off with a bang:

With school holidays in full swing a few kids made there way to Jeffery’s Bay well before the contest was due to start. This was a prime opportunity to fine tune their skills and get them prepared and amped for the 2012 Hurley SA junior surfing championships.

Many of these kids have been spending the whole year focused and prepared on this event, the pinnacle of the junior contest circuit. A few of the kids are still coming off a high after their brilliant results at the Billabong Pro Junior which was held at Seal point over a month ago.

The pre contest training has gone very well and the kids are ripping, this is by far going to be the highest level of surfing you will witness at the SA junior Champs.  

In this video you will see a couple of the names you should watch out for.

The waves so far have varied between 2-4 feet; the week ahead looks like very similar conditions. With good forecast and brilliant young, talented surfers we are in for an epic event.

ALL GOOD THINGS COME TO AN END!

We have had a couple of really interesting days, looking for surf and trying to surf as much as possible with this last bit of swell.

We got really lucky on the Pukit peninsula and scored perfect 3-5ft Uluwatu, 3 people hit the reef and got some grazes, this wave is not for the faint hearted.

We then checked Bingin, which was too small we decided to miss the peak hour traffic and head back to Canggu. The rest of the day was spent at Canggu beach enjoying the surf, atmosphere and lifestyle.

Yesterday we woke up to another glorious morning with no wind and sunny skies, so we headed to a low tide beach break that had offered us nothing thus far. We were amazed to find a perfect 2-4ft right hand peak!

We jumped on it quickly and scored for about half an hour before the low tide seemed to kill it, although there were still super fun waves.

We had a solid session and then headed home for breakfast, our plan was to go to Canggu after breakfast and spend the day down there.

When we got to reliable Canggu we surfed all over, the left out from the restaurant, the A frame left and right on the beach break and also the right hand reef break.

We based ourselves at one of the local restaurants and the kids were in an out of the water all day! There is such a cool vibe and atmosphere down at the beach for the kids to enjoy.

We spoiled ourselves with Pizza last night, everyone was really happy about that!

Today there is not much swell forecasted, so we going to take it pretty easy, have breakfast in the morning then go down to Canggu for a surf. Afterwards we are going to go do a bit of shopping for the family and some sight seeing.

It’s been amazing to watch how each individual has improved in his her own capacity. It really is so rewarding when the results are so evident.

This will be the last blog before everyone heads home, it has been an amazing trip and we have learned a lot. Although more than half of us got sick we sure did work hard and make the most of the experience.

Banger of a day Day 5 in Bali;

We getting into a really good routine and rhythm now up early for light breakfast. Its an absolutely beautiful day today, the wind chimes are quite so we know there in no wind. There is a clear sky and the swell has picked up, we know it’s going to be a banger of a day!

The only one now that cant join us for the days surfing in young Donovan Wichmann, he is down with a serious case of Bali Belly!

The others have recovered enough to make the most of this epic day, first light we head 30min up the coast. It’s a semi secret spot and for the first time we drive a bit off the beaten track and it feels like were in Indonesia.

When we rock up only a couple guys in the water and a few waiting for the tide to come in. The potential for some serious barrels was evident as each wave just exploded onto the beach. Unfortunately it was just closing out and not really rippable, a couple of the boys went out to body surf and came back stoked.

We wanted patiently but the waves did not improve before the trade winds came up and started ruining it.

We packed up and headed back to trusty old Canggu beach, we headed straight to the right where the kids performed and could work on their technique. We spent a good couple hours out there had lunch at the warung. After lunch they headed straight out in front for a session on the left.

What an amazing day surfing and coaching we are all very happy, ready to have another cracker day tomorrow.

Canggu Bali Day 4

We woke up this morning with high expectation of some really fun waves but were disappointed by 1-2ft waves. Perfect timing in the trip for a lay day as there are now 4 people who are really ill with serious fever.

Jono McGillivray was the first victim, then Emma Smith went down yesterday and today Donovan Wichmann was the next casualty. Steff Burrows has been on the verge of getting the same thing, but has managed to fight it off so to had Rigard.

We got back to the Villa, which is now more like a hospital, for a solid breakfast, plenty to go around as the sick kids are not coping with food at this stage.

After breakfast we went back to Canggu and were pleasantly surprised with super fun 2-3ft waves. The kids rushed out there and I decided to coach from in the water with the Go Pro. It worked very well and I was able to give them immediate feedback after their wave

Gerhard was sitting down the beach with his huge lens snapping off some epic pics. 

MOTHER NATURE DAY 4 BALI 2012

Up at the crack of dawn, with the roosters!

The girls dominated on day 4 and were ripping although Mother Nature decided to share with us smaller waves. Our now local spot, Canguu, delivered small 2 ft. A frame peaks on the sand bar.

During the session we moved over to the right hand reef break, it improved with the pushing tide, fun 2-3ft waves with the odd cooking set.  After a couple hours surf the kids called it a day, we headed back to the Villa for breakfast.

After breakie we did video analysis of the last few days, which really opened the kids eye to what they need to be working on.

With the deceasing swell and afternoon trade winds, which are onshore on this coast, we decided to take the afternoon off. We headed to town to sample some of the local quisine and stock up on some essentials.

The next 3 days day’s forecast is looking very promising for some epic super fun waves. Lots od surfing, shooting and coaching!!!