Tuesday, October 2, 2012

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.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012



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.


Monday, July 9, 2012



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.


Sunday, July 8, 2012



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. 


Saturday, July 7, 2012



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!!!


Thursday, October 8, 2009

S.A junior surfing champs


OMG! What an event!The biggest junior surfing event in the country. Very tricky surf ranging from 1ft to 6ft offshore and onshore trust East London to give the kids such challenging surf. The kids were amazing and were well up for the challenge and did exceptionally well in the difficult surf the standard of the surfing was at an all time high and my kids did me very proud in my absence. The next generation of surfers emerging from these great events are amazing finally South Africa in getting some depth in its junior surfing.

Once again my under 12 boys did an amazing job and made me so proud, all four of the finalist I coach on a regular basis. These guys are going to be competing with each other for many years to come and are going to be pushing the limits watch these guys closely in the future. In a very tightly contest heat, only 1 point separating top three positions it was young Matt McGillavray that took the honours. Congratulation's to the four boys for an outstanding performance, the results were as follows:

1st Matt McGillavray
2nd Jordan Maree
3rd Steff Burrows
4th Adin Masencamp


Adin Masencamp
is only just turned 10 and is turning heads, the young kids is surfing superbly and is so focused and determined. He still has two more years in u/12 so i believe there are some titles coming his was soon.

As well as finishing 2nd Jordan Maree only 11yrs old, was nominated surfer of the contest, a great achievement at such a young age. Its great that his superb surfing is been recognised and appreciated

Equal 5th place went to little ripper Donavan Wichman who has improved leaps and bounds this year and is currently ripping hard and therefore worth of a mention, well done kido.

In the u/14
Diran Zakarian walked away with the finals with a massive 17.75 heat total clearly the winner of the division. hats how you win a contest surf so well that you can be denied a win, well done bru!

Young natural born ripper Benji Brand was living up to his reputation and surfing solid throughout the event, he was the man to beat. He finished 3rd overall although his surfing ability totally warrants a title.

In the u/16 division
David Van Zyle took the win over Mikey February congratulations boys.Reubin Lammers,the dark hoarse, finished 4th overall an awesome result for you my friend. Equal 5th went to Vincent Withers, he has come along way this year and backed up his improvement with some solid results this year. Well done boys you did Southern Cape proud. The ever consistent Daniel Wilson finished 5th with Vincent, the kid is an exceptional surfer, I am really looking forward to watching his progress in 2010

U/16 girls
As usual it was a Sarah Baum vs Bianca Buitendag clash. This time Bianca came out tops and took the win over Sarah, you two girls are exceptional surfers and both have a bright future in surfing keep it up girls and continue pushing each other and girls surfing in South Africa.
Amy Bosworth and Roxy Giles made it to the quarter finals well done more preparation equals stronger results. Never give up.

The main manne U/18 division
Matt Bromley was on form from heat one, in the final he left it to the last 6min to catch his two scoring rides and take out the win. A great example of total focus and a never give up attitude. The results have not gone his way this year as he has been focusing on Matric so to end off the year been S.A u/18 champ is a well deserved result, stoked for you brother.
Berrick De Vries was hot on his heals and finished 2nd overall, what a great year Berrick has had. He has really impressed me and has made it clear that he is going to be serious title contender in the years to come.

For full results visit www.surfingsouthafrica.co.za

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Sunday, September 27, 2009