I could not have asked for a more successful camp, everything ran perfectly and what made it so amazing was the epic surf we were fortunate enough to get during the waiting period. This meant we had the pleasure of watching this years Billabong WCT live.
The camp ran the duration of the Occy Grom junior contest the 9th to the 15th of July. We had an amazing group of kids consisting of all ages from all over the country they were, Logan Eales and Jordan Alexander from Cape Town, Steff Burrows and Adin Masencamp, Charl de Waal and Rigard Smit from Strand, Licoln Logie from East London and Dylan Lightfoot from J-Bay.
The camps main focus was preparation for the Occy grom:
Day 1:The waves were super fun 2-3 foot at the point with a light NW wind. We had heats in the morning and after lunch we had a free surf at Magna tubes beach break and then video analysis that evening
Day 2: The contest ran in very difficult small North westerly conditions at Bone Yards,
Day 3: Day 2 of the contest ran in perfect offshore 2-3 foot point. The level of surfing was incredible and all the kids in all the age groups especially the u/12 stepped it up in the near perfect conditions. Stand outs at the event were Donavan Wichman who won the U/12 division having spent some time coaching with me in Mossel Bay in preperation of the event, Jordan Maree was ripping on his back hand, surfing smoothly with his polished and mature style. He was definitely looking like the man to beat and finished 2nd overall. Ethen Flether fulfilled his potential and ripped it up posting some big scores along the way. The depth and level surfing of the under 12 division had everyone on the beach, including Occy, totally blown away.
The U14 division produced a new winner in Daniel Buitendag from Victoria Bay who clinched his first Billabong Junior Series event title.
Mikey Feb was owning the point throughout the event, the wave suiting his unique style right down to the ground, he took the win over Steven Sawyer a new comer to the u/16 division showing he has got what it takes to win.
Day 4: The ocean went flat. I arranged with my good friend and big wave surfer Duncan Scott to have a jet ski/tow in, orientation day. The kids were introduced to the Jet ski and all the safety features needed to run such a craft. All of them had equal opportunity to get towed behind the ski at Kabeljouws beach break and bust some airs.
Day 5/6/7: The swell kicks in and the Billabong WCT starts. These three days would be all about surfing, watching the WCT and video analysis. Watching the pro's then watching yourself after being videoed and analysed then trying to apply what you have learnt in the surf under supervision.
The camps went down great with the fact that we had great surf for the junior contest we had heaps of fun on the jet ski and were lucky enough to have the contest run during the 7 days we were there. We also got see and surf J-bay the worlds most perfect right hander as good as it gets.
I would like to thank Hurley for sponsoring some prizes, "Ripper" of the camp went to Rigard Smit and "most improved" went to little power house Steff Burrows. Big congratulations to all the kids for putting in so much effort the reward were clearly visible in there surfing.
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