Sunday, September 27, 2009

Victoria Bay Billabong Junior

The contest was scheduled to run at Vic bay which it did on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday unfortunately the surf dropped and the contest had to be finished off in Herolds bay. A few people made the most of the cooking waves at Vic such as Jordan Maree, Casey Grant, Bianca Buitendag and goofy foot power house Benji Brand

Wow I could not believe my eyes when i looked at the u/12 results I was so proud to see 6 of the 8 semi finalists, that i coach on a regular basis, in there giving it a go. In the final, 3 of the 4 kids were representing Waves S'Cool' of surfing. Big shout out must going to the following rippers for putting in so much effort this year and achieving great things with their surfing:

Matt McGillavray
Jordan Maree
Adin Masencamp
Jonah Paarman
Donavan Wichman
Steff Burrows

Matt, Steff and Jordan all made it to the finals and finished 4th, 3rd and 1st respectively. By winning the contest Jordan also went on to win the series, congratulations young man you deserve it. You have all made me very proud and well done on a sterling performance.
Each and every single one of them showing that South Africa's next generation will be a threat on the world surfing scene and that finely South Africa is gaining some depth in its surfing.

In the U/14 division it was clear that Benji Brand was the man to beat, Steff Burrows competing in an older age group managed a semi final and an =7th place. Benji Brand used his back hand to his advantage and tore the living day lights out of a fun Vic Bay and was comboing his fellow competitors on the way to the final. He backed up his solid performance on the rights and surfed excellently on the lefts at Herold bay and won the event hands down, congrats you little ripper.

Other stand outs in the U/14 were Dyllan Lightfoot and Brandon Benjamin well done kids i am very happy for you.

In the U/16 final it was young J-Bay Ripper Steven Sawyer that took out the win over Dale Staples, Benji Brand and Jared Veldhuis. In a very low scoring final it was Steven that came out tops, Benji Brand was also in the mix in a division that he will only be joining in 2yrs time. Local kid Forrest Hair did exceptionally well by making the semi finals and finishing 7th overall.

In the Woman pro Junior it was a Bianca Buitendag affair from the beginning posting some of the highest heats cores in the event. When the contest moved to Herolds it would be to her favoure now that she is calling Herold home! Well done also to Sarah Baum who is also surfing excellently, keep it up girls.

Last but not least it was the main manne, the U/20 pro junior. Berrick de Vries was on fire from the beginning of the contest and has been on fire pretty much the whole year. In his first year in the division he has won almost every event he has competed in, good work bro keep it up. Hats off must go to Eastern Caper Bertie Stuurman who blazed a trail all the way to the semi finals and finished 3rd overall.

Well done kids a great performance from all of you i wish i was there to witness it all go down how exciting it must have been. For all the final results please check out www.surfingsouthafrica.co.za

Friday, September 11, 2009

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Waves school of surfing “news flash”

Well the fun just does not stop, 29th/30th I had a camp with 8 Kids in Still Bay the best thing was that we scored cooking 3f waves for two days totally uncrowded.
The 8 youngsters included,
Jordan Maree
Dave Burrows (out with an injury, stitches on his first day)
Steff Burrows
Ford Van Jaarsveld
Max Elkington
Jake Elkington
Matt McGillavray
Chaarl De Waal


We stayed in the beautiful thatch roof houses at Bosbokduin located in a nature reserve. The weather was fine with off shore wind morning to night. The general feel of the camp was very positive and the cherry on the cake were the waves, I believe every one of them learnt some valuable lessons.

GromZ go Crazy 3 is finally here if you’ve been ripping it up you’ll be on it. Shaun Joubert has a major section, once you seen it you’ll understand why. We also got some undergrounds and some super groms all ripping it up.

You can check it out on www.magicseaweed.com or www.zigzag.co.za . Zigzag have just launched their new and improved user friendly website. If you enjoyed the zag website before you’re going to love the new one,so hurry and go check it out.

You can also see the movie on all other major sites www.youtube.com, www.dailymotion.com, www.yahoo.com, www.metacafe.com, www.blip.tv . If you missed GromZ Go Crazy 2 check it out on www.wavesschoolofsurfing.blogspot.com

Davey Brand after winning the Quiksilver King of the Groms series has earned himself a spot in the King of the Groms Grand final in France from the 20th September to the 4th October. This is a momentous occasion for this young man and a great opportunity in his career to make a name for himself. After much consideration I decided that I will be accompanying Davey to the event.
If the contest finishes early I will be sure to get in touch and inform you of availability to coach and assist at Billabong Junior and S.A junior Championships.

The Freestyle Surfabout was held at Table View beach both days. The first saw nice clean 4ft conditions with a serious shore break on high tide with some of the competitors floating the section and landing on dry sand. The second day started with light NW wind that picked up through the day with the finals being held in strong side shore wind.

The U/14 final was made up by some talented groms with Steffen Burrows taking the win with Jordy Maree 2nd, Dylan Wichmann 3rd and Ben Alheit 4th.

The Ladies was contested by the usual suspects, but it was Freestyle team rider Stacey Guy (Melkbos) who came out tops with Penny Stemmet (Strand) close 2nd, Tanika Hoffman was 3rd and Chantelle Reutenbach (Melkbos) 4th.Tanika has been showing some real focus a dedication in our coaching sessions and its great to see her reap the rewards.

In the U/18 final it was almost an all West Coast/Melkbos affair except for Michael February (Kommetjie) who took the win from Justin Torode (Melkbos), 3rd was Leon Du Preez (Melkbos) with Jeandre Blignault (Melkbos) 4th.

The Open men was an exciting heat between old and young. Ian Armstrong showed the youngsters how it’s done and took 1st place and a R6000 cheque, second was Dave Richards (R2500), 3rd went to Wes Grey (R1000) with the U/18 Jordan Alexander (R500) in 4th.

The Freestyle Surfabout was a great success with more than 85 entries in total and good waves.

Terrible news about the shark attack in Glentana, our condolences to the Van Zyl family off Mossel Bay, Gerhad you will be missed in the lineup. This is now a good time to raise awareness of shark attacks and how to treat them if you ever found yourself in that situation.
Four things you must do for a bite to the leg:
1. Call 082911
2. Indirect pressure (if the leg is bitten put direct pressure on the femoral artery, use force)
3. Torne quay (use a leash and wrap it around as many times as you can)
4. Direct pressure (use sand free towels and shirts and apply pressure to the wound site)

Good luck to all the Metric’s for the exams study hard and ace them. All the best for the events to come.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Davey Brand Pulls It Off

The surf forecast was spot on, big and onshore and without exaggerating it was 8ft plus and 40km an hour winds from the North East, it was going to be one of the toughest events these young men were going to take part in. Day two we woke up to an sweet offshore and cooking waves but like clockwork the onshore came busting through right on time and dashed anyone hopes of getting anymore barrels.

However that morning saw three epic barrels go down, Kacey Grant blowing up with two barrels on one wave scoring himself a 10 point ride. Right behind him on barrel skill was Slad Prestwhich finding a deep clean sick barrel, clearly these two guys from the same area surf some really good waves.

In these very testing conditions it the titles and contest wins would go to the person prepared to work the hardest, in these condition it was about getting the job done. Two waves, if you lucky, your first wave had to count with at least two turns on it and within the first 5 min. This would hopefully give you enough time to paddle back out and find another wave amongst all the chaos. That's only if you could get out at back line on your first jump in time for your heat.

In the premier Under 16 division, Brand went into the Southbroom leg of the Quiksilver King of the Groms as joint ratings leader with fellow Kommetjie local and close friend Michael February, and it literally came down to the wire with the first surfer being eliminated effectively losing the series title. And with a trip to France to contest the world finals of the Quiksilver King of the Groms up for grabs, as well as the overall honour of such a prestigious win, both surfers were focused and committed to the task at hand.

Once again Brand used his mechanical backhand attack to muster up the points, while Prestwich found a bank in the middle of the bay to snag two high scores, and with the heat slowly drawing to a close February found himself in third place and facing elimination. Realising that a loss would see his hopes of a repeat of his 2008 Quiksilver King of the Groms Series win, the defending champion stroked into a frothy wall just seconds before the siren signaling the end of the heat. February tried to pull into the barrel but the wave refused to co-operate, and even the close-out turn February executed wasn't enough to pull him through and save his title dreams. As February bowed out, Brand left the water with the 2009 Quiksilver King of the Groms series title and a ticket to France securely in his belt.

With the seeding the way they were it allowed for Kane Bennewith to claw his way through the opposite side of the draw to Brand to the final, hats must go off to this kids sterling performance.

With the minutes ticking past Bennewith took two smaller insiders and posted low scores to take the heat lead, while Brand sat and waited.Bennewith had just pulled out of a smaller inside wave and ended up getting caught by the rogue sets and dragged into the middle of the Southbroom Bay.
As Bennewith struggled against the surging current, Brand quickly made his way back to the lineup to await a second wave which he eventually picked off and again bashed relentlessly with his stylish backhand.

In the Under 20 division, 16 year old Beyrick de Vries from Umhlanga Rocks made it clear that his is a name to look out for in future years.

Sadly for Leppan faulty equipment was to see his title hopes dashed in a dramatic moment in the quarter-finals. With de Vries having advanced through the previous quarter-final heat, Leppan knew he had to get through his quarter-final against Casey Grant (Scottburgh), Matt Bromley (Kommetjie) and Davey van Zyl (Durban) to keep his title dreams alive. But tragedy struck about seven minutes into the heat when the Umhlanga surfer was steam-rolled by a three metre wall of water that snapped his leash and washed his surfboard to the shore. With another three huge waves behind it Leppan found himself floundering in the middle of the Southbroom bay at the mercy of the sea as the other three surfers in his heat continued to surf and build their heat scores.

In the final between Casey Grant and Berryick De Vries with the minutes ticking away de Vries turned and paddled into the smaller wave, and pulled two polished off-the-lips to post a 4.5 and push his lead further out of Grant's reach. With the ocean refusing to play ball, Grant took off on one last wave in an attempt to attain the points he needed to take the title, but the wave closed out on Grant along with his title hopes.

De Vries left the water victorious, collecting the R5,000 winner's cheque for today, a further R5,000 for his series win, and a return air ticket to surfing's most hallowed ground - Hawaii - for the 2009 winter season.

Awsome contest with an awsome result well done to everyone that competed and took on the very testing conditions

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Camp Dates



Cape Town 27th July- 2nd August,

This is my bi-monthly trip to Cape Town; this year has picked up momentum with the Cape Town visits which has allowed me to work with the kids on a much more regular basis. This is great for them to have regular training and feedback on their improvement each time. There is a really young hot contingent coming out of Cape Town which is great to see.

I am now also introducing an added service to my Cape Town trips, all video footage will be captured and edited, with the footage I will produce a short DVD and coaching C.D which will be posted to each student.

Mossel Bay Camp 8th-9th August:

This camp will be more “Boot Camp” style with all the bells and whistles, this is where I will give the kids a taste of what kind of commitment, dedication, and focus a professional surfer needs to put in to reap the rewards. Each student will leave the camp with a mini portfolio including photos and a short DVD which can be presented to your sponsor .This will also demonstrate how a person can present himself to a company when looking for sponsorship as well as getting used to being interviewed. We will be utilizing the wide variety of waves in the area including Diaz beach for training and heat drills and the Point for technical surfing. This camp will include accommodation, meals and coaching. The camp will be run in a very similar way as to the National team camp SSA held here, in preparation for the World Games in March.


Still Bay/Jongensfontein 29th-30th August

This is my “family” camp, last year was such a great success I thought I would make it an annual event. This camp will have more of a family vibe to it where the parents, brothers and sisters are all welcome. The idea is spending quality time with each other whilst getting your kids profesional coaching in an area with great waves and breathe taking nature. We’ll surf till we drop and then at night retire to our homes or get together for a lekker braai. I want to incorporate fun into the camp and have the main focus on surfing and surfing good waves. Each family gets their own beautiful thatch house in the Bosbokduin Nature reserve, check out

http://www.roomsforafrica.com/establishment.do?id=2807 for more information on accommadation.


I am now also introducing an added service to my coaching, all video footage will be captured and edited, with the footage I will produce a short DVD and coaching C.D which will be posted to each

Student.

For a short video of the camp we had last year check out:

http://magicseaweed.com/Mossel-Bay-Surf-Report/713/


Victoria Bay 5th-6th September:

This camp will be more like a rough it “camp”, we will be bringing the tents and sleeping bags and camping at Vic Bay camp site. This training weekend will be in preparation for the Billabong Vic Bay junior event, this will be the “fun” camp where all the friends come along we surf all day, under super vision, enjoy ourselves and familiarize ourselves with the wave.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Jeffery's Bay Camp



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.