S.J WINS OAKLEY PRO JNR

Shaun Joubert makes his come back almost half way through the year and wins the Oakley pro junior in Port Alfred over the weekend. The kid was on fine form throughout the entire contest and was so stoked when the end of the heat came and he had won. Shaun has been very patient over the last few months, looking for a solid result. After the experience and the highest place finish at the world Games in Equador, equal 8th, it was just a matter of time till he won an event.

Brendon Gibbons finished a convincing second, Bendon was the man to beat at the event but fell short in the hard contested final. Its great to see the young man applying himself and his talent finally getting the results he deserves.

In almost perfect surf Shaun dominated the event and took down the best surfers in the country as well as some international talent. Friday saw Matt Bromley steal the lime light by surfing exceptionally well and turning heads scoring strong 7 point rides.

Other stand outs were mr consistent the angle grinder Davey Brand who made quarter finals and finished equal 5th with his good friend Jacob Mellish.

Davey, hot off a 3rd place finish at the World Games in Ecuador took down some big names utilising his strong back hand. Jacob Mellish after a slow start this year has come out the gates, firing on all four cylinders and surfed hard and fast throwing down some big turns to make it through some stiff heats and into the quarter finals.

Tanika Hoffman did exceptionally well making the most of the long right handers, the strong back hand Tanika turn assisting her to the semi final, finishing 3rd overall.

Mossel Bay Junior Camp

Hello Boys and Girls,

Last weekend on the 25th and 26th of April i had a mini grom surf camp the surf pumped. I had 5 parents enquire about training on this specific long weekend which made me think i should have a camp. It was small camp with only 5 people attending and a very young group with the youngest been 7 and the oldest 13.

The kids that attended the camp were as follows, Goofy foot ripper from Kalk Bay, Jordan Maree age 10, Strand wave slayer, Adin Mazemcamp age 9 and the eldest of them all Nahoon's style master, Licoln Logie age 13.

The other two that made up the five were the Elkington Brothers, Max age 7 and Jake age 9, both charging and showing ability way beyond their age in the great surf. As you might have noticed i mentioned that the waves were cooking.

Saturday inner pool was all time with a solid little ground swell and a pushing tide most the day, the boys really excelled in the rippable waves even on the high tide when things got a bit tricky and started breaking close to the rocks.

Sunday was disappointing at the Point, we woke up to small 2 foot waves with a devil wind, I made the call and went to one of our semi secret spots where we scored epic 3 foot grinding left handers. The kids absolutely loved the waves and the challenge, it was great to see them out there charging, enjoying themselves.

After scoring such great waves it was evident that this camp's focus was about learning to catch and ride good waves properly and at the same time working on their technique. All sessions were videoed and video analysis done in our Waves school of surfing class room.

Each and everyone of the kids i am sure learnt a valuable lesson whether it be about surfing or just about themselves. All in all a very successful camp.

Big shout out to the local boys for giving me space and freedom to use the Point as a training ground.

S.A long board champs

I though i would share the fantastic news if you have not hear already. The Southern Cape long boarding team did exceptionally well last week in Jeffery's Bay. The contest had great surf everyday against weather and swell forecast which made for great surfing and even better surfing.

Below are the SC Team members who got to finals:

Daniel Buitendag- 2nd boys division- Having surfed a long board for 1st time.

Bianca Buitendag- 1st girls division- on Daniels board also the first time
Tess Saunders-4th girls division.

Bianca Buitendag- 3rd Ladies division- also on board borrowed from Des Sawyer.
Roxy Towill-4th Ladies Division

Glen Thompson-3rd Grand Master

Steven Hair-2nd Veterans

Mike Hornsey- 3rd Super legends

Terry Deans-4th Super Legends

Matthew Moir open division- won surfer of the contest, despite not making finals.

A commendable 3rd place to Southern Cape, the team with the best attitude and team spirit. Congratulations

Please if anyone has any news to share regarding surfing in the greater Southern Cape area please contact me if you would like to share.

Boland Trials

Daar is geen Land soos die Bo-Land,

Boland were kind enough to open up their doors to the Southern Cape community and allowed us to surf their trials. Johan Kriek has been ripping and seems very determined, he has two trials and is confident he will be first seed for the Boland team. Last weekend saw the final of three trials held at Jongensfontein. The conditions were epic 3-4foot right handers peeling all day, neap tides and off shore wind made for rippable waves all day.

There was some really hot junior surfing with guys like Phillip Visagie, Andrew Smith and Tommie Kruger really impressing me in the small to medium perfect waves. U/16 surfer Rigartd Smit was also on fine form doing some big turns and impressing the judges. The final results are as follows.

U/20
1)Tommie Kruger
2)Andrew Smith
3)Philip Visage
4)JP Olivier
5)Rigardt Smit
5)Philip Venter
6)Klaus Schroder
7)Bjorn Larsen

The Open was hard fought with all the guys ripping, the final was an all Southern Cape affair making the most of their right hand point surfing and putting that experience into practice. The waves were super fun and there were only four people in the water at a time, it did not feel like you were in a heat trying to win a contest. The end result was as follows:

Open
1) Johan Kriek
2)Llewellyn Whittaker
3)Shaun Botha
4)Mark Zunkel
5)Andries Dunn
6)Jeffrey Greaves
7)Raymond Trevor

All in all it was a great day. The full team will be announced shortly, so be sure to watch this space.

S.A grommet Games

This event was held in P.E where three of my student shone. Little charger Max Elkington got 1st in the U/8 division and his older brother Jake finished 2nd in the U/10 division.

Big shout out must go to little ripper Adin Mazemcamp who won the U/10 division convincingly, he was also nominated surfer of the event after a sterling performance through the contest consistently scoring 8,9 and 10 point rides in his heats.

Well done Adin your a little ripper keep it up looking forward to seeing more performances such as these in the future.

Billabong Pro Junior

After arriving home after a gruelling 2 day trip from Ecuador the team left Cape Town international to fly to Durban the very next day. A very hectic schedule for such young, up and coming stars.

The disappointing news was that non of their boards arrived as they were left in Amsterdam, this would prove to be a problem for those competing in the event the following day, although this is not never heard of and comes with the territory of being a professional surfer.

The conditions were very testing but contestable averaging 3 foot clean waves in the morning deteriorating throughout the day due to the onshore making for very shifty waves.

Competing in excellent offshore waves that grew from one metre to a board-breaking two metres during the day, Bianca Buitendag, 15, from Victoria Bay, beat SA junior teammate Kirsty Delport (Durban) by 12.75 points to 8.25 in a one-sided final with Delport. Well done Bianca you deserve it, I am very proud of you.

Other stars at the event in the U/20 division were Brendon Gibbens who finished 2nd and defiantly deserves a good result as he is a very hot talented surfer, my main man Matt Bromley finished 3rd and Jaco Steyn finished equal 5th showing that hard work and determination will get you results. Congrats Casey on the win, you have been impressing for some time and its finally payed off, keep it up.

U16 saw Mr consistent Davey Brand finish 3rd overall and dark hoarse Danile Wilson shinning by putting effort into his approach, finishing 5th overall. Congratulations to Davey Van Zyl for his win and Mikey Feb for 2nd.

Welcome back to Benji Barnd after an extended stay in Hawaii, clearly doing him the world of good. He put all his North shore winter knowledge to practise and walked away with a convincing win in the U/14 division

In the U/12 Shane Sykes took the win over goofy foot style master Jordan Maree, Well done to Jordy for and excellent result who also competed in the U/14 division where he finished 7th overall, Jordy Maree has only just turned ten and he showing talent beyond his years, congratulations young man.

Wish i could have been there to watch all these kids ripping it would have been very entertaining.

ISA world surfing games

Hi Guys and Gels,

I am sure you have all heard the final results and the achievements of the Junior team in Ecuador, I know the news is a bit late but this is what the news is from inside the camp.

We arrived early and quickly acclimatised to the weather, accommodation, waves and food. Having arrived early would help put us in a positive frame of mind knowing we had more time practising at the contest arena, it also allowed us to have our competition with New Zealand.

Every year S.A surf against NZ in a warm up event before the world games. This year for the first time in four years we beat them, we not only beat them we absolutely annihilated them. Shaun Joubert the only U/18 to make the final won the division, we got 1st and 2nd in the U/16 and 1st, 2nd, 3rd in the girls U/18 division. Team S.A went on to get a 1st and 2nd in the tag team which led to a convincing win over the All Blacks, they literally went home with their tail between their legs and we went home with spirits high.

It was a grueling 8 day event and every single team member would contribute in some shape or form to the end result. The waves at Le Farre were very consistent we only had one day where we battled for surf due to the high tide, during this time we took part in the tag team event where we placed 2nd in the semi final to secure us a spot in the tag team final to be held on the last day. Without Matt Bromley in the tag team we would never have made the final, in the semi final we tactically sent him to the point as our power surfer and he continued to blow up scoring a 9 and two 8 point rides.

It all went down to the wire, team S.A on the second last day was lying third and in contention for the title with five surfers still remaining in the event. Unfortunately it was not to be our day and we lost four kids going into the last day.

We finished 6th overall one better than last year although accumulating a lot more points as a team, we were proud to have a finalist in Davey Brand who finished a well deserved 3rd overall. We also received a silver medal in the tag team finals, a true testament of our sheer determination as a nation to never give up.

Stand outs for me were Shaun Jobert who placed highest out of the South Africans in the U/18 division who placed 8th overall, Bianca Buitendag finished a convincing 11th overall and was not finished kicking butt and only got knocked out due to some hard core hassling from the two Americans. Davey Brand did us really proud by finishing 3rd overall and was on fire the entire event, consistency proving to be the way to win and ISA world junior title.
Well done team we are all very proud of your effort.

Busy Days

Hi Boys and Girls, Ladies and Gentlemen

Its been a really hectic month with camps, contests, coaching , almost the Quiksilver Good Wave and some really good surf at home.

February 13th to 15th we had our first National junior team camp in Cape St Francis, we stayed at the Cape St Francis resort which was the ideal location for the team, only 5min walk from the beach. We had some great waves and the kids were all surfing well, by the end of the camp they had lifted the standard considerably. The camp ran very smoothly with the coaches and managers taking a different approach this year. This approach seemed to work well as the whole team bonded very well and there was a really positive vibe amongst the whole team.

We have had some really fun waves for the after school club which the kids have been enjoying. We have some good turn outs especially on the hot sunny days. This Thursday afternoon school club will be the place where I find the next Jordy Smith.

March 5th- 8th the SSA ran the second of the two camps here in Mossel bay and needless to say it was a great success. We stayed at the beautiful Park House lodge nestled in amongst the trees, a great place for the kids to come back too and just chill out. The waves at Diaz were pretty average although very contestable and if fact great waves in which to prepare. Once again the kids performed and lifted their game each day and by the end of the camp each and everyone of them was ripping.

March 9th-15th I was in Cape Town to catch up with some of my students. I am working on being in Cape Town coaching the kids there on a regular basis.I also had the pleasure to work with some of the Hurley team members. Monday and Tuesday was all time in Kommetjie with long beach cookinf 3-4 foot and offshore. I was also fortunate to see young Max and Jake Elkington rip it up on perfect 3 ft inner Kom, these boys are 7 and 9 respectively and full of potential.

At the weekend the Quiksilver K.O.G went down. The first day was held at Wit Sand in less than ideal conditions with strong onshore and building swell, it was therefore very important to be prepared for these sort of conditions so you could be fortunate enough to enjoy cooking long beach on day two of the event. Mikey February was on fine form and won the premier U/16, a good result before going to the world games. Hats off to Berrick De Fries who won the u/20 division, he was ripping throughout the contest and deserved to win the contest, this being only his first year in the division. My main man Davey Brand did exceptionally well and showed off his local knowledge by finishing 2nd over all.

This Sunday we are all off to Ecuador for the World Junior surfing Games all your good vibes and support would be much appreciated. Take care and all the best ViVa S.A

Quiksilver Goodwave

Hi Everyone,

Been just more than a month ago since you last heard from me. Things got very busy in the new year with the learn to surf and the junior kids that wanted training before going back to school.

However the last few weeks have been generally quite although there is a lot of preparation going on for the World Games.

Long time chommie, Kevin Olsen is in town, Ex slummies local is visiting from from France where he now resides. Its really great to catch up with friends over some good waves.

Waves wise its been pretty slow with the odd good day here are there. This is pretty unusual, if you check older blogs you might notice that each time i report back the surf has been cooking.

Been playing around with my water camera and have a couple shots to share with you, have a look and let me know what you think.

I have been saving the best news for last. I have recently been selected along with 31 other surfers from all around South Africa to take part in the Quiksilver good wave.

After winning it in 2003 and having been residing in the U.K for 6 years, Quiksilver have given me the opportunity to take part in one of the most prestigious events of the year.

Shaun Joubert, the Prince of Mossel Bay and up and coming ripper is also amongst the 32 select surfers chosen to take part.

The Good wave has a year long waiting period and has the biggest prize purse of any contest in South Africa, it will be held at the New Pier in Durban. Check out www.goodwave.co.za to follow the status of the event.

You can also go to www.magicseaweed.com to see more photos of waves in and around the Mossel Bay area.

Yours in surfing

Llewellyn

January 1st 2009

HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Welcome back everyone, I trust you all had a very happy Christmas and new year.

The learn to surf school has been very busy and successful although i am now looking forward to getting stuck in with the Elite training again.

Hurley has come onto the scene in a big way this summer and they have assigned me as the freelance coach for their surfing team.

Photog Richard Hamlock from Durban was down on Business and managed to squeeze in a couple shoots. We scored some great waves and got some awesome photos, be sure to keep and eye out for them in the next African Surf Rider.

Mossel bay has had a great season for waves with light winds and small ground swells, meaning waves pretty much everyday. It was so good that even when i was scoring good waves i was still missing good waves.

If your interested in what the waves are doing in Mossel bay, check out the surf reports and regular updated photos of the surf in and around the area on www.magicseaweed.com.

Other great news is, that I have been selected as assistant coach for the S.A junior surfing team going to the world games in Ecuador.

Anyway, here is wishing each and everyone of you a happy, prosperous and exciting 2009