Sunday, September 27, 2009

i

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