 |
| Saying hello from deep in the Mexican pit. (Photo: IBA/Specker) |
Enter a world of magic and mystery, in my own head, where surfing and snowboarding are considered real jobs! Amazing feats of daring and skill are performed every day - and that's just getting the footage onto film! Media anarchist, film guru, surf addict and web video blogger!
Showing posts with label bodyboarder. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bodyboarder. Show all posts
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Jared Houston charging Puerto Escondido
Monday, April 23, 2012
David Lilienfeld - A life to celebrate Memorial Paddle
While I did not know David very well, we certainly spent some time together in the Llandudno line up over the years. He always struck me as such a happy guy and the stoke for riding waves literally beamed out of him. As wave riders in South Africa, we all know the risk we take surfing these beautiful waves, yet it still shocks us to our core when one of our own is taken from us. While many will use this to blame the sharks, we have to all honestly accept that we are in their world and this will not change. Instead we must all celebrate the life that was taken from us to early and keep loving the sport and the family that the ocean has given us. It makes me so proud to be part of the waterman fraternity in Cape Town when I see how many people came out to the paddle out at Camps Bay on Saturday, for David's Memorial. Bodyboarders, surfers, swimmers and even the odd SUP. This is what it means to be a family of ocean users and in a way it is sad that a tragic event like this is what it takes to bring us all together. So honor David and the many other wave riders we have lost by keeping the stoke, respecting your fellow wave riders and making the most of our incredible oceans and the waves we love! We are all children of the waves.
RIP David - May you ride the endless wave of perfection in the afterlife!
Monday, September 19, 2011
Win with theGoodLife and Quiksilver, Fox and DC
@theGoodlife, proudly brought to you by Absa Life Xtreme, is offering you the chance to win some gear from our sponsors.
Also, don’t forget to tune into SuperSport 5 at 7pm this Wednesday, the 21st of September to catch Episode 3 of theGoodLife featuring coverage of this year’s Quiksnow in Lesotho, the Masters of Dirt qualifiers in Joburg, the country’s best unseen bodyboarding from the Tand Invitational as well as premier footage from the new Tropical Roast DVD featuring South Africa’s top wakeboarding.
So get posting, and get yourself some gear!
Click here to start posting:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/the.Good.Life.South.Africa
Monday, June 6, 2011
The TAND invitational 2011 - BodyBoard SA's mental Slab Contest
These guys are nuts! I have watched my bodyboard mates splatter themselves on sandbars and rock slabs for years - never quite figured it out. But hell, it makes for good viewing. Thats why I will definately be going to watch this lot -
After years of shrouded mystery, secret road trips, blind-folded drives in the boot and turf wars we have come to this, the pinnacle of bodyboarding events in South Africa...
Welcome to the TAND Invitational 2011
Let me paint you a brief picture before we get down to the nitty gritty details.
A heavy flat bottom reef on the West Coast unloads with unprecedented force in the middle of nowhere with nothing surrounding you but rugged beauty and the sound of wild waves ringing out. For years, even until this present day the locals continue to dominate and blow minds. Every other top bodyboarder in South Africa has used it as a proving ground. Jared Houston attributed it to his success in his aerial assault on the world tour and one of his favourite spots in S.A. Mark McCarthy used it as a training ground for the Shark Island Challenge in Australia where he went on to place 2nd! Top international riders have made wild statement calling it the best wave in S.A and they can’t wait to come back and surf it.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is the amphitheatre for the biggest, heaviest bodyboarding contest South Africa has yet to lay its eyes upon.
The brainchild behind this event, Jarret Johnson, took a step out into the unknown wilds and approached me with this concept, asking for help and ideas. A good few hour’s worth of banter and a few crazy thoughts later we went for it and committed. The local boys gave us
the go ahead, which was the main thing and it was all on from there. The Facebook page went up and within a few days we were an internet spamming sensation rivalling the likes of Rebecca Black.
Then one cold evening Jarret received a phone call, it was a +44 number....England!! It was Mr Billy Thiel, South African bodyboarding legend and international travel guru. Well known amongst the international bodyboarding community; His knowledge of all things boogie is almost infinite. He recently started up his brand new board label, THIEL BOARD CO., which we had heard about so we knew that this wasn’t a small fry phone call.
After a few minutes of shaky voices and stuttered words, long story short, this man is committed to South African Bodyboarding in a BIG way and has a vision for it that extends way beyond any selfish need. He wants to see it grow to levels that haven’t even been dreamt of yet.
He is so committed in fact that THIEL BOARD CO. has come on board the TAND Invitational 2011 as the main sponsor and thrown into the golden pot a massive R10 000 in cash!!!! Yes, you heard right!
Now that your jaws are on the floor, we’ll get down to details.
16 riders. 4 Locals, 4 Western Province, 4 KZN and 4 Speciality entries.
This is the 1st event of its kind in South Africa, being an invitational event with riders being voted in by their peers.
We are running it in a standard 4-man knockout heat format, with the top 2 riders from each heat advancing until finally the history books are written!
We have a 2 week waiting period to allow for the best possible day to run the event. It will last only 4 hours enabling us to have the best conditions of the day.
ALL finalists will be receiving moneybags worth of cash, with obviously the winner being rewarded with more cash than he could think of, all courtesy of THIEL BOARD CO.
After years of shrouded mystery, secret road trips, blind-folded drives in the boot and turf wars we have come to this, the pinnacle of bodyboarding events in South Africa...
Welcome to the TAND Invitational 2011
Let me paint you a brief picture before we get down to the nitty gritty details.
A heavy flat bottom reef on the West Coast unloads with unprecedented force in the middle of nowhere with nothing surrounding you but rugged beauty and the sound of wild waves ringing out. For years, even until this present day the locals continue to dominate and blow minds. Every other top bodyboarder in South Africa has used it as a proving ground. Jared Houston attributed it to his success in his aerial assault on the world tour and one of his favourite spots in S.A. Mark McCarthy used it as a training ground for the Shark Island Challenge in Australia where he went on to place 2nd! Top international riders have made wild statement calling it the best wave in S.A and they can’t wait to come back and surf it.
 |
| Tomas Degenaar |
The brainchild behind this event, Jarret Johnson, took a step out into the unknown wilds and approached me with this concept, asking for help and ideas. A good few hour’s worth of banter and a few crazy thoughts later we went for it and committed. The local boys gave us
the go ahead, which was the main thing and it was all on from there. The Facebook page went up and within a few days we were an internet spamming sensation rivalling the likes of Rebecca Black.
Then one cold evening Jarret received a phone call, it was a +44 number....England!! It was Mr Billy Thiel, South African bodyboarding legend and international travel guru. Well known amongst the international bodyboarding community; His knowledge of all things boogie is almost infinite. He recently started up his brand new board label, THIEL BOARD CO., which we had heard about so we knew that this wasn’t a small fry phone call.
After a few minutes of shaky voices and stuttered words, long story short, this man is committed to South African Bodyboarding in a BIG way and has a vision for it that extends way beyond any selfish need. He wants to see it grow to levels that haven’t even been dreamt of yet.
 |
| Mark McCarthy |
Now that your jaws are on the floor, we’ll get down to details.
16 riders. 4 Locals, 4 Western Province, 4 KZN and 4 Speciality entries.
This is the 1st event of its kind in South Africa, being an invitational event with riders being voted in by their peers.
We are running it in a standard 4-man knockout heat format, with the top 2 riders from each heat advancing until finally the history books are written!
We have a 2 week waiting period to allow for the best possible day to run the event. It will last only 4 hours enabling us to have the best conditions of the day.
ALL finalists will be receiving moneybags worth of cash, with obviously the winner being rewarded with more cash than he could think of, all courtesy of THIEL BOARD CO.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
The Box Pro - Saffa BodyBoarders into the Quarters
Ok, besides the contest name sounding like a dodgy lesbian porn contest, the footage is bloody insane. These guys have balls made from Adamantium! I know, the eternal struggle of Surfers vs Bodyboarders, but to be honest I am over it. Some of my best mates charge the Ledges harder than we can on surfboards. So check out this insane footage from the IBA World Tour, with not one but two South Africans making the Quarters by going mental! Will post the final day as soon as it happens.
Just eight riders remain in contention for event number two on the International BodyBoard World Tour, The Box Pro, with quarter-final placings being decided today in heaving four-to-six feet (two-metre) waves.
South African, Jared Houston (ZAF), found himself in a unique situation; the 21 year-old had his board split apart after an aerial attempt gone awry. Houston punched a huge air-forward off a wedging Box end-section and came down hard over the front of his board. It caved in beneath him, buckling under the pressure, and folded straight down the middle.
“I saw that section and just went for it,” he explained. “I came down so hard my arms hit under water, I was still holding onto my board so I knew straight away it had snapped. I tried to ride out of it, but there was no way that was happening.”
Houston borrowed another board from someone waiting in the channel, but the relief was short lived. It was two inches shorter than what he normally rides.
“I was kinda going nowhere with it, then the guys on the ski went and picked up my back-up board and brought that to me, but I’d never ridden that either, it had no wax on it, it was so slippery. So the whole heat I was just trying to make the most of a pretty bad situation,” said Houston.
Houston regrouped to advance into the quarter-finals, where he has now drawn fellow countryman, Mark McCarthy (ZAF), in an all South African match-up. The only time the pair have faced off at the elite level occurred at Pipeline two years ago with Houston getting the nod.
Follow the IBA World Tour
South African, Jared Houston (ZAF), found himself in a unique situation; the 21 year-old had his board split apart after an aerial attempt gone awry. Houston punched a huge air-forward off a wedging Box end-section and came down hard over the front of his board. It caved in beneath him, buckling under the pressure, and folded straight down the middle.
“I saw that section and just went for it,” he explained. “I came down so hard my arms hit under water, I was still holding onto my board so I knew straight away it had snapped. I tried to ride out of it, but there was no way that was happening.”
Houston borrowed another board from someone waiting in the channel, but the relief was short lived. It was two inches shorter than what he normally rides.
“I was kinda going nowhere with it, then the guys on the ski went and picked up my back-up board and brought that to me, but I’d never ridden that either, it had no wax on it, it was so slippery. So the whole heat I was just trying to make the most of a pretty bad situation,” said Houston.
Houston regrouped to advance into the quarter-finals, where he has now drawn fellow countryman, Mark McCarthy (ZAF), in an all South African match-up. The only time the pair have faced off at the elite level occurred at Pipeline two years ago with Houston getting the nod.
Follow the IBA World Tour
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)