Jordy Smith Canes Cape Town - at Night...

This is one super sweet video of the Red Bull Nighshift with Jordy Smith. If you think the person interviewing the surfers etc did a good job, that's cause it was me! Now go tell Red Bull to hire me permanently - haha! No really!

You have to watch the video on ZigZag's Vimeo - Red Bull Nightshift

Pity the waves were not like this! (Photo: ASP)

Will Kelly Slater go for 11?

The man is a living legend - no doubt - but does Kelly still have the drive to compete. He is both the youngest and oldest world champion in surfing, he has won ten world titles putting him in the same bracket as Michael Schumacker, Jordan and Valentino Rossy, he has won the surfer poll awards more times than I can count on two hands and lets be honest, he still rips the shit out of any wave he decides to grace with his presence. But, this is when he decides to surf. There were multiple contests in 2010, where he told presenters that he had not surfed for 3-4 weeks and was to busy with other stuff. The fact that he still paddled out and won events just proves the point that he is a surf freak. Does he still have the overpowering drive to compete - if he paddles out he wants to win - but does he want to even travel on the tour?

The Man (Photo: ASP)

My feeling is that Kelly will give it one more year. He has a new tour format to try, and why not just rub it in to everyone's faces with a title on the new tour before retiring. He has a large intake of some of the new school hotties, as well as Jordy, Owen and Dane to surf against. We know how much he likes a challenge. So my call - expect to see King Kelly back in action come the Quiksilver Pro in March.

What are your thoughts on Kelly, let us know, make a comment!

Here is a nice little walk down memory lane with 10x King Kelly:

Rolling Retro Surf Event - Gonna Rock

A few years back myself and my good mate Robby MacDonald from Vudu Surf decided to utilize his extensive collection of classic and retro boards for a fun event at our local beach, Llandudno. The event was a massive success with everyone surfing a heat on a old board, everyone winning a prize and everyone having a bloody good time! One of the surfers on the day who loved the concept, was our gypsy surfer, Andrew "Roosta" Lange. He was so keen to do the event again that he got his sponsor, RVCA, to get involved and now we will be heading back down to Llandudno Beach this Sunday for another day of retro boards, fun, music and good times.

The girls are going retro - prize for best retro bikini.

The contest details are -
Rolling Retro, with RVCA and Vudu Surf.
On Sunday, 23rd January, all Llandudno, Hout Bay and Camps Bay surfers are invited to join us for a day in the sun, having fun and surfing classic and retro boards with our mates.
No Final, no single winner - everyone who enters wins! No ladies, no mens, no juniors, no seniors - we all surf together!
R10'000 worth of RVCA product ensures everyone walks away a winner!
Prizes for:
Best Retro board
Best Retro dressed!
Best Retro wetsuit
and many more...
Robby from Vudu Surf will have his large collection of Classic Boards on offer for you to ride in your heat, the R50 entry fee ensures that dings etc will be repaired.
theGoodlife will be on hand to take the shots and film the day!
The Llandudno Lifesaving club will provide cool drink, Boerie Rolls and cold beers for the elders!
Entry is on the morning - registration starts at 12pm at the Lifesaving Club.

Entry - R50

Limited places available - preference will be given to the local surfers!

Hopefully we wont have any broken boards.

You can join the event on Facebook - Rolling Retro Event

Surfing old boards is super fun! Got to bring back the Style!

If you need some inspiration for dress and boards and style, check these:

You had to love the 80's.

Your mom's were hot!

Hope to see you there!

The black Kat of Snow

While it is the middle of summer in the good old SA, I thought it would be pretty fun to have a chat with one of our top snowboarders. He won the best trick at our Snowboard Jam in December with a crazy 270 on 270 off. His name - Katlego Maponyane, but you can call him Kat. The guy is literally like Black Kat, excuse the pun, but I would compare him more to Chunky than ultra smooth. I often have my sphincter pulling just watching him decimate himself on rails for hours on end, but just as you wanna go up and say, "Hey Kat, how about a break?" (Oh dam another pun, sorry, it just came out, haha), he will absolutely pull the biggest trick of the day with so much style and grace you wanna cry.

Like I said, smooth, but actually chunky! (Photo: Jaimie Smith)

So down to business and a quick chat with the Kat:

[Kai]
Dudem, keen to answer some quik questions for me blog?
[Kat Maponyane]
umm ok cool lukka
fire away
[Kai]
Ok, first off, how did you get into the snow?
[Kat Maponyane]
In the far away hills of tiffendell, went to SA champs the one year for a party with no intention of ever getting strapped to a board.
[Kai]
What grabbed you about the sport - did you come from a board riding background?
[Kat Maponyane]
Nothing really to be honest. I'd seen it a few times on tv & it looked kinda cool,but never thought it would be realistic to ever try it seeing as we're in Africa. I was always the kid that had friends who could skate, but never really had any talent at it myself.
[Kai]
Haha surely you can skate now? I mean you hit pretty gnarly jibs on a snowboard?
[Kat Maponyane]
Have fun in the mini ramp is about as far as I can go.

Chunky Rail Slide! ooh the Steeeez! (Photo: Jaimie Smith)

[Kai]
What's your favorite aspect of the sport?
[Kat Maponyane]
The fun factor & amp; non team sport side of it.
[Kai]
You recently have been about SA playing beats - was this pretty connected to your snowboarding? Especially the type of music you are into.
[Kat Maponyane]
Not connected at all, we started dj'ing as a joke because we needed a "filler" dj for the night at a party.
[Kai]
Ok, so what are your plans for 2011
[Kat Maponyane]
Unfortunately all plans to do some riding this northern hemi winter have been dashed due to work commitments, so now all I can do is wait for the short SA season to come along.
But to answer your question - fun fun fun & more improvement & to keep staying on the podiums in one way or another
[Kai]
Do you have lots of groupies? (I had heard rumors)
[Kat Maponyane]
I have one die hard groupie!
[Kai]
Awesome, guess that puts you in the same league as the Flying Concords?
[Kat Maponyane]
Yip
Something like that.
[Kai]
Lastly any message for the peeps who wanna board in SA?
[Kat Maponyane]
Logon to snowboarder.co.za, get involved, do something different, come hangout & amp; have a good time while doing it!
[Kai]
Shot dude, you wont mind if I compare you to peanut butter hey?
[Kat Maponyane]
No, not at all captain.


Check out Kat in action in these videos:

The Eddie could GO - Twiggy Gives us the heads up

So not only has cape Town got a massive swell headed our way, but it looks like the Northern Pacific Ocean is also going bonkers. When you see big wave superstars such as Greg Long and Mark Healey posting swell maps with statuses such as, "So beautiful it brings a tear to my eye!" (Greg Long), you got to know something big is about to happen.

This is where normal surfers are cucking their pants!

With this in mind I got hold of our own resident hell man, Grant "Twig" Baker, to get the lowdown on whether the Eddie Big Wave event could go and if he will be on the plane to get there. Twig has won pretty much everything there is to win in big wave surfing, but the Eddie is the one that has eluded him.

Twig and mates at the Bay (Photo: Twig)

Kai: Do you reckon the Eddie will go?
Twig: To early to tell Kai but that swell looks amazing on the long term!!

Kai: How big does the swelll actually have to be, in layman's terms?
Twig: 20ft @ 20sec from the NW for the bay to break at 20ft plus (Hope you layman understood that, it pretty much means "Farken Big!")

Kai: Are you gonna fly if it does?
Twig: If the forecast stays the same then yes I will go.

Kai: How is the Knee? (Twig had knee surgery a short while ago.)
Twig: The knee still needs another few weeks but for the Eddie I'll risk it

Kai: What will it mean to add the Eddie to your trophy cabinet?
Twig: Everything, it's all I need and then I can retire to a nice gentle point break in Mozambique

Thanks mate!

You can keep up to date with the Eddie here - The Eddie in Memory of Eddie Aikau
Check out last year's highlites from the Bay:

Jordy Smith's Nightshift

Ok, so the surf was flatter than the great lakes and the boys actually needed wheels to land on the shore break sand, at the end of the day, the Red Bull Nightshift was a rad event. Don't know about you guys, but its been a while since I saw around 5000 people rock up for what was literally a free surf at a non-surf beach!

Stan was in sterling form on the Mic.

Jordy pretty much took control of his own event landing multiple airs, including a monster Superman. I got stuck back stage doing interviews and meeting all the pro's girlfriends and groupies - someone had to explain the finer points of surfing to them - and sucking back Red Bulls.

Can you see? I see the moon...

After wowing the crowds, the boys moved onto Caprice on the Camps Bay strip, where everyone proceeded to get hammered, throw name, score groupies and end up at weird rich dude's houses with way to many men around - oh wait that's a story for another time, ask Wok.

The Party - Caps were in!

All in all a great evening at the beach. Check out some video highlights here:

Bianca dominates the World Junior Champs

I have been keeping my eye on Bianca Buitendag for a while now - stop it, not like that - this girl rips! She has long dominated the girls surf scene at home in South Africa, but over the past few days in Australia, she has been kicking all the international girl's asses too!

Bianca throwing it down! (Photo: ASP)

The guys from the ASP caught up with her after her historic win at the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships:

NORTH NARRABEEN, New South Wales/Australia (Tuesday, January 11, 2011) – South African dark-horse Bianca Buitendag (ZAF), 17, won the Billabong ASP Women’s World Junior Championships today in a hard-fought final over French talent Justine Dupont (FRA), 19, in two-to-four foot (1 metre) waves at North Narrabeen while Alizee Arnaud (FRA), 20, clinched the overall ASP Women’s World Junior Title with her equal 3rd place result in the event.

Buitendag quietly navigated her way through the early rounds of competition, tearing into several North Narrabeen lefthanders to eventually see the South African goofy-footer eliminate Arnaud in the Semifinals before topping Dupont in the Final to mark the biggest result of the rising star’s career.

“I’m very happy,” Buitendag said. “I don’t know how to explain it. I really wasn’t expecting this. I’m really happy about it and it’s the best result of my life. I’m stoked. My Dad has been supporting me since I was little, sitting on the beach and without him nothing would be possible, so thanks to him.”

Return of the Air King

To say I was dissapointed when Josh Kerr dropped of the elite surf tour is an understatement! If you watched the man free surf there was little doubt that he is one of the most freakishly talented surfers on the planet. The good news is, he killed the WQS this last year and is now set to scare the bejesus out of the tour guys again!

The rules of engagement are about to change for the WCT.

Now that’s he’s currently calling Carlsbad, California home base, local publication Transworld SURF caught up with Kerrzy to catch up on his previous years on the ASP World Tour and what he’s expecting in 2011. This… is their story…
Without a doubt, Josh Kerr is one of the most exciting surfers in the world to watch at work. Hard charging and an undisputed master of progressive surfing, Kerr has once again qualified for the ASP World Tour—his third go at the big leagues. Temporarily relocated to Carlsbad, California, we caught up with Kerrzy as he got ready for the 2011 World Tour at an undisclosed North County reef.

TransWorld SURF: When did you first qualify for the then WCT?
Josh Kerr: 2007 was my first year on tour.

Was that the year you had that amazing heat against Mick Fanning at firing Snapper Rocks?
Check out Kerr’s full interview on - Transworld Surf

You don't believe me when I tell you Kerr is the King of Air - check out these videos from the Landscape Altered Series - you wont argue with me again!

Vampire Surfing with Jordy Smith

What happens when you add spot lights, jetski and the world's best young surfer, along with a few of his mates? Oh, and all at night time on the Camps Bay strip.

Answer - a mix of Modern Collective and True Blood - haha - no, you get the Red Bull Nightshift!

Be plenty of this under lights!

Camps Bay Beach in Cape Town will play host to a unique surfing event in early 2011. Red Bull Nightshift is a speciality ‘tow-at’ event, where surfers are towed towards waves at high speeds enabling them to ramp into the air and pull off some spectacular moves. Red Bull Nightshift will be featuring the number one surfer in South Africa and number two surfer in the world, Jordy Smith, along with 7 of his carefully selected surfing friends

	Sunday, January 9 · 7:00pm - 10:00pm

Red Bull Nightshift with Jordy Smith from craig jarvis on Vimeo.
Night surfing in Cape Town with Red Bull and Jordy Smith. Video by Invisible Witness.

The Headmaster of Skating

The South African skate scene has gone through good times and bad, more so than even the international scene. Popular through the eighties and early nineties, then taking a large dip in popularity in the late nineties, to find itself on the way up again in 2010. One element that has stayed constant over all this time is, Dallas Oberholzer.

Dallas Oberholzer (Photo: Barry Tuck)

Dallas has long dominated skating in SA, holding titles and wins in Vert, street, Bowl and even Downhill racing. He recently won the Quiksilver Bowlriders again, fighting off the valiant efforts of the young whipper snappers to solidify his reputation as South Africa's head master of skating.

Taking the Bowlriders (Photo: Barry Tuck)

But, there is another side to this guy, the role of developer and giver. A couple of years back, Dallas started the Indigo Skate Camp, in the very rural Valley of a Thousand Hills, about an hour outside Durban. His goal was quite simple, to bring the joy and ease of skating to the poor and underprivileged kids of South Africa. You can check out the camp at - Indigo Skate Camp

Indigo Grom charging hard! (Photo: Indigo)

So, I thought to myself, what better way to start a new year, than getting the low down from the grand master of SA Skating on where we at and where we going in SA:

Kai - First off congrats on the Bowlriders win - how many is that now?
Dallas - A couple.

Kai - Would you say Bowl Skating is where it is at right now?
Dallas - It seems to be catching on here in SA, good thing is that concrete disciples are into DIY parks, they are very cohesive, willing to get dirty, broken and mostly keep shit underground.

Kai - You have pretty much done well at all aspects of skating, from bowl, to vert ramp, street and even Downhill. Do you think skaters should be able to do it all?
Dallas - I feel Its good to do it all if you just out to enjoy, but if think you're a young gun and acknowledge that a certain aspect of skating is your strength then focus on that until you raise the bar, get recognized, create your reality and then when you feel like you're hitting a plateau return to doing it all and you will discover a lot in everything.

Kai - What is your favorite skate?
Dallas - The one I recently lost to a canal in the N.Cape, it was 8.5 inches, with Indy's, park formula wheels..I just about risked my life wading in the depths looking for it and I swear to return to look for it again, that boards got soul.

Kai - Many people see skaters as a pretty loner group of guys, what are your thoughts on this?
Dallas - We do our own thing down in the drainage ditches of society

Kai - Not many skaters are putting back what you do, tell us about Indigo Skate Camp and the development of black rural skaters?
Dallas - Skaters thrive in adversity. Indigo is rooted in a harsh community in the Zulu hills, there is now work for skaters there, hope and pride in what we co-create. It's a bubble of happiness. Trying to get the rest of society to understand this would have been too large an undertaking

Zulu Kids frothing on skating. (Photo: Indigo)

Kai - Who are the top young guys coming through - are any of these from your development program?
Dallas - There are many young rippers from the Indigo Skate Camp, come visit if you wanna choose your favorite!

Kai - What advice can you give the younger generation, if they want to travel and skate?
Dallas - Look after your body, easy on the booze, connect with a guiding force, find peace and the rest will find you.

Kai - Excited about the Maloof Cup being in SA next year?
Dallas - Yeah I'm optimistic, its what we need to let skateboarding rise again, even if it is for a short while.

Kai - Do you think there will be any Saffers in the competition?
Dallas - Sure we'll be on the grandstands, sometimes its just better to be humbled, to watch and learn.

Kai - What are your plans for 2011?
Dallas - Indigo Skate Camp turns 10! The skaters I have connected with in the valley are to take our program to new destinations.

Kai - What is theGoodLife to you?
Dallas -  Create and destroy!

Do yourself a favor and check out Indigo and get involved! Check out this clip to see how committed Dallas is: