So since the end of June my life has been anything but
boring, just the way I like it! As my Gap year comes to a close I can happily say
I’m ready to join the real working world, now that I have checked off a couple
of the thing I wanted to do before I conformed to what society would have me
do.
To kick off this 3 month rollercoaster of activities and
travels, the beginning of July saw the eyes of the surfing world focus on South
Africa, as the African Leg of the ASP World Tour came to town and I was once
again given the opportunity to represent South Africa on the international
judging panel.
First up was the Mr Price Pro , this was a prime event,
featuring the top 96, Once again Ballito delivered and gave us clean
contestable waves and at the end of 7
days of surfing it was Irelands Glen “Micro” Hall who emerged victorious over
the USA’s Nathaniel Curren.
The next day I was on a flight to P.E and off to judge the
Billabong Pro J Bay, there was a lot of negativity about the event being
downgrade to a 6 star as opposed to at WCT event like it had been in the past,
It was however advantageous to the local surfers who are currently fighting it
out to make the top 16.
Some of the Saffa standout were, Casey Grant , Matt Bromley
and Dale Staples who finished off in 5th, causing the upset of the
event and eliminated Jon Jon Florence, the Hawaiian wonder kid.
Final day was run in dismal small and onshore surf but Brazil’s
Adriano De Souza still managed to put together some beautiful surfing to take
the win over Frenchman Joan Duru.
After J-Bay I had 2 weeks at home to get everything sorted
for the trip of a life time......Bali for 3 weeks, since I was 15 it’s been a
trip I’ve spent many hours, most of which were spent in classrooms and lecture theatres
dreaming about.
Durban – Johannesburg – Hong Kong and finally Bali, after 30
odd hours of travelling there I was with 2 of my best friends in surfers
paradise, all the videos I had watched, all the photo’s I had seen in the
magazines where now waiting for me just outside those airport doors!
We got a taxi (might have been slightly ripped off hahah)
straight to Kuta, where we stayed for 4 days which consisted of super fun surfs
out at airport lefts, Mc Donalds free wifi and of course free flows at Sky
Garden, we had a love hate relationship with that place haha!
From Kuta we ventured out onto the Bukit peninsula, we
stayed in Bingin a beautiful sea side village, did I mention it was at the
bottom of a cliff so we had to climb hundreds of stairs multiple times a day,
whilst on the peninsula we surfed Uluwatu, Bingin and Dreamlands.
While we were out on the peninsula the Rip Curl Cup at
Padang Padang ran and we got to wate the event unfold, Saffa Dylan Lightfoot
was one of the invited surfers, he got one insane backhand barrel for an 8.25
and needing a small score the sea went flat but even though he didn’t advance
he defiantly stepped up and showed everyone he means business, after Dyl’s heat
we got to sea surfing’s most inspirational individual, Bethany Hamilton, the
first ever female invitee to this event, she didn’t disappoint as she advanced
into the quarter finals.
After a week out on the peninsula we made our way back to Kuta
and met up with 2 other Saffa mates of ours and we all booked a trip over to
the island of Nusa Lembogan, just a 2 hour boat ride, What a rad island it was,
partly because it was the first rights I got to surf during the trip, we spent
4 days on the island surfing, exploring, diving and checking out the local
cuisine.
Once again we headed back to Kuta to round up the last week
of the trip , we did plenty day trips to different surf spots, and scored some
really fun rights at Canggu, night time was spent Sky Gardening, always seemed
like a good idea at the time, haha ask us the next morning and you were likely
to hear “oath im not going out tonight!” and true as bob back at Sky Garden we
were at 9pm haha.
Sad to leave but happy to be going home we waved goodbye to
a trip that will forever stand out in my mind.
Home on the Friday and back on the road the next Tuesday ,
this time to Cape St Francis to Head Judge the Billabong Pro Junior, fun waves,
strong off shores a little rain and plenty sunshine, topped with the best
junior surfers the country has to offer all made for a great weekend the event
was a success and it was Davey Brand and Bianca Buitendag who walked away as
the winners.
Next up was Cape town to learn how to present the ISA level
1 judges course.
I’ve been home for a little over a week now and in a few
days time im off to Jefferey’s Bay to Head Judge the Hurley SA Junior Champs (I
must have done a good job at the Billabong junior haha).
So an exciting few months have gone by, and I enjoyed every
minute of it, still got a couple other trips in the pipeline between now and
new years.
I truly am blessed and super grateful for all I have and all
I’ve done.
Wade
