Scribbles Abroad

Just got out of the water, surfed Supertubes, the best section of Jeffreys Bay on the alaia.  Wanted to see if it worked and this evening was my last chance before the start of the WCT contest.  Looks like the first heats should be hitting the water tomorrow morning. I’m not sure if you’ll find this interesting but I figured I’d give it a try.  I wanted to depict for you what its like to be here.  Kinda do a real blog, one every night there is action for the length of the contest, July 9-19th.

In most sports one is separated from the athletes as they play or even practice on a court, field, pitch, etc.  In surfing, one of the things thats sets it apart from other sports is that any surfer can paddle out and end up sitting next to a professional.  Take this evening for example.  I paddled out and was amongst around 30 of the top 44 competitive surfers in the World.  I got to get a real personal view of how these surfers are because you can tell a whole lot about a person from the way they portray themselves out in the lineup.

In this first installment I will give you a short personal opinion that was gained from surfing with these guys.  First off, I was riding an alaia (the board that looks like a piece of wood), and therefore had to work three times as hard to paddle a board that barely floats.  Not that I was looking for sympathy but I wouldn’t turn down a handout, in other words a wave passed by and given to me.  But then again, these guys are out there as a profession.  They need to learn the wave and get tuned for the contest which has $250,000 USD up for grabs.  So I was just enjoying, waiting, watching not just these guys ripping but the whales and wildlife that is so abundant here in South Africa.

So you might be wondering who was ripping the hardest.  Hands down, it was Jordy Smith.  Maybe it’s the fact that he is from South Africa, but the boy was killing it.  Note that not all the top guys were out.  Next who was rude……I hate to add evidence to the already established stereotype but it was the Brazilian guy but not Adriano.  They’re not helping their cause or maybe they don’t give a fuck.  Who seemed most focused?  It was Taj.

I met Keaunu Ahsing out there, he is the wildcard for the event.  A wildcard earns a birth into the event by winning a prior contest especially for an entry into the main event.  The Hawaiian was a really nice Hawaiian.  He is considered a grom by the other surfers out there and wasn’t getting as many waves as the top 44 but thats because of the hassling that’s involved with getting a set wave at Jbay.   In the contest there is only 2-4 guys out there at a time and therefore the hassling disspates and the surfers can worry about what they do best.  When the contest begins he’ll be up against the higher rated guys but he said he’s not worried.  Keaunu’s excited and I hope all you at home send some Aloha his way.

I ran into Freddy Patachia, another Hawaiian.  Bruddah used to be, maybe still is, sponsored by Bud Light!  Now thats a sponsorship you can use, not just wear.  I’d probably save a couple thousand a year, but I’d prefer Steinlager.

Dean Morrison (Dingo) isn’t on tour, I think, but he was out there with a big beard looking feral.  He was a real nice guy and took the time to come over and say hello but more to actually check out the Alaia.  He said he was just in Tavarua and Rob Machado was killing it on an Alaia, straight up doing big snowboarding style carves.  He said he gave it a try too but was having a real hard time going backside on the Alaia.  I told him I found the same true.  Then a wave came.

Taj said he saw Dingo get the best wave he’s ever seen out there that evening.  It was firing.  Supertubes was going off at 2-4 foot Hawaiian and glassy.  2-4 foot Hawaiian conversion would be a wave that is about 3 feet overhead when the surfer is at the bottom of the wave or 6 foot Calistyle.  I think they should just convert to, ankle high, knee high, waist high, chest high, head high, overhead, double overhead, and triple overhead.  For waves bigger than that lets just say the buggahs big.  Or keep it to Hawaiian Style.

Timmy Reyes from California was also catching some really good ones, I’d say he was surfing second best out there.  He surfs very fast and gets a fair share of waves, he’s good at positioning.  Jeremy Flores was a mellow guy out in the water and I didn’t get to see him catch many because he was surfing down the line from where I was but he seemed really nice.  Roy Powers another Hawaiian was out and he was surfing well.  I ran into John Shimooka (Schmoo) whom I hadn’t seen since I was in High School.  On my short stint at Roosevelt I was on the surf team and Schmoo would be at some of the contests stoked on us groms and being a positive role model.  He was rippin too.

Altogether it was an interesting experience to surf with so many good surfers at once.  There is a point where surfers reach the next level and all these guys deserve to be where they are.  They surf so darn well its ridiculous.  I will try and take some video for you all to see for yourself, or you can log on to the aspworldtour.com website and watch the action live.  Only problem is that its a 12 hour difference from here to home.

Miss you all.   Louise and I will catch a wave or two for you.

Aloha for now, more to come in a day or two once the contest starts.

Above: This is where we are staying in Jbay.  We eat most of our meals here and just kick it.  Its also the only place we catch the wireless signal.  You can see whales out there almost every day.

Below: This was my best and last wave last night.  I’m on the Alaia and you can kind of see me.  I didn’t make it out.