Ireland - Bundoran.

Guiness. Lucky Charms. Club Paris. the Peak. Channel Islands.

So as you read this I ask you click on the link below and play the tune. This was our National Anthem - like when we won a title instead of playing the 'God Save the Queen' or whatever.. we played this and went absolutely mental much to the dismay of the French and most of the other teams. Play while you read...It helps give you more of an understanding of how epic this team is! 
Channel Islands National Anthem

I have been on so many team trips around SA surfing for Border but wow being given the opportunity to surf for the Channel Islands team in the Euro Surf competition was nuts.

Jersey is like 9 by 12miles or something ridic but there are tons of surfers. And tons of little breaks to separate everyone so before we had all met at the airport, I had barely hungout with any of my team-mates and a few of them I had never even seen before. It would have be outrageously awkward but instead we all meshed together really quickly. It was a quick 55min flight to Dublin and then a 3hr drive to our accomadation in Bundoran. Some of the humans in the team have never had to do anything for themselves or they have just have one brain cell that is being shared between them all so it was a stressful but a classic laugh. (I am not being rude about anyone I travelled with because the guys Im am referring to will be the first to admit this about themselves!)


The first two days in Ireland we went pretty big. Old school Irish bands, litres of gravey and Guinese. I think this really helped the team gel together and for the rest of our time in Ireland we went surfing as a team, ate breakfast as a team, got wasted as a team - pretty much suck together through and through!


When the contest finally started - it was game on. No going out unless you weren't surfing the next day or were knocked out. Having Skindog, who is so experienced defiantly rubbed off on us all. It was rather hard event for everybody because of the stress. We went there pretty much expecting and frothing to surf the perfect Peak but instead they moved us over the hill to this pretty shitty left hand beach break. It was one of the hardest spots to surf as the waves were super unpredictable, there was a rip and when it got big its got big and powerful. at high tide the wave changed and looked like a completely different spot. Also there was nothing else there. no shops. no nothing. so the first few days we were slightly unprepared. but we quick adapted and worked out our strategy. This also met that half the support was at the peak and the other half was at Tullen. A HUGE UP TO ROLEY WHO DID THE 20MINUTE WALK IN ABOUT 5MINUTES FLAT TO BE THERE FOR EVERY SINGLE PERSONS HEAT! welcome to the world of competitive surfing i guess. anyway there is much more to write about - the contest was sick, I came 6th. we came 5th overall (almost beat the poms and will in 2years time), Im still recovering from the parties and I have some of the best friends from this trip. So stoked. 

MY TEAM MATES

JERSEY LIVE '11

This Is Jersey, thousands of humans just loving the rock and good music for two days. 

 Gum Boots. Cider bars. Live. musos. Cool Clothes. Dance tent. 

Ah this is was my first proper festival, and its was insane!!! I got to see tons of sick artists with all my mates, Mosh pit in the dance tent and got to experience my first baitball. It was quality and I WILL be going again.

photos courtesy of JL and some me

Jersey Live 2011 from Becks on Vimeo.

JERSEY ISLANDS

Channel Islands. Summer. JSSE. The yacht . Friends. Love.

For the UK summer (May to October) I relocated to the the English  Channel. I live on a little island 22kms off France and about a 100km of Great Britian. Its basically a rock with some more rocks... stunning place!
This was kind of the reason why I left SA. To be somewhere in the ocean teaching surfing, learning more about myself and my surfing again after giving it a rest for a year. I now work as a senior coach at the Jersey Surf School and do a few surf contests here and there. 
Its a rad life in Jersey over summer, all the uni students come back, tourists pour in and well it just heaves everyday all day if you can keep up! At the surf school I work 5 or 6 days a week for some solid hours with a group of awesome individuals. Its not hard work, we get to teach kids to surf all day at the beach. Its a dream job for a surfer. Its cool because you get the kids that have surfed with you all week in our summer programme so you basically just go surfing with for 6 hours a day. But sometimes it can be kak as. Like having to take surf lessons when it raining and cold or when the kid is a nightmare but thats pretty rare. The tides do mess you around alot, Jersey has the 3rd highest tidal range in the world of like 42ft. So to give you an idea... SA has a max of a 6ft tidal range. nuts. 

The surf is pretty shit. It never gets over 4ft here in summer but winter apparently does (I have yet to see it). Its onshore 80percent of the time but you still froth when the surf is good and you still go surfing when its bumpy because THERE IS NOTHING A GOOD DAY OF SURFING WONT CURE! The quality of wave is good when its on so it does make it worth while. I reckon my favourite waves here are Barg and Secrets. Barg is a shorebreak barrel that pumps at high tide. The lip throws and its a easy barrel with a sick boost section at the end. Secrets is a long right hander (with a few quality lefts) that is filled with just the old school local surfers. This spot reminds me alot of my home break Nahoon Corner when its on. but most of the breaks in Jersey are alot like Long Beach in Cape Town. Crowded and well...

This summer I made some freaking awesome mates too. We party hard and did weekly JSSE (jersey surf school elite) pissups where we would go out, smash bus doors in (jokes that wasnt our fault at all), have dance offs, mess shit up, make cheese sarmies at 5 in the morning and then go surfing. We were so comfortable with each other... farting was acceptable and graded, sharing a spit cup was common and pretty much anything else you can imagine that could go on in working with a bunch of surfer boys and surfer 4 girls. We were basically a big family that has no secrets! It is awesome! Life is good here. Life is AWESOME!
Everyone here is really really nice. I havent met one person who hasnt offered to help me out in one way or another. The guy who made this whole trip and life in Jersey possible is Chester. He is from Slummies and can smash the shit out of any wave just like a quality Reef local! Chester, his wife Em and their Daughter Jemima, who is now 3, look after Laurie and I. They are the kindest and raddest people I know.... Couldnt ask for anybody as good as them.
There are a good few South Africans living over here now. And a massive amount of the Zaffas are weirdly enough from EL. Its such a small world! Some days you can paddle out and 6 out 8 surfers are from SA. Home away from Home some would say. 


There are a couple of cool things in Jersey which I havent mentioned because they dont really affect me such as 

- No tax. That means things are cheaper here on the island than they are in  the UK and Europe. 

- The laws are different, like you can never really get done for stealing a car. You can never drive far enough away to get done for theft because the Island is so small. 

- It has to be one of the safest places on earth. You willing sleep with your doors unlocked. Leave your keys in the engine and  if you lose something like a cellphone or your wallet there is a 80 percent chance of getting it back in-tacked.

I love living here, so thankful for the friends Ive made and excited to come back next summer! 

CHRISTMAS IN LONDON TOWN

Christmas. Family. Love. Snow. Scary movies.

The older Im getting the more excited I get about the festivities. Christmas, New years, Easter, Birthdays... no stopping there... Halloween, Mothers Day etc. Wait Im ACTUALLY not that bad. So to the point. 2010 Christmas was my first away from mom and dad, lauries too. Its a weird thought not to be spending christmas at home with the same traditions you've had for the last 19 years with the same people for the last 19 years (plus a few families namely the O'Sullivans, Robbs and Malherbies after a while). It isnt the same but hey this year was a good one non the less. London over christmas is everything you imagine it to be. Houses covered in lights, over priced items in the malls, snow and mulled wine. Its cool. Its just like you see on tv shows. 

Laurie and I went to the winter wonderland carnival thingamajig. It was standard but rad... the ground was covered in snow, it was freezing. We drank mulled wine and Laurie went on some rides. I went on one. and one was enough for me. It was something like the gnariesty free fall mission then straight back up and then drop you again scary shit ever. Please excuse my language but the more scared (and drunk) I get the worse my language gets. And this ride scared the living shit out of me. But other than that London is full of excitement and there is a buzz in the air building up to the special day. 

For the 25th Laurie, Kyle, Grandmother and I all went to our Aunt and Uncles beautiful house out in Silverthorn, in the country I think. The house was filled with family, friends and cats. It was decorated just like an American Sitcom, but more classy. A big fat christmas tree, snow covering the ground, giant Deers eating stuff on the ground, everyone wearing Cosby Christmas jumpers and the smell of fine dine! 

What more could you ask for? 

We spent christmas day unwrapping presents, eating good food and watching horror movies. It was a good day. A good day indeed!

LONDON - MY FIRST VISIT

United Kingdom. Winter. Different.Inland
This is an experience. London. Never in my wildest would I actually think I would like living millions of miles away from the ocean. I know millions is an over exaggeration but that is what it feels like to a surfer living and some what surviving in the thick of the largest urban zone in Europe.

My first thoughts of London were - its dirty, brown, mild and well boring. Buts that's all changed once I started working and having a life with friends and family. Laurie and I worked as waitresses at GBK (Gourmet Burger Kitchen) with Brother Kyle as our boss. Sorry did someone as nepotism hahhahah!. Its a pretty easy job, just taking food to people and making hundreds milkshakes. standard. But working there meant we got to met all sorts of people... from the lazy shits, to rich men with bodyguards (and just a side thought - I would really like to be a bodyguard), Chinese people and tiny children. gosh too many types of people and it is rad. But what is super strange is being friends with humans you would never normally associate with being back in SA or way from the coast. Inland humans. All of friends here in London unbelievably have some sort of connection with the ocean/ beach life but non of them really new what surfing was. its strange.

The London underground system is another issue. Firstly who ever thought it would be so easy? I freaking didn't! I reckon I got lost a good few times. I missed my stop more times than I wish to remember but once you get it, you get it for life. Its such a easy system... once you get it. hahaha. Secondly, the freaking weirdos and nutters you see on the tubes... OH MY! I have seen fights, a man pissing himself, someone trying to jump in front of the oncoming train, heads, arms and legs getting jammed in the doors, sluts and about hundred more. Its classic and an experience. And so much better at night.

One thing I didn't do while I lived in London was the tourist thing. I couldn't be bothered. There a truck loads of people all trying to look at the same thing in one tiny square all taking videos and pictures and yes you should explore your surroundings but not like that. Take me to see the London eye from a helicopter or the Tower of London illegally at night... I bet you I would admire and enjoy them way more. I did go to Trafalgar Square and see Big Ben, a few parks and Tate Modern and they we cool but not much else. 

Anyway if you there find a local, get wasted, do some tourist things and just open your mind of what is there because there is soooooo much to offer and I cant wait to get back. 

REUNION ISLAND

Little Island. Volcano. Waves. Turtles. Team SA. Coconuts.

I had a horror mission trying to get to the island man (for future referance everytime I say 'island', 'man' will automatically come next thanks to Isaac February) but anyway after planes cancelled, planes delayed, run 10kms with a coffin, hurry up and wait we landed in La Reunion. My first thought was its too hot and we could possibly plunge nose first into the ocean and die if this planes breaks fail. But we didnt so I was stoked and ready to get cracking on one heck of a cultural learning surfing excursion. It did take us a a few days to learn a basic sign language and two words of french - une omelette au fromage and Merci- to communicate with everyone but we got it. we nailed it. French is ALOT harder than one thinks.

we did some really cool stuff like driving up the moon... im mean volcano. It was super cool to see an active volcano becuase its just not something us coastal dwellers will experience that often. We got to surf tons and pretty much just cruised around in bikinis eating cococnuts. The humans here are really cool. They were all willing to help us out at every oppourtunity and made sure we all had the best time there.

The contest had one of the best set-ups Ive seen at a small local event. Everything was organic and Eco-friendly. Even the sound system which was solar powered. And toliet, hmmm saw dust.

Reunion is worth the money. Its a stunner of place, has abuntant waves and good food. What more could you ask for as a surfer? Not much mate. Not much.

ps. Eat the coconut ice cream its rocks socks.

CAPE TOWN.

Western Cape. Mountain. Friends. Love. Special Tea.

Being a kid I disliked Cape Town. I loved being there with my cousins and all the family during the christmas season but I hated the mission 14hr drive in a white city golf with 6 people inside and all our luggage. I disliked Cape Town because my first ever away SA champs where held there and it all went pear-shaped. I didnt like the cold water. I didnt like the long drives just to get to the beach from where we were staying. I didnt like the fact that it was freezing in the morning and by 10 o clock you would have to change your whole outfit because its now 40 degrees and humid. I kind of had this big mental grudge against this place.I even went as far as to not do any surfing competitions there unless it was SA champs or something really important and my sponsors (or my mom) wanted me too. I judged it by its cover and that was a ROOKIE ERROR!

I have some pretty cool friends who live down there and they opened my eyes to Cape Town. We surfed and cruised in blue blaze. We took Aloose to Long street and had twenty rand breakfasts. We basically just did a handful of activities embracing our surroundings and that made me fall inlove. a little.

There is honestly nothing better than waking up, saying a helllllllo to the mountain and cruising with the freedom, creativity and diversity that over runs this city. Defiantly one of my favourite places but i must agree with my sister, it might not be as cool as it is for me for you... you see my best friends all live there. And a world without favourite individuals isnt much.