Some pics sent through from Iain Platt

So i've just left Hawaii, just landed in LAX , 3 hrs here then off to Washington, then onto Johannesburg and finally onto Durban. Obviously, for me, my year didn't turn out the way I planned at the beginning result wise, but I still had a bloody fun year, waves weren't the best, we pretty much got skunked a lot this year on the CT, but it was really good to finish the year off in pumping waves at pipe. And one massive congrats to Mick for claiming his 2nd Word Title, big ups to him for pulling that off! SO i guess I'm back on the QS grind next year, which is fine cause I learnt a lot this year and hopefully that will pay off in 2010... And also want to send a shout out to Greg Emslie, thanks for all the good times, great inspiration and helping me out so much on tour, good luck with your next chapter, sure you won't be missing those 18 hr flights and layovers... ENjoy the retirement from pro surfing!

Anyways, I'm off to have a fun few weeks at home with the family before it all starts up again next year. Enjoy your Christmas and New Year and here's to a cracker 2010!

Peace

Davey

So I've been on the North Shore now for about 5 days, had our first proper day at Pipe since I've been here and probably in the last month too. Some pretty solid ones, hard to get the right ones but good to be out there again and in some sizey waves.
Sunset event just finished today too with Parko taking the honors from Sunny, Travis was just confirmed to be on next year's WCT so big up to him for getting back on after a year back on the QS.

But what we have on our hands at the moment is the perfect storm just about to hit the islands!!! They're calling this next swell that hits tomorrow to be HUGE, 40 -50 ft, Eddie going to run, they closing down Kam highway, things are going to get gnarly here, probably going to have to stock up on some items from foodland to make sure we're good for the next few days. It's definitely going to be interesting to see what happens, just heard now that the bouy reading is the largest ever recorded in history!!!!!!! Heavy days boys and girls!!!!!

Will report back in a few days to let you know of the carnage to the North Shore!

Holding down the fort here...

Davey

Off to the Rock on Monday, doing the trip over with Mr Emslie, probably going to work out at about 42 hrs of traveling to get there, well it is exactly half way around the world for us. Probably going to take around 7 boards with me over there, and with the new one's I'm picking up there from Bushman and the one's I already have in Hawaii from last year, I really should be ok for boards this year...

Been home now for almost a month and we have not had anything decent as far as swell goes here in Durban, been a few fun bowls but nothing great. Really looking forward to getting some good waves this year, hopefully the CT can finish off the season with a bang...

Flying up to Johannesburg early on Monday morning before I fly out that evening for Hawaii to do a video interview for this Christian Youth Conference they going to be having while I'm on the rock. Really looking forward to doing it, should be good!
Will try post some stuff from that side, hopefully get some clips or pics to put on this blog and maybe a story or two....
Anyways, have fun, enjoy and rock on!

Peace

Davey

New Design

Just picked these two boards up from Bilt last week, pretty stoked on the design , Mandla ( the Sprayer) , did on them , bit of the SA flag influence there. Going to probably rock this new design for a while....

Did a pretty funny shoot yesterday for the Bombsurf, and then ended up going to the launch of revamped Classic Eyes in Gateway Shopping Mall in Durban. They're one of Oakley's biggest accounts and Chris ( the owner ) is a super keen surfer , so it was a pretty fun evening, new store is sick and apparently the coffee there is crazy good, going to have to have a little tester I reckon.

Got a little over two weeks left in SA until I leave for the rock, been training pretty hard for it since I been home, had Simon Nicholson helping me with some coaching and been making some adjustments to my boards after this last leg in Europe. Pretty much , just super keen and hungry and excited at the moment and it feels good!

Hopefully there's a bit of swell on it's way here, would be good to get a bit of size under my belt before I arrive in Hawaii.
Anyways, rock on and live large!

Davey

Sequence from Supertubes, Portugal shot by Greg Pearson

I know it's been a while since my last post, a bit has happened. Did a 2 week stint in Portugal for the final leg of our European invasion on the World Tour. Supertubes came to life and there were some serious waves on hand. But I'm back home now, feels really good to be back with the family in my own bed after 2 and a half months on the road. But that's part of the job! I've got about 3 weeks until I head off to the island of Oahu, Hawaii for the final event of the World Tour at the Banzai Pipeline! Probably the most prestigious of all events on tour, the one that everyone wants to win!

So it's all about getting the right training in now before I jet off, get the lungs ready for some possible beat downs, get the confidence up to push myself just that much more, it's an El Nino year so there could be some serious swells for this season. They've actually already had some serious waves hit the North Shore this winter and November has only just started!

If anything interesting happens while I'm home, will post it on the blog. Hopefully I can get some waves while I'm home cause I've actually had no waves at all this year. Missed all the swells that have hit Durban and when I've been on the road for events, we've pretty much had bad waves all year round too. So if you know of any good waves around, let me know!

Peace out

Davey

Mundaka madness!!!!

Hey all,

So we're in the Basque town of Mundaka, and famous to the very good left hander ( when it's on). Right now , it's dead flat, not a ripple to even think about surfing but the swell charts are saying a bit of a bump on the weekend, got our fingers crossed!!!!

So I'm into the 3rd event of our 4 event leg through the States and Europe, we're in Spain now, were in France last week and head over to Portugal next week. What most of us have done is leased vehicles from Renault and just drive to each event, the drive was only like 2 hrs from Hossegor but the next drive to Peniche, Portugal , I think will take around 9 hrs, so I've been told...

They've so far run half of round 1, but have used the new format, straight first round elimination , which has obviously seen 8 guys out of the event already with 8 heats being run. It's a really heavy scenario cause this spot is so fickle, and they usually only get half a day to surf when there's swell cause this place does not break on high tide, that they almost have to use the new format. That or send the first round to a below average back up venue and have the 2nd round onwards at mundaka if there's waves. It's pretty much a catch 22, and they aint going to make every one happy. Me personally, don't like the new format, I really don't think it's fair that 16 guys are seeded ahead of the other 32, take any other sport, tennis, golf, F1 , the guys all start at the same round. Period! And especially to lose on day one of the 13 day waiting period with the new format, heavy days... But that's what we have now but there could be a few interesting changes happen in the next few days..........

Besides eating tapas, enjoying the siesta's and trying to surf when we can, been keeping it pretty mellow, and I think the next few days will be the same. So where ever you are, enjoy what you do and do what you enjoy.

Peace

Davey

Hossegor, France

Hey All,

So I'm here in Hossegor, France, there summer time has just finished it's not too busy and way more quiet than a month ago. Weather is still really warm, water is good, thought it'd be a lot colder than it is and they've already finished 2 rounds of the Quiky Pro France. Kieren Perrow got the better of me in our round 2 match up yesterday, so it's a few days off now for me until my next event starts in Mundaka, Spain. Arrived here on Monday from the States, been super jet lagged the last few days, was up at 2 am yesterday morning wishing I'd taken some sleeping tabs the night before. The route from USA to Europe is pretty heavy on the body with a 9 hr time difference from California. But I'm seem to be doing a lot better today, just need to try avoid those arvo naps ( so easy to have them here) so I sleep all the way through...

I finally got to see my family again, after way too long, so good to see them!!! And to have them join me here in Hossegor is really rad too cause it's such a classic town with a lot of really cool things to do and see in and around Hossegor and Biarritz. Plus, a lot of the other surfers have their families and kids here too and at the same hotel so it's pretty good seeing all the kids run around and swimming in the pool, like I said, an awesome spot for the families!

Another bit of news, is that we're expecting an addition to the family around the 24th March next year which my wife and I are super excited about. She's only around 14 weeks now so it's too early to tell the sex yet, but really keen to find out what it'll be... I'm sure two will be a lot harder than one but we're up for it!

Surf and swell don't look too promising here for the next few days, but hopefully this means we get some really good waves for Mundaka cause when that place is on, it's ON!!!!

Thought I'd post the shoe I got to design at the last event I was at, the Hurley Pro, one of the perks we got was to design our own personal shoe, how ever we wanted it, be it a basketball shoe, running, just plain sneaker etc , pretty hard to choose actually when you have som many options available, but this is my end product!!!!

WIll post up again sooner than later...

Cheers

Davey

Lower Trestles

So it's hit the 3 week mark now that I've been in the States... The waves have finally improved, that 10 day flat spell was pretty brutal but it's been pretty fun now for the last few days. Been kinda busy here too with connecting with friends living over here now, there's a pretty big South African crew in the Laguna area especially, been great to see them again! Did the craziest photo shoot the other day for Oakley, can't pass out too much info about it cause it's for next year's campaign but let's just say I broke a lot of stuff!!! Really fun..

The event started today, stoked on my first round heat win, cause it's the old format, I move straight into round 3 so I by pass the dirty turd round. We had waves for the event today but it wasn't what to expect to get at trestles, not the ideal swell direction for Lowers, but like I said earlier, at least there's waves and there were a few good one's to be had.

Just had my birthday here too, had a pretty cool day, spent the morning at the MOzambique restaurant, eating boerewors for brekkie , watching the Springboks win the Tri Nations, surfed Lowers in the arvo, pretty fun all in all , just obviously missed not being with my family with me here, see them in just over a week's time in France which is going to be amazing after being away from them for so long...

Anyways, off to a ASP meeting now, keep it real where ever you are, be happy, have fun, watch what you do and be yourself!

Late

Davey

Just received this pic shot just before I left on this trip of the P3... Friends for life!!!

Got these pics off Yasmin Weiring shot during the Billabong Pro, J-Bay...

Surfs tiny here in Cali still, still bloody hot too. I reckon summer is getting later all over the world, seasons are changing , storms are bigger, global warming, not a good thing at all.... But there's a hurricane off Mexico right now that might push a little pulse into the California vicinity , hope so cause you can only be so amped for 1 ft surf for a little bit....

Kinda funny story, not really though but anyway, early on in the year, I did a shoot for Oakley, eyewear/apparel shoot down in Melbourne for Oakley South Pacific for their Sunglass Hut campaign, shoot went fine, well I think they were happy with it. So I'm in Oz just a little while back,about a month ago, I land in Sydney and transfer to the domestic, get through security and hit the escalator down to the shop and gate area when I check this Sunglass Hut with my ad in the front window and next to it on another wall, a full ground to ceiling shot again. Firstly, was not expecting that at all and then I started to feel a little embarrassed cause you're looking at yourself on the wall. Not that any one noticed me to the campaign when I walked past but it was a pretty cool surprise. I've added a photo from one of the Sunglass Huts with it in it, (NO, i did not take it myself, Oakley Oz sent it through to me).

Well enough stories. Hoping the swell goes up, temperatures goes down and I keep having fun... Keep rockin where ever you are, make every moment count and appreciate what you got!

Peace out

Davey

Californication...

So it's Saturday arvo, I'm here in California now and it's hot. Summer is still in full effect here! Had some really fun waves at Lowers yesterday with my saffa friends, Barry Wolins and Damien 'Dooma' Fahrenfort. I swear that wave is possibly the most rippable wave in the world. It was such a treat to surf good waves on my first day in Cali, just fun 3 - 4 ft smackable lips, water was really warm, crowd was fairly thin and the sun was out. All in all, a good day at the beach....

Spent 3 days before in the state of North Carolina with the Wolins family, they just recently relocated there from South Africa and it was really rad to see them nice and settled into their new home and enviroment. Tell you what, where I went to was a whole lot different to what I expected in a good way. Really beautiful spot, good people and great break from where I usually go to.

So I'm here now in Cali, be here until the 20th Sep. Out for the Hurley Pro at Lower Trestles. Have about 2 weeks now until it starts so a good amount of time to try boards out and get used to the waves here. I must admit, I always enjoy coming out to the States, have a bunch of really good friends here, always have a good time and do sometimes get good waves.

If anything interesting happens in the next few days, will post it. Otherwise, all good in the hood here, looking forward to getting a few more lips and ramps out at lowers before most of the crew get here for the event, keep it real....

Davey

French connection

So I've found myself now in the surf town of Lacanau, about an hr from Bourdeaux, France for the 6* QS event. Arrived yesterday, 4 flights later, boards actually made it with me for a change but no bag though. Pretty amazed the boards got here, hopefully the bag shows up soon enough. So my marathon trip has commenced, this being the first of 2 stints to France, just a week here then over the atlantic to a 3 day holiday at my friend's house in North Carolina and then onto California...

The surf here is FLAT! They just put the comp on hold now... welcome to France in summer... hahaha pretty funny actually, it's either 1 ft and flat or 8 ft and closing out here, hardly ever a happy medium. But all's good, they making it happen around the tides here. Staying with Rudy Palmboom Jnr for the week, Royden was supposed to have been with us too but had to pull out the event with a eye injury.

Will post up if anything interesting happens here, should be a fun week, hopefully we get a little bump in swell and things go good. Rock on where ever you are! Boom!

Davey

So I just got back from a super quick stint to the Gold Coast of Oz, couple fun waves but pretty small the whole time I was there. Was there for 5 days, and my boards only showed up on the 4th day. Got to love SAA, done 5 trips this year so far, only 1 of them my boards have actually arrived with me, not sure what the hell is happening but this is pretty pathetic. But enough about that, home now for a week then off to Europe and the States for just under 3 months.

Schedule looks like this, France for a week, States for a month, back to France for 2 weeks, Spain 2 weeks and then Portugal for 2 weeks.

So these next few days at home are going to be golden...

Later

Davey

Latest tat

Just had some more work done on my arm yesterday, finally got myself a full sleeve now. Had Gavin from Electric Eye in Umhlanga carry on from where he left off with my last tattoo. It was a 2 day sitting, 10 hrs later, sleeved up now! 

So I've been home for about a week now, had to mission up to Johannesburg yesterday for the day to get my French (Schengen) visa. It's actually pretty damn crazy how heavy it is getting for South Africans now to travel, we literally need visa's for almost every stop on tour, and the costs involved are pretty high too. Joys of being a Saffa, But the country we live in out ways any visa issues!!!

Going to have a pretty solid schedule over the next few months. Off to Oz the end of next week for about 7 days, going to connect with Gozzy on the Gold Coast, home for about 8 days then a marathon of a trip starts. France for a week, California for a month, back to France for two weeks, Spain for two weeks and then finally Portugal for two weeks. Just short of 3 months, a solid time away but it's a fun itinerary and my family will be joining me in Europe which is great.

Not too much on the cards between now and when I leave for Oz, so peace out for now.

Davey

Added a photo from a signing session we did for Oakley during the Jbay event...

Some JBay Pics...

Just got sent these pics from a US photog, Reg Joiner, doing some charity work in SA and taking some pics in his off time...

So I've been in Jbay for 5 days now, haven't had the best waves so far but it looks like there's a fairly good swell expected for Monday and Tuesday. The bank at Super's is crazy though! The most sand I've ever seen there, kinda feels like you're surfing over a sand bank with just rocks on the beach at the moment. I reckon if we do get a good swell, Supers could be absolutely firing!!!

Good chance you could be getting barreled from just next to the gully in front of Cheron's house to after the carpark section ends....seriously!

We did a surf with the pro's day at the point about 2 days ago with the local surf club and the WPS ( WorldProSurfers.com ). Awesome experience, the kids were stoked, there were like 2/3 ft waves coming through, all and all a good experience and great for the kids. Cause at the end of the day, we were all like them, starting out and just frothing to surf and looking up to the pro's. What's been rad is that the WPS has organized this throughout the world when ever we have World Tour events on and get the local club involved and the pro's spend about 2/3 hrs with the kids, surf with them, sign posters, give advise and it's just a solid cool day.

Off to PE tonight for a Oakley Signing, will try post a pic or two some time too from Jbay. And hopefully we finally get some waves this year on tour, like I said, if the waves comes, we could have all time JBay!

Peace

Davey

I got sent this sequence from photog, Mike Van Heerden, from the other morning at North Beach, Durban. I really liked the colours in this, to me , morning sunrises are amazing! For more of Mike's images, go to www.activpix.co.za 

Off to Brazil for the CT event on Tuesday, hopefully with the event being on in winter time this year we should get waves. Haven't checked any swell charts yet for swell but looking forward to getting there and surfing an event again. Haven't put a rashie on for a few weeks now, the break was good but amped again now, keen to surf some heats... 

Hopefully we get a few more waves before I leave, looking like a little bump for the weekend...

Later

Davey

 

Tatted up!

Well, my addiction got the better of me yesterday and added to my last tattoo to finish off my half sleeve. It's now down to just above my elbow. There were definitely times of excrutiating pain go down, especially by my armpit but the end result was worth it. Got tattooed at Electric Eye Tattoo in Umhlanga Rocks, only about a 5 min drive from my house, and I've probably had about 85% of my tats done there. Most of them by Mully (Malcom Hilton), the owner and world renowned artist, but this latest one was done by Gavin Rowe. Mully recently just brought him back from Ireland, where he spent 8 yrs tattooing around the UK, but now he's back in SA for good. Both these tattoo artists are amazing, I'm still blown away at how well these guys tattoo, the detail and images they come up with is crazy! Just want to send a big shout out to them, thanks for good times ( and painful) and the ink!

Added some pics from yesterdays latest addition, Mully is the one in the green shirt and Gavin is the one tattooing. Any one in Durban who wants to get tatted up should head down to their shop....

Until the next one

Davey

Been Busy...

So I've been home for about 2 weeks now since my Tahiti trip. Obviously wasn't too stoked on my last result there, 33rd is never a result you want to get in a World Tour event but it happened and I've got my homework cut out for my next attempt at Chopes...

So in the last two weeks, I first followed a swell down to Jbay, and got some really good Jbay walls, around the 4-5 ft mark, maybe a few bigger sets but just really rippable and fun sized Jeffries. Was great to be back there, actually now that I think of it, was the first time I'd surfed it in 2 years, crazy to think cause I only live about and an hour's flight away. That wave really is amazing, easily one of the best right handers in the world...

Hopefully there are a few more swells in the next month there so I can make another trip or two down there. 

After that , was home for a few days then jetted down to Greg Emslie's hometown of East London for a Zigzag trip with Emmo, Frankie Oberholzer, Royden Bryson and Devyn Mattheys.

Soul mission was to score that ledge the boys down there have been hitting for the past year.

I was only able to make it there for 3 days of surfing, but we really did score some pretty damn fine waves. We got the ledge, scored some great right point and a  fun beachie. We did about 17 hrs of surfing in the 3 days, was pretty fun to do that much surfing again, felt like I was 14 year old surf rat again.

Back home now, New Pier has been firing for the past 2 days, looking like a few more waves the next few days, should be fun. The WPS have a vote up and running for the WPS / Hurley showdown on during the US Open of surfing in USA. It's open to the public to vote who they want in , so go to www.worldprosurfers.com and cast your vote, for me of course...

Catch up again in the next week or so... Adios

Davey

Chopes Sequence by Sean Rowland

Sean Rowland from Surfline sent me through this sequence from my round 1 heat at Teahupoo. 

Just got clipped as I was coming out of this one, probably would have changed the heat result had I have stayed on my board. That's the problem with the new format ASP and certain event sponsors have come up with, no more second chances. Not too many surfers are happy with this new format, either all the 45 should start from the same round, no preferential seeding for the top 16 but have the straight knock out from rnd 1 or go back to the old format, 3 man first round heat but use the kelly format with it. There are ways around it.... My opinion, this new format is not the way to go, it's been tried and tested and it sucked so hopefully companies see this and listen to the surfers and make some better changes....

Boards here... Finally!!!!

Yip, they finally made it to the French Polynesian island of Tahiti but it did take a solid 6 day trip for them to arrive. Well, at least they're here and they seem ding free so far which is great. When they're stuck in transit like that you never know what can happen to your luggage. 

We had a few waves out at Chopes today, fun barrels around the 4 ft mark, just good to get a feel of the wave and try figure it out a bit. We got a full house now at Papa Teva's spot. The hobgood's, dane, nathaniel, emmo, ben dunn, kieran, bobby, some photogs and filmers and a few others are holding down the fort here, some pretty funny moments and stories have gone down already and the event hasn't even started yet, should be a classic next few days ahead of us...

Thought I'd post a few pics.... Classic sunsets here, really amazing.

Cheers

Davey

No boards... AGAIN!!!!!

So I made it to Tahiti safely, was a marathon of a trip though, got to love layovers but arrived safe and sound. But once again, No Boards. Apparently they never even left Johannesburg when I flew out. I reckon it means nothing if your bags have platinum frequent flyer cards on them or even those priority stickers they put with your boarding tags on. It just gets a bit irritating when you go to an event earlier to put in some time there and you don't have your boards to surf.... awesome!!!!!! Thanks SAA!!! Thankfully, Ben Dun has hooked me up with one of his 6'4 so at least I can get in the water. The other thing is my boards are only getting here Friday, and I arrived in Tahiti last Sunday!!!

Anyways, we here now at Papa Teva's spot, you rent yourself a bed in there house and they feed you three meals a day, kinda like a boarding house on the water. A great family, but they battle to speak the best English so it can be pretty damn funny at times trying to ask them questions or explains things to them. The Trials for the Billabong Pro started today, surf is in like the 6ft range, so I've been told, have not made it out to Chopes this morning as we've been trying to get the boat started that we use for our runs to the lineup. But the wind is up already so I'd say be a pretty difficult time out at the famous Teahupoo right now.

They say there could be waves for the start of the waiting period but we'll just have to wait and see, they predicting 6-8 ft but the wind could be an issue.

If anything interesting happens, will bog it so until my next post....

Davey

Some more photo's from Bell's

Almost there.....

So I'm on my way to Tahiti, just done a 9 hr flight from Johannesburg to Perth, just busy sitting in the lounge right now, got a 7 hr lay over here, then jumping on a flight to Auckland, 8 1/2 layover in New Zealand then my final flight to Papeete , Tahiti. What's so crazy is that I left on the 2nd, will leave Auckland on the the 4th May at around 2pm and get to Tahiti around 9pm on the 3rd. Time travel!!!!!! Just hope my lift will be there when I arrive in Papeete, don't have any address details of where I'm staying...

Luckily got away with out any excess luggage charges this time, it's just crazy how these airlines are starting to nail their customers even if you're only like 3 kgs over the allocated weight. 

Will check back in on my next layover if I get internet access there...

Davey

Photo's from Quik Pro Durban 09

Chopes is looming

Hey Guys

Welcome to my new blog, nothing has changed just a new blog address. Been a while since my last post, spent just under 3 weeks in Bell's, not the best conditions at the beginning but we definitely got a few waves towards the end. Been home for about 10 days now, it's crazy how quick time flies, especially when you're at home. I'm off on Saturday to Tahiti, will have about 3 days of traveling to get there but it will be all worth it once I get there. This will be my second trip to the French Polynesian island, the last being three years ago, so I'm pretty excited to get back there. Obviously the butterflies are starting to creep in but I'm also really pumped for this year's event. 

Teauhpoo is a really beautiful spot, the setting is amazing, you sit out in the lineup and you look back on the land and you just see crazy mountains. The water is crystal clear and the wave itself is just phenominal. Will be picking up the last of my quiver tomorrow from Bilt surfboards, and then I'm all set to hit the skies...

Will be taking my little digi with me so will try post some pics of chopes but have added some now from Bell's.

Keep rocking it!

Davey