Up to date..

I know I've been a bit slack in posting, my bad! But a lot has happened in the last 3 weeks. Finished up that trip to Sri Lanka, safely got back to the airport after another hectic 10 hr drive, seriously, those guys drive so crazy! Got some more ink done in my 5 days at home, then headed over to Switzerland to meet up with the crew from Oakley Europe to do some promo work and sit on their apparel meetings. We then headed over to Paris for the opening of a exhibition store Oakley did for the month of July for the Tour de France. Pretty cool concept store! Was lucky enough to be given a tour of Paris as well from the guy in charge of Oakley France. All I can say is the architecture in that city is amazing, would love to spend a couple days there really checking out the place. Got back home after 5 days in Europe straight into the Mr Price Pro 5* held at Ballito, South Africa. We scored big time the one morning of the event, proper barrels, amazing conditions, wish all events could have waves like this, would make contests way better. Ended up 9th with Jordy taking out the win, good on ya bud, he really does know how to surf!
So I'm now here, up to date and have a good solid 2 weeks at home before I head overseas again. Going to post a few pics from the comp later , and a few other interesting things that happen over the next few days.
Later
Davey

Sri Lanka

Well I'm super stoked to be writing this cause yesterday's drive from Colombo to Aragum Bay in Sri Lanka was HEAVY!!! Seriously, 9 hr mission from the West coast to the East coast filled with bumps, near death experiences and constant blind rise over takings... I'm kinda keen to look at trying to get a chopper out of here back to Colombo when the event ends, would definitely be a sick experience and a way safer means of transport back!!!
Enough about that, so I'm here in the South East part of Sri Lanka for the Sri Lankan Airlines Pro, 6* WQS event being held at Aragum Bay. It's a pretty fun , playful right hand point, very similar to say Ponto do Ouro and snapper mixed, but with less power and way warmer water! Surfed another spot earlier in the day about 20 min drive away from Aragum that reminded me so much of Mexico. The place is kinda just filled with these right hand sand points, pretty damn sick. And it looks like there's a little swell arriving Saturday for the event too which should produce some good waves and good surfing. Actually frothing to see what this point does with a little extra juice and size on it...Could just be on fire!!!
Will try post up some pics of this joint on my next post, the beaches are beautiful here, the accomo we're in is basic but the crew running it are super cool and make pretty good food!.
One thing i can say is it's bloody hot here!
Peace out

DW

Pics from the last few days...

Here are a couple of pics I've taken the last few days here in Reunion...

St Leu...

Did a full day of surfing out front of our spot at St Leu today, some super fun waves, pretty good size, a lot of waves ridden and good times had. Was great to get out there again and see what St Leu has to offer. The swell direction wasn't perfect but we had 4-6ft waves, not too many guys and locals out which was a pleasure and some pretty damn fine sections over a shallow reef. When you get a wave from the top to the bottom of the point, can end up being about 300 metres long. And they're expecting more swell on the weekend, some one just told a 20 second period on its way, haha, sounds like a dungeons swell but anyway, will see what happens over the next few days...

Here's a pic of me from Greg Ewing, shot from the water this arvo, taken off the africaprojectfilm.blogspot.com Check out this blog for more on our trip here in Reunion...

Later

DW

Busy times...

Well we've been pretty busy the last two days here in Reunion! Yesterday started off with a super early rise to make our way up this massive mountain range, we only got out of first gear a couple times due to the windiness of the road.. But it was well worth the mission, we overlooked pretty much the whole of Reunion from our vantage point, was so sick, seemed like something out of Lord of the Rings with the valleys and mountains, was really a cool experience, one which I was hesitating to do before but was glad I did it when I was there. Then made our way over to St Pierre for a surf, pretty fun waves , a rippable right wedgy wave, but had a fair few crew on it.

Today was a pretty solid day shooting/filming wise... 3 surfs, one pretty long one at St Leu in the morning, fun cause the swell had just started to build and you could kinda get a glimpse at what this left had to offer. 2nd surf was at a sick left barrel, full on 6 ft freight trains, kinda reminded me of cloudbreak, but we got totally hassled beyond belief by the 7 boogie boarders out there, 10 of us all together in the lineup, and only 7 getting waves, was so messed up. We moved over to the right across the reef pass, i pretty much got the worst beating I've had in over two years, Dan broke his board, a water photog broke his camera and pretty much a waste of time...

3rd surf was at this crazy right that apparently you're not allowed to surf at cause it's a national park, which was quite unique. It definitely has potential, couple solid ones started coming in towards the end of the surf with the swell finally arriving . Dale broke his board here, couple barrels had and all in all a solid day at the office.. Haha you probably thinking, 3 surfs, hard day at the office..please, you probably right but I'm pretty knackered writing this now, swell looks good for tomorrow and I'm sure we're in for a few more days like this last...

Here's a pic from the mountains...

See ya

D

Reunion , Reunion, welcome to Reunion

SO the title says it all! We've arrived in one piece, minus a board bag belonging to Dan Redman, hopefully for his sake it arrives fairly soon. Had our first day in a pretty fun right wedge, small but rippable, an extra 2 feet on it will be amazing, swell charts are looking pretty decent so let's hope it happens. This island definitely has setups, crazy, place is beautiful, it is hot, there are volcanoes and waterfalls, urchins and locals, full island living. We're staying right at St Leu, as we open our eyes we're looking straight into the lineup at St Leu, pretty damn awesome! The bunk beds and 4 sweaty guys sharing a room aint, but I think the waves we could score really could make it well worth it. We're here on a photo trip, myself, Dan Redman and Dale Staples are shooting with Greg Ewing for the mags, Jason Hearn is shooting for his movie, the African Project, check out his blog theafricaprojectfilm.blogspot.com/and Andy Davis from Mahala is writing the story, very cool crew!

I've attached a pic from this morning shot by Greg Ewing, hopefully there is a lot more to come...

See ya soon

D

So I've been to the States and back, I did get affected by the Volcano once again, my LAX to Munich flight was cancelled as I got to the airport but luckily for me, they re routed me via London to get home... I guess my status with Star Alliance came through for me again cause they even put me on another airline with wasn't one of their partners.. crazy! But I'm not complaining one bit!

SO the States was fun, the surf pumped, around 4 ft and just so rippable, Trestles is definitely up there with being one of the most rippable waves in the world, no doubt. The standard of surfing at that event was also amazing, the guys definitely stepped it up and produced some extremely good, solid , explosive surfing, great to see and surf against. When guys around you are surfing well it seems it pushes your level up too cause I felt i did my best surfing so far this year at this event. The waves had a big part of it though, it was pretty hard not to surf well with the waves being so good, just shows you when surfers are presented with good waves, the results show and the standard jumps leaps and bounds. Wish some more companies would take note and put their events at better spots and better times of year, not just at when they'll sell the most comp tee's...

So I'm back in Durban now for 2 weeks, got Shaun Gossmann's wedding next weekend, he's asked me to be his best man, which i'm truely honoured, so next weekend should be a super fun time. He's having his wedding at Tala Game Reserve, just inland from Durban, which is a great venue. And then the following weekend, heading off to Reunion for my first surf trip in a long time, we're shooting for Hearn's new African project movie and for the mags. Should be really fun, good crew going, Dan Redman, Dale Staples and myself, and we're probably meeting up with Romain Cloite from Reunion there who'll be able to show us one or two spots that we probably wouldn't have been allowed at, can't wait!

Been getting some really fun wedges the last few days in Umhlanga, seriously been surfing with maybe 2 - 3 guys in the water and the craziest punt sections, so fun. Gosh it's good to be home, fun waves, no crowds, with family and friends, I can't complain!

Davey