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

Busy Times...

So I've almost been home a week now, attended my best mates wedding last weekend, the whole day rocked, awesome wedding, setting, people, all in all an amazing time!Did an air show yesterday in Umhlanga, had an ok first heat, shocker second heat, some aussie kid ended up taking it out in the end. Flew up to Jhb this morning to see the French Embassy for a Reunion visa for a trip I'm doing there next month for Hearn's movie and flying back now in a few hrs and then jetting off again tomorrow to the States... But whats been heavy is that I've been trying to change my routing cause I'm flying to LA via Frankfurt and after the whole ordeal I had last week in Europe, wanted to try do a new routing there, but everything was so bloody expensive that I'm having to go my original way via Europe. I really do hope that the second larger volcano doesn't erupt while I'm on route to LA cause that just wouldn't been fun!!!
OK, so next event up is the Nike 6.0 6* Prime at Lower Trestles, California... Now this wave is super rippable, actually reminds me of new pier alot with it's sections and is usually really high performance. The field is packed, got a lot of really good surfers in the event, QS and CT guys which will make this event even sweeter to win. I just hope that they have a little swell come through because you are guaranteed to see some red hot surfing all week.
Hope the trip over doesn't take too long, have a good amount of hrs in the air but hopefully it goes quickly... Some flights go by super quick and others feel like they take ages...
Will touch base again from the other side of the Atlantic...
Cheers
Davey

Home time... Yewww!

Wow, what a difference a few hours can make..crazy. Last night, we didn't know when we were ever going to get back home, this morning a wake up to a confirmed seat on SAA's first flight out of London due to my Platinum status with their loyalty program... Finally, all those hundreds of thousands of Rands spent on SAA , now I'm seeing some benefits!!!! Feels good!!
Been pretty chaotic here, people stuck, some will still be stuck for the next 7 days at least until they get through their back log, but fortunately, I'm looking good for a home bound flight, get to see my girls, attend my best mates wedding on the weekend (I'm one of the groomsmen, lucky I'm getting back in time) and I get to refresh and regroup before I head out to the States for the 6* Prime at Trestles... I've got a ticket booked already for USA going through Europe, might need to cancel that and rebook through the Southern Hemisphere in case this volcano erupts again or worse the bigger one does...

And I just want to send out a massive congrats to my travel partner and lord ( hahaha ) , Royden Bryson on his win at Thurso, Scotland on Monday! He surfed like a champ, owned the last day properly from start to finish, got himself some good points, some land, some money and a sword!! ( jealous about that sword, that trophy is Sick!!! ) Good job buddy, good to see, i'm inspired to get my self a win now...

Hoping the ash stays away and I get to take off tonight, adios!!

D

Volcanoes erupting, snow on beaches...

Wow, we are seriously in some interesting times right now. Stuck in UK right now, not sure how I will get back to SA or when, this is a first for me, never been in a situation like this... Pretty heavy actually, but I guess you got to to try the most out of what you've been dealt with, looking at a few pretty crazy scenarios in how to get home... should be some interesting next few days ahead!
And to top it off, experienced a first today, snowfall! First time I've been in snow and it happened at a surf event at the beach in Scotland, so crazy!!! Was nuts, was pretty light snow but still awesome! I've added some pics from here, snow, castles, wind , it all happens in Scotland!
WIll update as to how my travel plans change and if and when I make it out of the UK....
And looking forward to Royden taking out this event, last Saffa still in!!!
Cheers
D


One of the castle's on the beach at one of the event sites...



A bit of rain and wind at the comp...


My first snow experience.. You can kinda make out the little flakes....

Davey Weare - March 2010

Here's a mini vid shot late last month at New Pier, Durban...

Sarah Baum

Here's a little vid of 15 yr old Bilt team rider Sarah Baum ripping at home in Durban...