TAND Invitational 2011

I think its safe to say that the TAND Invitational has already exceded my expectations of how many hits we would get, but in just 2 days we have surpassed 350 likes and we have had over 500 people voting for their favourite riders in their respective categories.

I am currently lying around the 5/6th place which is not good enough. I need to make the top 4 in the voting polls to end up being able to ride this PRESTIGIOUS event. Here is what I need YOU to do for me! PLEASE.
I'm going to make it real easy and put the procedure in a step by step format!

STEP 1: I need you to click this link thats in brackets (TAND Invitational Webpage) and it'll take you to the Official Facebook page of this one-of-a-kind event. Once the page has opened see step 2.

STEP 2: Click the "LIKE" button to follow the event. Its simple, the like button looks like this image below....

STEP 3: You are now officially following the TAND Invitational 2011 event. Now here is the part which really counts. Click this link thats in brackets (VOTE). Wait for the page to load and you should see a question with a list of names.

STEP 4: My name (JARRET JOHNSON) is 3rd from the bottom of the list. Click my name to officially vote for me to be in this event. EVERY VOTE COUNTS. Please note that you are only allowed to vote for one person, so make sure its a good vote and you chose me;) haha

STEP 5: You are probably wondering "Why should I vote for Jarret Johnson and none of the other riders mentioned?". Well if you scroll down a little further I believe I have photographic evidence of why I deserve your vote and am more than capable of being in this event and putting on a good performance!

STEP 6: Tell everyone you know about this event, your mother and father, brother and sister, aunty and uncle, granny and grandpa, cousins, distant relatives, your neighbours and the list goes on. You may also want to familiarise yourself with the event so dont be shy, view our wall, view our info and see what we are all about. Also, take some time and vote in the other 2 polls we have running, they can be found right at the bottom of the TAND Invitational's wall. Just keep scrolling down.

The TAND Invitational 2011 will be an event NOT to be missed.

BIG NEWS

So after many talks and debates about whether or not I was going to put my neck on the line for a dream, I made the decision to take the risk. I am pleased to announce that this year will be one to remember in South African bodyboarding(if mother nature plays her role), for the first time ever there will be a high performance invitational event at the one and only, Tand. The TAND Invitational 2011 is hopefully going to be the best high performance bodyboarding South Africa has ever seen. To read more about the even, head over onto facebook and like the TAND Invitational 2011 page, here is the link, http://www.facebook.com/pages/TAND-Invitational-2011/146348852103476. Like it and spread the word, this event will be one for the books!
Fingers crossed!

10

days have gone by. Not much to blog about. So here is a cool pic I somehow did, wish I had taken the photos more towards the end of the sunset, but hey, im learning. 

I have some exciting things that are going to happen in the very near future. Watch this space!

Pen to paper

So recently I've been doing quite a bit of things. Keeping real busy actually. I have been working heaps, studying for UNISA, assignments for UNISA and writing exams. I haven't been doing a lot of surfing. Largely due to the fact I have no wetsuit as the zip fell out of my old one. The last 2 weekends have been filled with high high hopes but conditions werent as forecast so plans fell through. However this weekend looks to be very different. I am lucky enough to be borrowing a highly average suit from my mate which has no arms but hey, "You gotta take the good with the bad!"

Here are a few random pics from the past week or two.

wreck

brother had a solo surf

my little friend

my MUCH bigger friend

sunset off my temporary balcony

night shot

Easter

Easter 1 - Jarret 0

Easter got the better of me this past weekend. Had a real KAK surf full of oil on thursday arvo and the rest of the weekend was spent indulging in delicious easter eggs in bed with my beautiful better half. What an amazing weekend!

We currently have a strong onshore wind with 7 metre swells, not really worth braving the freezing conditions with a suit that has no zip to close my back up. 

Here is a shot from a couple weeks ago, I kinda enjoy it. Pic by Simon Heale.

Adjectives

Fun, amazing, enjoyable, beautiful, exciting...actually, any adjective with similar or the same meaning to those that I mentioned could be used to describe this past weekend I had.

Friday night - Dias Tavern with my beautiful lady for amazing Portuguese food

Saturday - surf mission with the boys! Freezing but so sick. Check a full run down on Si's blog. I got a coupla shots

Sunday - a walk up lions head with a few mates, the girlfriend and an old mate (JP) to watch the sunset and the moorise. Surreal! 

Perfect weekend

Photographs:

fun bowls

amazing colours

sunset

purple mountain moonrise

cruising

eerie

change

Change is inevitable. I need to change. I over psyche myself up before contests, I psyche myself out, I over-think it all and end up almost trying too hard just to fall flat on my back. I've lost the fun I got out of it, the stoke seems to be kinda missing. The last time I had good proper fun in the water was probably back in Hawaii, whilst swimming at Keiki, not even surfing. It really isn't what I want, to be honest. I set myself up for disappointment almost every time I enter an event. I tell myself that this event is the event, I tell myself to relax and take it chilled, and nothing has worked. Im going "back to the roots", im gonna surf for the fun of it, im only going to do what I enjoy doing, I am completely over that feeling. For now Im just going to take it as it comes, and I'll surf to only enjoy it, nothing else, and if that happens to be in a contest, cool, and if I happen to do well then it will just be bonus.

Here's pics from the weekend I still was able to enjoy after falling down once again.

A Fiery Sky - Natasha Silva Photo

Sea-weed playground - N S Photo

room mate Roofey cooking delicious brekky

Don getting me pretty good!

Stunning Reflection

Little mouse

Ruf Reflected

So

I havent done a post in long. I dont care, I think about doing posts alot, but just never get round to it, its tht thought that counts anyway! But here is one cause I thought about it more than usual. In a couple hours, my girlfriend and I are heading up the coast 2 surf the Wes Kus Classic, pretty amped to say the least, but the lack of swell is a tad dampening but hey, I've surfed contests in small waves. I havent been up to much recently, just working pretty hard, studying too, surfing when the conditions permit, cruising with Tash, braaing meat, shaving, spending money. Enough rambling for now, will most likely do an update after the contest. Here is a few pics.

i took a shave

my local pumped with me at work

my local was onshore ALOT

Been back home

for 2 weeks now and I apologize for the lack of posts. I have been pretty busy getting back into the swing of things and to be honest, been far to side tracked and not amped. I have been doing lots of things over the past 2 weeks and I am loving being home. Im back home...with my girlfriend, friends, family, cold water, shark stories, oily surfs, onshore winds etc etc etc. I got back home after a looooong series of flights and was greeted by my girlfriend, mother and her boyfriend and it was so good to see them all. I got back to my house and my girlfriend and mother teamed up and had revamped my room - double bed nogal! My girlfriend sneakily took one of my water shots of Keiki and blew it up an hung it on my wall. Soooo stoked! Makes me even more amped on photography! Anyway, im over this for now, I have 4 photos I would like to share with you all from my flight back in which I witnessed the sunset and sunrise all on one flight. The internet in South Africa is slow, well at my house it is! I am only loading 4 photos and it took me 15mins just to get the download started. And now I am finished writing and they still aren't loaded.

transit

outer space

cloud formations

sunset

2 down 2 2 go

Almost confusing yet so simple. Im half way through my flights, I've done my first 2 legs and now I am sitting at the biggest Airport (or something like that) in the states. Its funny though, cause so far its the only Airport that I've had to pay for Wi-fi (barring SA). Anyway, next up I have a 15 hour flight to get me to Joburg, followed by another 2 hour flight. Then I shall be greeted by my mother and girlfriend. I can't wait. I want to get there now! But patience is a virtue. Here is a photo that makes me miss home so much. This is a photo of my favourite person and my favourite place in the whole world! Its also one of my favourite photo's I have taken.

Time has come

I have been very unamped to do any blog posts over the past couple of days, I have just been relaxing and taking everything in before I leave. I can tell you this though, My last night on the North Shore was spent enjoying bottomless tacos and salsa with a massive borrito with Ade, Blazza, Dallas and myself, was pretty epic. I then moved from the North Shore to a new friend, Leanne, and her family. They have been extremely welcoming and I cannot thank Leanne enough. We went to Wet 'n Wild, a waterpark, for her son's birthday and it was suck fun. Felt like a lil boy again haha. Today(my last day of my first Hawaiian season) was a pretty breathtaking day, in more ways than one. We did a hike called Hawaii Loa Ridge and the last part is insanely steep which took it out of me, but once I was up there it was amazing! I could see 2 of the other islands, Maui and Molokai, and I could pretty much get a panoramic view of the whole of Oahu. It was amazing. What a day to end my trip!

I am now sitting on my bed, bags packed and officially ready to get home! Bring on the steel jets and the next 48 hours of travel!

No images for now, not amped haha. Will do a photo diary of my trip once I am home and settled. BUT for now, have a look at these cool things...
1. Interview on my main man Si's blog. (click)
2. A pretty sick clip from caleb davenport that I happen to feature in (click)
3. My clothing sponsor, Saint Clothing Co. has their site up and running wooooo (click)

LOVE <3

Sharks Cove murky water dive

Snorkelled around Sharks Cove today with a few of the boys. Was pretty murky but really cool. Swell is smaller tomorrow which could mean better dive opportunities and clearer water. Which means better photos. But enjoy these for now...

murky

I like this

but I almost like this more

rock depth dive

fish

whale jumping at keiki

Pipeline Pro - final day

So the Pipeline Pro has come and gone and a winner was crowned, Jeff Hubbard. This is his 3rd win here at Pipe and he won the final in the last 5 mins. It was crazy to witness. Tom Rigby was leading for most of the heat with Jerry following close behind him, and Dallas Singer in 3rd, while Hubb was in combo land needing to high scoring waves with 7 or so mins left. Anyway, enough about me writing about stuff that you can just watch. So view these 2 videos and be ready to be blown away...

Final wrap up

hubbard video

Here are a few of my pics from the day:

jerry flip

Ozzy support

joe and shaggy

wattsy cheering

ade and wattsy

Dallas

hubb wins

.....

jase and his claim to fame

finalists

MEGA post

So yesterday saw us play an intense cricket game against the ozzys. Unfortunately we fell short and they won. So all in all they have won one cricket game and a touch rugby match and we have won 2 cricket games; soccer for the decider? Anyway, Garner stole the show and hit them to victory - thanks to my drop catch haha. After the game we all messed around and skimmed in the shorey at Keiki. Before all this action went down I had a really early morning surf at Backdoor. Here are a few framies and shots of the days activities:

EARLY BACKDOOR:

Long exposure

another long exposure

another - waiting for enough light

self crit - timing and framing (all comes with a digi cam)

patience

LUNCH:

omelet with spinach leaves, mince, beans and a few veg on a wrap

KEIKI CRICKET:

postcard?

Ozzys

Saffas

Boyshhh

 FRAMIES:

SUPPER...:

...accompanied by mexican import beer thanks to our ex neighbour

CLICK ALL IMAGES TO ENLARGE

Today was a different story to yesterday. Myself, Nick'o and Aden went down way too early to surf and waited about 30mins for it to be light enough and then as we got out we saw another 10 guys about to paddle out. It got so crowded so quickly. it was ridiculous! Waves were fun and I got one sick one and got out! 

After surfing and then chilling for some time I went outside to take a cycle, only to realize my trusty steed had been stolen! Serves me right for not locking it up I guess. Stuff! So I was pretty off it for the rest of the day and just hung out. Had a cool lil hang on the beach to end the day off with a bonfire. Good times.

Contest is looking like it is a go for tomorrow. Conditions should be good! Amped to watch the finals!