A tribute

So I've surpassed the 2000 hit mark. So I thought I'd take this opportunity to say a few thanks to a few people.

Firstly, I wanna say thanks to my amazing and very supportive girlfriend, Natasha. thank you for encouraging me to do this trip and for also supporting me through all the nitty gritty stuff like saving money etc, you amaze me. Also, thanks to my whole family, from my mom and louis, my dad and mandy, to my grandparents to my aunties and uncles(blood and marriage) for helping me and being supportive of me. Its so good to have you all behind me! I also would like to thank my family friends who have helped me in any way, its been great! And also to all the boys back home that are jealous right now! You ous should be here! I would also like to thank all my sponsors, Agent18 wetsuits, Saint Clothing Co. and last, but not least, Sport Unlimited. All of these companies have helped me in some sort of way to get here. Thank you.

Heres 2 videos. They the first videos ive put on here. One takes me back to good memories, and one makes me want to be home for a proper braai!

memories

braai

A bit of this...

...and a bit of that.

A few random images. Not many words. Just slight descriptions.

lil bazza

bromdog smiling

pedro ballhairs

underwater comfort

Quickly approaching the 2000 mark

Update

So on the 26th it was "National Australia Day" and the Ozzy's challenged us, The Saffa's, to a game of beach cricket. And after bowling them all out 19 runs we quickly reached their total where they then decided it would be best to have a "test match". But we still came out on top, VICTORIOUS!

Here is some pics i snapped during the day!

cricket action!

After match fun - Jerry

pit

Rigby free-swimming

Charlie turning

HAAGEN DAZS

So after several surfs and several debates I received confirmation that, after scooping into a bomb at Pipe and getting blown out, I EARNED my Haagen Dazs. Many people may ask why i earned it and couldnt just go get it when i felt like i wanted one. Well its a Saffa tradition here on the Island that you are only allowed to purchase and enjoy God's best ice cream after you get a 6ft barrel at Pipe.

Anyway, i enjoyed what i earned!

the choices

the chosen one

bliss

Yes it was amazing!

SPACE

A lovely new purchase has put a smile on my face today! Im sure it may muster up a sense of jealousy in a few of you too. I am now the owner of a brand spanking new Apple MacBook. Its amazing.
Anyway, its now enabled me to update my blog with pictures I have taken recently. So im going to post a lot of photos with a caption each. Im lazy. Shoot me!

"pete mosquite" ruins

wattsy

iain

crowds at waimea point

a MASSIVE wave around the point

lots of people for an event that didnt run

heavy pipe

the boys watching heavy pipe

sunset cruising

pineapple fields below the valley where the japs flew through under the radar to invade and destroy pearl harbour

the reward

Delayed

Nowadays this blog is more dormant than ever due to the sole fact that I dont have a laptop. The charger gave in the other day so thats my excuse for no posts. Anyway, I have just stolen Cleggy's macBook to make this post! wooo

So over the past week or so we were blessed with massive swell which meant one thing - Waimea Shorebreak. It was so big out there. I havent been that intimidated in the water in a while, i think since a special session up the west coast. The waves were in the 8-10ft region and I wont lie to you, I was shitting bricks out there! There is also a nasty rip that likes to catch you properly so that you use most of your energy paddling to stay in position. Besides all these points, the reward was so worth it! I may not have got the best ones or the biggest ones but I am pretty stoked with how the day unfolded!
Here are 2 shots that i stole off Facebook. One is a framie from Richard Lornie and was is a shot from Cracker.

cracker images

lornie framegrab

Just so you know, Iain Campbell dominated this session, it was amazing to see! Check for yourself if you dont believe me! iamiaincampbell.worldpress.com

Thats all for now! New tasty post will come soon......

Waimea

Woke up this morning to a freshly brewed pot of "Kona Vanilla Macadamia Nut" gourmet coffee(compliments of Spex) and the impending thoughts of massive swell.
As it was light enough to see we were greated with massive whit waters kilometre's out to see.

Decision was made to head down to Waimea and to surf the shorey...

By the looks of these images you'd say we scored, but i've just got a good eye;) Rip was bad so we didnt surf!

P.S. Don't look at Iain's blog!!! http://iamiaincampbell.wordpress.com/

KEIKI

Keiki is the most fun!
theres really not much more i can say.
heres pictures that were from the morning. in the evening all the boys were out and getting such good ones. there were ramps out today which is rarely seen but always loved. bring on more!!!!!

sending love

43 HOURS

43 hours after I left Cape Town, I arrived in Hawaii, tired, but stoked to be here.
Heres what went down the last 43 hours:

• Left CT 2hours to JHB
• 4 hour layover - hour on the runway waiting
• 17 hours 15 mins later, arrive in atlanta with an hour to get my connecting flight
• eventually get my bags 15 mins after my flight was supposed to leave - luckily it had been cancelled just like the majority of other flights

one of six screens that all said cancelled

the reason why everything was cancelled

• get told to wait in a long line, decide to mission rather, find a shorter line, pick up a phone to speak to a delta agent - she tells me there is a straight flight to hawaii leaving in an hour (first bit of good news)(keep in mind im grumpy after a long flight)
• so instead of going to salt lake city then hawaii, i book a straight flight there which includes food. bonus
• que more bad news. 2 flight attendants havent pitched yet. we have to wait for them. 3 hours and ten mins after we were supposed leave, we leave.

plane sunset an hour before i land in Honolulu

• i get to hawaii at 19:05 after a 10 hour long flight
• go to the carousle to get my bags
• bags dont come out
• i get told its still in atlanta and will only be here tomorrow evening. great.
• wattsy takes me all the way to cleggys place - finally i can relax. 43 hours later.

Now all that brings me to today....PIPE

Cleggy lends me his board, finds Jerry's old fins, give me a pair of boardies and Spex lends me a leash.

We get down there at first light. Its pumping!

I got a few good ones with only myself, Cleggy, Mike Murphy and Brian Wise out for like an hour. Then the crowds came.

I decided to call it the end of my first session and whilst looking for a wave out, i found myself sitting in the wrong place! Mike Stewart was on a solid 8ft top to bottom one and was pulling straight. i was right under it. i bailed my board and didnt have time to de-leash and dived as deep as i could. i got so worked. came up and missioned out, feeling rattled. Fortunately i didnt hit the bottom too hard and i cape up with a slight scratch on my foot. Unfortunately cleggys board got creased and spex's leash can now be used as a surfers leash!

I cant wait to get my own stuff!

Heres some pics i snapped from today.

mine and cleggy's zone

3rd reefer?

a lil nug - unkown

5 hours and still clocking up

I have been travelling for a little over 5 hours at the moment. I got met by fat andi here in joburg which made time go by quicker than it would have, so for that I'm grateful. I then spent a grand and half to get 2 notes in Dollar currency. Scary. At least if I need cash I got now. I'm waiting to board my second flight of four and this one is the one I'm dreading the most, for MORE than one reason now. Firstly I wasn't amped due to the fact it is 17hours and 15 minutes long and now I've been told I may not get my connecting flight in Atlanta due to weather conditions. So fingers crossed that all goes well.

I'll do another post after the flight.

Bon Voyage South Africa <3

it begins

So I'm officially on my way to Hawaii. I'm sitting on my first of many steal jets-waiting for take off, and feeling suuuuch mixed emotions! I know its gonna get better from here, but I'm really gonna miss home a lot and also the people I am leaving behind. Saying goodbye to my girlfriend was really hard but I'll be back in a couple months!

Updates wil be many from here on out!

Oh, one last thing, SAA rapes Mango!

Last Minute Goods

With a few last minute discussions and calls later, I am now officially representing AGENT18 Wetsuits.

Im pretty darn excited for the future now, knowing that when i come back from Hawaii, I will be super warm and comfortable in one of the full suits they have to offer. But for now I will be styling in the warm waters of Hawaii in a shorty.

What more can I say besides go and visit the site(click) or better yet, go to Sport Unlimited and purchase yourself one right now!

One week!

Firstly, a belated merry christmas and a happy new year to all of you out there - I hope that you all got spoilt, spoilt loved ones and had an all round good time.

Secondly, this is my last week in South Africa and Cape Town. I have decided and was lucky enough to get off work for this last week to get last minute things ready, get full organized and also surf! I havent surfed in ages and today Jerry, Si and myself missioned the long way to Hoek. The waves werent at all desirable although it looked amazing. Close on 2 months of hardly any surfing definately showed in the way I "performed" today. Im sure I'll get back into it! Swel looks like its coming through nicely this week, amped to get some more hours under the belt before I jet off.

Thirdly, I spent a couple days in the mountains at my favourite place with my girlfriend - it was amazing! Getting away from it all, in nature, rock pools, no electricity, too good!