The Barrel that Broke my Back

 
On the 22nd of April 2010 I pulled into a barrel at a beach break near Cape Town, got drilled into the sand bank and broke my L1 vertebra. I managed to paddle myself back to the beach but could not stand or walk because of the pain. A few surfers that were on the beach [...]

Mavericks

The first time I surfed Mavericks was on Thanksgiving, the 26th of  November 2009. Mike and I  walked up the mountain just as it was getting light to have a look at it. The 360 degree image below shows the view we had. Just click and drag to have a look around.

My first thought was [...]

Dogtooth Tuna

We were sailing from Durban to Bali and decided to rest for a night or two at an island north of Madagascar for Bruno’s birthday. We dropped anchor in about 20m of water on a sandy patch between the reef.  There was an hour left before dark, so I decided to go see if I [...]

Barbados to Cape Town

We left Barbados on the 18th of November 2008. The plan was to sail as high as we could into the SE trade winds until we hit some point on the northern coast of Brazil, tack our way east in the calmer water closer to shore, round the corner, sail down to Rio and then [...]

Big Bay Boosting

One of the best things about kiting is the amount of time one can spend in the air.  The wind was gusting between 30 and 40 knots, slightly on the strong side for a 9 square meter kite, but made for some good jumps. My friend Jacques Theron got this image from the beach.

Cape Town Barrels

I got back to Cape Town on a Wednesday afternoon after a 30 hour flight and 3 months away from home. Thursday was taken by jet-lag. Friday gave me the best welcome home present any surfer could ask for. 4 to 6 ft barrels and a few friends to share them with. [...]