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 came to help me and carried me out of the water while I was lying on my board. Emergency services were contacted and I was airlifted from the beach to Milnerton Medi Clinic where doctors did x-rays and CT scans to find out how bad the damage was.

Turns out I had a 15% compression fracture on my L1 vertebra and thankfully no nerve damage, so there was no need for surgery.

I have to spend 6 weeks in bed with as little movement as possible and have to wear a brace  if I need to get up. During this period the bone starts healing itself and gravity is the enemy. So any vertical posture is bad. After the bone has healed. It will take another 6 weeks to get strong. During this period I will focus on getting my muscular strength back while introducing my back slowly to vertical loads. Lots of swimming. At the end of these 6 weeks I will be able to paddle around on my board and surf small waves. It will take another 3 months after this to get back to where I was when the accident happened.

Thank you for all the messages of encouragement and to all the people that helped me on the beach and came to visit me in hospital. You made me feel a lot better.

Click here to see how to surf here without breaking something. 

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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 that it was not paddle-able. There were a few jet-ski crews on it and from the elevated viewpoint it looked way over 20ft. Andrew Mar told us later in the water that it was not such a good idea to look at it from the mountain before you paddle out.  We had learnt our lesson. There were only 6 of us paddeling when we got to the peak. The waves were mesmerizingly perfect. Solid 20ft and pitching top to bottom. I have been around 20ft barrels before, but this was ridiculous! Andrew and Simon showed us the land line-ups and we ventured into the peak. Mike wiped out on his first wave, got washed straight through the rocks. I made my fist one but got caught inside and broke my leash on the second one. My board followed Mikes path and also ended up going through the rocks and got badly dinged on the rail. I was more fortunate and got picked up by a jet-ski just just in front of the rocks.

It was a heavy opening day and the start of what was to be the norm for the rest of the winter. It was glassy nearly every day and I have lost track of how many 15ft -20ft sessions we had. It was an amazing season.

What impressed me more than the waves were the people. Considering the fact that you have to be careful not to hit someone on the head with your board when you spin for a wave on the peak, one could easily understand if the locals were a bit weary of a bunch of new faces in the line up, but whenever and wherever we bumped into them we were greeted with friendly smiles and warm handshakes. There were often 30 or more people on a peak about 20m wide, definitely the most crowded wave I have surfed, but there were always smiles and positive vibes. It was inspirational!

Here is a clip taken by Powerlines Productions of my first time going left. Frank Solomon is in the first clip and I am in the second.

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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 could find something for dinner. The water was beautifully clear, easily 20m visibility. It was my third dive and I had not seen much around, so I was just lying on the bottom watching a few reef fish go about there business. As my body started telling me it was time to return to the surface I slowly looked to my left to find a dog tooth tuna about 2m away. Dinner was served!

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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 cross the Atlantic to Cape Town and be home in time for Christmas. After taking 9 days just to hit the northern coast of Brazil, we quickly realized it was going to take a little longer that we thought. We tacked along the cost for another 9 days, averaging around 125 miles per day of which only 30 were in the right direction. When we hit the corner and turned south, things went a lot smoother. The wind was more on the beam and we averaged 125 miles a day in the right direction. Our first major port of call in Brazil was Fortaleza, where we met Steve, a seasoned delivery skipper. He advised us it would be better to head straight to Cape Town from Salvador. So we did. It took us another month to make the crossing from Salvador to Cape Town. On route we bumped into Isle de Trinidade. We were met by friendly Brazilian soldiers who treated us to lunch and a tour around the amazing, Jurassic Park like, island. The winds were kind from there on out and stayed south, so we managed to sail more or less straight to Cape Town with only a few days of easterlies that pushed us north. We arrived at Hout Bay Harbor at 3am on the 18 of February, tied up on a free walk on and slept in a bed that did not bounce for the first time in 2 months.

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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.

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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. It is good to be back! The song is called Chronically Positive, its from the album Description Undefined by Jamie Shelly.

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