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| MMA |
| 27 February 2010, 19:12 |
I went to watch my first MMA fight last night. I was pretty nervous about the whole thing, having a definite stereotyped pre-conception of what I'd see. I was thinking, tow truck drivers, mullets, aggro, bare knuckle hatred-cum-street fighting in a steel cage. I was presently surprised at how wrong I was.
Ok, there were a few mullets and some of the largest hulk-men I've ever seen, but these were generally the trainers. The actual fighters were all super fit, ripped, incredibly supple and lightning quick with their hands, feet and reflexes. But the thing that shocked me the most, was how much respect they have for their opponents, the skills and the MMA etiquette. The other thing I was shocked at, was how much I enjoyed it, and how exciting the fights are. The athletes don't actually hate each other. Hello.
What's the link to surfing? Beside the athletic nature of the fighters/surfers and the parallels between the sports, it seems a lot of surfers are into it. I saw Rudy Palmboom Jnr there, I saw a few other surfers I recognized from the line-up in and around Durbs, and I even watched local surf photographer (and clearly part time MMA fighter) Matt Donaldson clean some poor buggers pipes in a brutal encounter.
I've heard Makua Rothman and a host of other surfers are into MMA, even Kelly Slater apparently. Like I said, I don't know much about it, but it's damn exciting, damn inspiring and I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes the next 'cool' sport to influence the mainstream.
I couldn't find too much info about it in SA, but I found this clip on ESPN, to give you and idea - ok this is way more hardcore than the SA fight scene, but it's the same sport. What do you folks think?
Drop a comment below. I'm off to the gym.
Iain
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| Heavy locals in Mauritius giving SA surfers stick |
| 25 February 2010, 11:59 |
North Beach local and Durban shaper Warren Loom writes from Mauritius:
I stumbled across what must surely be the last vestige of old school localism here in Mauritius. I was first in the car park at One eyes this morning (around 6am, which for here is damn early) looking at a nice clean 3 to 4ft left rolling off the reef. Perfect. A quick 2 hours and then I still have time to get to town for work without too much traffic.) Now I am coming here quite regularly so I don’t consider myself “local” but I am not a once off tourist flailing around either. I pulled my board out, put on my board shorts and (note to everyone reading this: here’s where the wheels fell off) went over to another black 4x4 that had just pulled up, and asked the 2 guys if they were going to use the boat or were they just paddling out?
“Where you going?”, asked the guy.
“Thought I would get a few at One Eyes before work” I innocently said.
“We do not share our waves here” he said glumly.
“????” Is this guy for real? Is he serious? There is no one else out there! Have I just shot back to the eighties? Am I wearing lumo sunblock? I thought localism died with the Dodo? (pun intended)
“We do not share our waves here” he said again.
But he was serious. Bruno (I found out his name later) was very serious. He is one of the last “white shorts” still dragging the name of surfing down the preverbial gutter while everyone else is trying so hard to open the sport up and improve its public perception.
So tail between my legs I slinked away, back into my car, wishing I was back home with guys who know the true meaning of surfing. All you boys and my friends in SA. Shame on guys like Bruno. I did leave with the reasurence that Karma will come back and fill his rash vest with a thousand jelly fish one day.
I will try again tomorrow. Wish me luck!
Warren.
What do you BOMBsurfers think? Anyone else had this kind of experience in Mauritius? Is it acceptable? Comment below.
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| Cleansing surf |
| 24 February 2010, 21:33 |
As Iain said in his previous blog making mags doesn't get easier. This one was a whopper! Chris Bertish winning at the last mo. The most amazing selections of images I've ever seen for a mag courtesy of the el nino effect and some hard charging surfing plus the usual last minute ad schenanigans. Shew when we walked out this evening with it all done I couldn't believe it. What did I do? What any self respecting surf mag publisher would. I went for a surf in the howling onshore 1-2' bluebottle riddled dusk. I surfed The New Pier alone. I just needed to get wet. To rinse the accumulated filth of the deadline off my body and mind. I only had one good wave but damn it felt good!
John
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| Deadlines and 1footers |
| 24 February 2010, 08:48 |
If you wondering why the blog's been so quiet, these last few days, it's NOT because the waves have been cranking and we're too busy surfing to post something...for a change. On the contrary, the waves have been pretty terrible here in Durbs the last week or so and it's been hot, hot, hot and the east has been raging as a result....The real reason, dear readers, is that we've been slaving over the lastest issue, which is going into print very very shortly...and looking pretty sick I might add!
As I quickly type this, John is pouring over the first proofs of the layout and furiously marking pages with his favourite lumionous yellow highlighter. We've published quite a few magazines together in the last 4-5 years, and you'd think it gets easier as you go, but nope...not the case I'm afraid.
Is it still fun?
Hell yeah.
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| Surfing with your groms |
| 21 February 2010, 20:12 |
Once a week at least I try and take my groms aged 3 and 6 down for a surf. We ride amongst other things an old longboard which we all share. It is so big I can literally push them onto waves already standing up. They get so stoked but I think I get more stoked just watching them learn. I'm trying hard not to be one of those pushy dads who ends up destroying the experience by pushing too hard. Today was a breakthrough of sorts. After weeks of flailing around in the foamies my son (3) kept urging me to paddle further out. Pretty soon we got out to the back (surf was only 1ft) and both caught a wave in together on the same old longboard. I haven't been that stoked in a long time.
John
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| The will to succeed |
| 19 February 2010, 11:38 |
This morning a group of Durban's hardcore locals pulled into listen to Chris B talk about his Mav's win. I don't this story can be told enough, for a number of reasons.
Firstly, just listening to what Chris had to go through to get there - no money, no clarification that the event was even going to run, no organised travel plans and no belongings to speak of, Chris literally happened to be at the airport - then checked his mail, saw that the comp might run, so he borrowed cash, took his back up board that just happened to be in the car, managed to scramble a ticket and jumped on the next flight to LA. He didn't even take a toothbrush.
Secondly, the sheer physical feat of the achievement. After traveling for over 36 hours, not sleeping, arriving at 1am, then going straight to the contest site, surfing 3 heats in a row on a borrowed board, during which he charged over six 35-40 foot waves, suffered some of the worst hold downs of his entire career, including being dragged 1.2km underwater on one particular wave in his 1st heat when he was caught inside by a freak 60 footer, is insane. He still went on to surf 2 more heats and win.
Finally, the absolute belief and self-determination to succeed. Not to win, just to succeed in his dream to surf the Mavericks comp and representing for himself and his country, against all the odds, is incredible. The fact that he won, is almost unbelievable.
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| Caught with my pants down |
| 18 February 2010, 20:53 |
We're working late at the mo collecting material from 4-5 different time zones. As we get up the Aussies are ghoing to sleep. As we go to sleep the Americans are getting up. We've been trying to get material from the Mavericks contest for our mag, plus we've been chasing some Aussie contributors. Actually working at night is cool, there are no distractions the only downside is that you are kieshed the next morning so the dawnie tends to fall by the wayside. This morning I dragged myself down to the beach for a swim in a feeble attempt to wake up. Not expecting any surf I didn't even bring a board. Talk about getting caught with my pants down! There were some really fun 3-4' walls on offer at the New Pier contrary to all the respectable surf prediction sites I use. I quickly called Iain and we rescheduled our morning and hit it. Man it was fun. then it was back to deadline crunch!
John
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| Crazy times. |
| 17 February 2010, 21:37 |
This has been one serious rollercoaster week! Chrisby winning Mavs was just amazing. We're on deadline for our 6th issue and as we go into print Chris wins Mavs. Whooo hooo! Try change covers around, restructure the mag, try get photos. At the death three of our advertisers pull out of supporting the mag. EISH!!! Holy shit what are we gonna do? Out of the blue 3 other advertisers step up to the plate to fullfil the defecit, shew! Game on again. (Remember the advertisers pay for the mag, no advertisers, no mag!) Then there is a shark attack in EL... Oh no... but he's gonna be ok shew, thank god! Then Chris Bertish phones me and tells me he is coming to Durban. I say can you do a brekkie for BOMBsurf subscribers on Friday morning in DBN? He says No Problem. So we're on for Durban Surf 7am for 7:30am. Gotta be finished by 8am because Chris's first appointment is accross town at 8:30am. All welcome, entrance FREE! All this and we go into print on Monday... ha ha now we just need a cyclone swell to really derail us.
John
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| theBOMBsurf interview with Chris Bertish |
| 15 February 2010, 16:58 |
I managed to catch up with Chris Bertish who this afternoon is in London on his way back from California where he was victorious at Mavericks.
John: Hey Chris, so stoked for you bro, well done!
Chris: Ja thanks man, whooo hooo hoo.
John: How did you feel when you found out that you’d won?
Chris: Ha ha I didn’t know I’d won for about 10mins. I was signing autographs and people were saying well done but I didn’t realise that I was the winner, I just thought all the finalists were signing autographs. It was a bit chaotic on the beach because all the scaffolding had been washed away... It was nuts. When I actually found out I’d won I couldn’t believe it. To be honest it still hasn’t sunken in properly yet.
John: What was the surf like?
Chris: It was scary, massive, it was breaking like 200m further out than all my usual lineups. In my first heat even though I was sitting way further out than usual I still got caught inside. Man that was heavy, I got dragged right through the impact zone to within a couple of hundred meters of Mushroom rock. By the time the ski got to me I was on the verge of blacking out. I was so exhausted that I though I was done, that my day was over right there. Somehow I got my breath back and said to myself this might be the only chance I ever have at this I better get back out there and charge.
John: And charge you did!
Chris: Ha ha, ja I got a couple of good one’s.
John: Tell us a bit about the board you were riding.
Chris: Actually it was my back up board. The board I took from SA never arrived! The one I rode is a 9’2” Jeff Clark shaped for me, it is an amazing board. When it comes to making boards for Mavericks he’s the man. I mean he’s been surfing there and shaping there longer than anyone. The rocker line in that board is unbelievable. It paddles like a 9’ 6” but performs like a 9 footer.
John: Did you have a conscious heat strategy or where you just out there surfing?
Chris: I’ve learned a lot over the years at The Red Bull. I used to just go out and charge regardless, but I’ve learned to be selective in my waves and try to get a ride under the belt early in the heat. At the Oregon event last year I put some of this into practice and it really paid off as I got a third in that event. With this one I built on that, I’m just stoked it worked out.
John: Did anyone get seriously injured in the event?
Chris: Amazingly no. Shawn Aladio and the water safety were incredible. Infact I think I was the worst hurt when my last wave in the final steamed over me at the end with all that white water. My two teeth ended up going through my lip ha ha it was a small price to pay though.
John: Towards the end of the final what was going through your mind?
Chris: Well I knew if I could get a second good wave I’d be in the running for a top three slot so I just went for it. I was pretty exhausted but I hung in there. With about 10 mins to go I got my second big one. Half way down I nearly lost it but somehow I managed to hold on.
John: US$50K is a good prize what are you gonna do with all the cash?
Chris: Well the US Tax man has already taken a US$ 13K slice, then I have quite a bit of debt I need to square with my brothers and the people who helped me get over there. Then with what’s left over I’d like to be able to go back to Todos if the event runs. I’m in the same heat as Kelly Slater and I’d love to surf against him in big waves.
John: Chris you’ve been doing this (surfing big waves) a long time, do you feel a sense of satisfaction now that you’ve won?
Chris: Most certainly! Surfing for me is a hobby, but its a hobby that has ruled my life. I haven’t been able to make a living out of it but I’ve always dreamed of being able to do so. In fact the guys in the States were upset I wouldn’t stay longer to do TV interviews and stuff. They couldn’t believe that I have a real job and that I’m in the middle of my range launch right now!
John: You have a big support base in Cape Town, do you feel like your win symbolised anything for them?
Chris: My brothers have always supported me in my quest to compete at the top. They always believed in me, so yeah, it feels great to show them that I could do it, but seriously I’ve had so much help from so many people I just hope in some small way my win gets them stoked and inspired to be the best they can be. It took me over ten years of trying to achieve this. I always believed that if I could get in the event I could win it. To be honest my darkest hour was when I came home in December. All the cash I was spending, the time travelling and it just felt as if things were not going my way. I think I got my closest then to giving it up but somehow I didn’t and here I am. I suppose if there is a lesson in this it's that if you have a dream and you stay determined you CAN make it happen.
John: Do you think this win will open some doors for you?
Chris: Ha ha I hope so! To compete against the worlds best you need support so ja we’ll see. It would be cool to be able to do this and not stress about the money but we’ll see...
John: What happened after you won?
Chris: Well I went back to Jeff Clark’s shop for a bit and signed some autographs there were a bunch of kids there and it was pretty cool. After that I went to the Oceana to collect the prize. Twiggy, Mike, James and all the boys were there. They lifted me up on their shoulders on the stage, it was pretty cool. After that we went to the Star Wars Bar and it got pretty crazy. I was broken though, to be honest I was exhausted. I slipped out at about 1am, then I was up early for a quick brekkie and then back to the airport to fly home.
John: When you get home we’re gonna have to have a few beers to celebrate!
Chris: You better believe it, ha ha can’t wait, just let me get through my work this week then we’ll go big...
At this point Chris’s battery crashes so that’s the end of the interview folks. We will chat to him again when he gets back to SA tomorrow.
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| Chris wins at Mavericks! |
| 14 February 2010, 13:07 |
Chris Bertish won the Mavericks event yesterday in what many of the big wave chargers are calling the biggest ever waves for a paddle in surf contest ever! Chris beat Shane Desmond, Anthony Tashnick, Dave Wassel, Carlos Burle, and Kenny “Skindog” Collinsto take the $50 000 first prize and all the glory that goes with it. After an epic winter in CT and saving all his cash to get over to Northern Cali, it's finally paid off for Chris. We're proud of you bru! We'll be chatting to Chris shortly, but in the meanwhile if you want to post Chris a message, punch it in below - we're sure he'll be stoked to see all the support!
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| Goin' Big |
| 11 February 2010, 07:51 |
I'm reading the most fascinating book at the moment by Kevin O'Sullivan, called "Goin' Big - Gotcha and the Evolution of Modern Surf Style". It's basically the Gotcha story, of how Michael Tomson and Joel Cooper took their fledgling little clothing business based in South Africa (Joel's father owned a clothing factory in Johannesburg in the early 70s called Vance clothing and Joel and MT studied at Durban University together) and transplanted it to Laguna beach in California in 1979. I'm not too sure how many people actually know this story, especially the younger SA groms, but Gotcha pretty much changed the face of the surf industry forever. MT and Joel, as 2 young South Africans, basically took surfing from a cottage industry to a multi-billion dollar industry in the space of a couple of years. A lot of it was lucky timing, lucky trending, lucky in meeting people who just happened to help them - but most of it, from this account, was just very very bold and progressive thinking and hard work. I'm not going to recount the whole story, you guys must try and read it for yourselves. However, the two things that really blow me away was firstly just how wild their marketing was. And secondly, how when there is no map to follow, no safety net, the most creative ideas are allowed to flourish and they generally succeed. I remember these Copy driven ads as a grom...mainly from the work of the great West Coast advertising giant Mike Salisbury" If you don't surf, don't start", "Truth never damages a cause that is just"(Tyra Banks was in this ad!), "Too many kooks", always using the cool of surf against the mainstream and always taking elements of music, counter culture and a shit hot surf team to spread the message.
"Goin' Big - Gotcha and the Evolution of Modern Surf Style" by Kevin O'Sullivan is available at
http://www.amazon.com/Goin-Gotcha-Evolution-Modern-Style/dp/0615161537/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265867816&sr=1-2
I've been really inspired reading this book as it's helped me gain an amazing insight into the birth of our surf culture as an industry. I'd be fascinated to hear which ads you guys remember the most clearly from this era...I remember the one Instinct poster I had on my wall "Surfing is life...the rest is details" and another one "Either you get the wave, or it gets you". Classic.
Iain
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| Different strokes for different folks |
| 8 February 2010, 12:49 |
This morning I went for my customary surf before work at North Beach as I do when we're in DBN. There is something about being able to surf for an hour and a half in boardies, cruise past your favorite coffee shop and still make it to your desk by 7:45am that makes the summers here amazing. Anyway what was really interesting was that out of the 6 surfers trading waves in the North Beach bowl only one of them was riding a conventional thruster. I was on my Alaia, Dave Jennings was riding a 5'8" Fish thruster shaped by Derek Girven, Kevin Kolby was riding one of the first 1980's thrusters ever built in SA, Greg Kitto was riding an old single fin, Daniel was riding a stringerless 5'3" quad and then there was some kid on his 'regular' thruster. None of this was coordinated, it was simply how we all decided to go surfing this morning. Five years ago we'd have been lined up on our 6'1" thrusters - or not surfing because the waves were too small. It makes you realise how radical surfboard R&D in the last couple of years has been. The unprecidented success of the Spider Bomb model of surfboard that Safari released just before Christmas (they literally sold hundreds of those boards and have advance orders for more) illustrates how the modern surfer is looking for something more. I'm not knocking the regular thruster though don't get me wrong. The other day at a heavy Cape beach break I learned the lesson that the Alaia was the wrong tool for the job. I would have killed for a decent 6'6" thruster in those conditions. Today though I was happy drifting around on my plank and I could tell that the other guys were stoked too, just doing their thing.
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| Friends like these.. |
| 7 February 2010, 21:34 |
The call came through late last Friday from the wiry haired crazy man in Cape Town: "Boys, I've cracked the back end of that new app you wanted to try - shoot the footage and get it to me by Monday." Oh shit Oh shit Oh shit! Although we had briefly chatted to some people we liked about working with on this project we hadn't really confirmed anything. With just over 48 hours to get it done we had No studio. No model. No wardrobe. No make up. No frikkin camera crew or green screen. John and I started scrambling and calling in favours left right and centre.
And what do we know? We make magazines and websites - not motion pictures!
Gironkey, Polly and Rich from D4 productions pulled in with the rigging, the greenscreen, the cameras and the lighting.
My surfing mate Brendan provided his mini-factory as our studio and our favourite Durban BOMBshell and surfergirl, Lauren, not only cancelled her weekend to join us, but organised her own wardrobe and makeup, pitched up at our makeshift studio and worked through sweltering conditions to absolutely nail the shots.
The good news for you, BOMBsurf fans, is that the benefit of all this scrambling, will be coming to a desktop near you, very soon...
Iain
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| A new Head Judge for the ASP? |
| 5 February 2010, 16:44 |
I see that the ASP have decided not to renew Perry Hatchet's job as the Head Judge on the ASP WCT this year. This is a pretty interesting move and perhaps the strongest signal that the ASP is willing or perhaps even trying to move with the times in terms of embracing a more progressive free flowing performance from it's competitive surfers. If you could choose an ideal replacement who would it be? There are a lot of changes coming into the world of pro surfing this year. We're going to be doing an in depth look at it in our next issue but in the interim would be stoked to hear what you guys think.
John
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| Wham Bam thankyou Mozam |
| 3 February 2010, 18:53 |
As we crossed the border back into SA this morning, my cell phone started to go ballistic. 18 voicemails and 91 emails waiting for me. "Iain, where the hell are you, did you get that first draft", then "Iain, I sent you images for the mag - let me know which high ressies to send through" and so on and so forth... was it worth it? Hell yeah! These surgical strikes across the border at this time of year are magical, especially when you have such a cool crew who are psyched to get good shots. Casey, Jacko and Sheppo were absolutely ripping for the camera and Heidi and Kirsty paddled for anything and everything that came near them. It was awesome to watch. We surfed 2 sessions yesterday, one on the full low which saw the crew racing some massive walls and throwing down some crazy maneuvers. The second session, was from late arvo into the evening and was way more chilled as the wind backed of and the ocean settled down into a gentle rhythm. The girls and boys surfed till it was pretty much dark out there.
All images by Mike van Heerden:
Iain |
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| When bad turns to good |
| 2 February 2010, 10:01 |
When bad turns to good.
We arrived in Moz to find swell on our favorite point break but the wind hadn't switched yet and it was still ruffled by the onshore. Eish we needed to get wet anyway so decided to go for a rinse. The water temp is around 26 degrees and there is something about the luminescence in the water up here that makes you linger underwater when you do your push-unders. After lunch and a nap we woke to find that everything had changed... for the better! The surf had picked up and was now a sold 6' and the west had come through cleaning it up. We all hit it. Sheppo, Casey and Jacko were going toe to toe in the long winding walls. It was awesome to watch these guys cutting loose. Heidi and Kirsty charmed their way into getting a lift on one of the ski boats. The problem was that the guys driving the boat were so wasted they couldn't even get out. The Girls ended up getting dropped of further down the beach and had to walk all the way back to the point ha ha. The light wasn't great so Mike wasn't too stoked with the shots he got never the less the waves were really fun. I saw my business partner Iain have a cracker, ja a cool day at work for us. Last night we had a couple of 2M drafts and crashed early. This morning the surf is a bit smaller, but its cleaner and the light looks better so we're gonna hit it now.
John |
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| This week Mozambique |
| 1 February 2010, 08:12 |
This is a strange time of year on our coastline. If you look at the charts around SA this week there are pretty much gonna be waves everywhere. We've decided to hit Mozam for a little bit of early cyclone season action, that and we need some more shots for our next mag. After studying the charts last week we assembled a crew of rippers (Brandon Jackson, Mark Shepperson, Casey Grant, Heidi Palmboom and Kirsty Delport) and so as I write this we're waiting for the Kosi Bay boarder to open and let us in. Its such a cool boarder post. The tar literally runs out as you cross into Mozambique and then its just sand tracks. Time moves slowly up here. It's 8am and already 30 degrees in the shade, little wonder that no one is in a rush to do anything. So what is the surf gonna be like? Well you never know until you see it but the crew are frothing. There are worst places to be on a Monday morning. Fingers crossed we score.
John
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