CASA pro tour stop 4 [nationals]

This past weekend i took part in CASA tour stop 4 which was the final stop of the season. The event was held at Warmbaths resort in Joburg. This year the crowning of the SA champ worked slightly differently to previous years. Usually the last stop of the tour is nationals and the rest of the stops don't count towards the national title and are just individual competitions. This year you were given points at every stop according to where you placed. The 2013 SA National champ was the person who had the most points at the end of the tour.

I flew up to Joburg on tuesday with my brothers and mom. The comp was on Saturday and Sunday so we were able to get some riding time in before it started. Unfortunately Jason was unable to ride as he tore the ligaments in his ankle so he was basically "coach" Jason and chief judge for the weekend.

We arrived at Warmbaths on Wednesday and had two sessions with the cable all to ourselves. The weather was perfect and I had fun trying some new tricks.  That evening we enjoyed some pizza and chilled in the hot pools.

We woke up early on Thursday and headed straight to the cable.  We once again had the cable to ourselves and had one session before the rest of the cape town riders arrived.  I was stoked to see them all and amped to shred with them in the afternoon. We had lots of fun between riding and spending time in the hot pools.

The rest of the riders arrived on Friday and everyone spent most of the day on the water.  Friday night was quite festive with everyone getting amped for the comp the next day.

On Saturday morning we all got to have a sesh before qualifiers which started at 12.  I had a good run on Saturday and won qualifiers which meant that i was last off the dock on Sunday.  The level of the riding overall was pretty high and the pressure was on for finals.  Most of the riders had an early night on Saturday as we had to be up early for finals on Sunday morning.

We woke up to a light drizzle and chilly conditions, but fortunately it was not too windy.  Finals got underway at 9am with the Pro Men riders giving the judges a difficult task as the level of riding was high.  I was very happy with my first clean run and so decided to try a raley in my second run. Unfortunately I didn't land it and ended up winning the Chad award for the hardest bail of the comp.

My first run was good enough to secure me first place.  I won the Pro Tour Stop as well as the 2013 SA National Champ title.  I was proud to see my little brother secure 4th place overall in the Junior Men Division.  Well done Faffa! :)

Thanks to Kyle and Chantal for once again organising a sick event and for all the time and effort put into CASA. Thanks to my sponsors ROXY and LIQUID FORCE for all the support and for keeping me on the water.

1st- Melissa Colborne
2nd- Candice Bacon
3rd- Bryanna Motepe

Liquid Force team

photo by- Jason Colbone

stoked after my run

Christopher- BS 360

judging with candice :)

the CAPE TOWN crew

Christopher after his run

home time- airport

CASA pro tour stop 3

The 3rd stop of the CASA pro tour was held at Stokecity wakepark in Midrand on the 14th and 15th of September. I flew up to Joburg on Wednesday (the 11th) with my brothers so that we had some time to practice before the comp started on Saturday. Our cable in Cape Town has been closed for the past month for winter so we really needed the practice. By Saturday we were all super tired and sore from practice but it was worth it. It was great to spend time with the crowd from Joburg and Kyle and Chantal did a great job with the organising of the comp. The weather was surprisingly hot but unfortunately the wind was blowing..

Qualifiers were run on Saturday afternoon. I was fortunate to place 1st in the open ladies division for qualifiers, which meant that I got to ride last in finals. My brother Jason placed 1st in the pro men division for qualifiers, so I was really happy. After qualifiers, we all just chilled at the cable and then had an early night as finals were being run at 8am on Sunday morning. On Sunday we were once again greeted with hot weather but more wind. Finals went well and I was stoked to win the ladies division. Jason won the Pro Men division and Jeanu, also from Cape Town, won the Junior Men division. Cape Town represent!!

We flew back to Cape Town on Sunday night after a good time in Joburg. I am looking forward to Nationals next month in Warmbaths. Thank you ROXY and LIQUID FORCE for the support. Now its back to boat as the first pro tour stop is on 27 - 29th September at Milnerton.

Open Ladies
1st- Melissa Colborne
2nd- Bryanna Motepa
3rd-Candice Bacon 

Pro Men
1st- Jason Colborne
2nd- Craig Eygenberger
3rd- Caleb Louw

Junior Men
1st- Jeanu du Plooy
2nd- Marius Labuscagne
3rd- Jacques Labuscagne

south korea

On the 23rd of August i left to South Korea along with the rest of the South African team. After 3 flights, 2 train trips and a bus ride, we finally arrived at the Lotte Hotel.We competed at the IWWF world wakeboarding champs in Busan. We ended up coming 12th out of 29 countries which we were happy with. My wakeboarding didn’t go too well unfortunately but the experience that i got from this trip means more to me. I met so many amazing people. A lot of them I knew by name, but I finally got to meet them in person. Watching top class wakeboarders from all around the world has really motivated me to push myself even harder. I also met and spent a bit of time with a fellow Roxy wakeboarder, Larisa from mexico. I look forward to meeting up with her again, either in SA or over in Mexico.

Besides the wakeboarding, we also did some touristy things. We went to watch a baseball game at a huge stadium in Busan. This was very interesting and definitely not your average sports event. . There is so much entertainment going on that no one really even watches the game. We also did some shopping which was not very successful, but it was awesome to see some of the city.

Our team, as well as all the other teams competing, stayed in the Lotte hotel. It is a 5 star hotel in the middle of the city. It was super fancy and probably not the right choice for a bunch of wakeboarders. There was even a driving range in the hotel. The hotel was not too far from the competition site and everyday shuttles were organised to lift us. Before the competition, we all got to have a practice run behind the boat so that we knew what the wake was going to be like.The food in Korea is very different to what we eat back home but it was an eperience to try it all. They are very big on their barbeques which are wayyyy different to ours.

Thanks to the entire team as well as Laurence and Tich for the amazing experience, and a huge thanks to my sponsors Roxy and Liquid Force for the support and making it possible.

during practise

view from our hotel window

SA team at the opening ceremony

Larisa- fellow roxy teamrider

Lotte hotel

exploring the city

baseball game

before my run

back in south africa!

abit of bali

My holiday started off in Jakarta where we spent 5 days doing touristy things. We visited loads of malls, drank way too much Starbucks and went to a rad theme park. It was about 35 degrees when we went to the theme park yet all the asians were wearing jeans and hoodies while we were dying of the heat. The heat didnt seem to bother them AT ALL.

Next we flew to Bali where it was just as hot as in Jakarta. I spent 4 weeks in Bali and when it was time to come home, i was not ready yet. We had an epic time in Bali spending most of our time at the beach or at the poolside and ofcourse shopping! I visited the Roxy store and got some sick new clothing. Jason, Christopher and I attemped to surf a couple of times which always turned out to be lots of fun :) I had my birthday while over there and I got the best cake hands down. We spent 4 days at a different part of the island called Singaraja. We went snorkeling and ate quite abit of their local food while we were there which was surprisingly good.

We flew to Lombok island and spent a couple of days there too. Lombok is definitely the most beautiful place I have ever been to. On Christophers birthday, we went out on a boat for the day, visited 3 different islands and went snorkling. I even got to snorkel with turtles which the coolest experience!

theme park

shopping

scootering around

surf attemps

snorkeling with turtles

waterbom park

Roxy store in bali

ice breaker

This past weekend I took part in the Ice Breaker competition that was held at our local cable park, Blue Rock. The event was a huge success and definitely the best Ice Breaker yet. This year they decided to change the format of the comp slightly and instead of only doing the tricks you know you can land, they put in a wild card trick. This is a trick that you have never landed before. The rest of your run stayed the same, where you could hit all the obstacles. The main idea of the comp was to push the sport as well as your own riding. It was great to see everyone pushing and learning new tricks. I was stoked to have landed my wild card trick which was a railey.

I managed to win the Ladies division, with Candice Bacon coming 2nd and Mardi Geldenhuys 3rd. The competition was tight in our division and it was good to see the ladies pushing the level of riding. I was proud of my brother, Jason, for winning the Pro Men division too! 

It was good to see so many people supporting the event.  Big ups to Blue Rock for all the hard work and organising and for making the event such a success.

Melissa Colborne- 1st
Candice Bacon- 2nd
Mardi Geldenhuys- 3rd

Jason Colborne- 1st
Gregor Reichmuth- 2nd
Dylan Mitchell- 3rd

Natural Vibrance

Thank you Natural Vibrance for the product and for keeping healthy this winter :) Check out their site: http://www.naturalvibrance.co.za/ and go give their facebook page a like.

sunny winter days

Been loving the last few days of sunshine. Was a perfect day at cable with fun riding and my roxy wetsuit keeping me extra warm :)

cape town shredding

Us cape town riders did some filming during the holidays and put this edit together. The video features me aswell as my brother and some of the other Cape Town riders. We challenged the Joburg riders to make an edit too. Video that gets the most votes wins bragging rights. Click here and VOTE for cape town! AWAKENING

1 lucky voter also stands a chance to win the 2013 Liquid Force FLX wakeboard.

THE KOOKS

A few weekends ago, i went with some friends to go watch the kooks live. My friend, grace, was so kind as to give me a ticket to go watch with her :D This wasn't just an ordinary concert. Tickets were not for sale, you had to enter a competition and hope to win tickets. The venue was a secret location. We all got told to meet in Cape Town where everyone parked their cars and then there were buses waiting to take us to the venue.

The venue was super sick, it was in an old warehouse. The concert was amazing and i am definitely a huuuge kooks fan after watching them live. They did not disappoint.

On our way

Kook shirts

Gracie, Amee and I

Kook fans :D

SWG magazine

I recently did an interview with Salt Water Girl magazine. Check it out :)

Photo's by Bianca Asher

Getting ready for winter :)

Biiiig thanks to Roxy for all my new winter gear! My new wetsuit is on its way, super excited :) Definitely keeping extra warm this winter. Go check out the Boardriders store in Canal Walk, they have a sick new winter clothing range.

Boardriders store

New Clothes :D

Dirty Habits

I recently did an interview with Dirty Habits Boardriders. Check it out :)

http://dirtyhabits.org/profile-monday-melissa-colborne/

Fun day at the cable

Today we had perfect weather at the cable. Sun was shining and the water was glass. Dylan Mitchell came through to take some photo's and film, seen as though he is injured and can't ride. Here are some of the shots he got of us:

Melissa Colborne

Jason Colborne

Craig Eygenberger

Christopher Colborne

Jacques Labuschangne

SA Boat Pro Wakeboard Tour- Stop 3 / SA Champs

SA Champs was held at Milnerton Aquatic Club on the 23-24 March 2013. We were greeted with the dreaded Cape doctor (the typical south easter wind). The lake looked like an ocean with a 1-2 foot offshore beach break. Us wakeboarders definitely had an advantage over the wakeskaters. Luckily our boards are strapped to our feet.

Friday afternoon wasn't much fun at all as it was super cold. The competition started on time at 8.30am on Saturday morning with the novice division getting the more favourable/ less windy conditions. As the day progressed the wind picked up. The boat also seemed to take strain under the less than favourable conditions, and gave us problems twice. As a result, the comp ended early and a couple of the divisions were pushed over to Sunday.

keeping warm on the boat

On sunday we had even more unfavourable conditions and by lunch time the wind was pumping. The boat unfortunately broke again... which resulted in the comp running 2 hours late.

Even under the conditions, i was fortunate to stick a clean run and managed to take the title of SA champ 2013. so happy :)

1st- Melissa Colborne
2nd- Candice Bacon
3rd- Courtney Scholtz

Even though the conditions were bad, it was still a fun comp! Thanks to all the riders and organizers, good way to end the boating season :)