Spain 2015

I finished writing exams on the 1st of June, spent a week at home relaxing and then left for Spain on the 8th. I arrived on the 9th of June and went straight to Xtreme Gene in Cordoba. Xtreme Gene is a boat wakeboarding shool where Jordan works so I spent most of my holiday there. I love the place, the people and really enjoyed riding boat again. My goal was to learn toeside backrolls which Jordan had me to landing by my last set! I turned 20 whilst I was there. I got spoilt and had an awesome birthday dinner at Matt and Debbies house.

On the 9th of July, I joined the Ion tour to various cable parks around Spain and one in France. There was 5 of us - 4 riders and a photographer. We met in Seville in the morning and started the tour from there. Our first stop was Uback Paradise in Alicante where we spent a day and a half riding. I loved the cable and would like to go back there one day. Next, we drove to Barcelona where we spent a day at CWP in Cubelles and a day at OCP (Olympic Cable Park). OCP was the first full size cable we visited. We spent all day riding and then went to a flow rider in Barcelona that night. That was definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me! It was pretty difficult but suuuper fun! We were all starving afterwards so we stopped at Mc Donalds for dinner. The next morning, we had a 6 am start. We were headed to TNG cable in France and wanted to wakeboard that afternoon. We arrived around lunch time, chilled for a while and then the shredding began! It was exciting because it was my first time riding at TNG and my first time in France! Of all the cables we visited, TNG was my favourite. We spent 2 days at the cable and stayed in a house right on the water. It was amazing! After 2 days we started our journey back home. On our way home, we stopped in Barcelona to have one last shred at OCP. I almost didnt wakeboard because my body was sore and I was tired from all the driving, but luckily Jordy pushed me to get out on the water and I was stoked afterwards. We stayed for about 2 hours and then continued on our journey back home. We decided to drive through the night, so Sawe and Mitchel took turns whilst Jordan, José and I sat in the back and ate alot of junk haha. Jordan and I got dropped back in Cordoba at 4.30 am.

My parents arrived in Spain whilst I was away so I got to spend my last few days with them at Xtreme Gene. I left a few days before them as I had to get back to university. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone but I look forward to returning in the near future. I am now back home in South Africa and its freezing! Cable is closed until mid September so for now its time to focus on uni.

Thanks to everyone for the good times, I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend my holiday! 

Sunset cruising

Birthday drinks

Uback Paradise

CWP with all the homies

Booze cruise with my first and second family ;)

My last wakesurf

Home bound

Jason waiting for me at the airport

South African Nationals 2015

This past weekend, cable nationals was held at my home cable in Cape Town.

Friday afternoon was practise so I headed to the cable after class for a little shred. The weather wasn't great, it was overcast and freezing! Definitely the coldest day we've had all year. Fortunately I had my Roxy wetsuit with me, so the cold didn't stop me from getting on the water :P 

Qualifiers were held on Saturday. When we arrived at the cable in the morning, it was rainy and cold but it wasn't long before the weather cleared and the sun came out. Qualifiers went well. Once they were done, I had to get home  to do some studying because exams start this week. My brother, Christopher, landed his first railey in his qualifying run! It was good to see all the Junior Men pushing each other to attempt inverts for the first time.

Finals were meant to start at 8.30 on Sunday morning but due to load shedding, it only started at 10. We had the most perfect weather on Sunday! It was hot and the water was glassy all day. A friend of ours who recently got into wakeboarding, Brent, competed in the Novice divison. He slayed it and managed to get 1st place. Its awesome to see someone who is so passionate about the sport and is just keen to learn! I was really happy with my run, the best one I've done so far, and also got 1st in the Open Ladies division. Christopher stuck another railey in his finals run so he was stoked, and he came 3rd in Junior Men. My older brother, Jason, pulled a trick out the bag that he hasn't done for about a year, since before his knee injury. He stuck it clean and got 2nd in Open Men.

It was a good way to end the season! Thanks to CASA for putting together an awesome comp, to Roxy for keeping me warm this weekend, and to Liquid Force for the best board! 

Now to get exams out the way, and then it time for a little summer holiday in Spain with the Darwins! 

Thanks Bianca Asher for the photos!

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Studies vs Wakeboarding

I  started studying at Stellenbosch University doing a BSc in sport science when i returned from the Philippines. I have just finished with my last test week for the semester before exams start at the end of May so I thought its the perfect time to get back up to date with my blog. As far as Stellenbosch University goes - lets just say I had no idea what I was in for but I've met so many new people from all over and am enjoying my course so far.

In my free time I've been wakeboarding and competing when my studies allow it. I competed in the 1st stop of the boat tour that was held at Misverstand Dam in March. I was super chuffed with my riding, definitely the best run I have done behind the boat and was really happy with winning the ladies division. I also competed at the Re-awakening cable comp that was held at Stokecity Wakepark in March hosted by Liquid Force and was happy with my 1st place there too. They put together an epic event and it was really good to ride with all the homies again!

I spent the Easter weekend at Clanwilliam Dam with good friends. Its always fun to be back behind the boat. I've also spent some time at the Dirty Habits cable in Durbanville since my return. The kickers are my favorite at the park!

This month is cable nationals and it being held at our home cable in Cape Town- Blue Rock. I'm excited to have it at home and i'm sure it is going to be a sick event.

Sunset at Blue Rock

Clanwilliam

13 up behind the boat!

Roxy spoiling me once again x

2 tower system at Stokecity

<3

Dirty Habits cable

Philippines 2015 :)

After Christmas, I flew to the Philippines with my brothers and Sami. We spent a month wakeboarding at CWC Wake Park. Sami's sister, Bronwyn, flew over from Taiwan and spent the first week with us. Unfortunately we were greeted with lots of wind and rain so spent most of our first week in the cabin playing Uno cards and most nights ended up at Happy Endings bar. 

To pass the time while the weather was bad, we did a bit of sightseeing. We went to a market in the city central, spent many hours relaxing in the hot springs, shopping at the SM mall and trying out different foods. my favourite restaurant was "Take Me Out" with the most delicious burgers and tacos. Sami, Bronwyn and I decided to go out on a girl’s spa day. After being pampered , we ate schwarmas for lunch at a tiny little store and topped it off with Starbucks. Probably some of the best schwarmas I have had.

The weather improved in the second week and we were able to spend more time on the water. This is by far the best cable I have been to. There are so many features, so many new things you want to try, you can never get bored! We got up early most mornings to get the good water before the wind picked up in the afternoons. Some morning we would head down to the 2.0's before the full cable opened and do air trick sessions. Maxine and Jason encouraged me try my first s-bend. Maxine is one of the best riders in the world so it was awsome to get coaching from her. It’s always fun riding with other girls, especially when there is so much you want to learn from them. One of the highlights of my trip was hitting the hand rail at the plaza system. If it wasn't for jb who pushed me do it, I would never of hit it so THANK YOU JB! 

Jordan arrived towards the end of the second week and brought some sunshine with him. It was really nice to spend some time together. We all had alot of fun riding and filming. A week later, a typhoon hit the whole of the Philippines and we were once again stuck indoors playing Uno cards for the weekend. The one night I thought our roof was going to blow off but fortunately we were all safe haha. Sami and Christopher were due to leave on the Monday. All airports were closed and flights cancelled. Everyone was stressing that they were not going to be able to leave. Luckily for them, the storm cleared and they were able to fly out on time. 

We spent the last week doing lots of riding, filming and taco eating. I am really happy to have had the opportunity to meet so many new people. This trip was such an amazing experience and lots of good memories were made.  CWC - until next time! 

Thank you LiquidForce for my new 2015 setup for my trip! 

Bali <3

I'm back home after an amazing holiday in Bali. It was really special as I got to spend quality time with my dad and after 2 weeks, my best friend who i dont get to see often, came to visit. We did all sorts of exciting things like surfing, waterparks, snorkeling with turtels, lots of shopping and lots of tanning.  I can certainly say we travel well together. 

On this trip we discovered that we:

-are basically professional surfers

-have mad bargaining skills

-burn easily, tan easily, peel easily 

-love any kind of food that is bad for us

-eat alot of cheese and seaweed chips

-could spend every day on the beach

-have the best luck in the world

-are kareoke queens

-have completely different tastes

-enjoy cheesecake for breakfast

-dont say no to jolling and doing the wormy 

-do NOT see eachother enough

Thanks for an awesome trip and all the memories mare! xx

European and African Championships 2014

E&A boat champs was held in Montargil, Portugal last week. I drove to Portugal with Jordan and Andres from Xtreme Gene. The drive was super chilled, it took us about 5 hours. We stayed in a 5 star hotel along with all the other wakeboarders. The contest site was just across the road.

The conditions were perfect for the contest. Its was hot all week and not too windy. My practice run was real bad - the wake was almost as big as me !!! I struggled in qualifiers and got 4th place in my heat which meant i had to go to LCQ's where i got another chance to try make it through. Fortunately i won my LCQ heat and made it into finals!! I was first off the dock in finals and managed to get 3rd place overall which meant I won a bronze medal for South Africa :) I was over the moon ! Jordan managed to get a silver medal in both Junior Men wakeboard and wakeskate which is an amazing achievement! 

I was basically adopted by the Spanish team because I was the only competitor from South Africa :P Team Spain got 3rd place overall! They only had 6 riders and managed to get 5 podiums- very impressive. 

I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend the last week of my trip. It was an awesome week with awesome people! I drove back to Marbella on Sunday afternoon with the Darwins and on Monday morning I was off the to the aiport to start my journey back to South Africa.

A big thank you to my sponsors - Roxy SA and LiquidForceSA

Xtreme Gene

I have spent this past month wakeboarding at Xtreme Gene. Its been really good to get some boat riding in as I rarely get the opportunity to do it back home. I could'nt have asked for a better way to spend the last month of my trip! I love this place!

So basically I've just been chilling out and having fun on the water. I spent a weekend in Seville with the Darwin's riding at Doublewake cable. Today I am off to Portugal for the European and African Championships. I will be spending a week there and will then be heading back home to South Africa. Its going to be sad to leave but I guess all good things come to an end. My time here has been awesome!

A special word of thanks to my sponsors - Roxy SA ,Liquidforce SA.  Also thanks to Xtreme-Gene and then last but not least - a huge thank you to the Darwin's - without you guys none of this would of been possible ♥