Llandudno beach was packed to the brim and the who’s who of SA surfing popped in to support. Highlights was Potamus the surfing dog who almost ate one of Vudu’s boards (in fact I hope it wasn’t one of their boards) and of course Jordy Smith (leading SA surfer) , Roosta, Chad du Toit and more.

It was hot on the beach, and not just the sun, babes everywhere made for a happy beachbum…

Shoutout to Jacque Smit and John Wilkinson who kept me company.

Props goes to sponsors Vudu Surf, RVCA, Red Bull, theGoodLife, Hurricane, Backsberg, Indo Sole, Wet Sac, Reef Wetsuits, Mrs Palmers and once again to Kai for making this day possible. The best day to kick off a year full of surfing in Cape Town, ever!

theGoodLife video here:

And without further ado, check out the gallery below (there is a second set of photos, link at bottom!):

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Around the 30th I ventured to Still Bay, hoping to catch a swell that was looking better and better on WindGuru and truth behold, on New Year’s morning it was firing like I haven’t seen it in a long time. Solid 6-8ft corduroy lines were filling up the bay and I surfed for almost 6 hours. The next morning was more of the same being out for 3.5 hours, but the rips started coming over the reef and down the line, making paddling a hard fought battle. On the 3rd it was even more of the same, but the swell was jacking and I decided to skip to Betty’s Bay to try and catch the end of the swell.

Arriving at Betty’s the wind had turned and messed things up, but I could see the potential of some waves to be had. The local crew had it great from early morning, so I was excited to get into it on the dawn patrol the following morning. We surfed ourselves out the morning, and I managed to land on my board and break the fin box on my fish. I didn’t want to risk the long board, so paddled out the afternoon with a bodyboard. BEST DECISION EVER! We had it all time, and were frothing around the braai that evening in anticipation of the next morning’s dawny. Having bodyboarded for 17 years before turning to stand-up I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to do it anymore. Seems that was not to be a worry at all, just that my feet got chafed heavily by the flippers which I wasn’t used to.

What greeted us was perfection! We caught the second session of the day on camera for your viewing pleasure…

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Check out these wooden surf boards at www.wawawave.com and see the video below of the Alaia being ridden at Supertubes, Jeffrey’s Bay. The boards are made in Muizenberg, Cape Town, South Africa and their makers are as chilled as the riding style itself.

Somehow these are just beautiful to me, but I think the level of difficulty will be high on this specific board. They also have Paipo’s (hollow board with a single fin) and Handslides (these are SICK for bodysurfing!) Go check it out right now!  Can’t wait to get my grubby surfer webs on one…

www.wawawave.com

And if she surfs, all the better, it’s a marriage with the best of both worlds…

Alana Blanchard (Kauai, Hawaii) keeps our hopes up.

Any South African locals you’d like us to feature? Throw it in the comments…

Well done Table Mountain for becoming one of the New 7 Wonders of the World. We love Cape Town, and we love our mountain! This picture incidentally was taken at 11:11 on the 11/11/11 from Bloubergstrand in early anticipation of this announcement!

Super proud!

Somewhere near Cape Town, a marimba band plays the sun to sleep…

Africa. In our blood, through our soul…

Freeze frame with 3D rotation like the Matrix. Probably a few cams on one rig with different angles that give those few degrees of rotation on a stitch. Sick!

Who knows how long he’ll keep on doing this, but at 39 years old it doesn’t look like he’s slowing down at all. After Jordy Smith fell out with a rib injury after Teahupo’o in Tahiti  it was pretty much plain sailing for Kelly, but Owen Wright (Aus) did give him a hard run for a few events. Lets hope Jordy keeps it together next year and that Kelly keeps on surfing, because it’s sure going to be a cracker of a tour with all the new talent coming up the ranks.

Long live Kelly, in my opinion one of the best sportsmen of our time. Congrats mate!

Hear it in Kelly’s own words:

and a cool compilation here by Red Bull:

De Sousa went on to beat Durbidge (no knockout round), Bourez (quarters) and Durbidge again in the semi’s to line up against Kelly Slater for the final. Kelly beat Alves and Taj Burrow to get to the finals. De Sousa displayed some excellent technical riding to take the title, but Kelly’s edging towards his 11th World title. He only has to make the fourth round in the next event (San Francisco Rip Curl Search event) to take the title, but there are still a few contenders with an outside chance. Chances are slim though…

See the final heat for Portugal below: