profile January 26, 2010
 Our farewell party. Bye bye Panama. We have left for the Galapagos. 900 miles of blue water lies ahead. A hurricane on the caribbean side of Panama sent us 45-60 knot tail winds. The sea was just a haze as the top layer of water turned into white vapor….we were flying along with 3 reefs in the main sail…with a maintained boat speed of 10-11 knots…then a lazy sheet ripped up one of the hatches, a mainsheet block exploded setting of a chain reaction which ended up with a mangled jammer (ripped right off the deck), one batcar out of its track, 2 broken battens etc. This all happened after I like a stupid doos thought the wind was dropping so shook out the reefs too soon…but i fixed all that…this tail wind is messing with my head…I put a handline out on a bungy cord…BOOM…the bungy gets vaporized and my handline which now has only one turn around the bimini base goes balistic…like an idiot I grab the line which is still around the pole with my bare hands and now I can hardly type, we got the marlin next to the boat but he eventually snapped the leader…but he was toast too, just lay in the sea next to the boat for a while before slowly sinking down and swimming away…which was fine cause i was going to release it anyway although i would have liked to have kept that lure. Small purple and black one about 1 hour before sunset 100 miles off Panama in 2km’s depth. Too deep to dive crays here.
 Dolphins show us the way - we head into the blue
Andy is man down sea sick (not too bad, just way to much adrenaline and rough seas). Chantal and I put full sail up and now we are slipping along nicely at 6-8 knots with 10-15 knots of wind at 35 degrees off the bow. With all that crazy sailing we have made really good ground, and we have been able to head directly for the Galapagos…let me tell you that when you rely on wind you often dont ended up heading for your destination!
Ja it was a crazy first day. Kiddies are all fine, we are sailing lekker comfortably now i just hope Andy is OK to take over from me at midnight otherwise its going to be a long night. But the moon is up and there are cold beers in the fridge. I am heading for San Cristobal Island in the Galapagos. Its the island with the most waves. Wasnt there talk of an ASP rip curl event there?
 Sailfish
Early the next morning we caught a beautiful big sailfish on the handline which I released in text book fashion after a few pics. It was about 3,5m long and we unknowingly towed it behind shimmi for about 20 minutes before noticing. Andy did a great 12-4am watch, then slept like the dead until 11am…he is feeling much better. Chantal did the 4am to 8am, on her watch the nice sw wind we had for most of the night died. Life consists of puppet shows (2 old socks), dinosaur circus, plenty of colouring in, and paying special attention to the wildlife of our next stop. Josh gets very upset if I confuse a turtle with a tortoise. We also painted the sailfish as it presented us with an opportunistic diversion from regular shimmi school. Josh says he is glad that the sailfish went back to his wife…’but what did he say when he got back?’ Stuck to the side of the sailfish was a beautiful opaque remora. We are in a different universe now. Just blue all around. No land or another ship in sight. A marlin spontaneously tail walks about 200m of the port bow then slams down…then repeats this sequence another 4 times before all is quiet again. We almost don’t notice the clean long period ground swell which is passing under us.
Next up
That looks like a wave!
 
apiJanuary 22, 2010
 Charging at Mav's Jem you just got back from the winter in Northern California how was it? O heard there were heaps of swells…
I had a great time thanks bru, my timing was really good, I surfed Mavericks the day after I arrived and the next two days after that, so I got off to a great start. All in all I surfed Mavericks about six or seven times. The waves were biggish but not nearly as big as it can get. I went down to surf Todos Santos with Gary Linden and got clean and fun 15 foot waves. It was my first time in Mexico so I was really stoked.
Tell us what happened to your knee?
That same trip to Todos on the first day when it was smaller I twisted my knee on a late drop, the next day the waves were 15 foot and perfect, so I strapped it up and managed to get some good waves. Once I was back in California I knew I couldn’t surf so I got on the flight home, otherwise I would be in Hawaii now.
Any plans for the next 6 months?
My plans for now are to stay at home and recover. I will have to do a lot of rehab, but should hopefully come back stronger than before. Then spend the winter here before going back to Mavericks in November.
Any advice for aspiring big wave chargers out there?
My advice would be to be as fit as you can, have the right equipment and to know the waves and follow the swell reports so you can know exactly what the waves are going to do.
When surfing big waves you don’t really have any control over the waves or condition, so making sure that the things that are in your control, like your equipment and knowing what the swells are doing is very important.
Finally travel in the off season, experience goes a long way!
Who’s been your biggest influence over the last 5 years?
There are a lot of people that have influenced me over the last five years, different people for different reasons I guess. Recently its sort of the waves that have been influencing me, when to go places and where to go. Last year was the first year I traveled for big waves and managed to surf Waimea, Dungeons, Mavericks and Todos Santos all in the same year, which I am very stoked about.
Tow or paddle? Why?.
I really try and paddle as much as possible, it’s where the sport is going and I think it is a good thing. There is a point where you have to tow but until that point I think if you want to go far and be respected in the sport you must paddle.
Every now and again it is super fun to just grab the rope in clean waves and tow a bit, get the wave count up! haha
Thanks Roosta, good luck with your trip.
January 21, 2010
We’ve been cruising the west of Central America for a year now, and we are almost ready to head into the massive south Pacific. But before we do that, we need to give our catamaran Shimmi a new bottom job. This means you have to scrape the barnacles and shit off the two hulls and put new antifouling paint on. For this to happen the shimmi has to be OUT of the water.
 High and dry
One of the weird things of Panama is its huge 5m tidal range. Its enough of a range for us to careen shimmi. But a lot of factors have to come together for this job to work: the right tides (a spring tide with a middle of the day low), the right place (a navigable and protected estuary with a nice flat sandbank), the right materials (good antifouling paint), enough time (the paint needs 2 hrs to dry) and of course good weather (no rain!). And if there is a cooking wave nearby then who am I to complain? Check these pics out of the nearby sandbar:
 this was my local spot for a few weeks
We first scouted the estuary with the dingy…I went ashore and during low tide I planted three long driftwood poles in a row to act as a ‘lead line’ behind the shallow spot to guide us to where we wanted to careen shimmi. Then at 4am on monday it was full high and time to go. A full moon was up. Only the tips of my three sticks were sticking out the water. I first took the dingy over to the sticks and fastened a head torch to the top of the first and last stick to act as beacons.
The previous day I had made to big keel shoes which we had strapped to shimmi’s keels. This meant we had t0 drive very slowly as you don’t want the keel shoe to slide off and go into the prop. By 415am we were driving shimmi towards the two lights blinking in the distance (my two torches worked like a charm, they were guiding me to my “parking spot”). You know you are on course when the 2 lights line up. Slowly our depth gauge fell: 10ft-8ft-2ft-1,5ft. About 50m from our final position I turned shimmi around, dropped the anchor and reversed onto the spot. But a strong current was pushing us sideways, so I quickly had to put a stern anchor in the dingy, zoom it out and drop it. Once this anchor was in, we put its rope on one of the big stern main sheet winches and cranked her ass over. Anyway to cut a long story short (and a few blisters on Chonny’s hands), a few bumps later we were high and dry. Check these pics:
 These keel shoes stop shimmi from dissapearing into the quicksand
I spent the first day scraping the hulls, drained the gear oil from both sides and serviced the props. Chantal and the kiddies went for a walk, she came back saying that she now knows what it feels like on the moon….at spring low tide we might as well have been in the middle of the Sahara. This is a hardcore family situation as we cant use any of the toilets or taps whilst shimmi is dry. If you have kids you may have an idea of what this can be like. By late morning Andy arrived from the camp to give me bad news: my paint wont arrive as it was a public holiday…What a bummer. We had ordered the paint from a shop in David 2hrs away, they in turn ordered it from Panama city 12hrs away from where a truck would drop it off for us in a town called San Felix which is 1 hr away…how’s that for a logistical nightmare. That afternoon the tide came in and we decided to take shimmi back to the anchorage and not to do anything further until we have the paint in hand. So on day two we could nothing other than go surfing. A medium swell was running and the sandbar was throwing shacks.
 Dad on boat with kids
My tide calculations shows that if were are still on the hard after the 4th day, then we will be stuck for 2 weeks until the next spring tide. So if the paint doesnt arrive by this afternoon we are screwed. Also we are anchored in a small rivermouth leading into this big river system, and the tide coming in and out of the river is gushing at more than 8 knots – sleeping overnight at anchor in a fast flowing river does not equate to a peaceful sleep.
On the afternoon of day 3 Andy came zooming into the anchorage: we had the paint! The next morning was a repeat of Monday morning: only this time I did not need the lights as I could follow my previous GPS track on my chart plotter. Andy came and helped with the painting and after about 4hrs of painting we were done. Its a race against time, as you can see the water level rising. You just GO GO GO. Lots of catamaran owners talk about how easy it is to careen a cat and do the bottom job yourself…but in reality very few do it. Its bloody hard and you need nerves of steel, a strong arm and a big hat. And did I mention the crabs chowing your toes? Poor Chantal and the kids were stuck up on the shimmi, they could not use the loo’s, showers or wash up (keep water coming out the drains and onto the hull under progress). It was full afkuk mode for everyone. But the job is done, Shimmi looks gorgeous and we are now ready for the South Pacific. Shimmi has a new pair of panties and she will cut through the blue water like a hot knife through butter. Pheeew. Time for a beer.
 Time for a beer
next up: Galapagos
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January 20, 2010
We had a surprise visit today by none other than veteran Zag photographer, Chris Van Lennep. Although Van is now a successful Real Estate mogul we noticed the glint in his eye as he reminisced on his colorful photography career earlier today. After a quick count we calculated that Van has scooped 29 Zigzag covers published over the 80’s and 90’s. Methinks Van can quite easily round it off to 30 covers real soon – nudge nudge.
apiJanuary 19, 2010
 Cranking P-Land After a massive shop in the city of Pedregal, Panama, we were finally ready to head into the big blue. 15 Cases of beer, 40 packs of nappies, kilo’s and kilo’s of veggies, bags of flour, rice, pasta…. Spare parts for every mechanical device, from engines to sails…. But first we had to get out of the port of Pedregal, which lies 10 km’s up a brown river which snakes its way into Panama’s jungle. Its a scene straight from the movie Apocalypse Now.
This is Chantal’s take on what happened on the way out, when I decided take the “safer” and so-called recommended route back to the ocean: CHANTAL: At 5pm we are about 1/4 mile from the sea when the tip of our mast hits a telephone cable (between two telephone poles on either side of the river). I’m downstairs bathing Indie. Suddenly the boat grinds and shakes and I think we have hit the bottom, as the tide is now going out rapidly… Sprint upstairs. Oh my god. There’s a freaken cable around our mast. The whole boat is shaking and the mast is jirating badly. Golla throws the boat into reverse to try and reverse us against the current and let the cable go slack and drop off the mast…but the current is so strong that the engines can only keep us in the same position. The cable then snaps, with one end whipping the air about a meter above my head as the tension is released. It slides down the forestay and then gets hooked on the bow and across our railing. I am running around the foredeck waiting for the smallest sign of slack on the cable so that I can throw it off. Golla lets go of the wheel and charges forward to help, we get some slack but not enough and suddenly we are now about to hit a jetty with two speedboats on it. A speed boat driver checks the mayhem and gets his boat fired up. Not to help us, but to get his boat out of harms way. Golla sprints back to the helm, but wipes out on the trampoline. Utter chaos. Shimmi does a full 180 as the current pivots her around the cable. Now the cable is off the stanchions and over the port bow. I heave it off and Shimmi is free. But I can only watch helplessly as Shimmi goes ass first into the jetty. Then the engines roar, Golla has both throttles down, suddenly were are fine, back in the middle of the river.
 The Shimmi version of Playboy Mansion What the f*&%k just happened? It seems like no damage. The wind anemometer, vhf aerial and radar reflector seem to be fine up at the top. But we so nearly lost our whole rig. Golla still got to climb up the mast and check things out properly. Pheeeew. I run back down below to grab Indie and dry him off. He is still sitting where I left him.
But we are not our of the woods yet. After this f%$k-up we still have to negotiate the main event which is driving out of the river through a narrow exit of breaking surf. With our eyes glued to the depth sounder and adrenaline glands crying in pain, we eventually arrived at our anchorage near the rivermouth after dark. At 4am this morning we lifted anchor and set sail for Morro Negrito. This is the wave called P-Land. Golla is waxing up his big board as their are rumours of a cyclone swell. We must get the hell away from where we snapped the cable as we are not going to please explain to the local drug lord why his phone’s not working. What the hell that cable was doing strung up so low on a river used by yachts we will never know …And why had no other yacht hit it? The cable did look very new, so maybe it was just our bad luck. Our son Josh was watching Jungle Book during KILLER THE CABLE FIASCO and didn’t notice a thing.
Two hours later we arrived at firing P-Land. Nothing better than 12ft surf to calm the nerves.
next up:
Stranded on dry land
January 16, 2010
Surfers at a beach in Australia have managed to persuade the authorities to put up a sign with the basic rules of surfing. “The surfboard-shaped signs, posted at Manly Beach by Sydney’s Manly Council, instruct surfers to wait their turns and not “drop in” or “snake a wave,” The Sydney Morning Herald reported,†says UPI.com http://bit.ly/7iM7nw
I’ve realised in the many surfs I’ve had in Cape Town over this insane last month of swell, there are a lot of clueless AND selfish surfers out there. Snaking, dropping in, getting in the way and generally being ignorant and onbeskof. I guess this is nothing new, in fact I wrote an article about it in Zigzag in 2008, and in my narrative and quotes from some sources, the above signboard remedy was suggested.
 Vengeance for a snake or blatant drop in? Either way it's chaos out there thanks to hordes of ignorant goons who don't know the rules or long-time surfers who openly flaunt them. Are signposts on the beaches the answer? There have been a few amateur attempts at this over the years, but now the Aussies have done it officially. Whether the goons are going to heed it remains to be seen (and as we all know, some of the worst offenders are experienced surfers who should know better). I guess more focus on selfish attitudes in the water these days can only be a good thing though.
Personally, I’ve taken to calling out idiots who don’t wait their turn at spots where I know they aren’t locals. However, inevitably you are met with aggression, like the crackhead bodyboarder who snaked me at Dunes a while back and wanted to punch me out for questioning his logic.
I had been politely waiting my turn on a left bank. He reckoned he had the right to go on any peak he pleased. I asked him what would happen if he caught another, and then paddled on my inside. Would he then go AGAIN? What kind of selfish attitude is that? He foamed at the mouth and threatened to hit me, so I laughed at him and calmly told him he was so in the wrong, even if he was too dumb to realise it, and paddled away.
I’ve also taken to telling kooks to move to the inside or go in at spots where the waves are too heavy for their obviously inadequate skills. Most of the time they relent, although one guy was adamant he could “surf†before admitting he’d only done so in Holland and three foot Llandudno was far more powerful than he’d anticipated.
Whilst signs on the beach are all good, I think well-balanced experienced surfers also need to open their mouths more often, lest things get totally out of control (like a couple of violent incidents in Cape Town recently have) and remind people of the rules of the line up.
 How To Surf (like a decent, unselfish human) in South Africa I cover this whole topic in chapter three of my book ‘How To Surf’, so maybe you could do me (and the next asshole who snakes you) a favour and tell them to go buy it. For more info check out the page on my website http://bit.ly/5n7SWA
Aloha,
Milo
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January 15, 2010
eish but its so much of good to be here- had my first session- in the pool… funky winds this time of year- been catching up with the peeps, avoiding Kuta nightlife(not easy with the company im keeping!) either way- going for a paddle to wash the hangover away i forgot how lovely Bintang tastes- now i remember so its time to be a surfer again- all manner of chaos has erupted here at Villa Kayu since i arrived- hell of a thing keeping up with Justin and Brad- we had russian girls in organic bikinis and Brad in a leaf nappy doing the Tarzan and Jane around the pool, who said surfers just come to Indo to surf?
So the plan is to enjoy the luxuries of Bali while we can on the 25th we off on a hell mission! cant say where but its in an isolated part of Indonesia almost uninhabited- planes, boats and busrides away- me and Brad are off to scout it first and Mikala and Daniel Jones, Anthony Walsh and Mustofa Jenkins will then come join us…risks include one of the highest Malaria rates, and the most earthquakes in one specific area so it should make for an intersting trip!
apiJanuary 13, 2010
Damn but it feels so good to be outa South Africa! i thought this trip would never happen at times but here i am in Singapore en route to Indo for three months of hard work surfing my self stupid!
Lance Slabbert arrives tomorrow we all gona be staying with Brad Masters at Villa Kayu in Cianggu…
Word is that there’s a swell on the way so it looks like im gona have to go ride that evil left i got the cover on- oh man- Brad’s a flippin dedicated surf photographer with that typically secretive element- almost every trip i’ve done with him he never tells me where we actually going- his secrets are his secrets so i ask no questions and tell no lies! The whole month of February we on a trip near Papua New Guinea but still Indo- again thats all i know- so, stand by for loadsa sik pics and content…
January 11, 2010
Zigzag O Camp blog 4
The Oakley O Camp weekend ended with a bang. While the previous three days had been host to some excellent surfing, some fun waves, the drama of the burglary and the agony of lost images, the final dayut the whole thing into perspective. Sometimes a little perspective is all that we need.
At first it came across that Graeme Hynes was criticizing the riders a bit harshly, but it took some time for the reality of what he was saying to kick in.
“We all watched the video playbacks and studied the photos to see exactly what Hynesy was on about,†said Greg. “When we put it together – his opinions and the visual proof- we could see that what he was saying was true, and work on his input.â€
On the whole Greg was very happy with the way that the training camp had worked out. “There was quite an amazing difference to the surfing that was coming out after just a few days of training and coaching. Davey Weare was surfing so good by the time it was over that I thought he was surfing on a different board. He was going for big moves and big flares and had so much more confidence.
 Lungani was another surfer who showed great improvement from the weekend . © Kolesky/SanDisk The Eastern Cape is known to have some local surfers who really don’t like footage of their surfspots or mentions of their waves, so the Oakley crew tried to stay away from the well-known spots, and keep names out of press if necessary.
“The crew were super polite and well-mannered in the water and did their utmost not to take waves from any of the locals. We sent locals on waves whenever we could. We know most of the people here quite well, so there didn’t seem to be any drama. If there is a drama, I am always willing and available if people want to talk to me.â€
Royden Bryson was another member of the Oakley team who took a lot away from the weekend. Royden is world-renowned for his crazy big airs and flips and rotations and other future moves. During this weekend he just upped the ante, and by the end he was busting bigger and higher moves. “Royden was going massive by the end of the week. His moves were the most impressive by the end of the camp.â€
 Shaun blazing on his backhand © Kolesky/SanDisk The final morning saw the crew have a quick stretch and train on he beach before heading out so surf some fun and punchy lefts. “The last session was probably the best session, because we could see all the improvement in the surfers. We could see their focus and drive, and they were all trying so much harder, putting so much more effort into it,†said Emslie.
After a big and hearty breakfast it was debated as to whether they should all go out for one final quick session at the beachbreak. Some of the riders were keen but the vote went against the final surf for one simple reason – the team was surfed out.
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January 10, 2010
The third day of the Oakley O Camp in the Eastern Cape was yet another classic day on what has turned into a classic weekend.
First up was some fitness training and stretching for all the O Crew, with sports-specific instructor Lawrence Van Lingen putting everyone through their paces and making sure that they were nicely loose before the first session went down.
“Well, a weekend camp is really not enough time to do a fitness training camp at all, so instead we went the route of personalised routines for the athletes,†said Lawrence of the training side of the weekend. “We have been going down and using a program of dynamic flexibility to make sure that all the surfers are at a state of readiness before they paddle out for their first surf.â€
Difficult times, as these surfers and the rest of us have just come off a long and glorious summer holiday, so it can’t be expected to find these surfers in top form, or can it?
“Well, it’s not the right season for fitness yes, but these surfers are world-class athletes so it’s not like they’re not going to be fit at this time. It’s just that a training cycle usually starts at this time of the year, so not many people are going to be in the midst of a training regime right now.â€
 Lungani showing the benefits of fitness © Kolesky/SanDisk Lawrence went on to explain the reason for individual and personalised training and warming up programs. “These guys and girls are all so different, so we need to work out what their weaknesses are, and work on them. For Tammy we found that we needed to work on her breathing. Davey has worked hard and is very fit right now, so he needs to maintain that, and Shaun is incredibly naturally fit. He is younger and has the fitness of youth on him, but he still needs to learn training methods for the future.â€
“With increased fitness levels comes increased confidence. These guys will find that as they realise how fit they really and the fact that they are leaving no stones unturned with their personal quests for fitness, so they will feel that much more confident in the water. This is what makes people win heats. The very act of confidence is what beats people.â€
 Matt McGillivray is showing confidence that comes with fitness © Kolesky/SanDisk Another thing that Lawence has been working on is the problems and rigours that these people experience with all their long travel missions and time spent in planes and in airports.
“This crew know their own bodies. They know where they get sore, or which muscles stiffen up after a long session. They have to learn to work with these particular muscles or muscle groups, and self-treat themselves. So I have been teaching them how to self-treat themselves and relieve aches and stress in their bodies. As well as this, I have delved into stretching exercises and the best way to get into best shape as quickly as possible after a long flight. Those international flights really cramp your body, and these athletes need to release their bodies after such cramping.â€
 Davey stretched © Kolesky/SanDisk With the O-Camp drawing to a close it can only be described as a resounding success, with everyone very stoked with the way it has worked out.
api
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