Surf Ninja – Haydn Mac Nicol

Bazley Beach on the KZN south coast was the training ground for this week’s Surf Ninja. You couldn’t ask for a better place to learn your wave slaying skills. Away from the buzz of the city, its easy to focus on shredding. Better still is if your family own one of the sickest caravan parks right on the beach, and every holiday the party comes to you.

That’s where Haydn Mac Nicol learnt his skills both in and out of the water. Of course, the lure of the bright lights of the city did eventually call, but as a young shredder he had the ultimate playground.

Doing stuff like this…

NAME: Haydn Mac Nicol
AGE: 23
LOCAL SPOT: Town

BEST THING ABOUT SURFING?
That feeling you get from going for a big air or pulling into a barrel is unparalleled. The joy you get from having a session with your friends and family is also one of the best things about surfing.

WORST THING ABOUT SURFING?
Bluebottles; Jocks or hipsters trying to surf for the image; Rashes – in that order.

TO MAKE A LIVING I…
I run Creative Industries: a Durban based company that specializes in branding and website development. It gets in the way of my surfing addiction quite a bit though.

THREE TRACKS THAT HELP YOU SHRED?
Gorillaz – Feel Good Inc. ( Riot 86 remix)

Rolling Stones – Paint it Black
P.O.D – Here comes the boom

BEST SURFER IN THE WORLD RIGHT NOW?
Jordy is the best in my opinion, but my favourite surfer at the moment is Chippa Wilson. I really enjoy watching his approach to aerial surfing.

DAWNIE OR ARVO SESH?
Probably an arvo session because that is generally when the bowls starts working, plus you would have had the whole day to get amped for it.

WHICH SURF SPOT DO YOU HAVE TO SURF BEFORE YOU DIE?
Le Jetty, St Pierre, Reunion. (The right from Modern Collective & Bending Colours.)

WHEN YOU ARE NOT SURFING, YOU CAN BE FOUND WHERE?
Having a good time, training at Health & Fitness Solutions or collecting stamps.

BIGGEST FEAR?
I don’t have any real fears, I just really hate frogs.

BEST SURFING MEMORY?
It’s either the one wave I had at Backdoor in 2006, where I dropped in late and got one of the biggest barrels of my life. Or my very first barrel at Tubes in J-Bay, when my dad had to push me into the wave because I was too small to paddle in myself. It was probably only three foot, but I claimed it for quite some time. You never forget a moment like that.