Have I Become a Weekend Warrior? – by Gavin Oosterwyk

With two kids, his own blossoming business and ‘life’ just getting in the way, this is a question Gavin Oosterwyk has been asking himself a lot recently. ‘Have I Become a Weekend Warrior?’ is Gavin’s entry into Write To Surf – Zag’s surf journo competition with epic prizes by Billabong up for grabs (see details below).

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HAVE I BECOME A WEEKEND WARRIOR? – by: Gavin Oosterwyk

I have been giving this sentiment some serious thought over the past few weeks, well actually longer than that but more so these past few weeks. This was highlighted when my family and I went away for seven days early August sometime. It was a great little break, not just one of our occasional long weekends away, which in all honesty are more hard work than holidaying when you have two kids and spend more than half of the time driving, packing and shouting at the young ones… I am sure a few can relate.

Seven days, 10 surfs, braais, having a blast with the kids and wife, just chilling. This was our first real break in a while and I actually felt relaxed and ready to klap the rest of the year, as opposed to feeling that you needed another holiday after coming back from one.

Since then, however, I think I’ve only had two or three surfs the next month and found myself rearranging my boards on my racks in the shed, making sure that my stuff is all ready to go when the the time comes to make a mission. But there’s always something that comes up or needs to be sorted. My son has extra murals on Friday evening and Saturday mornings, so my Friday evening missions are out as well as my early Saturday mornings just before the family realises I’m out are out, which leaves me with not much of a weekend left to mission as the other half (should be saying better here…) wants to do stuff, together… I run my own business, which I thought would open up a bit more time to squeeze in a couple sneaky surfs during the week, but it just doesn’t work out that way as your sole function is to make the business work in the early stages and it consumes most of your time. But I suppose the time will come when there is that freedom to just gooi when it’s cooking.

So this is my dilemma, but is it? It has actually become less and less of an issue for me these days, as I think I’m probably going to appreciate my time in the water a bit more. And the wife knows how much I am missing it, so she is actually starting to push me to go check it out. She even checks in with me to find out if there is going to be waves when she is planning something, and as Murphy would have it there has been nothing really worth giving up time with my kids for. It does, however, mean that you settle sometimes for mediocre, crowded conditions because you can’t chance spending extra time missioning around looking for something better and a bit less crowded.

I know for a fact, though, that when stars align and my local is on, I will be ready. What inevitably will go down is that I will paddle for everything in sight that first 20 minutes, get irritated, tell the okes in the water that it has been a long time and I am so unfit, before eventually catching a couple of good ones.

Weekend Warrior, swell chaser, two-to-three times a week charger… Whatever and however you are doing it, the main thing is that when it happens it’s freakin’ awesome, and when it’s earned it’s even better!

Click here to check out all the published stories from our Write To Surf competition.

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THE FINEPRINT:
Send your stories to calvin@zigzag.co.za. One submission will be selected every six weeks to appear in Zigzag magazine. The selected submission will also receive a hamper from Billabong. At the end of the year, we will select and send one aspirant journalist from the competition on an all expenses paid assignment for a major feature in Zigzag. Zigzag retains the right to use any work submitted for the Zag Surf Journo competition on zigzag.co.za as outlined in the rules and terms of the competition. Zigzag reserves the right not to award a published winner in the magazine every six weeks, depending on the quality of entries. Zigzag is not obligated to run any and all entries submitted, either online or in print. Zigzag retains the right to edit all work submitted for brevity and / or clarity. Please note: Prize hampers will only be delivered within South Africa.

The Billabong prize hamper includes: 1 x Billabong Wetsuit; 1 x Billabong Hoodie; 1 x Billabong Cap; 1 x Von Zipper Sunnies; 2 x Da Kine traction pads.