SUPERHOME

With Mushy and Greg at Lagido in Portugal. © Joli

I know it’s been a while since my last post, a bit has happened. Did a two week stint in Portugal for the final leg of our Euro invasion: Supertubes came to life and there were some serious waves on hand. I’m back home now, feels really good to be back with the family in my own bed after two and a half months on the road. But that’s part of the job! I’ve got about three weeks until I head off for Pipe.

So it’s all about getting the right training in now before I jet off, get the lungs ready for some possible beat downs, get the confidence up to push myself just that much more, it’s an El Nino year so there could be some serious swells for this season. They’ve actually already had some serious waves hit the North Shore this winter and November has only just started!

If anything interesting happens while I’m home, will post it on the blog (davey-weare.blogspot.com/) Hopefully I can get some waves while I’m home cause I’ve actually had no waves at all this year. Missed all the swells that have hit Durban and when I’ve been on the road for events, we’ve pretty much had bad waves all year round too. So if you know of any good waves around, let me know!

Peace out,

Davey

Supertubes shot by Greg Pearson © http://davey-weare.blogspot.com/

 

CALIFORNICATION

With Dooma and Barry in CA. © http://davey-weare.blogspot.com

It’s Saturday arvo, I’m here in California, and it’s hot. Summer is still in full effect here! Had some really fun waves at Lowers yesterday with my Saffa friends, Barry Wolins and Damien ‘Dooma’ Fahrenfort. I swear that wave is possibly the most rippable wave in the world. It was such a treat to surf good waves on my first day in Cali; 3-4′ smackable lips, water was really warm, crowd was fairly thin, sun was out. All in all, a good day at the beach …

Spent three days beforehand in North Carolina with the Wolins family, they just recently relocated there from South Africa and it was really rad to see them nice and settled into their new home and environment. Tell you what, where I went to was a whole lot different to what I expected, in a good way. Really beautiful spot, good people and great break.

So I’m here now in Cali, be here until the 20th Sep. Out for the Hurley Pro at Lower Trestles. Have about two weeks now until it starts, so a good amount of time to try boards out and get used to the waves here. I must admit, I always enjoy coming out to the States, have a bunch of really good friends here, always have a good time and do sometimes get good waves.

If anything interesting happens in the next few days, will post it. Otherwise, all good in the hood here, looking forward to getting a few more lips and ramps out at lowers before most of the crew get here for the event, keep it real …

- Davey

Here’s a clip from Durban last year shot by Elton Fursman

SAA

These days it’s great to see airlines taking exceptional care with a man’s luggage. © Drake

So I just got back from a super-quick stint to the Gold Coast of Oz, couple fun waves but pretty small the whole time I was there. Was there for five days, and my boards only showed up on the 4th day. Got to love SAA, done five trips this year so far, only one of them my boards have actually arrived with me, not sure what the hell is happening but this is pretty pathetic.

But enough about that, home now for a week then off to Europe and the States for just under three months. Schedule looks like this; France for a week, States for a month, back to France for two weeks, Spain two weeks and then Portugal for two weeks.

So these next few days at home are going to be golden …

Later,

-Davey

After J-Bay I had to mission up to Johannesburg for the day to get my French (Schengen) visa. It’s actually pretty damn crazy how heavy it’s getting for South Africans now to travel: We literally need visas for almost every stop on tour, and the costs involved are pretty high too. Joys of being a Saffa, But the country we live in outweighs any visa issues!!! © davey-weare.blogspot.com

THE J-BAY GROMS

Just got sent this pic from a US photog, Reg Joiner, doing some charity work in SA and taking some pics in his off time. © davey-weare.blogspot.com

We had a Surf With The Pros day at The Point about two weeks ago with the local surf club and the WPS. Awesome experience, the kids were stoked, there were 2-3′ waves coming through. All in all, a good experience and great for the kids, ’cause at the end of the day, we were all like them, starting out and just frothing to surf and looking up to the pros.

The groms were out in a flash and only came in when they smelt the braai cooking.

What’s been rad is that the WPS have organized this throughout the world; whenever we have World Tour events on we get the local club involved and the pros spend about three hours with the kids to surf with them, sign posters, give advice and it’s just a solid, cool day.

Peace,

Davey

Nice shot from Joli a couple of months back, taking the boat out to the reef in Tahiti with Damo and Dunny. © Joli

ILLUSTRATED MAN

Well, my addiction got the better of me yesterday and I added to my last tattoo: to finish off my half sleeve. It’s now down to just above my elbow. There were definitely times of excruciating pain going down, especially by my armpit, but the end result was worth it.

Got tattooed at Electric Eye Tattoo in Umhlanga Rocks, only about a 5 min drive from my house, and I’ve probably had about 85% of my tatts done there. Most of them by Mully (Malcom Hilton), the owner and world-renowned artist, but this latest one was done by Gavin Rowe.

Mully recently just brought him back from Ireland, where he spent 8 years tattooing around the UK, but now he’s back in SA for good. Both these artists are amazing, I’m still blown away at how well these guys tattoo, the detail and images they come up with is crazy! Just want to send a big shout out to them, thanks for the good (and painful) times and the ink!

Added some pics from yesterday’s latest addition, Mully is the one in the green shirt and Gavin is the one tattooing. Anyone in Durban who wants to get tatted up should head down to their shop .

Until the next one, you can check my personal site at www.davey-weare.blogspot.com

- Davey

NEW FORMAT

Sean Rowland from Surfline sent me through this sequence from my Round 1 heat at Teahupoo.

(Check my new site out, http://www.davey-weare.blogspot.com/) © Rowland

Just got clipped as I was coming out of this one, probably would have changed the heat result had I have stayed on my board.

That’s the problem with the new format the ASP and certain event sponsors have come up with, no more second chances. Not too many surfers are happy with this new format.

Either all the 45 should start from the same round, no preferential seeding for the top 16 but have the straight knock out from Round 1 or go back to the old format, 3-man Round 1 heats, but use the Kelly format with it. There are ways around it …

My opinion, this new format is not the way to go, it’s been tried and tested and it sucked so hopefully companies see this and listen to the surfers and make some better changes.

- Davey

NO BOARDS … AGAIN

Fortunately Ben Dunn had a spare board. © Joli

So I made it to Tahiti safely, was a marathon of a trip though, got to love layovers, but arrived safe and sound. But once again, no boards. Apparently they never even left Johannesburg when I flew out. I reckon it means nothing if your bags have platinum frequent flyer cards on them or even those priority stickers they put on with your boarding tags.

It just gets a bit irritating when you go to an event earlier to put in some time there and you don’t have your boards to surf … awesome!!!!!! Thanks SAA!!! Thankfully, Ben Dunn has hooked me up with one of his 6′4″s so at least I can get in the water. The other thing is my boards are only getting here Friday, and I arrived in Tahiti last Sunday!!!

Papa Teva. © billyo/pbase

Anyways, we here now at Papa Teva’s spot, you rent yourself a bed in their house and they feed you three meals a day, kinda like a boarding house on the water. A great family, but they battle to speak the best English so it can be pretty damn funny at times trying to ask them questions or explain things to them.

The Trials for the Billabong Pro started today, surf is in like the 6ft range, so I’ve been told, have not made it out to Chopes this morning as we’ve been trying to get the boat started that we use for our runs to the line up. The wind is up already so I’d say be a pretty difficult time out at the famous Teahupoo right now.

They say there could be waves for the start of the waiting period but we’ll just have to wait and see, they’re predicting 6-8′ but the wind could be an issue.

If anything interesting happens, will blog it, so until my next post …

By the way, just to let you all know, the address to my personal site has changed to davey-weare.blogspot.com/

- Davey

THE COUNTDOWN BEGINS

Rocky Rights at the end of last year. © Joli

This year is definitely flying by. January has come and gone, but already some good stuff has gone down. I just finished a solid three-day training camp up at my trainer’s spot in Ballito (north of Durban).

A good mix of boxing/ yoga/ swimming/ gym etc, to get ready for the opener later this month. He’s got me on a really great program for the year, I’m feeling strong and fit and super amped and just really stoked I have such a passionate guy helping me with my campaign for 2009! Check out his website at www.russelwhite.co.za

From the recent training camp. My trainer is the one in the middle and the guy holding the punching pads is Andre, a boxing instructor and former Sharks rugby player. © www.biltsurf.com

I’ve been getting some amazing boards off Elton Fursman so far this year, he’s been a real trooper over the years with all the time and effort he’s put into my career. I owe him big time. We’ve made some slight adjustments to my last year’s specs and the results are feeling great. One really good thing about Elton as a shaper is that if you ask him to do something, he does it. I’ve asked a few shapers over the years to do certain things to boards and you get something else, but he really puts a lot into each of his shapes and the boards speak for themselves.

Another person who’s really been helping me and I couldn’t have achieved half the things I’ve achieved or got to where I’m at right now is my wife Jayde. She’s been such a solid rock in everything I do, been behind me 100% of the way and I really do take my hat off to her for all that she does for me.

Less than three weeks til I’m off to the Goldy … the countdown begins!

One of the best things about surfing a contest at Coolangatta is there will only be a couple of guys in the water at any one time. © Joli

- Davey

2009 SEEDINGS

Here’s a photo from the day Emmo and myself requalified!!! © www.biltsurf.blogspot.com/

The new 2009 ASP World Tour Top 45 Seeds have just been released, and I’ve been seeded at 34th for the tour opener! Last time I made the CT, I finished 13th on the WQS that year and I think I was seeded for the start at 42nd, so it’s a nice jump up and what’s better is I now have less chance of drawing a top 10 surfer from last year.

Good times…was great to have Seth Hulley and Cuan Petersen with us on that day, good solid support crew in the mix and on the beach. © www.biltsurf.blogspot.com

On a bit of a break right now, just got myself a new tattoo last week so I’m letting it heal before I get back in the water. Will be heading off to Cape Town the day after Christmas, and when I get back it’s straight into the new training schedule and preparation for the assault on the 2009 WCT!!!!!!

Here is the latest Bilt ad that’ll be in the surf mags coming out now – was a pretty funny shoot, I TKO’d Dooma (Damien Fahrenfort) after this shot was taken. © www.biltsurf.blogspot.com

Will post up a pic of my new ink once it’s healed, until then, enjoy the festivities and have fun!

And by the way, you can check out other updates right here – www.biltsurf.blogspot.com

- Davey