Casey Grant – Double barrel and carve
Surfer: Casey Grant / Videographer: Jodie Maine-Baillie
Description: Casey Grant slots himself into two throaty barrel sections and splits them with a big carve.
Chad Marais talks us through his crazy Rifles pit
Weskus local Chad Marais has just recently returned from a pumping Mentawais boat trip. During a ledging session at 8-foot Rifles, Chad caught this absolute screamer of a pit which he’s entered into the May leg of the Oakley One Wave Wonder. With the memory of the barrel still buzzing around in his head, we caught up with the hard-charging Capetonian to talk us through the ride.
Zag: Howzit Chad, looks like you got a couple waves during your Mentawais trip bru?
Chad: For sure! I’ve heard of ous that go to the Ments and get ‘skunked’ but it just doesn’t really make sense! There are SO many different waves that work on the slightest hint of a swell – sometimes all you need is a pushing tide and you’ll end up with a super fun little 3 footer that will be better than most sessions you’d have at your local break back home. I guess you just need a good boat and surf guide – good job All Aboard. But ja, we had plenty waves – most days it was somewhere in the 4-to-5-foot region, with a couple of 8-foot days thrown in to keep us honest. There was only one day (out of 11) that was pretty poor by Mentawais standards, and thats just because there was a stiff onshore – but even then it was 4-foot and fun.
Tell us about your 1WW entry wave in particular. Judging by Caide’s commentary it looks like you guys had just motored over to Rifles. Was it your first wave of the session?
We’d just finished up at grinding 8 foot-plus Bank Vaults – only a few guys on the boat paddled out there, because that wave is overboard heavy and shifty when it’s big. One snapped board and a very stoked Dan Rabie later we opted to motor across to Rifles to see what was cracking.
When we pulled up it didn’t really look like it was on, but I’ve scored Rifles every time I’ve been to the Ments and I’m starting to learn its moods – the other guys sat on the boat and waited to see what the sets were doing, but before we’d dropped anchor I was already cruising out into the lineup. When that set came I wanted to be on it, I wasn’t gonna sit there and let it come through unridden – turns out it was a good call.
At first it had a funny side warble on it – I think there was a weird secondary swell that was running at the time, so it wasn’t perfect Rifles, but there were still waves. I stroked into the first one that pulled through and didn’t even make the drop. The warble was creating a gnarly rib moving up the point, which wedged directly under me and flung me forward a good couple of meters – I ate it kiff! It turns out that was to my benefit though, because by this time the other guys on the boat had taken the dingy into the lineup for closer inspection – they saw me eat it hard, checked the warble messing the wave up and all decided to head back to the boat.
Just as they all got back to the boat, that wide set pulled through – perfect timing, because Dan had taken out the camera to do the “Daily Report” with Caide, then that beast pulled through! At first I was scratching just to get out of its way. It was well wide and I was pretty sure I was out of position. But it slowed up for just a second and gave me a tiny window to turn and get onto the thing. Stoked I didn’t chicken out.
So ja, I scratched in hard, got to my feet and then realized I hadn’t turned the GoPro on – it was on my wrist, and you’ll check in the vid I do a bottom turn that seems to go on forever. I was actually fiddling with the GoPro, but it didn’t count for anything in the end, because all you see in that footage is lip, knee, water, board, lip, foot, water, knee – I’ve yet to master the whole “hold GoPro behind your right shoulder” vibe – next trip though!
The first section was pretty standard Rifles – perfect, glassy, reeling and as round as ever, but then that side warble pulled onto the face and the thing went mutant over me – almost made like a little step. I kakked! Re-adjusted my line and got as close to the face as I could. Then the second section just went ballistic and threw a good two meters past me, but it was so wide and so perfect that you honestly could have set up a tent inside it. As I started thinking it was about to end, another warble pulled up the face and made it throw out even further and harder – it almost had like a wedge effect. By that time I was just like “WHAT-is-going-on-here!?” – then it spat past me hard and I started to squeal like an excited little school girl – you’ll hear that on the clip too. Ja, that thing was too epic!
Beyrick de Vries – North coast tube & air reverse bash
Surfer: Beyrick de Vries / Videographer: Annie de Vries
Description: Beyrick tucks into a long, tight tube and completes the ride with a big reverse bash.
Dylan Lightfoot – Superman at Supertubes
Surfer: Dylan Lightfoot / Videographer: Shannon Ainslie
Description: Dylan carves up a Supers wall during a recent swell and punts a Superman air to finish.
Matt MacGillivray – Supertubes barrel and alley oop
Surfer: Matt MacGillivray / Videographer: Shannon Ainslie
Description: Eastern Cape grom Matt MacGillivray gets tubed and sticks a clean alley oop at Supers.
Jordy Smith – Tearing apart a Cape wedge
Surfer: Jordy Smith / Videographer: Steve Michelsen
Description: Jordy gets to work on a wedgy Cape wall and smashes a big air reverse to finish.
Chad Marais – Big barrel at Rifles in the Mentawais
Surfer: Chad Marais / Videographer: Dan Rabie
Description: Chad Marais gets shacked on a bomb set during an empty Rifles session while Caide Oxland provides running commentary.
Shawn Dennis – Clean Backhand Pit
Surfer: Shawn Dennis / Videographer: Jody Main-Baillie
Description: Shawn lines one up and gets a hollow backhand pit.
Gavin Roberts – Effortless Barrel & Big Carve
Surfer: Gavin Roberts / Videographer: Jody Main-Baillie
Description: Gavin effortlessly pulls-in on take-off and comes out to destroy the wall.
Russ Sadler – Solid Tube & Snap
Surfer: Russ Sadler / Videographer: Jody Main-Baillie
Description: Russ carves hard and gets slotted on a clean right.
Grant Baker – Big slab barrel at The Right, Australia
Surfer: Grant “Twiggy” Baker / Photographer: Russell Ord
Description: Twiggy gets towed into a thick barrel at one of the world’s heaviest slabs, The Right in Australia.
Diran Zakarian – Lofty backside air
Surfer: Diran Zakarian / Videographer: Tammy Meyer
Description: Diran attempts, then lands a lofty backside air at the New Pier bowl during the Quik Pro Junior expression session.
Dale Staples – epic ride at Supertubes
Surfer: Dale Staples / Videographer: Dane Staples
Description: Dale gets pitted numerous times on this perfect Supertubes set.
Guy Morgan – tube time in Sumbawa
Surfer: Guy Morgan / Videographer: Claude Gervais
Description: KZN south coast local, now Indo surf guide Guy Morgan gets shacked silly in Sumbawa.
Guy Morgan – Indo barrel
Surfer: Guy Morgan / Videographer: Claude Gervais
Description: Guy hides from the Indo sun with a deep shack at a reeling left reef break.
Neil Zietsman – GoPro POV tube
Surfer: Neil Zietsman / Videographer: Neil Zietsman
Description: Neil gives the GoPro POV of his thick tube at a Cape Town beachbreak.
Shaun Joubert – Thick slab pit at the Box, Western Australia
Surfer: Shaun Joubert / Videographer: Jay Grant
Description: Shaun snags a thick slab barrel at the Box in Western Australia.
Llewellyn Whittaker – Mossel Bay shredding
Surfer: Llewellyn Whittaker
Description: Llewellyn whacks some big turns on a walled-up right in Mossel Bay.
Adin Jeenes – Cape beachbreak tube
Surfer: Adin Jeenes / Videographer: Jerome Mosetic
Description: Adin weaves through a perfect barrel at a barreling Cape Town beachie.
Dave Richards – Huge Double grab punt
Surfer: Dave Richards / Videographer: Allan Robb
Description: Dave Richards punts, grabs and sticks a huge forehand air.
Jordy Maree – Long Beach pit and carve
Surfer: Jordan Maree / Videographer: Llewellyn Whittaker
Description: Young Jordy Maree rips apart a Long Beach left with a pit and a solid carve.
Oakley One Wave Wonder: We Have A March Winner!
Due to the sheer number of quality entries uploaded this month – thanks in no small part to cyclone Irina’s ridiculous barrels – we predicted that the votes were going to be split evenly amongst a couple of the bigger and better tubes ridden during the swell. That was before Brendon Gibbens came along and threw a massive full rotation spanner in the works. In a unanimous vote, all five of the Oakley One Wave Wonder judges claimed BG’s air reverse clip as this month’s winner, along with a big chunk of the voting public.
Brendon becomes the second finalist in line to win the grand prize for “Ride of the Season” and shares the R15 000 monthly cash prize with videographer Alan Robb for nailing this ridiculous fully-rotated air reverse that BG stuck without the use of training wheels.
We grilled the One Wave Wonder judge’s on how they came to their decision.
“I’m the old guy who is expected to vote for the best barrel or the biggest wave,” said Jonathan Paarman. “Having said that, young Brendon’s wave, or more specifically that one move, blew me away. It’s hard for me to imagine doing such a move, twisting and spinning like that, whereas it is easy enough to envisage a big tube or a massive drop and bottom turn. It might be this very reason that the move has the biggest ‘wow’ factor for me personally.”
“This month was extremely tough to call a winner out of my top entries” said Alan van Gysen. “At a quick glance, Gibben’s air, Roosta’s barrel and Shawn Dennis’s pigdog barrel were all equally impressive to me and all exuded the wow factor. After a second round of close scrutiny it was Shawn Dennis vs Brendon Gibbens, but which was closer to technically flawless and the ultimate winner? After numerous sessions of ruthless analysis I felt that Brendon Gibbens was the most controlled and radical, and that he deserves the win for March.”
Wok summed it up succinctly, saying “That air is bullsh-t!”
Craig Jarvis, another of the 1WW judges, had the following to say: “I recently spent two weeks in Australia watching the best surfers in the world in action at the Quiksilver Pro Snapper Rocks. I watched every heat and I watched hours of these surfers going all-out in free sessions at Duranbah without the constraints of the contest rubric. With that perspective, the move that Brendon pulls off is exceptional and the likes of such moves are not pulled off very often by the best surfers in the world, who are surfing on top of their game.”
“This month was exceptionally hard to pick out a winner simply because there were so many entries that left me slack-jawed” confirmed Calvin Bradley. “When I narrowed it down I had three clips all tied for first place – Shawn Dennis, Twiggy’s one where he pumps in the pit, and Brendon Gibbens’. So I had to do a tie-breaker. I based my final call on which surfer showed, in my opinion, the most amount of skill on their ride. Coming out on top was Brendon Gibbens’ massive no-grab full rotation air reverse. Every time I watch that clip I still can’t believe he stuck that.”
David Burrows wins the prize for the best U16 groom clip submitted over the month, with some solid shredding down in the Boland, and earns himself a custom shape from the legendary Spider Murphy for blowing up.
Entries are open again for the April leg of the Oakley One Wave Wonder, and it’s anyone’s game.
It’s that time of the month – Voting kicks off
It’s that time of the month again. Voting for the second leg of the Oakley One Wave Wonder kicked off yesterday (Sunday 26 March) and will run until midnight on Saturday 31 March. The winner of this leg will claim the R15 000 monthly prize as well as join Matt Bromley’s crazy Backdoor barrel in the finals, where it will be in with a shout at the grand prize of R30 000 cash, a Yamaha Waverunner valued at over R120 000, as well as a trip for two to Macaronis surf resort for the videographer who captured it, made possible by All Aboard Surf Travel.
There’s been a whack of incredible tuberide entries this month – thanks mainly to cyclone Irina sending heaving beachbreak pits to Durban’s golden mile. But there’s also been some massive airs and shredding breaking up the barrels, and it’s going to be interesting to see how the votes swing.
The panel of five One Wave Wonder judges will vote for their favourite ride, with each of their votes counting 10% of the overall decision, while the public has the remaining 50% stake in the outcome and with the judges’ votes expected to be heavily split at the end of this leg, your vote may just be the deciding vote, sending your favourite clip through to the final.
Watch the edit below of some of the best entries this month, then click here to head on over to the Oakley One Wave Wonder site, and go cast your vote.
Quinton Shabalala – Slotted at New Pier
Surfer: Quinton Shabalala / Videographer: Kate Lovemore
Description: Shabs slots himself into a thick one at New Pier during cyclone Irina.
Josh Redman – Spitting Backdoor shack
Surfer: Josh Redman / Videographer: Dom Hadlow
Description: Big Josh splits a peak with Kelly Slater and gets a spitting Backdoor shack.
Grant “Twiggy” Baker – Big stand-up Durban pit
Surfer: Grant “Twiggy” Baker / Videographer: Kate Lovemore
Description: Twiggy stands tall through another heaving cyclone Irina tube.
Mikey Venter – Frontside reverse bash
Surfer: Mikey Venter / Videographer: Llewellyn Whittaker
Description: Mikey whacks a vicious frontside reverse bash on the closeout section.
Dylan Lightfoot – Mad closeout reverse
Surfer: Dylan Lightfoot / Videographer: Llewellyn Whittaker
Description: Dylan punishes the end section with a big 360 slam.
Brendon Gibbens – No grab, full rotation air reverse
Surfer: Brendon Gibbens / Videographer: Alan Robb
Description: BG punts and sticks a massive full rotation air reverse without the training wheels, no grab…
Andrew “Roosta” Lange – Toying with the foamball on a BIG Durban tube
Surfer: Andrew “Roosta” Lange / Videographer: Kate Lovemore
Description: Roosta rides over the foamball on this big, deep Durban tube.
Grant “Twiggy” Baker – Deep, dark Durban barrel
Surfer: Grant “Twiggy” Baker / Videographer: Kate Lovemore
Description: Twiggy flies through a long and fast Durban barrel during cyclone Irina.
Adin Jeenes – GoPro Cape Town beachie keg
Surfer: Adin Jeenes / Videographer: Jerome Mosetic
Description: Adin tucks into a hollow Cape beachbreak keg.
Chad du Toit – Air reverse and turn combo
Surfer: Chad du Toit / Videographer: Jason Pender
Description: Chad hucks a big air reverse and finishes with some good turns on the inside section.
Deon Lategan – Supertubes GoPro tuberide
Surfer: Deon Lategan / Videographer: Deon Lategan
Description: Deon scores a sick GoPro tuberide at Supertubes
“I scored the wave of the morning and got spat out of a sweet barrel, only to over fade for the second section and have the barrel run away from me… bummed!” – Deon Lategan
Chad du Toit – Solid New Pier tube
Surfer: Chad du Toit / Photographer: Lauren Herbst
Description: Chad catches a seriously thick wave at New Pier and pulls in.
The Oakley 1WW judges tell us what they’re looking for, grom winner Adin Masencamp tells us how stoked he is
Matt Bromley is 1/5th of the way to winning about R150k worth of prizes. Matt won both the reader votes and the judges’ votes in the first month, so he’s must have done something right. If you’re entering the Oakley One Wave Wonder, then you’re probably interested to know what it is that he did right. So we asked the judges to tell us how/where/why they chose last month’s winner. Because as the old saying goes, it’s impossible to build the future without knowing the past.
John Paarman: (chose the Bromley wave)
Twiggy’s Mavericks drop and cover up were intense, but Matt’s wave at Backdoor grabbed me. It had the everything I am looking for in an entry; solid wave, great execution, beautiful water colour and nicely captured angle
Jarvi: (chose the Bromley wave)
I love the fact that Matt is lurking amongst the pack, looking for a gap. He sees the gap when the other dude opts to go left, and then he just totally commits. It’s a thick wave and Matt shows style and composure all the way through the sections. The angle is slightly from the side, looking in, and if you know Backdoor it’s obvious that Matt is deep deep. The final barrel section is just the cherry on top. Twiggy at Mavs is also sick, and I really liked Matt Pallet’s tight, funnelling secret spot tube, but Matt gets my vote.
Dave Weare: (Chose Bromley wave)
I choose Matt Bromley at Backdoor. It was a huge tussle between Twiggy at Pea’hi and Bromley at Backdoor. Twiggy’s wave is huge and windy and definitely extremely gnarly and life threatening! Bromley’s was intense and a big long pit at Backdoor. I watched both these clips over 20 times each to make this call. It came down to who’s shoes would I rather be in on both these waves and Bromley gets my nod. Just my opinion.
Alan van Gysen: (Chose Bromley wave)
Matt’s ride had the wow factor for me, and it jumped out and demanded my attention. It was an excellently executed ride at a heavy wave with serious pressure from the local crowd.
We also caught up with grom winner Adin Masencamp to ask him about his campaign in the Oakley One Wave Wonder, and the new Safari board that he’s just won:
Introduce yourself for those readers who don’t yet know who Adin Masencamp is.
I am a 12 year-old grom surfer that spends every second thinking about surfing. My home break is Strand, but I’m always trying to get around the coast to surf as many different types of waves as possible. I’m currently a team rider for O’Neill, Blank surfboards and Natural Energy surf shop. I’m the current u/13 South African Champion and plan on defending my title at the S.A Champs at the end of the year in this same age division. I’m super focused and put a lot of effort into my training, and stoked to be getting extra coaching from Llewellyn Whittaker. I have my provincial colours in surfing, swimming and junior life saving, but my true passion is surfing. My life goal is to be on the WCT and win a couple of world titles.
Well you’re starting on the right foot. Dropping your sponsors name at every turn is a skill that will serve you well. Tell us about that wave, do you remember it?
It was such a sick set! I waited a while for that one and when it came through I was in the perfect position, on the inside. I took off just behind Peanut and the wave just bowled up, allowing me to do some powerful carves in the pocket. It had a last bowl to it at the end of the wave, and I pulled in and got a little cover up. I pulled out and spun off the back of the wave and knew that I had a shot at the 1wavewonder. A photographer also got some awesome shots of my wave, so I was stoked.
Your vid ends with “focus, trust, believe”. What’s that about?
My coach Llewellyn Whittaker always tells me to FTB – focus on what I want to achieve and what I plan to do, trust in my abilities and in God, and believe I can do it. It really helps me to get amped on giving my all and to get in the zone, especially for contests.
Stoked with the board?
Yeah, I’m so stoked to be winning a custom shaped board from Spider. Shot Spider!
Dave Weare said the following of your wave when we asked the judges for a call: “A full complete wave, showing a lot of maturity through his turns, laying it on the rail with some style and only 12 yrs old, very impressive.” How does that make you feel?
It’s insane to hear feedback like that – coming from a pro like Davey that’s been on tour and gone where I want to go with my surfing – that just amps me up even more.
Are we going to see any more Oakley One Wave Wonder entries from you?
For sure! I get so amped on good surf, and I want every wave to be a 1ww, I just need to make sure the cameras are always rolling. – Adin
Check out Adin’s grom division winning ride below:
Shawn Dennis – Long pigdog shack at the New Pier
Surfer: Shawn Dennis / Videographer: Pablo Ponzone
Description: Shawn grips his rail and pigdogs his way through an epic New Pier tube.
Dave Weare – Long New Pier funnel
Surfer: Dave Weare / Videographer: Pablo Ponzone
Description: Dave gets shacked right across the beach and kicks out by the pumphouse
Luke Patterson – Shacked on the KZN North Coast
Surfer: Luke Patterson / Videographer: Jamie Laroque
Description: Luke grabs his rail and pigdogs his way through a thick KZN North Coast left.
Jason Ribbink – Big tow-in pit and power carve
Surfer: Jason Ribbink / Videographer: Pablo Ponzone
Description: Jason gets whipped into another long gaping barrel and finishes with a powerful carve.
Grant ‘Twiggy’ Baker – New Pier tube
Surfer: Grant Baker / Videographer: Darren de Wet
Description: Twiggy slides through a muddy New Pier box.
Jason Ribbink – Perfect tow-in ride at North Beach
Surfer: Jason Ribbink / Videographer: Darren de Wet
Description: Jason Ribbink lets go of the rope, fades left then backdoors a very large North Beach barrel during cyclone Irina.
Josh Redman – Backdoor barrel
Surfer: Josh Redman
Description: Big Josh Redman snags a solid Backdoor Pipe tube.
Jason Ribbink – Muddy tow-in tube
Surfer: Jason Ribbink / Videographer: Larnce Mostert
Description: Jason scores another impossibly deep tow-in pit during cyclone Irina.
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Upload stage now ON for the May leg of the Oakley One Wave Wonder.
May 2, 2012: The Public Have Spoken – APRIL OAKLEY 1WW WINNER
April 24, 2012: Twiggy Drops a Bomb Late Entry into April Leg of the Oakley 1WW
April 12, 2012: April Entries Start Rolling In