2018, here we go!
January 30, 2018
Bonaire Brunotti Shoot
April 30, 2018
As my plane soared over Cape Town I shed a couple of tears catching a glimpse of table mountain again after a year. It’s so beautiful! Once outside, Gollo and Amado were waiting for me. It was going to be a mostly Caribbean house on this trip! Super laid-back and fun, but it also meant we’d be late for everything haha. When Amado and Gollo got on the water though it was like watching cirque du soleil, and they would go back and forth outdoing each other forever. It is really incredible to watch.
I might have found my match in Oda with her being ready to wrestle, virtually ALL the time. She overpowered me over and over again though. I’m blaming my brother for not training his little sister as well as Oda’s brother’s have. That only means I’m going into undercover Ninja training for the next time I meet her. She won’t even know what hit her. I’ve been thinking about Ninja names: Super loud and deadly, Swift smoove operator terminator, Samurai SQ, Kabi karate kuchi kid. I don’t know. Haven’t decided yet.
A highlight of our days was playing squash at the gym we were going to almost every day. I think we have established a bit of a ranking. Amado is definitely up there, he only beat me because I was scared his racquet would knock me out ( his racquet slipped out of his hand twice and just trimmed the top of my fro’ a little) Gollo, is ranked number one in thinking up the best excuses and stealing points, but also ranked number one in determination. I am ranked top girl. But was also the only one playing haha. Anyway even though emotions ran quite high on the court, squash was always a great get away from the water.
I’ve had some mishaps here and there: damaging my boards, one from a too flat landed pushloop and one because my board bag flew off the roof of my car, in the middle of the night, on the highway. No casualties thank goodness! We got pulled over by the police because we were driving “wrecklessly” in rawsonville on the way to Brandvlei. They meant because we didn’t come to a complete stop at the stop sign with zero traffic in sight). I did the most end-over stalled forward of my life and was shaking for a good while after that. The lion’s head climb of death when I hadn’t eaten anything before it, but did shot a double espresso before making my way up, boy my heart was doing interval sprint practice, beating out of my chest all the while I struggled to get to the top, but the sunset was worth it!
I’ve overcome my fear of driving through tunnels, I still haven’t tried a double forward, but am starting to love the feeling of going as high as possible on pushloops and I don’t mind stalling a bit longer before the forwards. Out of all the freestyle sessions I had, there were probably only two really good ones. Once I finally tuned my gear right, I would be SO stoked on sailing! I haven’t really landed any new moves, but I’m definitely more consistent on port tack and all the power moves have a bit more height to them.
Oh Sharks of course ! I haven’t seen any.
Well, the only incident was during that one (and only) Sup session with Lena when locals whistled at us, shouting “ shark, Shark!” Until then I was very unstable on my new, smaller sup board. Believe me when I say that the word shark, inspired me to find my inner stability! I paddled like a pro and made it in at the speed of lightning.
Speaking of lightning. I had two starstricken..starstruck.. starstrucken (??)
(whatever you want to call it!) moments in cape town.
The first one was USAIN freaking BOLT. Our friend Marvellous ( Yes he’s called Marvellous! I still can’t get over that name and absolutely love it) had to sacrifice his King of the air cap to get us in the club, but I will be forever grateful for that moment I saw Usain Bolt jamming in the corner of the VIP lounge. I wish I had been more “bolt” ( Get it ?!) and had jumped over the line to just give him a hand. Next time. I’m sure we’ll meet again. The second moment was seeing Jordy Smith at landdudno. That was seriously too cool. Seems Cape Town is just the place to be!
Three weeks flew by like nothing else. I’m grateful I was able to make this trip happen and sail with some of the best and motivated riders in the world.
Thank you to Rentacheapie for getting me sorted with a solid car for the trip!
Make sure to check out www.rentacheapie.com to rent yours.
Our landlord Dean, is the best guy ever. Thank you for taking care of us and letting me play musical chairs during our BBQ. Make sure to google “kimberley hotel backpackers” if you’re looking for accommodation there.
