African Fire – Episode 2 – Bodyboarding in Africa

One thing I can tell you from hanging with bodyboard crew, is that it is not about the quality of the wave, or making it as such, but about how bloody heavy it was. These guys smaak a deep, mutant pit, whether they make it or not. Michael is one of the top young film guys coming through the ranks and he spent a year following our top guys around the west coast of South Africa. Great footage, rad music and some mal pits!

Derevko presents AFRICAN FIRE – Episode 2 from Michael Veltman on Vimeo.

“This year has been a blur of long car drives and pumping waves. We started filming at the beginning of 2016 and scored every corner of the cape as well as up in Namibia (unfortunately didn’t get too much footage up there cause I was too busy surfing haha).

With the African Fire series I’ve tried to capture the passion Allan Horton has for riding and chasing waves. He’s definitely missioned in the cape harder than any guy I know. He’s constantly checking the charts, amped to be on any swell that pops up. African Fire was the name chosen to describe the series because of the fire inside him, and so many other underground bodyboarders in the Cape, that ignites when it comes to bodyboarding. Not even work or the financial burden of it all stopped him from chasing a swell and him driving myself, Nik Martin and Tsevi Rosenthal for 24 hours up to Namibia in his Bantam bakkie. Haha that was definitely the gnarliest trip we did.

Allan and I chased swells so hard this year and definitely got our fair share of amazing sessions (as well as our fair share of skunkings) but in the end it’s all worth it and 2016 has been such a good year! Keep a look out maybe there’ll be an episode 3 in 2017.”

The People’s Champ – John John Florence

It took a few days to sink in really, that the World Title was done and dusted. It had been such a see saw year, with Matt Wilko holding on for months, then Gabriel fighting back, then John John into the lead and at the death we had, Jordy Smith, suddenly in the hunt right till the semi finals in Portugal. As a South African I would have loved to see Jordy taking the fight to Pipeline, but sitting in 3rd place he is in a great position for next year and we will take that. At the end of the day I don’t think there is a surfer on the planet unhappy right now, the most popular surfer in the world won the world title.

Lets make it plain, John John Florence is the people’s champ! More fans, more video views and more picks on Fantasy Surfer than any other guy. On top of this, the win does not just reflect on John, but on a whole family and clan of people that he travels with, lives with and adventures with. They all put so much energy and effort into what John has become that they all deserve some of the credit and the fantastic thing about it is, he gives it to them. Our new world champ is not only the best surfer in the world, but also the one with the most humility.

Congrats John! You are the man.

First wave ridden: age 3
First contest win: age 7
First wave at Pipe: age 8
First win at Pipe: age 18
First World Tour win: age 19
First Eddie Aikau win: age 23

First WSL World Title: age 24

Just the beginning for John John Florence.

Cobbles Classic 2016 – Highlights Video

I have been waiting with baited breath for this video, much like I waited for a long time to be able to get to this wildly popular event. The Cobbles Classic brings us back to a time where riding waves was all about style, flow and most importantly the love of riding waves. Single fin logs only, no leashes and a focus on old school longboard riding make it a very unique event. I had a great time, Surfed a few heats and basked in the collective love of an amazing time. Enjoy the video…

The heaviest Slab surfing on video – Society Unseen

First off, these guys have gigantic balls, brass ones! Secondly, they are either trust fund kids, or have really good friends, because dam, they have all the toys. Either way, I cant wait to see the final movie, though it may give me slab nightmares. Watch the trailer for, Society Unseen and be amazed.

Society Unseen from Rick Rifici on Vimeo.

Producer – Cinemachine / cinemachine.com
Executive Director – Rick Rifici / rickrifici.com
Cinematography – Rick Rifici Cinematography, Michael McDermott Cinematography and Michael Elsegood / transvision.com.au
Video Editing – Joel Taylor, Boogie Monster / boogiemonster.com.au
Sound Editing – Brainestorm / brainestorm.com
Aviation – Corsaire Aviation corsaireaviation.com.au
Equipment – HD Rentals / hdrentals.tv
Photography – Chris White Media / theoceanpeople.com
Management & Marketing – Black Sea Creative & Red Eye Productions / blackseacreative.com
Surfers – Kerby Brown, Cortney Brown, Bradley Norris, Luke Wyllie, Imogen Caldwell and Phillip Read
@kerby_brown
@cortneycbrown
@bradleynorris
@lukeyskywalker
@imogencaldwell
@choppa_read
All Media Enquiries – info@societyunseen.com
societyunseen.com

Stills – https://www.instagram.com/chris.whitey/

The King of the Skeleton – Andre Botha

Why would I put a picture of a man running up a beach for a post on the best left tube in the world? If you have ever been to Skeleton Bay for a solid swell, you will know that what I write here is the absolute, honest truth – Andre Botha is the man at the Namibian freight train. He will literally ride a 100 waves all day long, he does not stop, he goes deeper than anyone and he runs back up the 3km point after every wave. He is almost not human! Watching him both inspires, blows your mind and makes you feel somewhat like a pussy. That is why I chose the image I did for this post, because while every other person is dragging their board back, fighting the worst wetty chafe of their lives and takin a breather, Andre Botha is going full tilt!

You will think 7 minutes a wee long for an online edit, but as I did, you will feel like this video is over in the blink of an eye. So enjoy!

Brad Binder wins the Moto 3 World Championship

What a proud weekend for South African motor racing, as we got to celebrate our Heritage weekend with a new World Champion! Brad Binder conquered the Moto3™ World Championship after finishing second at the #AragonGP – he now moves with KTM into the Moto 2 championship next year and I hope he continues his meteoric rise to the top of Moto GP!

Ken Block’s Gymkhana Nine – Raw Industrial

The Hoonigan, Ken Block, is back with another in his Gymkhana series and this time he is in industrial, run down New York. With more crazy stunts in his new, more powerful Ford Focus, including almost being t-boned by a train, this keeps the franchise going with style.

Hoonigan and Forza Horizon 3 proudly present Ken Block’s Gymkhana NINE: Raw Industrial Playground

A VR/360 Experience of Gymkhana NINE – Coming Soon: https://youtu.be/TAsh3kQMe6s

Forza Horizon 3 demo for Xbox One available now: http://tinyurl.com/z5x8tjs

Get to surf with your Celebrity for a great cause

On the 10th September 2016, Surf Emporium Muizenberg will be hosting a Celebrity Surf Day at Muizenberg beach in Cape Town where all funds raised will go to Missing Children South Africa (MCSA). The Celebrity Surf Day will contribute towards the annual fundraising for MCSA and aims to raise at least R50 000 in support of its growing profile. The Celebrity Surf Day will be raising funds for MCSA in three ways: 1) allowing people to partake in a silent bid for a surf lesson with their favourite South African celebrity. 2) public participation in the online memorabilia auction and 3) sponsoring a child from Waves for Change Surf Therapy programme, affording them the opportunity to learn to surf with their favourite celebrity.

Celebrities that have pledged their time include Dr Michael Mol, Dale Steyn, Nik Rabinowitz, Roxy Davis, Deon Bing, Dr Helgo Schomer and Miss South Africa 2nd Princess, Tayla Skye Robinson. Surf Emporium will be providing surfboards and wetsuits as well as their warm welcoming facilities on the day. “The cool part of the diverse group of celebrities is that they appeal to a diverse audience so that people from all backgrounds can bid on the celebrity that best resonates with them.” says Roxy Davis, 8 times South African Surfing Champion and founder of Surf Emporium.

The shocking reality is that a child goes missing every five hours in South Africa, according to figures released by the South African Police Service Missing Persons Bureau for 2013. This adds up to a total of 1697 children. Fortunately, according to Missing Children South Africa’s statistics, 77% of children are found. Sadly, this still leaves us with at least 23% of the children not being located. “This event will not only boost our funds but it will help us educate parents and children about the shocking statistics” says Rose Mac Kinnon, National Coordinator of MCSA.

The online auction will include limited edition memorabilia such as; the surfboard of Julian Wilson, currently ranked 9th on the Championship Tour, provided by Mr Colin Fitch, Regional Operations Manager at The World Surf League. As well as Dale Steyn’s Protea sports top signed by the Protea team and so much more.

MCSA is a non-profit organisation that aids the South African Police Services in locating missing persons across the country through awareness campaigns. Silent bidding will be open at 7am on Thursday 18th of August until 7pm on Sunday 28th August 2016. Winning bids will be announced on the evening of 28th of August 2016. Bidding is unlimited, so bid as many times as you wish and remember to keep an eye on the website for updates.

For more information visit http://surfemporium.co.za/celebrity-surf-day/ or visit Surf Emporium’s Facebook page or contact Lauren Twiss on Lauren@surfemporium.co.za or call 0843699259. Find your balance to save our children.

John John versus Jordy – Surf Video Battle

Ok, so John John drops the second video in his new Twelve series with Hurley and I watch it and it blows my mind. From huge waves, to doing massive punts in big waves to surfing Pipeline, he rips it all. By the end I actually said to my mate, I wonder when Jordy Smith is going to drop a boss edit like this again and true as all hell, a few days later he drops a new web video, with some insanely progressive power surfing. Pound for pound these two videos will get you frothing for your next surf (Or maybe not frothing as you realise how far ahead these two gents are!) Either way, prepare yourself for 20 minutes of radical surfing from my two favorite surfers to watch…

Hurley Presents -Twelve– A New Series From John John Florence (2 of 7) from Alex Wang on Vimeo.

Jordy Smith in Collecting Dust. from Jordy Smith on Vimeo.