No matter who tries to have a conversation with you, you just want to turn around and say to them “DILLIGAF? Do I?”

You are in charge of you, and that’s a tough realization – it means you have no-one but yourself to blame for the current situation that you are in.

So basically, no matter how much moaning I do about how my bloody washing machine seems to be shrinking all my jeans, the fact remains – I’m sitting on my butt in front of my computer all day and not doing enough exercise. (This summer south-easter isn’t helping much either, can’t surf, can’t run on the beach unless you don’t mind being taken out by a sand storm or a kiteboarder. There I go blaming others again…)

This evening, while I was doing a little more sitting around on my butt in front of my computer, I stumbled upon one of the most simple, short and perfectly put articles I have ever read. You have the power by Corbett Barr. He is just one of the most intuitive human beings I have ever come across. (Follow Corbett on twitter here).

He literally gave me a slap in the face and got me back in the right mindset. No matter what your issue in this moment, I promise you this article can help! I’ve copied and pasted it below for ease of reference, each one of the underlined links is another great reference by Corbett to other blogs you will probably benefit from. So take some time to go through it and really think about his words.

You Have the Power – by Corbett Barr

It’s easy to give other people power.

It’s easy to let them define you, to let them take leadership roles and say what’s what and create the rules that you live by.

It’s incredibly difficult to realize that the power you seek exists within yourself. No one needs to give you permission.

You have the power.

You have the power to create your own qualifications.

You have the power to be competent, inspiring, passionate, obsessed, provocative, impatient, hungry, driven, adoring, inspired, an artist, a genius or someone who cares.

You have the power to lose weight and get fit

You have the power to get out of debt.

You have the power to learn new habits and kill bad ones.

You have the power to smile and be happy.

You have the power to find your passion and do something with it.

You have the power to become an expert on any subject you wish.

You have the power to live by any manifesto you like, or create your own.

You have the power to be your best self.

You have the power. Now what are you going to do with it?

Corbett also runs an online course called Think Traffic which I have personally completed and if you are thinking of starting your own blog at any stage, his course is must.

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One of my earliest memories is at the age of 5, being completely dumbfounded as to why I was learning about dinosaurs in school, these massive amazing creatures that ruled the earth, however whenever I asked one of my Sunday school teachers why the dinosaurs weren’t mentioned in the Bible, no-one could give me an answer.

I mean surely Noah would’ve had some problems getting 2 T-Rex’s on his ark? Or is that when they died ’cause Noah left them behind? But why weren’t they mentioned in the beginning of the Bible then? These are genuine questions I used to ask. Kids…

I recently watched a National Geographic episode on Parallel Universes… pretty wierd stuff, but it got me thinking back to one of my favourite movies – Sliding Doors with Gwyneth Paltrow. You can watch the very 1998 trailer below or click here to watch it on YouTube.

The whole movie is based on two different versions of her life, one where she catches the train that morning, and one where she misses it.

I think its such a brilliant concept as it shows how literally one second can completely influence the outcome of your life. So every single second of your life is defining the next twenty million seconds – makes you think a lot harder about what you should be doing with your present time when you think like that.

Then this morning I watched a 15 minute clip of Steve Job’s speech to Standford University in 2005. You can watch it below, or click on this link to watch it on YouTube.

He tells 3 stories in this speech, 1 of which is about ‘connecting the dots’.

It’s all about trusting your gut and your instincts to make the next move in life. He says you don’t know what the future holds for you, but once you get there, you are able to connect the dots – backwards.

So I decided to connect my dots backwards and see what I could discover about myself.

What I learned, was that the most defining and life changing moment in my history, was the day I became a surfer.

I got my first surfboard at the age of 15, a 3rd hand Town & Country which had been snapped in half and fixed again. It was 1.25″ thick (or thin) and took me 3 months of hard work to actually stand up on the thing, but as soon as I did I was hooked. Pumping down the beachfront on the white water with the ugliest pooh-man stance ever, stoked! (that’s me on the left)

I immediately decided that my high school and the beach were in completely different directions and this wasn’t going to work going forward.

I found a college which was literally on the beach and I persuaded my parents that technical college was so much more useful than real school and the next year I made the change. Here’s a pic my Dad secretly snapped of me on my way to catch the train to my first day of college.

In my first year of surfing, I made a lot of new friends, some of whom were doing home school! What a brilliant idea, surf all day, study at night. Somehow I persuaded my parents that this was way better than college and I began home schooling myself. Passed matric with an E… Thankfully, my parents were still proud of me.

The next year I studied Graphic Design, of all the colleges to choose from, I chose the one on Muizenberg Beach train station. It was a three year course, I did one year.

This full day thing was starting to get to me. I was so used to going to the beach everyday, and now I had put myself in a position to see the beach and not be able to go to it. Huge downer!

I’m not going to bore you through every single decision from here on, but by this stage I was 20 years old and already almost every decision I made was based on that one second all those years ago when I finally rode a wave.

Today, I live a 2 minute walk from the beach, I can see the waves from my balcony, I can smell the ocean every morning and I work from home so I can go surf whenever I want. True this doesn’t happen very often these days but I’m still rather content that the option is there!

I wonder now, if I never became a surfer, where I would’ve landed up? What was your defining moment and has it influenced your life so dramatically?

I know there have been thousands of tributes to Steve Jobs over the last week, but I felt that I needed to say thanks to him as well, for inspiring millions of people all over the world to just go with their gut and do what they love. According to National Geographics theory, Steve is still alive and well in one of the millions of parallel universes out there, so that’s good to know.

So thanks Steve Jobs.
And PS – thanks for the MacBook Pro, it rocks my world.

On October 5, 2011, around 3:00 pm, Steve Jobs died at his home in Palo Alto, California, aged 56, six weeks after resigning as CEO of Apple. A copy of his death certificate, which was made public on October 10, indicated respiratory arrest as the immediate cause of death, with “metastatic pancreas neuroendocrine tumor” as the underlying cause. His occupation was listed as “entrepreneur” in the “high tech” business. He was widely described as a visionary, pioneer and genius.

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Everyone’s got their checklist, well I know girls do at least.
Here’s some examples from friends of mine:

But the problem is, you’re not shopping for a pair of jeans, or a new surfboard. You’re looking for someone to spend the rest of your life with. And this is mostly what scares people away.

The pressure from society, family and friends, to find a partner, get married, buy a house, have children… can be a little intimidating at the least. Just because your parents got married at 21, bought a house and made babies, doesn’t mean you have to. The world has a lot more to offer these days than it did back then, which means you need more time to discover and explore exactly what it is you want out of this life.

There is a little poem below (well it doesn’t rhyme, but like I said, there are no rules) and it contains one of my favourite sayings:

“Never live your life for another, before you find what makes you truly happy”

I think this is key. Key to life and key to love. If you’re not in that happy place when you’re alone, and you’re on a constant search for someone else to make you happy – be it your friends or your partner, the search is going to be a very long and painful one.

You need to find your passion in life and there are many ways to do that. But let’s leave that for another day.

So here is the “un-rhyming poem” that makes so much sense to me – by the way, this poem was written by a man:

If a man wants you, nothing can keep him away.
If he doesn’t want you, nothing can make him stay.
Stop making excuses for a man and his behavior.
Allow your intuition (or spirit) to save you from heartache.
Stop trying to change yourselves for a relationship that’s not meant to be.
Slower is better.
Never live your life for a man before you find what makes you truly happy.
If a relationship ends because the man was not treating you as you deserve
then heck no, you can’t “be friends.” A friend wouldn’t mistreat a friend.
Don’t settle. If you feel like he is stringing you along, then he probably is.
Don’t stay because you think “it will get better.” You’ll be mad at yourself
a year later for staying when things are not better.
The only person you can control in a relationship is you.
Avoid men who’ve got a bunch of children by a bunch of different women.
He didn’t marry them when he got them pregnant,
Why would he treat you any differently?
Always have your own set of friends separate from his.
Maintain boundaries in how a guy treats you.
If something bothers you, speak up.
You cannot change a man’s behavior. Change comes from within.
Don’t EVER make him feel he is more important than you are…even if he has
more education or in a better job. Do not make him into a quasi-god.
Never let a man define who you are.
Never borrow someone else’s man.
If he cheated with you, he’ll cheat on you.
A man will only treat you the way you ALLOW him to treat you.
All men are NOT dogs.
You should not be the one doing all the bending…compromise is a two-way street.
You need time to heal between relationships…there is nothing cute about
baggage… deal with your issues before pursuing a new relationship
You should never look for someone to COMPLETE you…a relationship consists
of two WHOLE individuals…look for someone complimentary…not supplementary.
Dating is fun…even if he doesn’t turn out to be Mr. Right.
Don’t fully commit to a man who doesn’t give you everything that you need.
Share this with other ladies….. You’ll make someone SMILE, another
RETHINK her choices, and another woman PREPARE.

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(This was an editorial I wrote for Liquid Girls Surfing Magazine in December 2005)

Isn’t it ironic? I had just finished typing out my long thought out editorial for this issue, my right hand finger was about a milli-second away from pressing down on the mouse to hit save.

But then all went quiet. Donavon Frankenreiter stopped singing and I was faced with a big black screen. Perfect, a power failure. And not just any old one. This power failure blacked out the whole of Cape Town, even hitting areas as far afield as Hermanus and Swellendam, shutting down everything in it’s path.
So forgive me if this isn’t the most well thought out piece of writing but I’m slightly annoyed that I have just lost all that typing!

My Mom just called me, she was at Pick ‘n Pay when they lost power, they lose their security camera’s and lights immediately so all the undercover pick-pockets come out and play and all the staff go into complete panic mode.

Next call was from my sister. She works at an Estate Agency as a PA and said they were all sitting in the dark, boiling hot with no air conditioning and nothing to do. Fifteen minutes passed and then the sirens started. A couple of mishaps on the roads no doubt as the traffic lights were out and we all know how patient Cape Town drivers can be in Friday afternoon traffic.

But then I started to see the bigger picture. Such a minor thing, like having no electricity for an hour, can have such an enormous affect on day to day life for us. Computers are down, trains stop, traffic lights don’t work, the ice-cream in the freezer melts, you can’t watch television or listen to the radio, shopping centres and petrol stations come to a halt and the poor guy running on the treadmill at the gym has a few teeth missing.

But in spite of all this drama and chaotic behaviour, the waves keep on rolling in and the surfers keep on surfing, completely oblivious to all that is happening out there in the ‘real world’. I guess we as surfers should count ourselves truly blessed to be a part of such a lifestyle where no matter what’s happening on land, be it a power failure or a civil war, all we have to do to get away from it all, is get on our boards and paddle.

And then, as if nothing was ever wrong, that familiar humming noise was back, the little light on my radio started flashing again and my cellphone continued to charge.

So I suppose I had better get back to the real world now and stop day dreaming about the surf…

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If not, watch this video below which was being broadcast live over the internet, or click on this link to watch it on Youtube.

The result of that interview, was Bobby being suspended from the ASP World Tour for the rest of 2011 and until such time that the ASP decide.

I just watched a follow up interview with Bobby, you can check it out below, or on this link.
I don’t really know too much about the new points system and how it works so I’m not going to comment on that. What I would like to know is, does Bobby have a point?

He does come across quite arrogant and the all the swear words aren’t helping him either. But it kind of seems that if those swear words weren’t there, nobody would be paying as much attention to this interview. He has definitely caused surfers around the world to question what is going on with the ASP and if this new ‘tennis format’ is really fair.

It makes me think back to the recent heat in Tahiti between Travis and Jordy. Jordy went down and got badly injured on a wave during the heat. ASP called the decision to pause their heat as there wasn’t water safety crew available if Travis had been injured during Jordy’s downtime.

They then unpaused the heat when Jordy decided to continue surfing, no time was lost, and Jordy won. Then half the surfers were up in arms, (pretty sure I saw a number of swear words flying around the lineup there), and ASP then changed their minds and re-surfed the heat, and Travis won (surfing against a very injured Jordy). Check it out here or watch it below.

However, at the end of the day, I don’t think there has ever been an unfairly crowned world champion.

And to quote Bobby; “ASP and Quiksilver worked together to kick me out of the contest” – um, I’m pretty sure you did that all on your own Bobby.

I’m still not too sure who’s side I’m on with this, I just know it was rather entertaining to watch that interviewers facial expressions while Bobby had his rant!

What’s your view?

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It’s all about creating habits, one at a time, not setting yourself 10 new goals all at once and expecting to stick to them.

That’s why I don’t do New Years Resolutions. It’s usually around New Years Eve when everyone starts chatting about it, so you just bang out a couple off the top of your head; quit smoking, eat more healthily, stop swearing, etc… very rarely do you stick to them.

Here they are, in no particular order:

1. You are your friends.

All that skinnering you’re doing behind your ‘friends’ backs, it really doesn’t make you any better than them. If you are allowing yourself to spend time with friends who bring you down and waste YOUR precious time, then you are going nowhere slowly. Try to spend more time with passionate people, people who have similar interests to you and appreciate similar things in life. “You’ll either rise up or sink down depending on who’s next to you.” – I stole that from Leo Babauta of Zen Habits. Say you meet up with a friend – how do you feel after that meeting? Tired and drained? Or inspired and motivated?

2. Be nicer on the roads

If you do a lot of driving, you either hate it or you love it. I don’t do near as much driving as I used to (by choice), so when I do drive around I notice even more that 90% of drivers are in a rush to get somewhere. If you’re in the fast lane, someone’s driving up your arse, no matter if you’re already over the speed limit. I used to get so aggro about this that by the time I arrived at my destination I was so annoyed, that the person I was meeting with would have to hear all about it – great start to a meeting! Now, I’ve completely changed my attitude. When I do drive, I enjoy it. I let people in front of me, I listen to my favourite music (it’s the only place I can pump Tiesto without driving my boyfriend insane) and I smile and say hello to all the characters trying to sell me something at the traffic lights, I’m even mates with some of them now.

3. Make an awesome list

The word “awesome” means something different to everybody. An awesome list, is a list you compile of things that make you personally feel awesome. It’s not something you need to share with anyone, but it’s something you really should put to paper and keep in your handbag / man bag / wallet or whatever it is you’re sporting. I have an extremely long awesome list and my goal is to try and do at least a few of those awesome things every day. One of the things on my list is to try and make someone else feel awesome too – that’s actually a double awesome! Read more about this here.

4. Be a sponge – this one’s for my Uncle Brian

He always used to tease us when we were younger that we were sponges, sponging off my Dad for everything we wanted. He even bought my younger sister a pack of sponges for her birthday once, wrapped up in pretty paper and everything, she was not impressed! What I mean by being a sponge in this sense, is take in as much as you can and learn from it. If you’ve followed step 1 and have surrounded yourself with passionate people and people with similar interests to you – then really listen to what they have to say when you’re hanging out with them, soak it in and learn from their experiences. Don’t just let life pass you by, experience the moment!

5. Say hello to everyone

This trick I learnt from my Dad. I remember walking the dogs with my Dad when I was younger and he would say hi to absolute everyone who passed him. Not just a nod or a smile, a big loud HELLO! I was a super cool teenager and I used to say “Dad, you don’t even know these people, they think you’re mad, can’t you just walk pass them like a normal person”. And he would say “but my darling I’m not normal”, with a big smile on his face.

Somewhere along the line I picked up this habit, and you’ll be amazed at how many people say hi back. It just feels good to connect with people instead of pretending that they’re not there. Another example of this is the petrol attendant (someone you’ll come to truly appreciate when you’ve spent some time in America and you have to fill up your own car – oh the laziness!). The majority of them in this country are really friendly. I love the way they greet me, it’s almost over exaggerated. If you’re a surfer, try it in the surf sometime, say hello to everyone you paddle past. I know this is a lot easier for girls than guys, as the male ego-level in the water is usually over and above that of the norm, but a big loud hello will usually bring them back down to earth and probably earn you more waves!

6. Make time to exercize

This one can be a killer! Especially if your job takes up most of your time. I’ve gone through phases over the past 2 years, for 3 months I’ll religiously commit to getting to the gym, then one morning I’ll wake up and it will be raining, so I’ll skip it, lie in bed a little longer… and so it begins. 2 weeks later and I’m using the excuse that I’m too busy, I have so much work on my plate, I just don’t have the time. Rubbish. You need to make the time.

So from yesterday, I decided that the extra 4kg’s that I’ve been carrying around since my trip to Italy in May, need to go! I put on my jogging gear and hit the beach front, after about 2km’s I had to stop before I vomitted, but then I caught my breath again and carried on (well I turned around and went back home, same thing!). Today, I am struggling to sit down without looking like a Granny, but I tell you it feels good to suffer this pain! So I’ll let you know how its going in a few weeks time, hopefully I can lose these 4kg’s before bikini season is upon us (which is rather soon!)

If you have any other tips you’d like to share with me, please feel free to leave a comment below.

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I found it quite sad that no-one was even there to watch them, but the more we watched, the more we noticed, that really didn’t matter to them. They loved what they were doing and it didn’t matter that they didn’t have an audience. They were going for it like they were being broadcast on live television. { Insert Ard Matthews joke here }

It made me realize, if you don’t love what you do enough to stand in the pissing rain with a smile on your face and do it, then perhaps you need to think about making some changes. That’s all for today, the video clip says the rest.

Big thanks to Troy for the footage – X

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All I had to do was adjust my thinking, create a collage of anything and everything my lonely heart desired, and eventually it would miraculously make its way into my life. Sweet! What a religion!

So I became Miss Positivity, preaching to any sucker that would listen (probably trying to justify it to myself more than anything) and suggesting they watch this life changing movie. I was the Dream Board princess, keeping a close eye on it and updating it weekly. What car do you want to drive? How much money do you want to make? How big a house do you want to live in? Ask it! Believe it! Receive it! Amen!

It’s all very much, “I’ll be happy when I get this” or “I’ll be happy when I achieve that“. What about now?! It also has a lot to do with ‘stuff’ and ‘status’. The American Dream. Puke.

“This Secret gives you anything you want, happiness, health, and wealth”. Wealth. Do you remember the guy who was head high in debt? He just received bills and bills in his mailbox everyday, then, all of a sudden, he just imagined money, he glued a $100 bill to his ceiling and he would stare at it as he lay in bed at night. The next day, he went out to his mailbox and guess what – a cheque! And they just kept coming. Personally, I reckon he snorted a bit too much smack off that $100 bill.

There are loads of success stories, people healing themselves through the power of thinking, and I completely believe that is possible, but I wouldn’t call this ‘The Secret’. That is more like scientific evidence. Happy people are generally healthier people. I’m pretty sure I’ve read some studies on this.

I carried on ‘Living The Secret’ for a good while, but it was draining, I didn’t enjoy it, most of all, I was frustrated with the lack of results. I had talked it up so much, that I just couldn’t face talking it down again for the fear of others saying ‘told you so!‘

Just before my trip to Indo, I discovered a book called ‘The Power of Now’ – don’t worry I’m not going to be a preacher again! The concept of NOW and accepting your circumstances was something I had never even thought of before and I found this to be super empowering.

You cannot control every aspect of your life. You could wake up one day, take a glance over at your little Dream Board, blow it a kiss, head off in your car to go about your day, when someone comes roaring down the road behind you and smashes into you. (I speak from experience.) Then what? Did you ‘attract that into your life‘????? Hell no! I’m sorry, life throws you unavoidable curve balls sometimes and you need to have a way to deal with that.

Everyone has their own 4-mula for life, and I’ve created mine by taking little snippets from here and there and doing what works best for me. This is how I see it:

• Accept the moment and circumstance you are in for what it is.
• If you like it, be happy and thankful for what you have.
• If you don’t, do something about it.
• Either start to take action to remove yourself from the situation,
• Or if you can’t, accept it, quit whining and be thankful for the things that do make you happy.

I’m no pro or life coach on this subject, I still have my days when I want to punch people in the face or lie on the floor and throw a mighty tantrum, but I’m quite sure that’s okay sometimes? What I do know, is that I’m in a pretty good place right now and ‘The Secret’ definitely has nothing to do with that!

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It’s a good 7 hour drive, but the landmarks along the way make it seem shorter, Mossels, Vic, okay I’ll admit, Sedgefield is a draaaaag, Knysna, Plett, then you reach the Tsitsikamma tolls – just another few kms and you can see it in the distance. Once you hit the big J-bay circle, time seems to slow down, everyone seems to be driving extremely granny-like, when all you want to do is get to Supers and see what’s happening. You’ve been on the road for 7 hours or so, yet you arrive with this immense burst of energy. I just love it.

Before I go on, there is something I must admit…
I’ve been surfing for 13 years and this is the first Cape Town winter that I haven’t had ‘the balls’ to brave the cold. The last time I surfed was mid-April. My friends give me grief about it, but as long as I get to the beach, sit at Eden Café with my red cappuccino and watch the guys surf for an hour or two, thats my fix. I don’t have that craving that I used to when I was younger, that I absolutely had to get a surf in, no matter what the conditions were. These days, I’m grateful to be able to just get to the beach, as long as I can smell, see and hear the ocean, it puts my mind at ease. Plus, I do a killer Pilates class twice a week, so I’m good… I’ll surf again in summer.

Over the years, I’ve surfed spots in and around Cape Town, up the coast, Ireland, Indonesia, and I have to say, of all the surfing memories I have, if I had to choose my favourite wave in the world, it would still be Jeffreys Bay Point.

You know you get those waves that are embedded into your memory, you’ll never forget them, and I don’t have many of those… but Point is definitely the highest on the list. The paddle out through the keyhole is simple enough if you time it right, and once you’re out there, it’s pretty easy to time the sets, paddle wide to not get pounded, and even up to 4ft the duck dives aren’t too bad. Take off is pretty mellow (most of the time), and the wave has some nice fast racy sections, as well as some slower more mellow sections. Perfection for me. I shy away from anything more gnarly than that.

My last memory of a good wave there was probably about a year ago, about 3ft perfect offshore, maybe slightly bigger in the sets. My boyfriend had been surfing that morning and had cut his hand pretty bad, so he couldn’t paddle out that evening and was really bummed. I was contemplating a surf, and he pushed me to go out so he could at least watch me surf if he couldn’t surf himself. So off I went. My first couple attempts I got properly nailed, it was high tide and running pretty fast down the line.

I felt him staring at me as I paddled for this fast little insider and I bailed big time, as I came up I looked over at him and he was having a nice little giggle to himself on my behalf. It was almost enough to make me give up and paddle in. But then I thought NO, screw it. I’m not going to let this guy affect my surf, I will get a good wave.

I paddled around for another half an hour before I attempted another wave. Then I saw one coming my way, I was a bit deep and at first didn’t think I was going to make it, but I paddled hard over to the right, and made it into position. The wave took me with ease, I raced for a couple metres and almost got stuck behind the section when it somehow pushed me into that sweet spot. On my backhand, feet in position (for once) and the most perfect glassy wall running in front of me. I felt like a pro I tell you, perfect bottom turn, hit the section, the wave pushed me down for another bottom turn and another big backhand carve and I pulled off the back just before it got too shallow.

The excitement I felt was hard to contain. I was struggling not to smile, and then I saw the Brazilian… grrrrr…. I immediately composed myself and tried to look serious, I wanted to splash water in his face. He looked over at me and gave me a thumbs up and shouted “nice one”! Huh? I wasn’t expecting that, but it came at just the right moment. He paddled off and didn’t bother me again. Dam I felt good. From then on, whenever I think of Point, I remember that wave and it almost gives me goosebumps.

So returning to J-bay last week, I had perfect memories of this wave and I was imagining how I was going to get back into the water with no problem, and get a few smokers.

As I mentioned earlier, I haven’t surfed since mid-April. I thought to myself, no problem, its like riding a bicycle (although I’m not sure I can still do that). Paddled out through the keyhole with the help of my boyfriend telling me when to jump. Made it to the back with perfect timing, didn’t even get my hair wet. My ego securely in place. It was a bit onshore and only about 2-3ft. Well it may as well have been 6 ft for me, because that’s what it felt like.

I paddled wide to try ‘take a break’. Another set pushed through and I paddled for the wider peak. Boom – over the falls before I got to my feet. I was actually laughing at myself – seriously it was bad! By this stage I turned back to look where the rest of my friends were surfing and it was about 100 metres up the point. I saw another set approaching in the distance and I just laughed out loud. Oh dear, well this was fun, but I’m over it now. I took the next white water that came my way – stood up – woohoo, and paddled back in over the rocks.

When I eventually reached the sand I turned around and took a look at the surf. It looked puney and crap. The onshore had now pushed through pretty good. How could I have got so worked in such rubbish surf? I began my walk back up the beach and at this point I should have been feeling sorry for myself, but it was strange, I really didn’t. It felt so good to get back in the water, even if it was a hilarious joke of a surf. I loved every minute of it and it was a reminder to me of how special a sport it really is.

I woke up the next morning with sore ribs and a stiff lower back from paddling. (I’m still laughing about that). It was my first and last surf of the trip, I nominated myself official photographer of the group for the rest of the holiday. Even after that experience, I still can’t wait to get back out there on our next trip and relive the wave in my memories. Although, I’ll be sure to spend some more time in the water beforehand. Pilates-schmilates – the only thing that keeps you surfing-fit, is surfing!

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If you don’t know who Bethany Hamilton is, this first paragraph should sum it up for you:

THE VICTIM
On 31 October the cute little blonde kid from Kauai, labelled to be America’s next biggest thing in women’s surfing, paddled out for an early morning surf at Tunnel’s beach, Hawaii. She was out surfing with her dad and some friends, it was an average day in the young surfers life. Then all our worst nightmares came true for the girl as a 14-foot tiger shark zoned in on her and claimed her as it’s prey.
And while the sea turned to blood around her, the petite teenager didn’t panic but instead began a brave paddle back to shore, with only one arm. Read more…

Now in 2011, Soul Surfer comes to a cinema near you. Well, they made a movie about Bethany and it’s really just a co-incidence that they named it Soul Surfer as well, but Tersha and I would like to take the credit anyway… Bethany has been an inspiration to me since I discovered her story years ago, I mean seriously, she surfs with one arm, most guys I know don’t surf as well as she does with two arms. And the sizey surf she takes on, this girl has commitment!

ABOUT THE MOVIE – IN CINEMAS FROM 5 AUGUST 2011
“Soul Surfer is the inspiring true story of teen surfer Bethany Hamilton, who lost her arm in a shark attack and courageously overcame all odds to become a champion again,  inspiring millions worldwide through the love of her family, her sheer determination, and her unwavering faith in Jesus Christ.
The film features an all-star cast, including Anna Sophia Robb and Helen Hunt, with Carrie Underwood in her film debut, and Dennis Quaid. Bethany (played by Anna Sophia Robb) was born to surf. A natural talent who took to the waves at a young age, she was leading an idyllic, sun-drenched, surfer girl’s life on the Kauai Coast, competing in national competitions with her best friend Alana (Lorraine Nicholson), when everything changed in a heartbeat.
On Halloween morning, Bethany was on a typical ocean outing when a 14-foot tiger shark came out of nowhere and seemed to shatter all her dreams. In the wake of this life-changing event that took her arm and nearly her life, Bethany’s feisty determination and steadfast faith spur her toward an adventurous comeback that gives her the grit to turn her loss into a gift for others.”

THE TRAILER – Check it out at cinemas nationwide from 5th August 2011

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