These last few months have gone by in a blur, but only because I have had the best time riding, meeting new people and traveling to places I had never thought I would ever see. After America I set off to Europe, starting off in Germany to catch up with family I hadn’t seen in 12 years. From then it was off to visit the Kroon family in Holland to get some shredding in and compete in the first stop of the lowlands tour. After that I set off to England where I managed to qualify for Wakstock, Europe’s Largest wakeboarding competition. The week before Wakestock was a blast, I stayed with Charlotte Bryant, one of the local female shredders and took part in the UK Nationals,.I was stoked to get a 3^rd place finish there which was definitely a confidence boost for the competitions to come this season.

 After that it was off on a Monster photoshoot/roadtrip in  Windermere, northern England. During that time I got too hang out with Nico Von Lerchenfeld, Lior Sofer and Nick Davies, some of the best guys I have met so far in the Wakeboard industry. From the shoot in Windermere we road tripped to Wakestock. The conditions weren’t perfect for the Boat riding part, but the crowds managed to get you pumped enough to give it your all  in the chilly rough water. I was happy to make to finals and very pleased with my 6^th place finish and with it an invitation to compete in next years one.

After Wakestock I made my way down to Cordoba, Spain, to settle down at my new home base, Xteme Gene Wakeboard and Ski school. Working here has been a pleasure, Coaching the sport I am so passionate about has been sick, it is really rewarding teaching a person how to stick a new trick and the stoke that goes with it. There has also been a constant influx of world class shredders here, guys like David O’caiomh, Lucas Langlois, Dan Nott, Edd Blundell and Dan Nott come over every now and then for a shred. Not to mention my good friends, Thomas Jensen (he is a slalom skier), Andres Lebron, David Coates and newly recruited Monster Athlete Jordan Elizondo-Darwin. I get to shred every day and push myself so it’s been awesome. Xtreme Gene is definitely one of the best camps I have ever been too it is a Wakeboarders wet dream with a massive glassy lake, huge wakes  add to that an average of plus 35 degrees and some great company.

The next big trip after that was to Freistett, Germany for Germany’s biggest  Boat Wakeboard Contest, Chill and Ride. Chill and Ride has definitely been one of the highlights to my year of shredding around the world. The first day of competitions includes the Amateur and Wakesurf divisions, which set the tone of the competition with emphasis on the “Chill” aspect. Daniel Butzerin really knows how to put on a sick event. It is so different because the riders get to bring their own familiar boat with to ride on, or choose a boat of their personal preference to use for the competition. I was lucky enough to be able to have used the new 2013 Mastercraft X-star for the event. The second day of competition is a little less serious and is there to set the tone for the competition by having a “team challenge”. Competitors were seeded into teams the night before by which every team had their own boat, riders would then have two passes and combined points were added at the end to see which team was the victor. Xtreme Gene managed to whip together a killer team that included Irish shredder David Coates, Lucas Langoils from France, the lovely Corro Djupso from Sweden and finally myself. We all managed to cram in some banger passes behind the X-star which ended up in the Xtreme Gene team taking the win in the Team Challenge.

With  40 plus Wakeboard boats docked together on the water and over 1000 spectators, I can honestly say I have never been so pumped to compete before in my life. The next day saw the more serious competition take place for a total of 5000 euros cash prize. Game faces were on, but despite the high level of riding and tough competition I think everyone was still having way too much fun too take anything too seriously which made the competition so much more fun in the end. The finals were crazy, I was second of the dock and managed to stand up my run complete with a crow mobe 5, backside 5, nose grabbed toeside 7 and a nose grabbed back mobe. Unfortunately it wasn’t quite enough to take down my fellow Irish Monster Team Rider David O’caoimh, David killed it, smashing back to back toeside and heelside backside 5’s aswell as a clean heelside 7 and whirly 5. I ended up walking away with a second place and a bunch of cash to spend at my next destination, the European Championships in Kiev, Ukraine.

Kiev is an awesome City and I am so Greatful that Wakebording has allowed me to travel there. The official hotel was a Boat on the main river in the centre of Kiev. Boss! I was the only representative from South Arica taking part, but stayed with my good friend and fellow coach at Xtreme Gene, Andres Lebron. Which made it a great time. Finals were heated, Jorge Gill from the UK was first off the dock and layed down the pressure thick with a KGB, Dum Dum and a clean heel seven. I was third off the dock and missed a few tricks in my first pass, which angered me a bit, but hey, what can you do. I still managed to put in a big worm, moby dick, front mobe and crow mobe 5, unfortunately it wasn’t enough to top Marc Kroon and Jorge but I was still happy with a 3^rd place finish in the Junior men division. Wakekate was also a blast and I managed to take a 2^nd for Team South Africa and myself. All in all South Africa managed to place 10^th out of 19 countries with only 1 team rider, so I was pretty happy! Ukraine was a great trip and I can’t wait to go back!

Right now I am back at home base, Xtreme Gene getting some riding in before the summer season kicks off again back home in November. I am missing a lot of my shredding buddies from South Africa and can’t wait to get back and work on a few projects I have in mind!

Hopefully I’ll have a few edits coming out soon from my side over here in Spain too!

A big shout out goes to Monster Energy for Supporting me Throughout this year, making everything so possible. Another to Fox clothing for their massive support throughout this year and of coarse their awesome threads, Ronix Wakeboards for supplying me with the best product the industry has to offer. Skullcandy for keeping me amped with means to jam to my beats before rides! You guys all rock!

Dyl!