Dyl's Blog

Let the games beginnnnn!

Yesterday the competition kicked off and first up from team south Africa for the contest was of course yours truly! The Jnr. Men Division started off at 10.15 in the morning and had 8 heats of 5 riders each. With Ryan Durham in heat 7 and me in heat 5. Everybody killed it. I managed to stomp a few tricks in my run which included a kgb, moby dick and a big worm in order to secure a second place in my heat and a sure spot in the quarter finals on Saturday . Ryan shredded hard, sticking tricks like big indy glides and tantrum to fakies to secure his place in the quarter final on Saturday as well.

After this the ladies division was up and deidre and Gina took to the waters. Gina had a tough heat which included Sian Hurst from Irland and Robbie Rendo from spain. eventhough  Gina fell on her first trick she managed to pull it back and stick a killer run which earned her a spot in her quarter finals. Deidre has been suffering from a knee injury she picked up in practice yesterday and took it a bit easy today. Unfortunately she also had a really tough heat which included Riami Merit and some Japanese girl, who just edged her out of qualifying for her quarterfinals.

Next to hit the water where the old Ballies (Masters) Darryn Ridgway and Justin Selby.  These old ballies know how to wakeboard, but unfortunately so do all the others. Unfortunately neither of them qualified and they’ll have to ride LCQ’s tomorrow.

Livestreaming on the event will only be available when finals start on Sunday. So stay tuned for the Link.

Today, The Open Men were up, with Clayton Krause, Shaun Faccio, Morgan Krause, Jono Joseph and Shawn Meredith. All the guys Killed it shredding hard. Jono was up first in Heat 1 laying down a toetsie and a whirly to secure his place in quarter finals. Next up was Clayton  who had Austrian Dominik Hernler to shred against. But he dropped the bomb and secured his spot as well. After clay was Morgs in heat 5 who also dropped some hammers to cruise into quarter finals. Next up was Shaun in heat 9 who slid like a champ dropping a 270 on the rail, and a pete rose along with a whirly off the wake. Unfortunately he just got edged out of qualifying and will be riding Lcq’s tomorrow. After that was Shawn Meredith who rode well with a stand up pass but unfortunately didn’t make it through.

More soon!

SICK!

Photoset

LSN Wakeboard School

Today we spent the day riding at the LSN school of wakeboarding which is about 1 and a half hours drive from the competition site.

We started the day off nice and early at 7:00 where we had a buffet breakfast in the hotel dinning room. I must say the meals here are fregging awesome. Last night we had an assortment of meats and salads to choose from and this morning there were plenty rolls, cereals and of course eggs, bacon and pork bangers.  But I must say Italians probably make croissants better than the French!

After that we headed up to our rooms and got packing for our daytime expedition to LSN Wakeboad school.

Again it was another scorcher of a day. My body even decided to sprout an elaborate heat rash just to let me know that I have to stay clear of the sun. it looks like I have chickenpox. – so things could be going better for me. But the rest of the team are getting along sweet!

After our bags had been packed we headed through to the competition site to check everything out. It’s such a sick venue with a massive grand stand and warm water. There are two Parks edition Mastercraft x-stars here to tow the event and they are looking sick!

Then it was off to the mini bus that we have hired and off to LSN.  It’s such a sick place. Glassy/soft water, good burgers, nice wake and obviously very hot! So while everyone is sitting in the sun working on their tan I’m sitting in the shade rubbing cream on my chest hoping that my sun rash decides to stop pestering me soon. But hey! We’ll have to see how it goes.

Photo

running through Amsterdam airport

Journey is over!

So after a 2 hour flight to Johannesburg, a 13 hour flight to Amsterdam and a  2 hour flight to Milan, we are finally here.  All in all it was a sick trip with lots of laughs and memorable experiences.

We all left our freezing homeland in long pants and our team tracksuits, which turned out to be a pretty dumbass idea when we got here.  We jumped out of the plane straight into a nice humid 32 degrees! Instantaneously all our shirts were transformed into sweaty rags.

The hotel we are all staying at is sick! Most of the Wakeboarders competing at the Worlds are staying here.

It works out to two people a room. So the two Grommets (Ryan and Myself) are sharing a room, Next are Deidre and Jono, then Morgs and Clay, Darryn and Tich, Gina and Shaun Faccio, and then Justin and Shawn Meredith.

Last night we settled in and tried to acclimatize. and the first facerape was performed - at my expense.  And today we’re off to a wakeboard school about an hour away to get some shreddidge done!

I’ll check in a bit later with some photos!

Photo

getting packed!

23 Kg is not going to happen! haha

Video

A little Wakeskate edit i finished the other day.

watch eeet!

Wakeboard Worlds

So… in two days I hop on a plane to Johannesburg international at 5 o’clock in the afternoon, land there at 7 pm where i hook up with the rest of the South African Wakeboard Team at the Keg in Joburg International airport (aka O.R. Thambo).

After that we all catch a flight at 24:00 hrs to Amsterdam international, where we have to wait a bit until we finally fly into Linate Airport in Milano ITALY, 2 days before the iwwf Wakeboard worlds start in the idroscalo lake.

The South African Team is made up of 8 riders plus a reserve and a coach. my dad is coming along as well as “Team Manager”. the riders are: Junior Men: Ryan Durham (Weasel) and Dylan Mitchell, Ladies: Gina Faccio and Deidre van Niekerk, Open Men: Clayton Krause, Morgan Krause, Shaun Faccio as a reserve and Jono Joseph as Coach, then we have the old “ballies” in Masters: Darryn Ridgeway (Fridgeway) and Justin Selby (Dustbin Selbydate).

In case you were wondering what the brackets meant, they are unanimous nicknames.

All in all it’s a rad team of guys and Girls and we all get along like a house on fire, so i’m counting on this trip to be full of laughs and memorable experiences!

i’ll be updating this page with a picture or two everyday while i’m over there so visit this page whenever you feel like it to get a little update on how the South Africans as well as the rest of the world will be doing at the Wakeboard world Championships in Italia.

now i must go and pack.. 23 kg is a joke! i am definitely going to pay overweight.

peace.

Video

A Tropical Taste of something to come l to come Tropical Roast is a 10-15 minute Wakeboarding short inspired by the Whitelaw brothers. It is a non-profit video edit directed by: Marc Whitelaw. starring: Dylan Mitchel, Nick Burton-Moore, Devon Nassif and Ryan Whitelaw. Misverstand dam plays host to the break your crayons crew who have set out to capture the talent of South Africa’s finest riders and display it the way it should be. this year, we raise the bar and take everything to the next level. Crew: Marc Whitelaw, Pierre De Villiers, Patrick Spillsbury, Peter Lambert, Eugene van der Elst, Ross Hillier, Mike Jones, Roscoe Vercueli.

Video

Sorry it’s been a while since I uploaded or shared anything.
But here is a little edit from some footage i could round up of this summers riding.
enjoy!