All photos are screen shots from video taken on my GoPro Hero 3 Black! 

I got a message from a friend John McCarthy who runs a cool surfing Mag, the Bomb surf. The message was short, ‘I am keen to swim from Aliwal and the weather is good, can you help’. My reply is surprise ‘you want to swim where’.

 

Aliwal is well know to dive...

The world is a small place these days. We have South African paddlers taking on races on 4 continents all over the globe over 1 weekend.

1 - Dawid Mocke, Jasper Mocke, Sean Rice and Simon Van Gysen are all taking on the USA Surfski Champs in San Francisco.

2 - Ant Stott and Cam Schoeman are taking part in the biggest canoe race in the world in the Sella Decent in Spain.

3 - World marathon champs Hank McGregor and my Team Jeep/Varsity College tea...

I have such a blast at the last story session (read here) that I just have to tell you about the next one. Had a coffee this morning with Travis Gale from Apple Tree and the man is super passionate about these awesome events and I can see why when he has Sean Wisedale as the story teller of no 6.

Follow the following links to you channel preference. Read More..

I am inspired by many things, but mostly the people I mix and hang out with. I have been involved in a development program for many years now. On a daily basis I see people challenge themselves, put themselves outside their comfort zone not matter the obstacles and take life by the scruff if the neck with both hands.

No more have a seen something more out there than at this weekend’s Scottburgh to Brighton. This is no easy race. It is a massive 46km...

Great morning, amazing conditions and sweet to raise some cash for this great charity. We as paddlers need to be proud of leading the charge in protecting our oceans. Thanks for those who came down and got involved. Check out www.paddlefortheplanet.org for info and to donate!

I have an awesome opportunity to be involved with Story Sessions no 5 with Thando Thusi. The event off really well thanks to Travis Gale and his team who put together this awesome concept.

I had never been to a story sessions event before so didn’t know what to expect. The vibe is so similar to this blog. I started this blog to tell a story I was passionate about and story sessions is essentially that, simply telling a story that the city of Durban ...

While I was racing on Sunday I sadly missed a paddle out down the south coast in memory of the sharks that died in the nets recently.  

I love the ocean and every part of being in the water from paddling, surfing to diving. It's great to see so many different ocean users get together to support ocean conservation. Well done to all those in...

The calm seas of day 1 deserted us. What met us paddling through the surf was a sloppy mess left over from a light on shore the night before. The body rest and refuelled the crew headed off in really high spirits.

Took a while to get out through the surf and with the bumpy conditions the crew really had to dig into some reserve tanks to pull off the 45km paddle.

Slow going some 5 hours later we paddled into the small craft harbour in Richards Bay ...

I am sitting in the shade, under a tree, looking over my camp site after a great day 1 (for me) of Nomakanjani.

Nomakanjani 2012 is and awesome expedition put together by some paddlers from Richards Bay. They are raising money to build a learning centre for kids in Richards Bay. A great cause.

So far the crew has mountain biked from the top of Sani Pass to the Tugela River and paddled from Middle Drift to the sea down the might (empty) Tugela.

I have some close friends who are very passionate about marine conservation and in particular our shark population. Their passion has rubbed off on me and I have fallen in love with my friends in grey suits.

My china’s, Olivia Symcox, Mark and Gail Addison are going to be filming live for Nat Geo this Friday from Shark Park.

I did a cool interview with Gareth Harrington from Team Jeep on his blog Living This.

Check it out here:

http://living-this.com/2011/11/interview-friday-barry-lewin/

This arrived in the post today. so looking forward to reading it. Ps, for Durban peep, I have some stock at the Durban Surfskischool. Let me know if you want one, drop me a line on durbansurfskischool@gmail.com for more info.

Hank works harder than anyone else in the group and not missed one session over the last 6 months. His dedication is unrivalled to anythi...

Shameless punt but seen how hard they have worked to get it going. My girlfriends new business venture and very proud of her. Check it out by clicking on the poster below!

Sad day, missed a paddle out today honouring a club mate and friends passing. A great spirit! RIP Lucky Khumalo. I will say my piece the next time I paddle out at Marine and will forever remember lucky every time I head down to the beach. My thoughts are with my Marine family!

I get to tour with some cool people. One of them Dawid Mocke and myself live in different city’s but end up spending more time together than most of my family. Haha! We chat lots about anything from politics to paddling and Dawid thought it would be cool to let people into the inside track on what goes on. I had to ask him 5 questions on the trip to Chicago trip and visa vera. Its interesting reading.

Firstly, well done...

I have been off the water recently, frustrated and scratching for motitvation.

Found this off a mates twitter account and really got my blood going to train like a pro, a random must watch, how the best make it look easy and know how to do the hard yards.

Thanks Troy for the link!

I am going to head out for a paddle on the 5th June to support 'Paddle for the Planet' and challenge you to do the same. Get some mates together, do what you love and help save our oceans. What a WIN!

Find out more here:

http://www.facebook.com/Paddlefortheplanet

While I am on the topic of inspiration/motivation.

As I sit in the chair I can feel every muscle I have abused in the last couple of days. They are all making me aware they are unhappy with me. Didn’t take a rest day after the weekend’s race and pushed through some good sessions the last couple days.

I follow a number of very cool blogs. I picked this up on 2 local blogs I really dig. Check out

Candice: http://playplaycreations.blogspot.com/ 
Lexi: http://www.durbancentral.blogspot.com/

Durban Bloggers are meeting on this week. Hope to be there is training allows.

The last 5 weeks have been hectic with the series in full. It’s been a challenge organising the series and racing it as well. Sleep when you dead stuff. The last week has been a rest week to focus on some shoulder rehab which is now feeling good and take a time out from both training and racing. There are many distractions in Durban so embraced doing the stuff I dig.

I have had the privilege of seconding a gentleman and hero in Ant Stott on the Unlimited Duzi River Canoe Marathon over the last 3 years. This week was the biggest multiday race in the world again and one cant not...

There are a couple saffa's in Spain but the ring leader tour guide is Ant Stott. He will also be blogging on the Sella experience at http://antstott.wordpress.com. Check out his cool blog, I am tipping him for a win!

All photos by Mark Addison

One of my really good mates Olivia Symcox has been moaning at me for years now, come shark diving with me? To be honest I had the same reaction as most sane people. Are you crazy?

This is Olivia with as she calls it, HER sharks!

After some long chats about the merits of protecting these amazing animals I started to get more interested in what all the fuss was about. Slowly after seeing pictures of divers i...

With running my own blog I do a little bit of reseach on other blogs, found some I really like and now consistently follow. Found one today that really caught my attention and has had me back most of the afternoon reading more. Check this out and let me know what you think?

www.urban-ninja.co.za

No name and makes very little reference to self, more general topic's based away from self, very different approach.

According to the Durban papers I was going to be defending my title at the Avon this week. Pity they haven’t been reading this website or they would know I am focusing on my surfski racing and am about to head to the USA. I will be back at the Avon one day, it’s and amazing race.

Ash and Clint training last year!

There were some would class Saffa’s at the race worth a shout out. Clint ‘Lighty’ Pretorius and his Ausi part...

I had an awesome dinner with some friends earlier in the week. Mike Arthur is back from a solid sprinting campaign in Europe. He has started a new blog, check it out at http://www.anchormanmike.blogspot.com/.

Housemate Ant Stott is also on track for a good weekend at the SA marathon champs in Plett. The event is being billed as the most competitive marathon race in SA in 20 years. Check out how Ant’s training has been going and his thoughts before the weekend at http://antstott.wordpress.com/

Dan Hugo is still campaigning on the Xterra USA series. Check...

To continue the legacy of Christo Petzer, Varsity College has set up the Christo Petzer Memorial Bursary Fund.  The fund is aimed at building on the foundation Christo laid in terms of helping underpriviledged scholars with their tertiary education.  His hard work for and dedication towards uplifting young people will live on through an annual Varsity College bursary recipient (or more depending on the donations).
 
Christo’s  journey at Varsity College started as a UNISA student and then in 2000 he joined the full time staff as Student Advisor-SLB C...

Was lucky to part of a small group of friends who gathered for Max and Eszter's special day over the weekend. The story is best told through some cool photo's. www.maxcluer.com, www.multigirl.co.za

The happy couple!

Very in love!

The view behind the we...

With huge advances in technology in the last while it’s made having an online coach possible. What? An online coach? Yip! I first saw the concept being used about 2 years ago by one of mate, Dan Hugo (www.dghugo.com) who used a website called Training Peaks to upload data from his Garmin so his coach Gary Mandy could view it and analyse his training, adjusting his programme all on Dan’s online log. 

Good mate Dan Hugo just got an awesome 8^th at the Xterra World Champs in Hawaii. First South African home. So young and one of the best racing heads I have seen, please check out his blog and reports on his worlds experience at www.dghugo.com

Dawid Mocke and some of his buddies have been playing in some storm surf the Cape has been throwing his way. Check out these awesome pitures at http://www.omimages.co.za/lightbox/index.php?category=gallery/sp/surfski/080901_KB_surfski

At the start of the Berg I was standing with my team mate Justin Swart when the dood getting ready for the race at the car next to ours was packing some serious supplies into his boat. Never really though much of it until we returned to the car a solid half hour later to see him still packing stuff into his boat. 

A good friend, Michele Eray, has started a great blog. Mich is in the SA Ladies K4 team that have qualified for the Olympics. Check out what she is up to in her prep for the biggest sporting event in the world at http://micheray.wordpress.com/ . Well worth the read!