After celebrating Christmas at home with family I was so lucky to go on another windsurf adventure with my boyfriend. I packet my SUP, surfboard and my two favorite windsurf quad waveboards 69L & 75L. If there would not be enough wind for windsurfing I could do other lovely watersports.
As soon as we arrived in Cape Town the wind kicked in and the evening was followed with celebrating New Years Eve. We drove all around Cape Town and windsurfed on many well known windsurfing places like Sunset, Big Bay, KFC, Melkbos, Cape Point and Witsands. It was windy every day and the waves were ranging from choppy to logo high, just perfect! I never took my little tiny 3.0 meter sail to Cape Town, but this time I did regret it. A lot of times it was too windy for my 3.4m Hero North sail (and 69L Fanatic quad). Lesson learned. After a few days of intense windsurfing I was shuffling like an old grandma. Because of all the excitement I forgot to stretch and do my yoga exercises. Apparently constructive feedback works the best for me.
After ten days it's was time for the wedding-festival of my great friend Hester. We participated the PWA competition and did a lot of training together during the years before. With nicknaming ourself Hector and Evert we pushed each other on the water with funny rude comments. Best trainings buddy ever! A while ago she met her loved one Peter in Cape Town, she moved to Cape Town and even started her own thriving businesses (see: http://activecues.com/). I was honored to be one of her bridesmaids!
Than my famous knievel image started to kick in. Four days before the wedding festival I woke up in the middle of the night because I had to go to the toilet. We were camping in a little hut in a garden and the toilet was inside the house. I don't like getting cold feet, so I run to the house full power with my face straight into a glass door which I obvious didn't see without my glasses. The glass door did not break, but I felt a crack in my nose. My whole face rebounded in the glass, even both of my cheeks hit the glass. What was this? Bulletproof glass? Straight away I could feel it starting bleeding. Eric heard a loud bang and came over to have look. He knew there was a high chance this loud bang was probably caused by me. When he saw my face he couldn't stop laughing. Next days my nose and face looked kind of okay and straight, only swollen and blue. The first day it was too painful during surfing, but I taped it well and that worked out.
My biggest worry was to look like a quasimodo during the wedding in nearly four days. It looked like I was lucky and the swelling got less over the days. A bit of make-up and you almost couldn't see it.
It was a seven hour drive to the wedding festival in the middel of the Karoo. The Karoo is a semi-desert in a region of South Africa. Amazing immense 'empty' spaces, wide-angle horizons, craggy mountain ranges, conical hills and a sky so big and clear that at night it feels like you can touch thousands of stars.
The last 2 hours of the drive were over a dirt road, literarily in the middle of nowhere (in a positive way). When we arrived we got a warm welcome and did explore the beautiful environment and ranches. The Ceremony was two days later and Hester was looking astonishing: very feminine and at same time a cool and tough lady. Combined with the surrounding it fitted together perfectly.Tears in my eyes, a lot of laughs and dancing with friends. A wedding I will never forget. Thanks Hes & Peter for this unbelievable experience!
Next day after the ceremony the swelling of my nose almost disappeared, but it seemed quite bendy. After a seven hour back to Cape-Town we drove straight to the first emergency, but instead of putting it straight back into place, I needed to plan surgery for it. What a disappointment. A few days later the ENT surgeon put my broken nose back into place while I was fully asleep. The spacey painkiller medicine kicked in well and I was out of the hospital the same day. With my nose packed in a cast I looked like a lady who did some plastic surgery to her face. That's exactly what I told people when they asked what happened with my nose: 'the best place for plastic surgery and already happy about the result :p. I was behind the camera filming Eric, who was ripping in the strong winds, for upcoming days.
Five days before it was time to fly home again I felt like it was time for me to hit the water again. With my fragile nose I only allowed myself to jump backloops, because it's a soft landing and no hard water splashing in my face or the chance of faceplanting into my sail. Although I was a bit scared that I got hit by a wave/hard splash of water in my face, the backloop strategy worked out quite well. After all this backloop training I can finally say I really land my backloops consistently. Eric and I made a movie of South Africa, so mainly backloops of me and crazy action of Eric.
The end of the trip I realized I did not have to use my SUP or surfboard once. Way different than other times I went to South Africa, so better be safe than sorry. Next time I'll pack the same equipment plus my little 3.0m sail. You'll never know what you get, so better be prepared!
I will bring out an action clip (me & Eric ) of South Africa soon!