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Houston, we have an interview

posted by Gareth White on 22nd June 2009

Some of the faithful sixty40 forumers might have noticed the recent posts entitled Australia by Riptide forum Mod, Doclach, and his interest in giving exposure to some of SA's rippers.

Jared "Jerry" Houston recently landed in Oz and has been busting his gut grafting in a factory to finance his stay in the land down under while he waits for the Shark Island comp to kick off.

Here are a couple snippets from the interview. Please click HERE to get the full scoop and check some sick shots of Jerry in action.

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"It's with intense pleasure that we bring you an interview with another of South Africa's bodyboarding prodigies, Jared Houston. You'll be seeing more of riders from this land of harsh and gnarly waves, but with the Shark Island Comp (09) fast approaching, it's a great time to give a proper introduction and some insight into one of the International riders competing.

Please give Jared a warm Aussie welcome for a fellow booger, about to take on the dry, sucking, pounding and punishing place that is SI, where the ocean gives no welcome..... only challenge."

Doc: Jared, a lot of folks don't know much about the geography of the waves you have over there. Could you give us a run-down of the Geography (reefs, bechbreaks, Bommies etc) wave types and the general Booger scene there?

JH: Yeah, Cape Town has a peninsula coastline, so we have at least one wave that is offshore and breaking 365 days a year. Not all of them are worldclass, but we have a couple of gems.

There is not much in the way of all time reef breaks near the city, but further along the West and East coasts there are some beasts that are just starting to get explored. We have 3 pretty sick right hand wedgey peaky waves that are my favourite, Caves, Landudno and the Hoek.

The other cool thing about the peninsula is that there is a beach that faces every direction, so just like the winds,there is a spot for every swell size and direction. Out my side (Table View), is mainly just soft beachbreaks that can turn on if the banks play along.

Doc: You've "Fallen in Love" with Box in W.A, have you managed to hit it when it's cranking yet? What is it about that break that grabs you so?

JH: The Box has got to be one of the sickest waves I have surfed and it wasn't even that good when I got it. I love airs, that's my best thing about bodyboarding and I just went so high at the box, I said on my blog that it felt good to go so high and so far out that I felt disorientated. That sums it up for me. It's really well suited to the bodyboard, it's got a little bit of everything. I haven't got it good yet, and it's pretty sad to think that I wont get it good (just storm after storm lined up for the remainder of my WA trip).

Doc: Scariest moment on the boog?

JH: For sure my scariest moment was in this years Pipe Pro, I was lying in 4th and I needed a big score to move ahead. Anyone who has surfed pipe will know that once it gets over 10ft,backdoor kinda becomes a no go, and paddling back through Backdoor is suicide.

So anyway, I'm sitting there, no score, and a 6ft right comes through, I didn't even look and paddled straight into it, I got a barrel and came out to score a 7 or something(they reward you for going backdoor as its way more unpredictable than pipe), I pulled off and heard that I was in 2nd,but 3rd was very close too me, I needed one more and there was like 2 mins left on the clock, so I figured stuff it, I'll chance it. True as day, a 2nd reef set started feathering and the boys and myself thought I was tickets, I was so scared and just praying so hard that I never got caught nevermind make the heat.

I just managed to sneak under the first ones, by this stage closer to pipe and just swung around and went on the 2nd one (half coz I needed another and half coz I wanted to get the hell out of there) but when I got to the bottom it just went straight into a massive beach long close out.I rolled it,somehow stuck it and won the heat,best transition ever.

Doc: What do you love most about the BB culture?

JH: Just the good times, hanging with the boys.
South Africa is just the sickest place for cruising and having good times. I love the fact that were different and I'll always stand up for lying down.

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While you're at it why not check out the Riptide Forum and find out what the Ozzies have to say.

*Stay tuned for more collaboration between sixty40 and Riptide

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