BILLABONG KIDS SURF CAMP SYLT

 

for now it's enough of endless dunes and beautiful scenery images. the time of the kids has come! for the seventh time about thirty children between eight and fourteen years came together in sylt / rantum. while some of the kids chased the first wave in their lives they'll probably never forget, the groms – the more advanced girls and boys – were here to improve their surfing skills. you can call them the next generation in surfing and you should definitely watch out for this small talented people in the line up next time.

besides many kids who came a long way to the northern sea and surfed for the first time there were billabong teamriders malte mappes, tim schubert, marc thomsen, niggi brüggen, markus mager and rachel scheele as guests in the camp.

but it was not just all about surfing on this weekend. it was about getting a general body conciousness and confidence, having a good time with each other and to learn from each other. on the first afternoon there was a football match as well and the kids had time to get creative by designing their own boardshorts. life's better in board shorts, you know.

on saturday the conditions were quite rough. the more than dedicated instructors of surf club sylt used the first day of the camp to share their knowledge about dunes and waves and practised first aid in a workshop.

after a stormy layday there has broken sunday, as perfect as it could be for first steps in the water. after an intensive warm up and some dry runs on the beach the kids grabbed their boards and faced up to the sea. the instructors helped with words and deeds and cheered on the kids with a loud hooray for every try to chase a wave.

we've heared a lot of hoorays! and yeahs! the kids made it. they catched on wave after another and even if they missed the point to stand up they were shining and left the water with a smile in their face.

 

if we would have children or nephews or nieces or a little brother or sister we would like them to experience something like the billabong kids surf camp. so go and tell all the little wild childs around you about this great thing.

go surfing is a gift. not all children have the possibility to do it light hearted and as a matter of course. at this point we would like to highlight mizu sports. florian gränert, founder of mizu sports and part of the instructors team, amongst other things offers therapeutic surfing for cancer-suffering kids.

in this connection we also spread the word about the stand up 4 kids charity event. it's a stand up paddle event that collects donations for therapeutic surfing. it will take place on the 26th august in hörnum / sylt.

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SYLT. ABOUT WIND, DUNES AND THE ROARING SEA.

on our fishing adventure we drifted on the calm waters of the wattenmeer, alongside the east coast of the island. the west coast on the other hand blew our minds. there we found roaring surf and wind. a perfect day for kite flying. we drove towards hörnum, which is known as sylt's sunny south.

there we were surrounded by wild sea and green oases, sylt's landscape of dunes, built by the wind over time. about a third of the island is covered by them and is protected land, which gives it a feeling of untouched beauty. 

flying a kite looked a lot easier than it turned out to be. the wind was strong and kept changing. although we had trouble controlling the kite, nearly hitting a passing couple with it and managed to destroy it in the end we had an amazing time.

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SYLT. ABOUT FISH AND SEALS.

hailing from a family of czech fishermen and a fisher girl, who's my mum, i couldn't wait to set my feet in the boat to cast the fishing rod into the wadden sea. on our first day we went to hörnum, the most northerly point on sylt, to meet christian heitling. christian, a well-traveled guy and owner of the excellent restaurant meermann, prepared a small fisher boat with fresh picked fruits from his garden. he introduced us the technique of fishing mackarels and drove us out to northern sea.

 

our captain! he had confidence in us to choose the right place to stop over and try to catch a fish or better to catch loads of fish. if we were lucky we could have had fished 250 mackarels. yes, if. 

mackarels live near the ground level of the sea and they are probably not the most intelligent of their breed as they bite bait that is no real feed. so we pulled our rods with fake bait smoothly in and out and in and out to attract our next meal's attention and suddenly ...

... believe it or not, this little black something in the middle of this picture is a seal. we've read there are seals on sylt but however it was unbelievable to experience this animal in the wild. 

our captain told us about an old man who had a special connection to a seal called willy.willy loved to visit solid ground, and this aforesaid man was the only one who was able to stroke it.

for a second we felt like heros. we rescued a little girl's balloon that was supposed to be carried away by the wind to the open sea.

at the latest this would be the moment to show you the big mackarels we catched. to be honest we came back empty-handed. one way or another no fish could ever beat this windy adventure.
and instead of grilling our own fish we ate a whole fish plate afterwards and warmed up at a delicous cup of peppermint tea in that homely and honestly place called meermann. thank you!

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SYLT. HELLO, I'M A TRAVEL BLOG.

for the next few days smile at your sister turns into an official travel blog. we are on our way to the north sea where stories about lighthouses and the wadden sea are waiting for us. we'll keep an eye out on locals, who are of golden honesty and are known for their lack of suborder, to tell us more about the myths of the island.

be prepared to follow us riding bikes along a beautiful sea side, watch us flying kites and go fishing. this full packed programme is made possible by reiseland deutschland. they made sure we'll spend adventurous days in sylt with its charming places like hörnum, rantum and westerland.

we'll be in good company. we stay at the billabong kids surf camp and we are looking forward to spend time within sparkling children's eyes. oh, and there will be one of kitzi's rare concerts!

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WE'LL ALWAYS COME BACK

if we would have beards this picture would be much cooler. you know, there are just three guys who can wear a moustache. but wait, one of them is actually in the picture!

the shortest road trip i have ever been on ended in one of the most beautiful sunsets. 

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STORMY WEATHER

hanging around on our beloved balcony in seignosse was interrupted by a hurricane like storm. as fast as it came it faded away and left a lucid sky.

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POINT 10 - 12

point 10 climb as high as you can
point 11 brave the weather
point 12 sleep like a dog down by the fire side

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TOM VEIGA FOR BILLABONG

amidst the roxy pro circus we visited the billabong instore event showing tom veiga's artworks.  he is famous for his wave series which can be found on bikinis, hoodies, tees and accessories now. we enjoyed having some drinks and to test ride some sector 9 beauties.

but the most pleasant incident was to meet daniella ciano by chance – the bikini designer based in sydney – we interviewed more than a year ago in australia. it's a small world.

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ROXY PRO BIARRITZ 2012. AND THE WINNER IS...

france, we miss you! from the daily 5 minute walk from our appartement to cote de basque, through to moules frites and the sound of the ocean.

unfortunately we already left saturday morning so we missed the finals of the roxy pro in biarritz. here are the surf highlights of this tricky day with an outshining stephanie gilmore.

 

the roxy lounge

 

the flower girls

and second hand furniture. some call it any girls heaven.

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ROXY PRO BIARRITZ 2012. LAY DAY

so here we are. after two weeks in hossegor we ended up in wonderful biarritz for roxy pro. pictures of the past weeks will follow for sure. but at the moment we are just too excited about being here amidst of women's world surfing championship.

the competition was called off today due to too small waves at cote de basque. we capped this lay day off with a deep going movie in anglet at the international surf film festival – intentio.

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