No Charlie Brown

Last week, I surfed the reef with Peanut. I didn’t know who he was or how he surfed, but on the paddle back from a set I saw Peanut backdoor a low tide drainer and handle the shock waves like a champion only to get spat out into the channel with just the hint of a subtle smile on his face. Mostly boogers get low tide reef right, but this young man stood up in a league of his own. After the surf, I found out who he is, and that he recently lost an eye in surfing accident.

{youtube}-rDV-KtePgE{/youtube}

Where you from and how long have you been surfing for?

I stay in Kom, down south ... lovely place! And I’ve been surfing for about 12 years.

Tell us about the accident that took your eye?

Well last year I was in Denmark, working and surfing. I was surfing a little beachie there, and I took off on a little right (I’m goofy), pulled into the pit on literally a 2foot foot wave. I was in the barrel and I could check it was gonna close, so I pulled through the back but got sucked over. While I was underwater my board just axed me straight in the face. I came up, and couldn’t check out of my left eye, was concussed, and was about 100 metres away from anyone. So I staggered down the beach, found some mates, and they took me to the hospital. I don’t remember much from the hospital, cos I was pretty drugged up. But I got discharged the day after with a fractured jaw, broken nose, and an eye patch. The doctors tuned I would get my sight back, but after two weeks I still couldn’t see. So I came home, went to the ophthalmologist, who couldn’t see anything physically wrong with my eye. Anyway It turned out that I had had a whiplash on my eye. It was pushed in and out super quick, which bust my optic nerve, thus rendering my left eye blind.

Yoh, hectic bru. How long was the recover period?

I was out the water for about two and a half months in total … not kiff!

So i take it you are stoked to be back in the water again. Has the accident affected your abilities or choice of wave you surf?

Yeah, so stoked hey. Not really, it was obviously a huge re-adjustment, but I would say it hasn’t really affected my abilities. You just gotta embrace it and learn the new way ... although I do need to get way deeper in the barrel on my backkhand to get that tunnel vision, not a bad thing I guess. At first I was slightly skittish of beachies, but its all mellow now. One thing that it did teach me though, is that bigger barrels are far less hazardous than small ones.

So what are your favourite surf spots?

Anywhere with barrels. Kalk bay, Dunes, couple waves in Indo and Mauritius

How many shoes do you own?

Not to many ... I’m all about my stokies!!

How did you get the nickname peanut?

Back in the day, when I did nippers in Fish Hoek, I was being introduced to the junior group. And when they told everyone my name, a certain James Woods just randomly called out “what? Peanut?” And I guess the name just stuck hey.

Tell us about your sponsors

I’m sponsored by a company from Denmark called PLASMA. They are involved with surfing, kite surfing, wind surfing and a bit of SUP. They make some really warm, good quality clothes. Check it out at plasmaboardriding.com

Any Pets?

Family pets ... a labrador and a cat.

Future missions ... Where do you see yourself going?

At the moment I’m studying through UNISA, so I’ve got quite a bit of time on my hands. I just want to make mad missions to get extremely barreled, do a bit of travelling, finish studying, and keep surfing!!

Soul surfer or contest slut?

Most definitely soul surfer

Who is your crew, who influences your surfing.

All the Kom ous. I mainly surf with BG, Bromdog, and Dean “Mohammed” Hill. All three shred, and they definitely push one to go harder.

Ok other passions, I see you are amped on rock climbing? Tell us about that.

Yeah, been doing that for quite some time, but I haven’t really been active of late. It’s good fun, keeps you fit, takes you to insane places that most don’t see, and also teaches you good mental control, cos let's just be honest, when you 30 meters off the ground, the last thing you wanna be doing is panicking.

Any other passions that might kill you?

Nought.

Late night jols or dawn patrols?

Dawn patrols all round!!

What do you fear more: Sharks or Taxis?

Easy … taxis.

Shot bru, see you in the water sometime

Lekker bru. No thank you.