Rebel Sessions Start
Friday 15 July 2011 Cape Town: The 100-day window period for the Rebel Sessions opened here today, with a specialist camera crew standing by to document the best 10 days of big wave surfing off the Cape Peninsula, which will result in local surfers getting a share of the R110,000 purse.
To help pick the 10 best days of the winter the Rebel Sessions team have enlisted the help of veteran surf forecaster, Spike, from Wavescape.co.za. Spike has been forecaster to many of South Africa’s top surfing events including 10 years with Red Bull Big Wave Africa, as well as the Quicksilver Goodwave, O'Neill Coldwater Classic and Mr. Price Pro.
Spike's detailed forecasts will be used to mobilize the Rebel Sessions camera crew when the surf gets over 15 feet but will not be made public. The concept behind the Rebel Sessions is to document and reward the core surfers who ride these giant waves for the thrill of it, not for fame or fortune.
The Rebel Sessions are sponsored by the German production company Rebel Media and videos and pictures captured will be made available on rebelsessions.com as the sessions happen. After the Rebel Sessions window closes on 22 October, the video footage captured by the specialist film crew will be edited into a documentary.
Shaper David van Ginkel of DVG surfboards says that this unique concept has captured the imagination of local surfers, “There have been a couple of very excited big wave surfers ordering new boards with an eye winning on these awards, ”he said.
Looking ahead, Spike predicts that Cape Town's current warm patch of weather in the middle of winter will give way to at least two thumping storm swells in the latter half of July.
Looking ahead, Spike predicts that Cape Town's current warm patch of weather in the middle of winter will give way to at least two thumping storm swells in the latter part of July. "This curiously mild mid-winter patch has presided over fun 6' surf but not the power needed to turn on the big wave switch," he said.
"Interestingly, meteorologists forecast a dry winter, and that's what we're getting after a solid early winter seemed to skip autumn and get straight down to it. Now, a series of High pressure systems have virtually surrounded South Africa, but these give way to 2-3 winter storms in the south that generate some solid swell in the latter half of July, particularly around the 29th," Spike said.
The Rebel Sessions Awards are for the best-surfed big wave paddled into, R50 000, the biggest wave towed into, R30 000, the biggest wave towed into R20 000 and the worst wipeout, R10 000.