For a change this year I booked a 4 week trip to Cape Town, South Africa. I teamed up with my boyfriend Håkon and went to the airport in Oslo. After one of the hardest check-in´s in my windsurf career, we manage to get five 2.5 meter bags with us on the plane. Hundreds of dollars less we were on the plane pretty happy that the adventure was about to start. Last time we were in Cape Town was in 2012, when I first started to really train freestyle. That year we were not lucky with the wind, but this year was a different story!

I really wanted to go to Cape Town to improve my jumping on port tack (left hand in front). I have only sailed this tack a few days in Denmark last year, so I knew it would be a big challenge. We all know Cape Town can be rough and brutal at some days. The month I spent in Norway before flying to South Africa I did a few free diving sessions, and it was really cool! That training gave me more confidence if I would get into trouble.  Added with a lot of physical training I felt ready to hit the sharky water…

Arriving in beautiful Cape Town the wind was already howling. I normally went to the gym around 8am to match my gym skills against Sarah-Quita Offringa…pfff! Together we had some great workout sessions. A few hours later the wind normally kicked in at the lake. We went there for some challenging windy, gusty and choppy freestyle. I really enjoyed sailing here now. Nothing is better than getting those burners and skopus powered up on my Severne Freek 4.0 and Starboard Flare 93. After the freestyle session we went sailing at the ocean side. Most of the days the size of the waves were okey to improve in. Some days (more south) were more tricky, and left me, and many other sailors on the beach with mast high+ waves and super light wind. One day… one day… I will be out there enjoying these conditions also… Really inspiring watching the R E A L wave sailors ripping!

One of my favorite conditions in Cape Town were the days with head high ramps where I could freestyle between and off the waves. I was happy to land backloops that tack. Still a lot of training before they will look the way they look in my dreams though…

Out of 4 weeks I will say the first 3 weeks were really good, and we could sail almost every day. If the weather was bad in Cape Town (in Table View were we lived), we went for a 1,5 hour drive to a magical lake named Brandvlei. What a place! With no wind in Cape Town, we could sail small sails in strong wind there! I learned that there is always a big chance of finding wind somewhere within 2 hours of driving.

In a few days a new video from Cape Town will be online. I did a fun short video project with the documentary filmer Tom Deburchgrave. Follow my Instagram and Facebook page to watch the video soon.

After Cape Town I went home for 4 days before flying to Bonaire in the Caribbean. Here I´ve been 3 weeks already. The two first weeks had lack of wind, so I spent my time well in the gym and had some nice slalom and foil sessions. For the last week I´ve been sailing freestyle on my 4.4 every day! Can´t complain about that! Check out a short clip from the gym:

Also the new dates for our 2018 Windsurf Clinics in Norway and Brazil are online now: (more info e-mail odajohanne@hotmail.com)