Best event you attended in 2016?
Reider Decker: The best event I attended in 2016 was the Cape Hatteras Wave Classic. This year the conditions were not on our side and we were not able to get a final result for the contest, but everyday there wasn’t wind the surf was super fun. So we got to surf with everyone from the contest most days and kick it with everyone after. It such a fun low key group of people it feels more like a week long reunion and party then a contest. Already looking forward to next year!
Best Session?
Reider Decker: One of my favorite sessions from the year was in Mauritius. A week after we got there a huge swelled rolled in but the wind angle was too inconsistent to kite One Eye. After kiting some fun but unexciting waves at beginners bay, Oswald Smith came in and told us he found this epic wedge upwind and offshore that was barreling super well. Ozzie is so stoked on everything all the time, sometimes it’s hard to believe him when things are actually good. Sure enough when we got out there, there was this mound of a wave rolling in and jacking up as it hit the reef. I watched Ozzie pull into such a good barrel, his lines totally slacked out and he shot out just in time to get tension back in his lines and keep his kite up. Halfway through the session rain started pouring down, but we still stayed out there till it was almost dark. The next day we went to scope it out in hopes of getting Ydwer and Bas out there for some shooting, but it wasn’t breaking nearly as good as the day before. And to be honest, the wave was so perfect in the weirdest way, I didn’t expect it to stay that like after we left. There are some epic sessions out of the blue, with just you and your friends there to witness it, that are almost too perfect to be documented and commercialized. As lame as it sounds, sometimes just keeping it as an epic memory between friends is enough.
Favorite instagram photo this year?
Reider Decker: Ydwer snapped this shot on my first wave of the first day of the Airush photo shoot in Cape Town. It must have been gusting well over 40kts in Scarborough that day. I’ve never been so overpowered on a 6m in my life.
Favorite video you appeared in?
Reider Decker:: My favorite video from this year is from Dusk till Dawn with me and Oswald Smith filmed by Bas Koole. Ozzie has a killer powered riding style. I think the freestyle mixed with strapless freestyle is such a nice combo, it always keeps it fresh and interesting. And with the man Bas Koole getting so many epic shots from all different angles, he really threw together a sick edit.
DUSK TILL DAWN feat. Oswald Smith and Reider Decker from Airush on Vimeo.