Mother Nature wasn’t on our side and the
event was now extended to the Sunday.
Several riders in the quarter finals had
flights the following day like Hadlow and
Richman, which they then had to change.
The event was again on hold for another
day. The forecast was looking solid for the
following day though which was great
for the finals of the event. We headed
to the beach around 11am the following
morning, and already it was windy.
Riders were on 9m’s and comfortably
powered. The plan was to wait until
3pm as the forecast predicted the
wind would amp up; exactly what we
needed to finish off the event with a
bang.
Some fellow riders and I found a six pack
of beer and some local South African girls
to cuddle up to on the beach for the final.
The “table cloth” cloud began to cover the
top of Table Mountain and the wind began
to push through. It was a picture perfect
scene with a massive crowd looking over
big bay. There was some kiteboarding
history that went down that afternoon.
Never in my career as a kiteboarder have
I seen someone take two back-to-back
stacks like Ruben and walk away from
them alive. The first trick of the heat
Ruben did his signature massive
front roll mega loop. He came into
the landing backwards, clipped his
heel side edge in the water, and then
his body wiped into the water like
he was in a car accident. The crash
resulted in him ejecting from both boots.
Most people thought that it was over
for Ruben but he recovered his board
and headed to shore to put his bindings
back on. Once he launched back into
the water he went straight into H