Home, it’s where the heart is and this week just reconfirmed why I love to live in Kwazulu – Natal. Besides the fact that my girlfriend was still mine, my house was still in one piece with nothing taken from it, my garden was growing like a dream and my dogs where as pleased as punch to see me.

But even more so that it’s also home to the Durban piers and some of the best beachbreak waves in the world and that’s just what we got this week, big crazy barrels for seven straight days starting at 4ft last Tuesday (the day I got back from the USA) and getting up to 10ft on Saturday afternoon and back down to 4ft this Tuesday morning.

Barrels of every shape and size, some thick, mean and sandy, and others light, blue and clean and so many by today it was to the point of madness. With the barrels came red eyes from the sun and too much tunnel vision, sore shoulders from paddling, a painful right arm that inhibits sleep from doing the arm barrel stall and sunburn on every exposed piece of skin from the 30’ sun and 22’ water.

Totally surfed out ....that’s good shit!!

We paddled some and we towed some but from what I saw almost everyone got an amazing tube sometime during the week. The best one that I saw being Rudi Snr’s on Sunday at about 9am when for me the surf was at its best....Most crowded but certainly the best.

I had my best barrel on Saturday at about 12pm, towed into a perfect one by Ryan (thanks buddy) and getting as deep as possible on an 8ft North Beach bomb on my new Country Feeling strapless tow board shaped by Baron (it worked B ha ha). What a feeling being that deep and still making it, says something for the old jet ski that’s for sure.

Flame showed up from Germany and in between swapping tube time with an old friend we had many a heated debate about why we live where we do and why liberal is better than conservative or visa versa and why man is so obsessed with why!! Conversations that define each other and who we are...Good stuff.

Oh, I almost forgot, one of my best friends got married and we had a hell of a party on Saturday night as well, and I managed to see everyone I had been missing the past 3 months at once for a drink and a good yarn!!

And right now I am writing this from my new office at home after finalising the sale of my business and feeling very chuffed with life. Winter is coming for us down south, the maps are looking good for Mozambique next week and right now I’m free as a bird, a newly sponsored surfer at 35 with the world at my finger tips....What the fuck next?

Soccer on Thursday, yes man!!

See ya
T

Grant "Twiggy" Baker is a former Mavericks Surf Contest champion and special contributor to TheExtremeScene.com.