TALES OF A JETSKI

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

My sister and I were created for a purpose. I’ll admit that we had no idea what that purpose was, sitting in the Honda warehouse in the USA in 2006. It was an unsettling time, but the moment our mono-hulls touched the Tahitian-Pacific for our first taste of the ocean we knew our calling. We were created for service. To move across water at high speeds with surfers in-tow; offering protection, safety, opportunity, and ultimately… to facilitate the chase of those mystical mountains of moving water we know as waves, big waves.

For most of our existence we’ve been known as ‘The Billabong Skis’, two Honda F-12’s, the result of a global alliance between Honda, Monster Energy and Billabong for the World Championship Surf Tour events at that time. Originally deployed to Teahupo’o for the Billabong Pro we spent two years in the tropics before we were sent to South Africa. Our first caretakers in South Africa were Peter Nicholson and Ryan Payne. They welcomed us with excited smiles and high fives. Alas we’d have to wait for the opportunity to surf Supers because skis aren’t welcome in the lineup, except for safety when the world’s best are in town. But there were still great waves to be had around J-Bay, and Koffie Jacobs and some of the other locals got us training with stepoffs down the beach in front of the Gamtoos Rivermouth, spooky waves out at Shark Point near St.Francis and our favourite, towing