EAST London’s own waveski virtuoso, extraordinaire, Bruce Viaene, is one of ten chosen to represent South Africa in Spain in the 2018 World Championships in September.later this year.
Viaene said he started waveskiing when he was 14. had always had a passion for the ocean.
“I started waveskiing when I was 14 years old,” he said.
“My sister and brother-in-law have both represented SA on the world stage and so it was inevitable I would pick up a paddle and waveski too.”
“I stopped when I finished school around 2008 and only got back into the sport in the last two years.”
The father of two, who recently came second place at the KwaZulu-Natal Waveski Open champs, said the contest was part of the training for the World Championships.
“When we arrived in Durban, I went for a quick warm up surf and ended up breaking my competition board.
“Fortunately Viking had a back-up board which went so well that I ended up surfing it throughout the contest.
“I had a good run in the preceding heats to the final, but came up second against Mike Wessels from the Western Cape,”Province Viaene said.
“Mike is a great surfer and I beat him at the South African champs, but he was on fire in this competition and took the win by .03 of a point. I came second.”
He counts coming at the top at the men’s open among his highlights. of his journey.
“Last year was my comeback year. I won my age group and the men’s open, which is a hotly contested title. It really gave me the motivation to pursue further in the sport.
“In this year’s national champs, I placed second in the open men’s and won my age group. again. n which was against Mike Wessels in the final.
“I have been selected to represent SA at the World Champs, so I have been training and competing as much as possible.
“My board sponsor, Viking Waveski, have been super supportive,” he said.
