East London’s favourite para-surfer, Jean-Paul Veaudry’s odyssey began with a life-altering motorcycle accident in 2009 near Nahoon River.
The crash cost Veaudry, now 49, his left leg but not his identity.
Within months, he was back in the water, refusing to let trauma define the rest of his life.
Today, he is an internationally recognised para-surfer and a professional photographer, a multiple national representative, and a two-time WSA West Coast champion in California, where he won titles in 2011 and 2012.
Since the International Surfing Association launched the Para Surfing World Championships in 2015, Veaudry has represented SA every single year, a testament to his dedication, talent, and ferocious resilience.
In his most recent world championship campaign, Veaudry came in eighth. He told Go! Sports he had a shaky start to his campaign, noting that he had to “play it safe” in the first round because he felt the weight of being the defending champion, after having won last year.
“It was quite apparent I had a target on my back. People wanted to beat me,” Veaudry said.
His caution resulted in a second-place in his opening heat and he realised it was time to up his game.
He attacked the second round earning the highest single-wave score in his division, an impressive 8.17.
“I knew from the first turn that it was going to be a good score,” he said.
Veaudry says he has continued to compete fiercely among athletes half his age, including rising talents like Morgan Galeffi, 19.
He welcomed the younger riders, saying it is “nice to see fresh faces and good talent” in the division. He said the competition had its hurdles.
Veaudry said the five weeks he had to train that left him little time to prepare, raise funds, or secure new boards. Yet he chose to go anyway. “I wanted to defend my title,” he said.
“I may have been unprepared, but I was determined.”
For him, the pressure of defending a world title proved very different from the pressure of chasing one.
Competitors openly told him they were going to beat him, and some did along the way.
“Moving forward, I know I need to trust my ability more and be less nervous.”
He said para-surfers had “all upped the ante” since 2015.
He kicked off his final with a middling to fair 6.77 but new he needed to nail a better one for the win.
He waited, and waited, and it never came. He settled for eighth.
Emotional but gracious, he congratulated the Japanese winner, saying: “He definitely deserved it.”
He said conditions at Oceanside in Encinitas were unpredictable, with shifting tides, winds and rips.
Having never surfed there before, he relied on advice from locals rather than practice runs.
Throughout his path, Veaudry drew strength from his wife Gabriella, his daughters Amelia, 10, Isabella, 7, and close friends who surf with him daily.
He encouraged young para-surfers in SA to join the sport, describing it as healing and empowering.
“We need a stronger team. Surfing is incredible therapy. It makes me happy, and when I’m happy, my family’s happy too.”
