Matt's Instagram shot of yet another South African right.

Matt Hewitt has hit up South Africa for the first time since he and his family left 16 years ago.  He is there alongside the Suitcase Surfers to compete in the WQS events before taking in Japan and then Europe in what is shaping up to be a huge six months of surfing.  Here he tells us what he has been up to during his time off and where he sees himself ranked at the end of the year.

SNZ: There has been a lot of competition downtime recently, when and where was the last time you competed?

MH: It’s definitely been a long time between competitive drinks. I’m not complaining though. Long

trips and competitive campaigns can be really draining so it's always good to have some time at home. 

The last comp was a WQS event in Newcastle, Australia. I’m struggling to recall the surf or result, so I guess it’s been a while. And I am sure I wanted to forget it hahaha.

SNZ: What have you been doing in between events?

MH: I've been kept busy with a couple of photo shoot trips in Australia and also the Fox ‘Grom

Shootout’ at Catherine Hill Bay. I have also done a few talks at a couple of events.

It’s been awesome to catch up with everyone at home and spend time with family. 

It’s probably the thing I miss most when I’m overseas for a long stretch and I draw a lot of competitive inspiration from my friends and family, so it’s been great to

recharge my batteries. 

I’ve been really lucky to have been home for some awesome Matakana Island days and a couple big east coast swells. 

As per usual, I’ve kept up with my cross training and I'm feeling really confident about this next mission away.

SNZ: We see you travelled over to Aussie for a Fox Grom Comp, what was that all about?

MH: This is the second year that Fox held a Grom Shootout this year it was at Catherine Hill Bay, 

and they wanted me there for the week to help with promotion of the event and the company. 

We scored good waves for the week and it was fun seeing the talent coming through the next generation. 

These super groms don’t hold back and went bananas in the water all week. 

It was good to hang with the boys for the week away from the usual WQS comps.

SNZ: Your itinerary looks stacked leading into the back half of the year. Give us a brief rundown, how many events and where?

MH: It’s looking pretty hectic hey hahaha. I’m in South Africa at the moment for a couple of ASP events, Ballito and JBay. It’s my first time back to South Africa in 16 years so I’m amped for this leg of the journey. 

Possibly the longest flight of my life and some vicious jet lag but it’s been unreal catching up with long lost family and friends. The waves have been pumping since I arrived and I’ve been tearing apart some ridiculous right handers. I’m off to Japan directly after these events, then home for three days and then it’s off to Europe and the USA.

The schedule of events and locations looks ridiculous and all new to me so I’m just focussing on what I’ve got directly ahead of me and taking each event as it comes.

SNZ: Throw a year end ranking out to us?

MH: I started the year 316 as I managed to do a few events last year, as it was my last year on the Pro Junior Series, so I’m thinking this year I just need to get my head around all the traveling and the whole WQS series. The other challenge is I have to still get into the Prime and 6 star events as entry is done on last years rating but put all that aside and if I can string a few solid results then I want to finish inside the top 100.

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