It's hard to shoot a summer collection in European winter, so the Prolimit team headed to the Southern Hemisphere in search of sun! Sharks, snakes, and car troubles weren’t enough to stop the team from making the most of Cape Town’s windy season. Read all about their South African adventure in this exclusive article by trip leader Kim Douma!

Planning a summer collection shoot in winter poses a unique challenge, especially given current travel difficulties! We'd done all our recent shoots close to our home beaches in the Netherlands, but we needed sun when it came time to shoot the Prolimit summer collection. In addition, our design department is based in South Africa, making Cape Town the easy choice for our last-minute trip!

One week before the shoot, I arrived in Cape Town to organise and scout locations. It was my first time in South Africa, and I was beyond excited. When you hear people share their Cape Town experiences, it's always with so much enthusiasm. I understood why as soon as I arrived. Cape Town has everything you could want; a big city, beautiful beaches, mountains, wind and waves. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to, and I'm very jealous of my colleagues in Muizenberg. I wouldn't mind switching offices!

At Prolimit, we cover all disciplines in water sports with our products, so it's essential to have a variety of riders, each doing what they do best. Pablo Amores was our wave guy, and Stig Hoefnagel, Cohan van Dijk and Arthur Guillebert our big air stars. Arthur, who had just become the GKA Freestyle World Champion, would team up with Leo Verrecchia for the freestyle shoot. Unfortunately, with Covid restrictions and conflicting travel schedules, the women on our pro team weren't available, so we asked Ella Raeburn and Nicole Lambrecht to join the shoot. Completing the team were Linda van Lakwijk and Edwin Honsbeek from Prolimit HQ, photographer Samuel Cardenas, and videographer Floris Tils.

Immediately after we arrived, Red Bull gave the green light for King of the Air. That meant no time to rest for Arthur after his long trip from Brazil. Our French rider had a hectic start, but he still made it to the 2nd round. Stig was entirely focused on his first-ever KOTA appearance and was on fire for the whole competition, taking out some big competitors and making it to the final. Placing 3rd in the KOTA is a colossal achievement, and we are so proud of him! I loved the event and having such an adrenaline-fuelled start to our trip!

Once the dust settled, we were ready to start shooting the Prolimit brand video. The weather conditions vary significantly along the South African coast, so picking shoot locations was always an important decision. We could look at the forecast, but local knowledge always gave us the extra edge. Luckily, our colleagues Julia, Warren and Max live in Cape Town. Warren, our designer, would tell us where the best conditions would be based on the forecasts, and Julia would make a video report of the conditions in her spot every morning.

Freestyle was up first on day one of the shoot. Of course, the stars of our freestyle shoot were Arthur Guillebert and Leo Verrecchia! We piled into our VW Golf, dubbed Golfie, and got on the road to Langebaan. On the way, we were lucky to spot some wildlife. Leo and I had never seen giraffes and zebras outside a zoo before, so we were very excited! Our cameramen got straight to work when we arrived at the spot, capturing some epic freestyle angles.

On the way home, Golfie, unfortunately, stopped working. After a long day of filming, it was not a great situation to be in the dark on the roadside on an unfamiliar highway! We were stuck with smoke coming from the engine and the heat arrow in the red. Not being too mechanically minded, we did a quick Google search to see if we could continue driving an overheated car. The answer was a definite no. Luckily, a gas station nearby poured about 15 litres of water into the car. The last kilometres took forever because we were driving home at a snail's pace. 

After the freestyle shoot, we didn't have much wind around Cape Town, so we decided to capture some stills of the new summer collection on the beautiful beaches of Witsand. It was also an excellent opportunity to shoot our SUP collection in these peaceful bays. 

While we waited for the next windy days, we enjoyed the stunning scenery, delicious South African food, and, of course, some drinks! It was so much fun to spend this time together, getting to know the whole team. Not everyone on the team had met before, so this trip was the perfect opportunity to connect as a team.

When the wind finally came back, we went to Sunset Beach to shoot some action with Stig, Pablo and Arthur. The waiting game for the beautiful sunset and strong wind began. After a while, Samuel had to pee and decided to go into the bushes for some privacy. Suddenly, we heard a Spanish scream, and Samuel came out of the bushes claiming he'd seen a massive snake. Floris and Pablo didn't believe it and went to see for themselves. It turned out that there indeed was a huge snake in the bushes. I've never seen the guys so scared!

We noticed towards sunset that the wind was more consistent at the nearby Blouberg beach, so we packed up and headed upwind just in time to catch the perfect evening light. We were on the water until sunset, with the camera crew on point and capturing some beautiful content. We ended the day across the road at Jerry's for their famous burgers and beer. 

After another break in the wind, the forecast we were waiting for arrived. According to the locals, the next day would be THE day of the season with 3-metre waves and strong wind. We planned to be on the beach in Scarborough at 5:45 am. You should have seen everyone's faces when they realised they had to wake up at 5:00 am! Those expressions were nothing compared to the looks on their faces when we arrived at 5:45 am to find no waves at all. Now, we can laugh about it, but at that moment, I felt so responsible and guilty for dragging the team out of bed. We were all there at the crack of dawn for 30 cm high waves. Pure disappointment!

Mother Nature rewards patience because as the morning developed, so did the waves. After taking a few shots at Scarborough, we moved down the bay to Witsand, where the conditions were wild! It was just as everyone predicted - maybe even better. Because we had arrived so early, we had the beach for ourselves for the first hours. The good conditions didn't go unnoticed for long. All the other pro riders started arriving at the spot, like a mini KOTA! Cohan was going crazy on his short lines, and Arthur did the sickest jump I had ever seen. Later, we saw it was more than 30 metres high. It was quite a show!

I laughed a lot about Samuel during the water shoots. He was already worried about the sharks in Cape Town before we got there. Linda and I tried to reassure him that sharks hadn't been spotted in Cape Town for a very long time. Still, the first time we saw a seal during the shoot, he panicked (but so did I, haha). Of course, if you're in the water without a board, I can imagine it's pretty scary. Luckily, Floris and Samuel could film in the sea together, so they didn't have to suffer alone! We heard the shark alarm in Muizenberg during a break between shoots and went to the balcony, where we actually saw a shark! After that, Samuel got even more scared about getting into the water. Luckily, we had already done all the water shots, so he didn't have to!

After three super intensive weeks, we were all super happy with the outcome. We learned a lot on that trip, including that seagulls do not appreciate drones. Every time we wanted to film a drone shot, the birds came from all sides. It was impossible to get a clean shot while dodging flocks of seagulls!

Another lesson was never to trust a Golfie! Pablo and Samuel's overheated near the airport, on a busy highway known to be a dangerous place. They called me for help and asked for advice. After trying to start the car another 50 times, it came back alive.

On the last day, our colleagues from Cape Town organised a braai at the office in Muizenberg. Our designers were able to show the team riders how a product is designed and demonstrated how the 3D printer works. They had the chance to discuss new products, and the team riders could give their input and preferences. It was a really cool experience for the whole team and an awesome way to end the trip. 

It was an incredible adventure with the Prolimit crew, and getting on the flight at the end of the trip was a sad moment. However, I've fallen in love with Cape Town, and I'll be back next year. I just won't take a Golfie!

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Prolimit - Experience Innovative Technology TEASER
By Kim Douma

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