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Jake Oberholzer Joins ASR Team

JAKE OBERHOLZER JOINS ASR TEAM





History

I started surfing when I was about 10 years old. I was hooked instantly and ever since, my life has followed a path close to the waters edge.
Favouring Art at school led to a decision to study further in this field and I was accepted to study graphic design at Natal Tech. Spending half the day at lectures and half at New Pier suited me fine, but a combination of a frustratingly boring 2nd year curriculum, financial issues and the need for a break after school led to me leaving after the first term, 2nd year. The next 6 months I spent surfing 24/7, contests were never my strongpoint, but I picked up a Quiksilver sponsorship as a freesurfer.

Not wanting to waste more time before starting a career, I studied computer graphics at Hirt & Carter and took up the night shift position at the imaging department there. Although working at night and surfing during the day was ideal for a while, after almost 3 years of working alone from 9 at night to 5 in the morning, I started feeling slightly dysfunctional. With enough experience under my belt, I left to start freelancing. One of my clients was Atoll Media, where I was working on the bodyboarding magazine and, after a couple of months, I was offered a job to help design and layout Zigzag surf magazine.

During the 3 years which I spent at Zigzag, I began my surf travels, starting with a trip to Madagascar and then, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to explore remote Indonesian islands on the Indies Trader, better known as Quiksilver's "The Crossing". These trips fuelled my travel bug, but my travel budget wasn't looking too healthy, so I left Zigzag to take up a position at Derivco as an online casino designer. The pay was good, I gained valuable experience and surfed New Zealand, Mauritius , France and Spain . But a rigid corporate company with no flexibility was a problem, especially when I sat on the top floor in the corner with a fantastic view of the ocean from La Lucia to Durban. Not so fantastic when you can see 6 ft lines marching towards the shore, pushed up by stiff offshore winds and you're trapped by florescent lights, coffee machines and the drum of air-conditioning.

The position for marketing manager at Quiksilver became available and, missing being part of the industry and keen for a new challenge, I couldn't let the opportunity pass me by, so I applied and got the job. Although the experience I gained at Quiksilver was invaluable, I was already feeling frustrated with the confinement of working at Derivco. So, with the pressures of being marketing manager at Quiksilver, I realised after the first year that this wasn't for me and resigned. For the next year I did some freelancing but spent most of my time travelling to Indonesia 's Mentawai Islands, a few months exploring France and Spain and surfed locally, from the Lost City's wave pool, to Mossel Bay's Inner Pool.

From all my work experiences, I've concluded that, to be happy, you need to be passionate about your work and you need the freedom to do what you're passionate about. At African Surfrider, I'm working with surf material, designing & laying out the mag, helping with production, occasionally writing and submitting photos. I'm a shareholder so have a vested interest with the magazine's future and work with a bunch of guys who surf and understand that if the waves are cooking, we need to be in the water. Together, we want to bring a product to the surfing community that promotes all types of surfing, from all types of surfers. A positive representation of the many aspects of our unique discipline, from style, exploring exotic destinations, surfers to watch and surf history, to just having fun. So basically, all we want to do is "share the stoke!"



Date: 2 Aug 07