This success story is dedicated to the norm. The norm that pushed me to where I am today. Thanks to them I proved the un-imaginary for my life.

For me, success is about being on the edge and experiencing life at full throttle. It’s about doing what I always dreamed of doing … and doing just that. It’s what so many of my friends talk about doing, but they don’t do it. Success for me means the blood pumping through my veins. When you are in the heart of Mother Nature, the ocean and disappearing behind a curtain of water, surrounding you but not touching you, this is when I am at my peak and the success is burning through my veins. This sensation you will never know, unless you have been there for yourself. When I am travelling at great speed on snowy white ice surfaces and the slightest twist of the wrong weight distribution can mean the end of your ride. It’s when you feel comfortable with tunnel vision and fear is the factor that keeps you alive. This is where calculated risks play the most important balance between survival and the greatest thrill for me on this planet.

My success story started some time ago when I dreamed of doing what I always wanted to do. This was to travel the world, ride the planets most beautiful waves, go at least once a year on a snowboarding holiday in the Alps and still make money in the process. There was only one problem. I am a waveski and there was not enough money in the sport to pay for the top riders to compete. I love beautiful things and my eyes are always capturing passing moments. "There must be a way to treasure these moments better" I said to myself. I started drawing, but could not keep up, for there were to many pictures in the world that needed capturing and my left-hand could not sketch fast enough. I managed to save enough money to buy my first video camera. This way I could capture the moments of live much better. My vision was big and suddenly a world of opportunities was open to me.

My brother Pieter and I set off for a trip of a lifetime. The Philippines have always been an untouchable dream destination for us and this time we were going to view it ourselves. With Pieter being an excellent stand-up surfer, together we made a great combination riding the swells. We made a point to filming each other and not a wave went by without one of us behind the camera. We also realised if the camera is pointing your direction, you are pushing your body to the ultimate. The camera cannot lie and the beautiful unspoiled Philippines were captured forever on film.

Back home I started the editing process and part time studying at City Varsity film school. It took me more than 6 months to edit the thing together. I called it Open your Mind. Why? Because it opened my mind to the world. I was completely hooked on my new profession and happy that I could express myself in this way and still enjoy the sea like I always wanted. I sold 270 copies of Open your Mind and knew that I had something unique. The year after, Mutual Addiction sold 300 copies, but this was not enough to live of. Everybody was pretty much against me. What is this guy doing, sitting night after night and playing. A friend of my dad even said. "If I have to struggle like this then I rather work" Well they were probably right but I was definitely not going to listen to them. I had a voice in my head that told me that I was on the right path. The work came in but my business knowledge was seriously the missing link. I had to leave the comfort of home and went to London, giving up my great life and stuck in a city without an ocean or snow. I felt like a complete loser. I had to do a job that was nothing that I wanted to do. There were very little beautiful pictures and my creativity took a big dive. I wanted to get back on my feet and I was ready to fight for it.

One good thing is that I kept on filming and in the process I met Philip Darley, a BBC camera man, little bit in the same position as myself. We had two things in common; we were both capturing beautiful pictures on film and believe it of not, he was also a waveskier. So suddenly there was plenty of motivation. We did some great work together in the corporate city of London, but the nature was calling me. The longing for adrenalin was too great. So in an act of… I cannot handle this city any more; I left, to the mountains, The Alps. The snow.

This winter it will be six years since I left the city of London. So much has happened. I knew that I was destined for greater things and to do what I love most. There on the European continent I met my dream wife and today we are living in one of the most beautiful places in the world. We even extended our little family with a classic baby boy Noah. My website www.subgraviti.com is selling movies as we speak and I am sitting in Mexico in a dodgy little Internet shop. I am living my biggest dream. Travelling around the world with the best waveski surfers in the world, while I am working on the next movie. After filming I paddle out myself for a few waves and best of all getting paid for it. Only to travel back to the Alps to start the editing process with 6 months of snowboarding ahead of me. I can go riding every day if I want to, but I prefer just going on the best powder days.

Nowadays Waveski is at a very important time of existence. A time where a group of us started thinking on how it would be possible to do more for the sport. How can we make it professional? The result is that together with the AWWP we are now in the position to make money available for the top riders to win at competitions. Something that has never really been done before and that I did not have when I was one of them competing. To see the World Waveski Tour being as real as it is today is truly amazing and another step closer to our big dream.

That is why today more than ever I am applying core values in everything that I do. When I am away on my film-shots in Mexico, Reunion or where ever the next perfect surf destination will be, surfing the planet's most beautiful waves, I know that I am not put in this position by chance. No… everything happens for a reason and to get to where we are today no luck was part of it.

Hope can never been taken away from you and this is my power to carry on and make my biggest goals a reality. So finally, all thanks to the Lord for creating the norm and making me not part of them. The continuous guidance for building the perfect me. Amen.

Xaver Walser for SGP Media.2008