A Tribute to David “Warrior” Lilienfeld, by Heinrich van Rooyen.

Anybody who has surfed or boogered at Caves knows what a totally amazing place it is- the waves, the caves, the beach, the water temperature (which is a blessing to us West Coast side folk) the sweet freshwater stream and the fact that you can go there and totally forget about work or tests and the classes you’re most likely supposed to be attending at that moment. Almost every surf you will get to see a pod of dolphins playing in the waves with you… even picked up an octopus in the backline once… one of the most beautiful beaches in SA by far!

Thursday morning exactly two weeks ago (19 April), we surfed caves for about two and a half hours. It was sunny, water was awesomely warm, waves were quite fun, schools of mullet everywhere and a massive pod of dolphins in the water with us for quite a while before we came out. After the surf we headed up to parking lot and got up there just as David (who will be referred to as Warrior further on), Gustav (his brother), Kirk (his stepbrother) and Linn (Kirks girlfriend) arrived with picnic stuff, boards, hubbly and whatever else you take to the beach if it isn’t just your suit board and fins. As always Warrior and Gus were just shaking with stoke and excitement to get in the water and get filming! We stayed and chatted for a while in the parking lot, laughed about a few new stories about our mates and then said goodbye. Half an hour later, on our way back, we received a call asking if we are all okey because they heard there was a shark attack at Caves. We phoned Kirk who was chilling on the beach, immediately turned around and started speeding back. A massive amount of paramedic vehicles, media people and police were already there. I found Gustav, still in his wetsuit, amongst all the medic people. We stayed there with them until Oom Dirk arrived. The rest is all in the papers.

I want to tell you all about this tall blonde yeti of a man that was so loved by all… and really by ALL… who never had a trouble in the world other than maybe his friends who constantly messed up his house… He absolutely lived for the ocean, bodyboarding, his friends and family (he has seven siblings) and jolling… particularly at Dizzys. He could always bodyboard, fish, speardive and surf better than any one of us without even really trying and he could make any crap situation seem like nothing by just laughing. A crazy kind of smile backed by a crazy bush of blonde hair and blue eyes that just made everyone feel at home and made all the girls weak in the knees. He always lectured us about safety if we do stupid things by trying to sound serious while pulling a straight face… which we found extremely funny obviously. And almost everything he did was “DIE BESTE DING OOIT!”, like “DIT WAS DIE BESTE BARREL OOIT!” or “DIS DIE LEKKERSTE SUSHI IN DIE HELE WERELD, EK SWEER!”.

Always keen for a road trip and always ready to party… and he did party… all over the world! He thrived on travelling and saw more places than most people see in their lifetimes. Always bragged with photos of him and Gus in Mexico, Indo, Mentawais, Oz, Canaries, Canada, Thailand, Dubai etc… made us all crazy!

We have a gang of friends who have been in school together since we were tjokkers, a family that grew to about 15 close mates with a million more mates. We formed 2 school bodyboarding teams who owned the schools league in the Western Cape, with Warrior as the captain! Warrior won the schools league rider of the year a few times, has been part of the Western Province bodyboarding team for years (and won the Junior SA title) and represented SA at the world games in the Canary Islands last year… he even played rugby every now and then… didn’t like it though. Some model scout on Clifton tried to make him a pro model… don’t think he liked that very much either. He always just did what he loved and he did it damn good! Put it this way… We are damn proud to have been a part of his life!

Since grade 6 Oom Dirk (Warriors dad) has been taking us all up to their house in Kaaimans between Wilderness and George in the December holidays. That house means everything to all of us! Thus we started calling ourselves the Kaaimans Crew (KC for short)… we had KC board stickers, KC t-shirts and I wouldn’t be surprised if we all get KC tattoos somewhere in the near future… like fanatic type of crazy about this place! Warrior gave us all the awesome friendship we have today and the Kaaimans family has grown to probably around 25 friends not counting the 100’s that come around from all over SA’s coast to visit! This tradition will live forth guys! Come visit again!

The paddle out at Camps bay beach was out of this world super amazingly beautiful! The amount of people that pitched up from all over was proof of what a legend Warrior was! And there was a paddle out in Plett and Durban and Panama… where the heck is Panama?! Thank you guys! His family and friends were in awe with all the messages of condolences and love from everyone. The ocean couldn’t have been more perfect either! Also thank you Donovan and Ian for the paddle out organizing! And anyone else who helped with anything! DIT WAS DIE BESTE DING OOIT!

All our love goes out to his parents Ansie and Dirk, as well as all his stepparents- Sakkie and Sonia. His siblings- Gustav, Kirk, Ian, Sam, Emma, Larissa and Daniella- we love you all! And to his girlfriend Keren! We as his friends are ALL here for you!

Stay in the water guys, don’t be scared. Surf on and surf hard! He would’ve done it! And learn to love those around you more than you think you already love them! Let his smile live on!