NZSnowboard.com - The home of New Zealand Snowboarding

29th January 2010

Nick Hyne, Nick Brown and Stef 'Dutchy' Zeestraten are all through to the finals at the FIS World Cup Slopestyle in Calgary, Canada. We quickly caught up with Dutchy for the latest.

NZ Team Captain Stef Zeestraten (nice spelling on the hat)

Holler, NZsnowboard.com - Yo Dutchy, so where are you right now?
Stef 'Dutchy' Zeestraten - I'm in Calgary riding a mountain called Canada Olympic Park which has less vertical than the hotel we are staying in down town.

Holler - Sounds interesting. Heard you boys killed it today at the World Cup Slopestyle?
Dutchy - Yeah it's the first World cup slopestyle I think and we had quali's today with Hyner (Nick Hyne), Browner (Nick Brown) and I all making the cut..

Holler - That's awesome. And how many made the cut?
Dutchy - 12 made it through to Saturdays final and Hyner actually came in 12th but I think it was cos he dropped first out of everyone today and did not realize that he did almost his hole run switch (no one could tell cos he was so smooth). And Browner laid down a solid run with some tech jibs and big spins to get him in third.

Holler - Yeah boys... so when's the finals?
Dutchy - Finals goes down on Saturday some time. Should be fun..

Holler - 3 kiwis in the finals is legit! You stoked?
Dutchy - Yeah - super stoked. It's great to hang out with the kiwis and support each other and ride together. Hyne and Brown are both pushing me. They are great entertainment to hang out with and go to the bar after with too,  but i think we will wait till Saturday to check out the local bar culture.

Holler - So who out of you Hyner and Browner is gonna throw down the mandatory pre comp Haka?
Dutchy - Ha, I think they both should as this is a FIS comp and they voted me in as team captain. (whatever that means) But they are both representing so it's all good.

Holler - Wait a second - so your telling me that Hyner and Browner voted a husky eyed, blonde haired euro with called DUTCHY as the NZ team captain?
Dutchy - Haha. Yeah, they thought they could get out of some team captains meetings which I don't go but all it's ended up doing is giving me my own room with a king size bed and a view and they share a room. Browner is the minister of transport AKA bus driver and we are still working on a job for Hyner.

Holler - Brilliant! So you're pretty much the Richie McCaw of NZ snowboarding going to lead us to victory?
Dutchy - Yer, but way more buff cos I just got back from the Gym.

Holler - haha. Sick. So whats the course like? You gonna throw your new switch back 1260?
Dutchy - The course is three jibs and than three pretty small jumps with not all that much pop so I don't know if there will be enough time in the sky to get what I want as my finals run but we will see how it goes on Saturday. Should be fun.

Holler - Aight cool. Well good luck to you, Nick Hyne and Nick Brown. Any words to the people of NZ?
Dutchy - Thanks peeps and just wanted to let you all know we are having a great time out here but I'm already looking forward to shredding with the crew back in NZ this winter..  Chur

Holler - done and dusted. talk soon dutchy. KILL IT!!!!!!