An ex-Durban boy who saw the light...and moved to PE!
Barry with Greg Smith in a half nelson
Age: 57
Local Spot: Pipe & Millers during the week, JBay on the weekends (and if it's cooking during the week!)
Weapons: Jiggy 9ft longboard, Robyn Fletcher Evans 6ft10 fish
Wheels: Silver VW Crew van
Graft: Owner DPI Sign Industries (http://www.dpi.co.za)
Favourite surfer: Kelly Slater
Favourite spot: Tubes, Kitchen Windows
Local Crew: Seamonkey (Gavin Seaman), Randall Davey, Mark Reid
Achievements: EP Men shortboard team 1970 to mid '80's, EP longboarding '88-2008. Last 2 years surfed for Southern Cape. 3rd in Vic Bay Quad in 1980 (Masters)
Local Spot: Pipe & Millers during the week, JBay on the weekends (and if it's cooking during the week!)
Weapons: Jiggy 9ft longboard, Robyn Fletcher Evans 6ft10 fish
Wheels: Silver VW Crew van
Graft: Owner DPI Sign Industries (http://www.dpi.co.za)
Favourite surfer: Kelly Slater
Favourite spot: Tubes, Kitchen Windows
Local Crew: Seamonkey (Gavin Seaman), Randall Davey, Mark Reid
Achievements: EP Men shortboard team 1970 to mid '80's, EP longboarding '88-2008. Last 2 years surfed for Southern Cape. 3rd in Vic Bay Quad in 1980 (Masters)
How come you left Durban's cooking surf for PE all those years ago?
I matriculated when I was 17, and ended up doing army in Kimberley. The minute I finished with the army I went straight down to JBay for a holiday and to get some much needed surf, after being stuck inland all that time. I ended up running out of money so I couldn't get home! I had to come through to PE to look for some work, and got a job at Ford. Absolutely hated PE to start with, then ended up loving it after 6 months and decided to make it my home instead of returning to Durban.
The guys here gave us a bit of a hard time to start with, cos Durban ou's didn't have a great reputation in those days. They were known as hustlers in the water and out! But things were cool pretty quickly.
The guys here gave us a bit of a hard time to start with, cos Durban ou's didn't have a great reputation in those days. They were known as hustlers in the water and out! But things were cool pretty quickly.
Take us back to where surfing started for you.
I got into pretty late - probably about 16. I'd been seriously into soccer until then. My dad had always been a body surfer and we lived on the beachfront at Addington. One day we saw a big old barge washed up on the beach - it was one of those early hollow boards with a plug in, that you had to open to drain the water out of! Took it back home, painted it up and went from there!
Barry styling on his Boat nosed V machine. Age 17 at the Wedge, Durban.
What's the story behind this picture?
It's a shot of me when I was about 17. Taken at the Wedge in Durban. The board was called a boat-nosed V machine! If you look carefully you can see that the bottom deck under the rounded nose has almost a keel shape - like on a boat. It was a 7ft6 and from it's wide nose pulled into a really thin pin tail. A 7ft6 was considered a short board in those days. My first "real" shortboard was a Faith 6ft10, which I got at Max Wetland's surfshop in about 1969. I had to save for what seemed like ages to be able to afford it, and it cost about R60 if I remember correctly!
So what was PE surf like back in the day?
We used to surf at Fence all the time. We lived over the road in Malibu in Humewood. Fence had much less sand than now, so it even broke on a low tide with good shape. You could backdoor these amazing peaks, it felt like you were under a waterfall! We also surfed Millers and Pipe a bit as well.
In those days you could park on the grass right in front of Millers (opposite 3rd avenue), as there wasn't the car parks there are today. Millers was so much more consistent then.
I remember my first surf in PE was at Millers. We didn't know where to surf and just saw a 3-4ft wave from the road whilst we drove past. We stopped, grabbed our boards and jumped in. Being from Durban we weren't used to the cold water, so there we were, middle of winter, 16C water and in our boardies!! There weren't any wetsuits in those days anyway. My brother Errol imported the first proper surf wetsuit I ever saw from ONeill in the States. We just wore rugby jerseys til then - not that they kept you very warm!
In those days you could park on the grass right in front of Millers (opposite 3rd avenue), as there wasn't the car parks there are today. Millers was so much more consistent then.
I remember my first surf in PE was at Millers. We didn't know where to surf and just saw a 3-4ft wave from the road whilst we drove past. We stopped, grabbed our boards and jumped in. Being from Durban we weren't used to the cold water, so there we were, middle of winter, 16C water and in our boardies!! There weren't any wetsuits in those days anyway. My brother Errol imported the first proper surf wetsuit I ever saw from ONeill in the States. We just wore rugby jerseys til then - not that they kept you very warm!
Any funny stories from back then?
One of my favourites is about Mark Reid. We were surfing Clubhouse, and Mark was out there with us. In those days no-one locked their cars. Mush was in the car park and discovered Mark's blue mini was open and decided to get up to mischief. He got one of Mark's boots and proceeded to pee in it. When Mark was getting dressed after his surf he took his shoe to put it on and the next thing all this liquid was pouring out of it! He ended up having to throw the boots away cos he couldn't get the smell out of them! I don't think he's ever forgiven Mush!
Another time, the swell was pumping at Millers. There was this surf stoked grom called William Castles - he was always so amped to surf. For a laugh we tied him up to the shower pole that used to be opposite Millers on the grass - so he had to spend the whole session watching us all get waves!
Another time, the swell was pumping at Millers. There was this surf stoked grom called William Castles - he was always so amped to surf. For a laugh we tied him up to the shower pole that used to be opposite Millers on the grass - so he had to spend the whole session watching us all get waves!
Any hectic surf experiences?
Yah, I nearly drowned in Indo, at a spot called Impossibles. It's just down from Padang, towards Bingin. It was back in '95. Eric Steadman and Alan Byram had already paddled out about 40 minutes before us. Gavin and I were having a massage and chowing jaffles. By the time we decided to paddle out it was 6ft and a building swell.
Within an hour it had doubled to like 12-15ft solid. My leash snapped whilst trying to get under a wave, and the next thing I'm being thrown about like I'm in a hectic washing machine - don't know which way's up or down. By the time you come up you have just enought time to gasp a small breathe of air and then you're getting hammered by the next one. I got klapped by about 4 waves in a row and thought, that's it. Thankfully just then my booties touched reef and I got washed up under the cliffs. I was shattered.
The other time was surfing SA Champs in the late 70's at Nahoon. Solid 8ft swell and I ended up getting pushed around to the Eastern Beach side and getting washed in over the rocks.
Within an hour it had doubled to like 12-15ft solid. My leash snapped whilst trying to get under a wave, and the next thing I'm being thrown about like I'm in a hectic washing machine - don't know which way's up or down. By the time you come up you have just enought time to gasp a small breathe of air and then you're getting hammered by the next one. I got klapped by about 4 waves in a row and thought, that's it. Thankfully just then my booties touched reef and I got washed up under the cliffs. I was shattered.
The other time was surfing SA Champs in the late 70's at Nahoon. Solid 8ft swell and I ended up getting pushed around to the Eastern Beach side and getting washed in over the rocks.
You were quite involved with running EP Longboarding at one stage.
Yah, we formed the EP longboarding association back in about '86. It started with Martin Haynes and Steve McKechnie going out on big old barges at Millers, and everyone started taking an interest in longboarding again. We ran the Beach Hotel longboard classic for 2 years. The Cape Town guys came down and had such a jol it was decided to hold a proper interprovincial contest, so the first SA longboarding contest was held in about '88. I was chairman of SALSA for about 4 years in the early '90's, and organised 2 SA champs at St Francis and 1 at JBay and PE.
What surf stamps do you have in your passport?
I did Indo back in '95, but didn't really like the vibe there at all. It was really hectic in the water. I ended up in a fight with some locals. This one guy just kept on hassling and dropping in, so I ended up dropping in on him. Next thing his 5 mates had me surrounded and it got pretty ugly. Still, the surf's insane, solid 6-8ft and offshore for 30 straight days. We had some fun 3-5ft sessions at Nusa Lembogan, until a boat pulled up and dumped 40 Japanese surfers in the line-up with us!
I've been to Maldives twice. First time with a Durban crew, then recently with my son, Greg, and some mates (Potti, Dieter, Mark). We scored such good waves.
I've been to Maldives twice. First time with a Durban crew, then recently with my son, Greg, and some mates (Potti, Dieter, Mark). We scored such good waves.
Tell us a bit about the regular surfers soccer games at Millers.
It was a big thing back then. On Sundays when there was no surf everyone would come play soccer on the grass opposite Millers. It grew to the point where we even had games against the JBay guys - full-on affairs under floodlights at UPE with big crowds! It was Barry's Bullets (bullet not having the same connotation those days as today!) vs the JBay Raiders. We generally won cos the JBay ou's were goeffed most of the time!
What's something interesting about you we don't know!?
I can be deadly accurate with a spot kick - I still today take the free kicks, penalties and corners for my soccer side. Back when I started up Hearts football club we used to share a ground with Parks Rugby club who also trained on the Police grounds next to Old Grey.
After a training session I was chatting to their coach and said that soccer players could kick better than rugby players. It ended up in a challenge between the Park's first team kicker and myself - taking kicks from all along the 22. A full-on kick off! I whipped him, and claimed the R100 bet!
After a training session I was chatting to their coach and said that soccer players could kick better than rugby players. It ended up in a challenge between the Park's first team kicker and myself - taking kicks from all along the 22. A full-on kick off! I whipped him, and claimed the R100 bet!
