Often found myself wondering how cold the water actually is. We all have our own internal thermostats that give us a guestimate of what we reckon we think it is, but how close are we really?

I decided that this coming winter would be a good time to test how accurate we really are when it comes to putting a number on it. Went and found a pool thermometer at the local hardware store (Granville Wests pop's place at the back of Summerstrand village. For those of you who don't know, Granny was one of PE's best goofy's, but bailed to CT a while back.)

Did a coupla exceedingly scientific tests (not) to find out what the temps of things we were familiar with were, as that could be a good starting reference. Turns out that the water that comes straight outta ya tap is about 26C, the water you'd comfortably bath or shower in is 40C and water with some ice cubes gooi'd in cools itself down to a chilly 10C.

So there we have it, you can no longer say the water's as warm as a bath, cos you'd be way wrong. Unlikely we're gonna get 40C water here, or anywhere for that matter. If it's nice n toasty and you out there in your boardies and some ou asks what the water temp is, you gonna have to say, "warm as the tap bra". Doesn't roll off the tongue quite as easily does it.

There are certainly the odd occasions when the water temps in the bay plummet - you can usually spot it when the waters that olive green colour - bad sign! But it's still unlikely to get as cold as 10C, which is the glass of water with ice in. Most of the time it's bottom out at around 14C. Which is still flipping cold, and you'd certainly be happier with a hoodie and boots.

Got the thermometer at the ready for when next some cold water hits the shores...let's see what winter can throw at us.

The locals have been in the wars lately. Grant and Faye went head to head with their skateboards and lost, although did live to tell the tale.....albeit with an assortment of broken bones. And then Gareth bust a disc in his spine.

So Millerslocal decided to follow up with the lame and limping to see how things were holding up.

First crash test dummy is Mr Grant Beck. He who coin tossed with the hill and the skateboard...and lost. Nicely bust femur for his efforts. Ended up getting it pinned, so now he'll have to be strip and cavity searched at every airport xray machine cos they reckon he's packing metal somewhere! Grants happy to report his 14 staples have been removed, so he no longer looks like he's been attacked by a rabid CNA employee armed with a stapler.

He's still on crutches for another month and will be having some physio soon to get him back to full strength. Hoping to be back in the water in about 2 months time. So make the most of the fact that he'll be parking off at Seal Point armed with a videocam for the next 8 weeks. Go big  in the water or go home, cos remember - some ou's are land-locked whilst you out there pulling back on the sets!

Next up is Gareth - who managed to pop a disk in his back to such an extent it required surgical removal. He had his op last Thursday, and happily reports he had an almost instant disappearance of the constant pain that had been nagging him. His foot is still pretty numb, but the doc reckons that'll sort itself out in time. He isn't allowed to sit til this Friday, and has been flat out on his back for the time being. Physio should start soon, and he hopes to be back in the water in 4-6 weeks if everything goes according to plan.

And then we have Faye-mous Faye - who not so famously came a cropper on her skateboard last week whilst doing some training for a QS comp in Aus. Smashed up her lower leg in 3 places (tib-fib for those of you who know your bones) and had to go in for surgery to stick it all back together again. Kinda like Humpty Dumpty!

Anyway, Aus being a nice first world country, she has had great care and is now up and about on the Zimmerframe, dicing the grannies in the corridors! Imagine if you bust your leg in Indo? Hmm, rather don't imagine. 

Unfortunately Faye missed the comp, and will be jetting home once the doc's are happy with her leg. She'll be out for about 3-4 months, which super sucks cos she's been training like a Trojan for this year.

So there we have it folks, your round up of the wrecks! Wishing them all speedy recoveries and happy mind-surfing in the meantime.

For those of you who haven't heard of George Greenough, pay attention. You owe this man a beer, actually, make that a case. He's responsible for so much of what the surfing world is about today. This legendary off-the-wall inventor revolutionised the surfboard fin for heavens sake! Taking it from the big glassed on lumps that could hardly even turn a log to the nippy narrow high aspect ratio fins we see today. 

To say he's a tad eccentric would be an understatement. He's only ever worn shoes 3x in his entire life (and for this reason only flies first class - cos when you pay a bucket load of cash for your seat they don't mind if you don't have shoes on!) He's only ever worn a suit twice. Like I said. A living legend!

He brought us the first view from inside the tube back in the late 60's. Way before the convenience of gopro's he stuck a massive cine-camera on his back and paddled out looking like a one-humped camel....and changed the world in the process. Go find the old 70's video tapes called the Innermost Limits of Pure Fun and Crystal Voyagers, and see what it's all about. He was also one of the water photags in the classic surf flick Big Wednesday, sitting out there in the impact zone at Sunset taking set after set on the head so he could get the shots. Respect.

He was famous for making his own surf mats...the predecessor of the boogie board by at least 5 years. These things were basically blow up mini-lilo's. So zero rails to help you turn, yet George managed to stuff himself into some decent sized tubes and pull off some serious wave-riding on these pool-toys. These things have almost no resistance and go faster than any surfboard ever hopes to travel.

Back in the 60's when everyone else was still on longboarding logs, he was out there on his airmats and 5ft5 kneeboards.....bucking the system. He was a master of fibreglass engineering, design and construction....and came up with innovative surfboards, camera housings and boats.

His most famous board was the fibreglass spoon, which still influences surfboard design today. Minimal foam and seriously keeled out, this thing went places nothing else before it had been able to go. There was only foam in the rails, with the central area just being straight fibreglass. This thing flexed like hell and barely floated, yet he ripped on it thanks to the massive torque it generated. Think Slater of the Seventies.

Despite his immense contribution to the world of surfing, George now just lives a quiet life in Byron Bay, Oz. He hasn't stood up on a surfboard for about 30 years, preferring his mats and his spoons for the ultimate speed trip and deepest barrels. Just walking his own path. Legend.

Had to track down Warri for his take on the weekend after reading his Facebook post about naked grandpa's and dog's kakking on towels. Just sounded like an interesting day people watching at the Pipe. So we dragged Warri away from trading on his computer to give us a wrap...

"Yeah was such an afternoon to watch the world pass by and ou's at pipe eating it on the close outs in ankle deep water. Basically went down to check waves and kill time (cause what else is there to do in PE)? Anyways, waves were uhhh not good let's put it that way shall we, but the "talent" was gooood hahaha (we're talking Jag's age range here!)

And I dunno his surname but his name is John John? Dark skinned very friendly guy just chatted with us and shared stories on Jozi, definitely glad I stay in PE haha! Hmmm, and yes people watching: was good seeing a dog take a crap on a swimmers towel (serves them right cause they were swimming at Clubs (rad bank-radisson). Was such a lagg and owners of dog just walked on.....some people!! Ha! 

After we thought things couldn't get any funnier after the the dog crapping on the towel, like 10mins later this grandpa who was suntanning just drops his jocks and gets dressed, right there in the middle of the beach. Needless to say we all turned a blind eye! Musta been european! 

Waves got worse with the tide dropping but super grom Carl always surfs anything....even if there's an ou on the wave already!

Was just one of those arvies; very chilled, warm and glad we stay in such a special place called PE! We might not get waves but we make up for it with a beautiful beachfront and great people. Ou's can have there x6's and mercs... give me the ocean and friends and some sun!! Not tooo much sun though!!  Sun be hating on us rooi heads.

Hope for more days like this before winter pulls in proper, but at least the kooks will be outta water and avo's hopefully will start working."
Words by Warri.
Images by Luc Hosten.

Newton's 2nd law of motion says for every action there's an equal and opposite reaction - and unfortunately for Grant the reaction resulting from the action of bailing off his Sector 9 at high speed was a bust femur!

The ou's were bombing a lekker hill in Seals on Saturday night, and on the way down things sped up a bit more than anticipated and Grant had to hit the eject button. He tried to jump off his board and run - but as you can imagine, bailing at about 30km/h is always gonna end in tears - it's just the level that varies.

In a stroke of insanely bad luck his one foot got caught behind the other, and ended up twisting his leg horribly as he landed. One big crack (and a moerse lot of pain) let him know straight away that all was not good.

Luckily there is a doc at Seals, and his assistant came to check on Grant and called the ambulance. Being Africa, the xray department at the Humansdorp hospital doesn't open after hours or on weekends, so the poor guy had to get trekked all the way into PE to get treated. Not a fun trip to make when you're eina as hell.

Grants had his op and sounds like all went well, but he's out for at least 6 weeks, which as any surfer knows sucks coconuts to have to watch the surf fire when you're stuck on the shore in a plaster cast.

He's busy studying a film editing course online whilst out at Seals, so at least will be able to knuckle down to some homework whilst dry-docked. 

However, he really needs a decent camera that does HD video. So if anyone out there can help with a good deal on a Canon 60D or 7D or something similar, or knows of anyone selling one for a good price second hand, please get hold of Grant here, he'd appreciate it heaps!!! He's also on the lookout for a Mac as well, so if you can help with a deal on one, please let him know. Help a brother out ou's!

CYOH hosted the premiere of the Africa Project last Friday at Chingada's. Here's Jakes round up of the night, and some pic's from Greg Ewing:

So what do you get when you take time out with the best surfers in the country to the best waves on the continent accompanied by the best videographer in South Africa ... simple really, you get THE AFRICA PROJECT. Cyoh hooked up with Jason Hearn & crew a few weeks before their national road show to put together another amazing night filled with good friends, great vibes, nachos & unreal surfing. Thanks once again to our sponsors PLATINUM PRODUCTION for supplying us with visual & audio equipment & to CHINGADAS MEXICAN CANTINA for always taking off their somreros for the CYOH members. The night was really well supported, with over 100 people through the doors in complete anticipation to view Africa's very own show case of surfing's talents & beautiful coastlines. Needless to say the movie was outstanding in every single way, so a big congrats to JASON & all who made the movie possible. Keep an eye out for it in surf stores, trust me its well worth the buy. Big ups to everybody who made an apperance on the night, stay tuned for more CYOH LIFESTYLE LIVING to come. 

Bet you didn't know the reef at Millers is home to a bunch of sexual deviants? Impressively it's home to the animal that has the world's biggest d*ck? I kid you not. Barney the Barnacle is famous in the animal kingdom for having the biggest "appendage" to body size ratio in the entire animal kingdom.

The issue being that barnacles aren't big movers ay. They're what the scientists call "encrusters", which mean they attach themselves permanently to a hard area (like a rock) by means of a cement-like substance. And there they sit. Which obviously makes finding a chick a bit tricky. Mind you, these dudes are pretty new age, so they can be dudes one minute, chicks the next. Called hermaphrodites (extra point in the bio test there).

Anyhow, when they decide to be dudes, they have to just stick it out there looking for chicks seeing as they're stuck vas in one spot. Turns out they have appendages that are 8x their body length.

The dodgy behaviour of the reef dwellers doesn't stop there. Turns out most of the lil critters living on our reef can't decide which side they bat for, so they end up batting for both. Almost all of them are hermaphrodites, and just flip between being guys n gals as they please.

The sea cucumber, and the anemone join the barnacle in being swingers. The sea slug - or sea cucumber, is a gross looking thing that has some pretty awesome camo gear going on. You aren't going to spot him unless you looking real close.

He's called a Nudibranch (pronounced noo-dee-brank), meaning 'naked gills". Those found in the Indo-Pacific region are edible, but then again, our eastern mates eat pretty much anything. You'll see em on the menu as Beche-de-mer.

Now despite the reef doing it's best Golden Curtain impersonation, it still manages to throw up a legitimate surprise. Garth had lost his fin outta his twinnie on Sunday, which is annoying when a set of fins set you back nearly R700 smackeroos. Seeing as it was springs, we'd took a walk across the reef earlier in the morning, after our run, but spotted nothing.

It did give me the idea to come back down to the reef to shoot a few pics cos firstly it looked pretty interesting, and secondly I had a ton of work to do so it seemed like a good work avoidance exercise!

So an hour later, armed with my camera I was wandering across the reef when I spotted a rather odd looking anemone....which on closer inspection turned out to be part of his fin! It was wedged under a rock and covered with sand - but just enough sticking out so that I could spot it. Stoked! Guess the reef knows who it's locals are!

Eish, now that HAS to be the kakkest feeling. You're standing there after a lekker surf staring at the spot where you KNOW you parked your car. But no matter how hard you stare, your car does not appear. She be gone. Vamoosed. Re-appropriated by the new economic order.

Some poor ou finished his surf at Fence yesterday evening and came back to find his VW Polo had been nicked. Luckily it was found an hour and a bit later just a km away in Glengarry Crescent. But that's being plain lucky.

Think twice about hiding your keys on your car. It is the most obvious spot for the dodgy dudes to look. Spend more than 5 minutes at any car park used by surfers and even someone as doff as a wannabe criminal can work out pretty quick that the majority of guys just stash their keys on their cars somewhere.

So unless you have some fun "surprise" planned for would-be car thieves like a python hiding in the glove compartment, and you actually want them to try and break in, then don't stash your keys on your car. Thinking hiding them under a rock on the beach is also not a particularly higher-grade option either....

There's plenty of safer options. If you're at Pipe, give your keys to Chris the Car Guard - he hasn't ridden off in anyone's car yet, so seems fairly legit. The easiest is just to loop em on the key string on your wettie or round your neck on a piece of string - I remember doing this in the days when I still had to drive a car to the beach. This works fine of you have a klapped out ol banger that has those simple pimple metal keys.

However, if your ride's a bit more pimped and you have one of those new-fangled electronic keys, well - they don't like water much. Not a train-smash though, just head off to your closest dealership and buy one of the plastic moulded keys for your vehicle model. They aren't cheap at about R800 a pop, but damn, sure beats having your car nicked. These can happily be attached to a key string on your wettie.

Another good option if you don't fancy getting your key wet is to go grab a lil key safe thingy that you can lock onto that funny U hook thing at the back of your bumper. It's basically a teeny safe that you can stick your keys in, has a keypad that you lock it with, and it fixes vas onto some part of your car. JOhn Schepers has used his for years and has neve

Just spoke to Dave and Surf Centre does have some, and he's expecting more stock in the next day or two. They retail at around R450, but if you take your Millerslocal card you get another 10% off.

So yah, plenty options to keep your keys safe...and not arrive back from a surf to find your cabbie has disappeared.