Woohoo - Neptune delivered. After months of scraps the ocean finally decided to deliver the goods. Yes, the timing was kak - with lockdown looking, but at least it gave ou's the chance to get their salt water injection before time in purgatory.

JBay and St Francis were going off their pips, and PE also had good surf altho you got your pip blown off with it. Pomping wind as usual. 

But then this irritating bloody thing called COVID-19 decided to come put a spanner in the works, and as part of flattening the curve SA implemented a lock down. So - cooking waves - can't surf them. Although some mullets tried to. And got their asses handed to them for their efforts.

Firstly a visiting Yank doctor decided lock down didn't apply to him and surfed cooking Supers on Day 1 of Lockdown. JBay locals were NOT happy with his rather pathetic "I didn't know excuse" (as in JBay is pumping and you are the ONLY person out there - doesn't take massive powers of deduction to work out you taking the piss). Anyway - his name is now gat and am pretty sure the locals will teach him some manners. 

Some ou's also tried to sneak out at Bruce's and were promptly called in by locals and left in no doubt they shouldn't be doing that.

Day 2 of lockdown and JBay was still cooking, so some more mullets decided they were special and went for a surf. NSRI herded them in and the SAPS gave them a free lift to the station, where they had a choice of 6 months jail or a R5000 fine. Expensive surf! 

Tempting as it may be - don't be the doos that thinks somehow you are special and can sneak out for a surf. Your erroneous theory that you are more than a metre from anyone else would then also apply to tennis, golf, kiteboarding - you get the picture....

​So in the absence of humans there were some cool drone shots to be had, taken by Renaldo Gouws (flying from his home!)

Usually what happens when you get a new board then Neptune laughs at you and it goes flat for weeks. Jamie Morris got his new stick from Matt McLeod and instead got rewarded with the 16 second period swell - which of course would have been great - but ah, lockdown....

Usually you get excited when you see this. Not as much when you know you can't surf it.

Going to be lots of dawn patrols, lunchtime sesh's and after work surfs that go a-begging for the time being. 

If you getting bored during lock down, pleases make the effort to submit an objection to the fish farm off Coega harbour. Kak idea right next to the marine reserve and St Croix island with it's unique biodoversity. Check all the details here:
​http://www.millerslocal.co.za/blog/appeal-the-fish-farm

Local legend CarPark John turned 21 again this week. Tune the ballie some birthday wishes. Also just drop him a line every coupla days to say howzit, as he is pretty bored being stuck at home and away from his beloved carpark (and free Beershack wifi!). You can buzz him on 0824407334. 

Despite the mission of lock down, it's just temporary, so stay safe, obey the rules (despite most of us not being good with rules), and guess what - in a few weeks time when you allowed out to play again there will still be waves. Use the down time wisely. Be positive and proactive. Stay fit. Stay smiling!

Last chance to appeal against the fish farm at Coega!

If you are already registered as an I&AP from the original fish farm protest, please read the below as to how to re-submit a new appeal. If you are NOT a registered I&AP, you can STILL contribute. Just send your objections to [email protected], and he will consolidate them into the WESSA appeal.

From Gary, who runs the Algoa Bay WESSA branch:

We will appeal against the plans of a fish farm off the northern beaches (between Nqgura harbour and St Croix island), as the commercial cage fishing would not be a sustainable development practice within this biodiversity hotspot. If you would like to lodge an appeal yourself or contribute, please see the message below.

“If you are a registered interested and affected party (you would have received an e-mail from the EAP - Anchor Environmental - recently informing you of the decision), please consider submitting your OWN appeal before close of business on Thursday 19 March 2020. We need as many persons to submit original appeals as is possible. Please see details below on how to submit such an application. If you are not a registered I&AP, please forward you comments to [email protected] by Wednesday 18 March and we’ll incorporate it into our consolidated appeal. 

Please find enclosed the WESSA Algoa Bay Branch’s guide to completing an appeal against the Algoa Bay ADZ. To repeat, appeals need to be submitted by close of business on the 19 March 2020. It is an onerous process, so we’ve tried to simplify what must be done. So put some time aside to go through the rigmarole. Feel free to circulate it as a WESSA ABB guide to the appeal.

There are several attachments. The first is the WESSA guide, read that first. Then there’s the DEFF appeal form and DEFF questionnaire that we’ve combined into one document for you to complete. This is the key document to submit. We’ve included the EA record of decision (DEFF saying yes to the application), the DEFF guidelines (that duplicates the questionnaire) and the EAP’s (Anchor Environmental) own document. Please note the appeal must raise specific issues you believe the EAP or DEFF have failed to consider or were unaware of in coming to the decision.”

To note: we’re working off the basis that only registered I&AP’s appeals will be considered, but giving input to an organisation already registered and they then submit a consolidated input is possible, There is an outside possibility non-registered I&AP’s will be considered, so would encourage persons to submit an appeal, but be fully aware that their appeal may be rejected on technical grounds. 

WESSA ABB will focus our appeal on the fish farm proposal for the Ngqura harbour - St Croix area (we’ll send you our reasons under a separate email), we won’t oppose the bivalve for PE harbour north and off Kings Beach - Pollok based on the conditions within the EA. But we do suggest you think through the access issue for sea traffic off the southern beach zone (check out the GPS co-ordinates specifically in the EA).

Kind regards

Gary Koekemoer

WESSA ABB Chairperson

PS - that's a photoshopped image I posted for April Fool's a few years ago!