The week that was...

© Dave Randle

How many days of lockdown now? Who knows. Just a moerse long time for ou's to be stuck without their saltwater fix. Luckily not too much happening this week so don;t stress out that you missed anything. Probably the only time in history that surfers are praying for it to be flat. 

JBay had a few lil slides, but nothing much really in the way of swell for now. Hopefully everyone is keeping their glide on with the skateboard or even trolley hopping at the supermarket. Just careful to keep your distance from the tannie in the aisle ahead.

© Leonie Bartlett

Plenty of sunrise beach photo's these days, seeing as everyone has to be up at sparrows for their "get outta jail" time.

© Dave Randle

You know it's winter approaching when the sunrise shifts round the corner from Pipe and you can see it behind Chomp Rock. 

© Frans Gerber

It eventually had to happen. Someone had to crack. So as lockdown restrictions were lifted to allow for outdoor activity this guy decided to head out for a surf at Pipe. Unfortunately for him the police decided that despite the 1000 ou's walking along the boardwalk, the one ou in the surf was a helluva big problem. So he got a R2000 fine for his efforts. Not sure the surf looked worth the price.

© Justin Moorcroft

© Justin Moorcroft

There had been a social media campaign calling on surfers to protest against the no-surf ban, but after the weekend's arrest there weren't too many takers for the PE one. Just Andre Venter and Chris Taljaard showed up at the pier to highlight the bay surfers objections. Everyone owes them a few waves when life returns to normal. 

© PE Herald

The crews out at St Francis, Port Alfred and down the road in Bluewater Bay also came out to support the cause.

© Dirk Harding

© Linda Schneck

© Kowie Boardriders

Despite the flack the surfing community picked up from the general public about wanting to be allowed back in the waves and the perceived selfishness of it all, there are surfers out there who are really making a community contribution during these challenging times. 

Chokka Trahms, Dylan Lightfoot and their mates in JBay started the #letsfeedJBay project and are distributing food parcels to the needy in the area. David McGregor and his crew in Port Alfred are doing the same thing for their local community with their Ndlambe Lockdown Support project. Props to all those making a difference!

© Richard Arderne

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The high tides of the supermoon meant some more sand whipped away from the already endangered spit in St Francis. Luckily there wasn;t big swell coupled with the full moon else the ou's with homes on the ski canal could have ended up more sea front that they expected. Work is underway to shore up the sand dunes in the area and hopefully proceed with the construction of groynes in future.

© Justin Moorcroft

The closest you can get to surfing in PE right now is to stand on the end of the Pipe and mind surf the waves rolling though. Gonna be a scrum out there the first day ou's allowed back in the water!

© Andrew Garai

Everyone will have to remember their social distancing. Like the dew drops on the Pipe boardwalk in the pic below. 

​So instead of now tuning someone for snaking you, it will be telling 'em to keep their 1.5m distance. Interesting times ahead.

© Andrew Garai

Hopefully light at the end of the rainbow sooner rather than later. Salt water fixes are needed.

© Luc Hosten