An eclectic collection of bits n pieces of news from the weekend. Amazed that there weren't any war wounds from the biggish collection of weekend warriors that took to the surf. Waves have been pretty thin in the bay lately, so when a few ridable lumps presented themselves on Saturday and Sunday it was fairly chaotic out there at times. Paddle-skiers going over the falls backwards and taking out the longboarders, kneeboarders riding over shortboarders, boards getting ditched and missing pips by centimeters. A dude on a SUP, who managed some sort of record by getting up on one side of his board and falling off the other about 6 times in a row, in the flats nogal. All in all, the wave quality might have been negotiable, but the entertainment was top class! And in between all the close shaves, there was some good surfing going down. Scott was ripping after a month in Indo, Kyle was just ripping as he always does, and Chris was giving his longboard whiplash  - despite succumbing to performance pressure when the huge gaff he was planning to throw down in front of the chicks paddling out went awry and he bogged rail instead...

Big Dave also provided some entertainment for the bystanders watching a certain fickle right point up the road. Dave is not particularly nimble, and his board isn't particularly small (11ft!), so clambering out over the rocks is NOT an option. That meant paddling out the slipway. Which I'd like to point out, at low tide when an east swell is running and there's a nice sandbar  - well, it isn't easy. I've done the rinse n spin cycle a few times there myself. Anyhow, Dave didn't follow the road rules, and instead of looking left, right, left, just looked up right towards the point and thought he was good to go. He didn't look left, and proceeded to get nailed by a sneaker set and washed across over the rocks at Huletts! Anyway, Dave's one persistent bugger, so after putting all the pieces back together he got through on the 2nd attempt. And got rewarded with some lekker waves for his effort.

Tertio and Krispy were so busy enjoying the lil wedges at Hummies that they didn't realise their kit on the beach was falling victim to affirmative shopping. So if you see some suspicious dude rocking a CYOH tee - bliksem the ou and take it back - cos it sure as hang ain't his.

Well done to Johnny Bakker (vice president) and Emile Zoetmulder (board member) on getting awarded their places on the South African Surfing association council. EP is probably the best run surf province in the country, so awesome that Johnny and co. get take those skills and passion and dedication to the highest level. Good luck guys, we're really proud of you.

And last but not least....it was a few Millers Locals birthdays yesterday - Jorg Brand & JP Degamois continued the relentless march to Balliedom. Jorg got lank spoiled by his lady, Carrie -she painted an awesome picture of him laying down a slash at Hummies. The pic was snapped last year, and Carrie put some oils to canvas so that now Jorgs spray will hang in pride of place on the wall in their pad. Beats getting socks and hankey's for a bday pressie any day!

Feast or flipping famine. And bogger all in between. Stuck in an endless cycle of 2 days surf and a week or more of bonky north winds and flat ocean. Can someone please bbm the weather-man and tell him we're over the schitzo stuff and would much rather revert to traditional winter kak weather: cold, rain, SW winds and some surf. Please. Pretty please. With sugar on top. Maybe someone needs to burn a board or something? Any volunteers?

In the absense of surf I've had to resort taking random shots out the window. At least the sunsets have been obliging. Here's what we've had in the past week. You'd be hard-pressed to beat the sun going down over African skies. But I'd still swap it for waves any day!

Jordy takes a lil breather from the contest scene by going ballistic on the ramps on the Sunshine Coast on the weekend. The rad sequence was sent to us by Dave McGregor.

Local Brad Beck landed himself one of the sweetest holiday jobs in town - judging the Billabong Pro at JBay last week. Not a kak way to earn some coin sitting in the tower watching some of the world's best surfers take apart one of the world's best waves in some cooking conditions. We caught up with Brad to find out a bit more about it:

"Pretty sure it’s everyone’s dream to surf like a pro at Jbay when it's cooking. Some are lucky enough.  I was lucky enough to spot and judge in the tower. 

Even when we have a local contest or SA champs, it is always very well organised. But when we speak about professional surfing, as it is the highest form of surfing the same also goes for the organising of the event. Infrastructure, food, sponsors, you name it. Only the best.

It all starts with a special sticker...which lets you drive straight into Pepper Street! We were lucky enough to stay in Pepper Street itself, right opposite the judging tower. Wake up and walk straight into the tower!

The tower is 3 stories high and you can see anything and everything. The best view in the house by far. We were given clothes vouchers, chow, Monster and a free 5fm music ticket, so we were rolling high class!

People come all over the world for this world class wave. What better view than to see this wave lining up at 4 to 6ft down the line with as many as up to 8 or 9 waves in a set - each line of swell waiting to reach the reef, wall and then pit.  Watching this go down from the tower was epic in itself....and then to see the pros surf this wave and get barreled like they did was something I’ll never forget.

So thanks to Billabong and ASP Africa for the opportunity and hope to be part of it again next year!"

Shot Brad - good judging too. Next stop ASP??

Tuesday started the same way Monday ended. With waves. Not often we get decent swell in the bay, so the ou's were stoked to surf something with a bit of punch. Not often a board gets broken at Millers. Mush nearly got his jaw bust after some chick dropped in on him and bailed her board - which smacked him in the face. Eina.

Millers had ou's on it all day, with the low tide seeing some takers at Avos battling the hell rip. Some solid one's there. Clubhouse also woke up as the tide turned after lunch - with some bombs getting ridden as the arvo wore on.

The Pier also woke up as the tide pushed. Warri reckons he hooked a barrel so good it's now one of his top 5 ever. And Warri gets a LOT of barrels, so musta been good! Craig Anderson  - ex PE local and now world superstar - paddled out at Pier and popped a backhand air revo on his first wave. Easy as...

Crowds were thick at Millers cos Pipe was basically a massive closeout unless you missioned all the way out to the back. Far out the back. Rincon just had lines as far as the eye could see, but you would have needed a ski to make it out the back there. That, or some serious paddle power.

The wind put paid to decent surf for most of the day, but late arvo things backed off a bit on the wind front and the swell jacked up a bit in thanks. Still pretty bumpy if you were on anything shorter than a mini-mal, but hey, for once it was over hip high so everyone was stoked. 

Was over the crowds by 5pm so bailed. Watched out the window and saw Stompie hook the wave of the day from back of Millers right the way through to the middle of Hobie Beach. He kicked out almost in front of the lifesaving hut. To say he was pretty stoked would be an understatement. I've never seen Mark claim a wave, but he claimed this one!

Dylan, awesome news about you scooping the ZigZag Breakthrough Performer of the Year at the Zag Awards in Durbs on Friday night. Did you know you were in with a shot or did it come as a surprise?

It was a total surprise, my parents knew but managed to keep it a secret. It was radical as the car I went to the function in kept breaking down and we had to push the car into the parking lot at Gateway – while listening to the announcer saying “could everyone be seated so we can start with the evening” When they called me up I was shocked, but also exhausted from pushing the car!!

Who else were you up against for the title?

Well, the Award is for a surfer who has made everyone stop and take notice. SA is full of this kind of talent, so I am very privileged to be chosen for this award.

Other than being a helluva prestigious honour to win, did you score some loot or prizes as well?

No loot, but I did score an awesome picture of me surfing for my moms lounge and lots honour which is something that cannot be replaced!

What was the jol on Friday night like – anyone tossing name?

It was a really sick jol, everyone who is anyone in the surfing industry was there and to be part of the festivities of the awards was rad. (Dyl is obeying the age-old code of "what goes on tour stays on tour!" Good man!)

You’ve been on a moerse roll in the last year – take us through the highlights.

From the beginning of last year when I came 2nd in Worlds it all seemed to come together for me in Peru. After winning the U16 Billabong in Vic Bay, I got into the ASP Worlds where Bali was the first stop. I was doing really well there and then started to feel a bit ill, I had Dengue fever which knocked me for that event and the Brazil event – never been so sick in my life. I came back to the last of the Ripcurl events in South Africa and managed to win that, securing the trip to the RIpcurl final in Bells beach over Easter which I won. What an amazing experience that was to walk up the stairs that Mick Fanning had walked the day before on his win and to stand on that podium. It was then off to Worlds in Panama where I got a ninth.

So what’s on the cards for the rest of the year for you – competition wise, as well as any cool trips planned?

I have the Billabong QS event in a weeks time in JBay – my home break!! Then I am off to Bali for 5 weeks to try my hand at the left breaking barrel comp The Padang Padang cup – I won this as my prize for winning the Ripcurl international Jnr at Bells. After that we have SA Champs in JBay this year and the Billabong Jnr Series in Seals this year. So lots of local comps to look forward to.

Shot Dylan – keep flying the Eastern Cape flag high! Good luck for the Billabong Pro - we're all holding thumbsLocal is lekker J