 You know the tag line of the MasterCard advert. Never leave home without it. Well, who knew a little plastic gizmo could be the difference between heaven and hell! The Jiqs Leash Fix sure saved my bacon. Earlier this year, and only a week in to our trip to Maldives and my leash snaps. Haibo. Normally i have a few spares with me but in the packing rush I didn't bring any. Which meant i was stuck at a remote wave without another leash. And the waves were perfect.  Thankfully on a previous trip I'd left one of my Jiqs in the fin bag. And there it was, going "Aren't you so bloody happy I'm here!" Damn right I was! The leash break was a tricky one as it snapped off at the attachment to the leash cuff. No problem for the Jiqs. It's designed to fix a break anywhere in your leash. I just looped the cord through my leash cuff, screwed the bust end into plug - and good to go! Cos you don't wanna be missing this....  Turns out surfboard leashes in Maldives are like buying small strings of gold. Firstly you can only get em in the capital city (which is normally nowwhere near where you are) and then when you finally find one, the ou's want R1000 for it! Not a chance! So the Jiqs stayed in place, and so far so good. Hopefully I'm not gonna jinx the Jiqs.  Handled some pretty decent size so far (above). The same sesh saw rashie pulled over the head and off. So some power for sure.   I did an article about the Jiqs leash fix a while ago when I first got mine. You can check it out here: http://www.millerslocal.co.za/blog/fix-ya-leash-in-a-flash-with-a-jiqs It's an absolute essential for surf travel. Especially if you plan on being somewhere remote or on a boat trip.
Tune Carey to get your mitts on one. It's the best R100 you will ever spend. Carey is the CT surfer who invented this clever device, and you can get him via a direct message on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/jiqs_leash_fix_/ (or drop me a message via the MillersLocal FB page and I'll send you his deets).  © Robbie Irlam Winter, she still be upon us for sure. Good waves, good winds, good rain. All good all round! If you ignore the specter of the nasty "C" word. Let's talk cold instead. It was cold! Air temps were frigid at times, as was the water.  Pipe © Dave Randle  Pipe © Dave Randle Supers was super, and even Pipe was pucker. Millers was moody (and crowded), and Avo's was above average.  © Robbie Irlam The wildside was most certainly wild, but also had some decent surf for those that knew ehere to look.  Noordhoek © Luc Hosten  Somewhere on the wildside © Luc Hosten Even the locals caught a few family waves.  © Luc Hosten The secret spot at the end of the road had some fun, albeit, windy barrels on offer. Also water cold enough to turn you into a penguin.  © Chris Scott  © Chris Scott North of the equator no such issues with cold tempretures. Swell going off it's pip. Double overhead for most of the week.  © Maldives Surf Photographer The PE boys stuck at Nias aren't complaining. Plenty of XL size shacks and no-one to share them with.  Dean Basson Still some perfect mornings in among the wind n rain. Just have to be motivated to get up to enjoy them!  © Frans Gerber  © Frans Gerber  © Leonie Bartlett You know when you can count upwards of 40 chokka boats hiding in the bay the weather is not so lekker!  © Frans Gerber  © Luc Hosten Funky weather does give rise to some awesome cloud displays though. Here's the same cloud - captured by Luc at Schoenies and by Gideon at the Boardwalk.  © Luc Hosten  © Gideon Brunsdon Open ocean conditions during this season can be challenging! The container ships leaving the relative protection of Algoa Bay to head round Cape Recife take a pounding as they round the corner.  © Luc Hosten The "C" issue means a new form of litter now collecting on our beaches. Face masks should be on your face and not on the sand!  © Luc Hosten Nothing cooler than a Vee-dub as your surf caddy. Looks like this one is visiting from Somerset West?  © Gideon Brunsdon Vintage shot from 1920 of the bathing pool at Happy Valley. Surf at Hummies back then must have been so good with regular washouts from the Sark River pushing nice sandbanks out there.  That's it for the week. Here's hoping this coming week keeps the ball rolling. (PS - blame CarPark John for the cold weather. He caught a coupla waves last week - which is why it must be snowing! Great to hear the ballie finding his groove again)  © Allan Bezuidenhout  © Robbie Irlam Hello winter. You been a long time coming, but hell, you were worth waiting for! The whole of the East Cape was off it's pip. JBay seeing some of the best swell in years. And the irony is that the WSL Corona Classic woulda been on right now had it not been corona-crazy-times. There's always a silver lining to every dark cloud. Locals got to enjoy epic conditions without having to compete with the world's best. Only the Kaapie blow-in's to have to worry about.  © Trevor Hansen  Boneyards © Robbie Irlam  Haibo - I forgot who shot this one! PE also had some great surf. Wind was an issue at times, as usual. But also some good days between the windy one's. Check out the Latest Shots for some pics from Pipe and Avo's. http://www.millerslocal.co.za/latest-shots/avos-28-june-2020 http://www.millerslocal.co.za/latest-shots/pipe-3-4-july-2020 http://www.millerslocal.co.za/latest-shots/millers-5-july-2020 http://www.millerslocal.co.za/latest-shots/clubhouse-5-july-2020  CJ at Pipe © Petronel Posthumus  Humewood © Rod Greene  Jamie Morris at Millers © Kody McGregor  Dave Randle falling victim to the wind at Millers © Dave Morgan  Sunday arvo Millers © Dave Morgan  Back of Pipe © Dave Randle  Avo's © Stuart Gilmer  Andre Venter Clubhouse © Petronel Posthumus  CJ @ Clubhouse © Petronel Posthumus St Francis also had a few decent one's, plus a few bone crunchers for those that enjoyed hollow one's that ended with a free sand enema.  © Chris Scott  © Chris Scott The big swells combined with the spring tides were the final death knell for the sand spit that separates the ski canal from the beach, and the sand dunes were breached. Hopefully the council will stop dragging it's feet now and allow the building of the groynes to proceed.  © Rozanne Fleet North of the equator has been getting it's fair share. Not sure if I'll be able to deal with wetsuits and frigid water again.  © Maldives Surf Photographer  © Millerslocal Coupla PE boys scoring uncrowded Nias right now. Josh & Dean thinking they've lucked into some parallel universe. Absolutely bombing Nias and just a handful of guys in the water.  Josh on a bomb Tales of a close encounter during the week. Shane and her dad scored a late arvo solo sesh at the Pier. Water was pretty murky but fun peelers on offer so out they went. Chris got a wave in and Shane thought she's scored cos would catch the last wave of the day Next thing something large bumped up against her leg - she looked down and there was a fin right next to her! She isn't sure how big it was cos the water was so murky, but says she has a Great Dane and the midriff on this guy was certainly bigger than that. Needless to say walking on water was an understatement!  Shane at Millers the day before the encounter © Dave Morgan As well as lekker waves, plenty of lekker sunrises and sunsets about. Winter is a beautiful beast. Noordhoek © Luc Hosten  © Frans Gerber  © Dave Randle  © Dave Randle  © Chris Scott And not to be outdone, the moon decided to get in on the act as well.  © Luc Hosten  © Robbie Irlam And that's the wrap on a moerse lekker week.  © Trevor Hansen |
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