 Kelly Medley © Maarten van der Velde The waves stay in hiding for yet another week. A few small one's here and there, but still no real proper pulse of groundswell. Wondering if it's Greg Heasley's connections upstairs cos his ear is still not lekker after the surf ear op, so reckon he's been praying he doesn't miss any swell whilst he can't get in the water! And seems to be having his prayers answered! Avo's did have one fun lil day, and same for our west in JBay. But nothing to write home about. C'mon winter - don't desert us just quite yet.  © Shayne MacGee Blast from the past with a great shot of Brownie Moulang on a lekker looking wall about 15 years ago - and not where you think it is. A few hundred clicks west of JBay. Henry Thomas found some old prints in a shoe box and this was one of the keepers.  Brownie © Henry Thomas Keeping vintage - Greg Smith found this cool shot of the Humewood slipway way back when. Just in case you weren't sure what that big rusty metal thing was for, now you know.  Cobbles Classic went down this weekend - still waiting for all the results n shots to drop in. Some lekker waves to start with before the onshore set in, but at least the last day went west again.  Sad news of the drowning of 2 learner surfers in Spain. The guys went out to try learn to surf in absolute storm surf conditions, so not sure why on earth the surf school would have rented them boards to start with. Crazy.  Big news of the week was the comp held at Kelly's wave pool. All the big names were there giving the pool a try. Kiff looking lik waves, but not sure how interesting holding comps in one would be. Same wave every time for each guy, and there has to be a limit with how creative you can get if on the same canvas each time? Personally prefer the variability and unpredictability of the ocean for comps.  The Pipe crew are just waiting on beach management to give them the go-ahead to implement some upgrades of the facilities. So go buy some Pipe stickers and support your local surf club in their efforts to make things better.  © Andre Clarke Here's something you don't see every day - Lippie in a wetsuit that's too big for him!  Denno on a roll at the moment and plenty of lekker looking sticks coming from the Boardroom. This one's got a cool Apocalypse Now kinda vibe going.  Shot to Bruce Campbell on taking the win in the Over 30 division at the Vic Bay Quad held this weekend. Britney Linder got a 2nd in the Ladies event. Special mention to Pieter-Ben Van Rhijn for just missing out on the finals.  Staying with comps, JBay's Dillen Hendriks did well to get through his first round heat at the ISA World Junior Champs being held in Japan. Conditions in the background there look a bit like Pipe, so reckon his EC roots may help out here!  Stuck in Joeys? No worries - good news is there's a surf shop "just" down the road at Sun City. VZ just opened a signature store at the Valley o fthe Waves. Actually is a fun lil wave that - if you can get em to switch off the Vaalie-boogi-board mode and throw out a few peaks instead.  The regular stunning winter sunrises and sunsets are slowly disappearing, but still the odd one to keep us going "wow". Bit of swell around this week, but the winds looking like they could mess things up a bit.  ©Elzabe Boschoff  Another quiet week surf-wise. But the wild life was unfortunately not so quiet. Instead of finned friends it was a not-so-friendly scaly guy that grabbed the headlines this week. An English surfer had just grabbed a few slides at Elephant Point in Sri Lanka when he needed a bathroom break and headed back into the jungle. Whilst washing his hands in the back beach lagoon he got take by a large croc. Hectic.  PE might not have had waves locally, but at least PE locals are still getting waves. Marc Jucker scoring in Indo. Just to make sure PE keeps up it's wave count the Rothers have ducked over to the Banyaks this week. Expect to see some shots of sheet glass barrels soon.  Another local testing the warm water equatorial breaks is Grant Beck from Seals, currently surf guiding in Indo at Nihiwatu - otherwise known as Occy's Lefts. Turns out there are some Occy sized rocks there as well....  Wed morning © Ryan Anderson Not a completely dud week - there were a few slides around if you didn't mind knee high perfection. Don't forget the annual Cobbles Classic this coming weekend - gt those entries in. All the info you nee to know here. http://www.millerslocal.co.za/comp-news/2017-cobbles-classic  © Ayesha Cantor  Aerial view of the rally gives a nice view o fthe Avo's set-up © Something Good The annual Jam Jar rally kicked off at Something Good, and there were plenty of strange looking cabbies lurking about. Certainly made the morning commute a bit more interesting than usual.  © Luc Hosten There might not have been any swell this week but local lensman Luc Hosten has a way of finding the nuggets. Hows this mini Teahupoo look-alike - perfect for the ant sized chargers.  The 8th stop on the World Tour went down at Trestles, with Toledo taking the win. Jordy snuck a second spot, and retains his lead in the World rankings. Hope he can hang in there for the title!
Get those orders in for your summer sticks. Bump up the volume, thicken up your rail game and next thing you know you'll be having a jol in gutless summer surf.  There is a long story behind why CarPark John's looking all pimped out. But we can't tell you just yet....it does however involve zombies. Like I said. A long story....  © Deon Lategan The odd lump for the week ahead, but in between winds to-ing and fro'ing, so grab the weather window when it's there.
 © Petronel Posthumus One of those very slow weeks as far as surf goes. You had to mission to find some get-wet opportunities. Thankfully some lekker waves towards the end of the week with Friday and Saturday offering up the chance for some salt water.  © JBAY Beach House Even JBay had slim pickings during the week. Wonder if Neptune is storing all it's energy for another big storm? Let's hope so! Everyone still needs to get a few more good sessions in before the summer doldrums descend on us.  Waves might not be constant - but beachfront crime certainly is. Another cabbie stolen from Millers last weekend. Chap took his lightie for a surf and came back to find an empty parking spot where his car had once been. Please be vigilant if you in the car park and give any suspicious characters a good hairy eyeball.  © Robbie Irlam Plenty of whales still about. They tend to be camera shy - but luckily Robbie got a shot of one at JBay. They'll probably be around for another few weeks before disappearing until next year again. Rather see whales than finned friends.... Speaking of which - think the 2 longboarders out at Chomp Rock on Thursday evening may have spotted a fin. Both exited the water in haste and then stood on the beach pointing out to sea for quite a while, and periodically looking down to us at Millers - probably wondering whether they should come warn us or not. Which they didn't, so maybe nothing after all! Happy to see the murky water has finally dissipated and the blue is back.
Those that don't wanna leave things to fate have got themselves the sea-snake leash. These are meant to deter sharks, who don;' like sea-snakes. However, I don't think a Great White has any idea what a sea-snake is, which may somewhat limit the efficacy of the anti-shark leash. Nonetheless, worth a try on the off chance it works, and have a funky looking leash too.  © Petronel Posthumus One of life's great mysteries got solved this weekend. Ever wondered why Dave Lippie wears gloves? And you thought it was to paddle faster. Nup. Turns out it makes it easier to get a grip on his super-sized sticks so they don't slip outta his grip as he walks down the beach. (Just in case you think that's an "ordinary" mini-mal - it's about 4.5 inches thick and 25 inches wide) 
The Shaka Surf Camp and Skate Ramp opening in Port Alfred this weekend. Dave MacGregor has put plenty hours in bringing it all to fruition. Lekker possie right on the edge of the ancient dune forest, all made from recycled materials, and easy walk to the surf. Article coming up soon...  © Petronel Posthumus The annual Something Good Classic was held at Pipe on Saturday in some fun waves. Really great vibe down at the beach with plenty going on. The Pipe Surf Club raised some much needed funds and they will look to upgrade the facilities at the spot. Thanks to Mervyn Goddard and Andre Venter for all their hard work in putting the event together and making it a lekker day in the bay for all the locals to enjoy.  Merv © Petronel Posthumus The Wild Side isn't called the wild side for nothing. Seas can be heavy round the corner and it means that all sorts of lil dudes often wash up. If you do spot a stranded or injured looking sea bird or animal, give SAMREC a buzz: 041 583 1830 (During business hours) 064 019 8936 (After business hours)  © Luc Hosten It's International Coastal Clean-Up day this coming Saturday. There are organised beach cleans at most major beaches so please get involved. But don;t let it be a once-off thing. Get into the habit of picking up rubbish every time you're at the beach. We all pick up a few pieces and collectively it will make a big difference overall.  Sadly the spring tide rip currents claimed a victim at the Pier during the week. A young man from Joburg went for a swim with friends but got into difficulties. Bystanders did attempt a rescue but without success and he disappeared from view. The body was found later in the week. RIP.  © Robbie Irlam A few lumps and bumps on the charts for the week ahead so hopefully everyone gets a chance to get wet.
 © Robbie Irlam Fairly quiet week wave-wise, with a bit of a pop in the swell for the weekend. Certainly a few lumps about to have a bit of fun on. Water still chilly though. Roll on summer. Well, before summer comes spring - which was on Friday last week. Plenty of crazy peeps decided to celebrate by doing an early morning Spring Day swim.  Unfortunately there still seem to be quite a few finned ou's around at the moment. On Sunday at lunchtime a 4 m plus grey-suited chap chowed a seal right next to the kids at Point and then swam up to Supers. That'll get ya blood pumping!  Photo taken during JBay Open Way back in 1968 there was a massive flood in PE. It created a swathe of devastation, including ripping apart the Humewood beach area. Check this shot of the Herald from this day (4 Sept) - look closely and you'll also see a cooking lil wave at Baked Beans...  © Screenshot from Richard Saunders  Hummies looking like Niagra Falls The north Indian Ocean just keeps delivering. For those who'd like to score some warm water waves before it's over give me a shout. Some good deals on Sail Shantaram if you quick.  Plus you get to snorkel with these cool critters. Gotto love manta rays! Our crew had a swim with these guys yesterday.  Other PE peeps who are in warmer climates right now is local Marc Jucker - making the most of the Padang Padang wave machine.  Eina - look after your ears! Greg Heasley had the infamous surfers ear op last week. No fun in that. Best way of ensuring you don;t need your ears drilled is to keep em warm and toasty and the water out. Squid lids and ear plugs for the win.  For anyone who enjoys a really well written piece of surf journalism, then go check out Chas Smith's account of his surf trip to Yemen. Yes. Yemen. When he isn't writing clickbait drivel for his Beachgrit website, Chas can pen an exquisitely written tale. Just start with the prologue and go from there - a really good read. http://beachgrit.com/2017/09/yemen-forget-that-youre-young/  Every wondered what else you could do with your boogie board leash. Turns out it's an effective way of keeping the mini-groms attached! Some o's are now selling these online!  Lekker weather on Sunday - and a bunch of Hobie Cats took to the water. Some decided it'd be a good idea to sail through the line-up at Millers. Ridden over by a SUP is one thing, but rate getting a Hobie on the head would take it to a whole nother level! So kiff to see these guys back in the water. Hobie Beach is called Hobie Beach for nothing!  Still some cool sunrises and sunsets about, although as summer approaches expect them to get a lil less spectacular. More on that soon....  © Andrew Garai |
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December 2019
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