Back to the summer doldrums this week. Flat, flatter, flattest. JBay's Dylan Lightfoot is thankful for an upbringing which includes having to grovel in teeny PE surf for the local comp's, as it's been good practice for the WQS. He was in China for the ASP Hainan Classic last week, and survived the tiddly-wink sized surf and just missed out on a quarter-final berth. 

Been so surf-starved lately that I bought a new mouse pad so at least can be reminded what a wave looks like cos most of the time it's a lake out front. Reckon they'd make pretty cool stocking fillers for Christmas. Hooked mine at the Country Feeling store in Jbay, but you can pick 'em up at the Surf Art gallery at Supertubes too.

The red tide disappeared as soon as it arrived thankfully, but not before local St Francis photag Clive Wright could snap a shot showing us that although it might be a different species from the last lot, it was also a glow-in-the-dark dude. Gonna depend on what sort of summer we have as to whether it'll show up again. If the east keeps klapping it like it is now, we're likely to stay red-free, but if we get beaut weather like we did last year then expect to see tomato soup.

Not sure if the red tide got him, but a lil dolphin washed up at Cape Recife. Bruce Campbell found him whilst on a training run through the Reserve. It certainly wasn't the strangest thing to wash up on the beach last week. Contents of the shipping containers that blew off the cargo ship are making landfall. 

The beaches at Sundays are strewn with long sheets of red plastic, printer cartridges and an assortment of kid's plastic toys. Plenty of the same have washed up at Cape Recife as well. Apparently the situation out in the bay is far worse than what's coming ashore and the guys on ski-boats reckon it's a huge mess out there.

Welcome home to ballie surfer & sailor John Davies, who's gaff-rigged schooner The Millenium made it's way back into the harbour after a 2 month round trip to Madagascar. The ou's on board were so gatvol of eating fish that the first thing they did as their feet hit the quay was to chow a lekker take-away burger.

Gonna catch up with John soon to find out more about their adventure, which included spotting some good looking surf and catching plenty of fish.

Gone to the beach to check the surf, and find it's flat. No problem. You can just get cured from Aids whilst you there! Robert Jacobs snapped this classic on the side of a bakkie in the car park this weekend. Anything can be cured in Africa provided you don't mind spending a buck or two.

Following another dismal Bok performance Richard von Wildemann reckons the side should call in big wave hell-man Twiggy to help them with their commitment issues. Liked his hashtag - #GrowApair 

Twig is an invitee to the 30th annual Eddie Aikau Big Wave invitational. The event has a 2 month window from the start of December to the end of Feb, and will run if the waves reach 20ft (Hawaiian size). The competition has only been held a total of 8 times in it's 30 year history: it's inaugural year at Sunset Beach, and then seven more times at its permanent home of Waimea Bay. The Eddie was last held on December 9, 2009, won by California's Greg Long. Here's hoping the ocean delivers this year cos Twig has gotto be a favourite for sure. Small guy big heart.

Rad comp coming up this weekend, the Sunset Surf Night Surfing Classic takes to the water on Friday & Saturday night at Pipe. The comp is open to all, with a whole bunch of divisions to cater for everyone, including loggers and boogers. So pull in for a kiff event - gonna be live bands, DJ's, skate ramps, the whole shebang. Go stock up on glo-sticks! All the details here.

The first longboard comp of the year will be held on Saturday so you can surf yourself moer-toe this weekend if you want to. Remember to please pay for your trial beforehand, as no pay no surf.

Keep your wits about you when you go for a surf. A young couple got hijacked in the Kings Beach carpark on Sunday arvo. One of those gun-to-your-head-we'll-take-your-car-thanks scenario's. Would not be a good way to start or end a surf, so be vigilant.

To end off, here's a rad pic from DaLe Staples of everyone's favourite spot. For more of Duckies kiff aerial shots go give his new FB page a Like:
https://www.facebook.com/ducksshots

Summer’s here, and there’s not much in the way of waves. So how do you keep the glide alive? Local longboarder Jamie Morris has just the answer! Get your toes on the nose on the tar.

Yoh, that thing is a meneer! How long is it?

Just over 6ft!

You built it yourself. What gave you the inspiration to try make something like this?

I've always wanted to find a way to practice longboard surfing on days when there no waves and this is it. I found a place in California that makes similar ones but they waaay to pricey over 10k and even more to ship it here. 

With these boards you can cruise the streets and walk up and down it and get some good tip time going - hang 10's etc. You can also use it as a street SUP. I'm in the process of making a street paddle to use to push it just like supping. Also great for carving turns and just having fun!

Can it fit in the cabby or are we talking roof-racks here!?

I have to put the car seat down to fit it in but roof racks are actually easier

Any plans to make some to order if the ou’s are keen to get their feet on one?

Yes, I have some in the pipeline already this is only the demo board.

How do they contact you to order one?

Call me direct on 0736100015 to discuss 

Shot Jamie - Lekker way to keep the glide stoke alive during the long flat summer months. Cos the tar's always there, even when the waves are not!

Saturday saw the 4th annual Donkin Downhill Dash event. A beautiful summer's day greeted competitors and spectators alike. Check out the lekker pic's from Luc Hosten (just click to view full size)
All images Luc Hosten

The R-evolve crew took a trip east recently on their annual surf tour to chase waves, experience fresh breaks and feel the stoke. I caught up with R-evolve’s main man, Wayne Barnes, to find out more about their trip.

So where did you guys head and how long was the tour?

We spent 8 days cruising the eastern seaboard of SA. The team was hungry for waves after a dismal winter. So we packed our gear and headed for the wild coast, an area rich in waves and always consistent.

Who was there crew?

Blaine Armstrong, Hudson Cummings, Bradley Dalbock, Andy Jay and I from R-evolve. We had two guests join us, Dean von Schoultz and Dane Cox. Bruce Viaene and Christo Zietsman where on board to shoot and film the tour.

Did you hook good waves en route?

The whole tour was solid, every day we scored. Cruising up we were lucky to score Port Alfred, and it was cooking. Clean and a good 4ft. We arrived in East London and a local sandbar was going off its nut. It was a complete barrel fest. Our timing was perfect; a cyclone swell was in the process of moving down from Durban and literally every spot was on fire for days.

Go down any unmarked dirt roads and find any hidden lil nooks and crannies with some off the map spots along the way?

I am fortunate to know many of the spots, as I was guided by a good mate who was from the area; He would take me to some awesome hidden breaks when I used to do business trips up to the Transkei. Fortunately we also had some extra local knowledge from Bruce. We cruised down a few unknown roads which led to some gnarly ledges and a 5 star point break.

What’s the crowd situation out East? A case of seek and ye shall find waves for just you and your mates?

In East London, crowds are pretty mellow, mostly a solid crew of locals on most of the known spots. As soon as you cruise up the coast into no man’s land it’s great to have 7 guys surfing, because there is no one around so you feel more comfortable surfing the breaks here.

If you are an avid surf traveller and enjoy the stoke of the search and finding waves, you can score. But this area is touch and go; if you don’t have any knowledge of it. There are some seriously sharky spots, some spots are gnarly and ripped with strong currents and certain breaks are fickle, they require natures touch to work. But if you’re adventurous and persevere, you’ll hit paydirt.

Heard you surfed the (in)famous Deadmans. Take us through what the wave is all about and does it deserve its name?  

Yes, we were very fortunate to surf there. I have never seen or surfed a break like this before. It definitely deserves its name. We managed to score it clean, and relatively small, about 3ft. At 3ft, it breaks as heavy as and steeper than a 6-8ft day at Supers. The closest I can relate it to is a miniature version of Chopes, and it’s a right.

The wave itself actually draws off a shallow ledge, and it just implodes onto the shelf. You can’t read the wave from behind because it draws off the reef so intensely. Not only is it super heavy and shallow, but the impact of the lip pulls you straight down the drop off if you get nailed. And you just keep going down. 


Then there is the take off. The only way in is to backdoor the peak, otherwise you just get tossed. And it isn’t as easy as the pictures all over the Zag etc make it out to look. Within the first hour of our sesh here, we had a big grey suited man cruise between us in the line-up, we all thought it was a dolphin from a pod which had cruised past shortly before. Only to realise after…

You spent a bit of time on the road – whats the trick of having a good road trip – so you aren’t all wanting to klap each other after 8 days together?

A great tip for your roadi: plan the basics of your travel idea, but be flexible. Conditions can change in an instant, so you gotta be quick on your toes and have a backup plan. Secondly have a solid budget to be able to explore and cruise should you need to. Especially in this area, as all the spots require long drives down dirt roads which take time and patience.

We are very fortunate to have a lekka crew of surfers in the team. Each surfer is unique and brings their own sense of humour and class to the team which is great. Making sure you don’t have expectations is a solid start to a tour, after all no-one can control the conditions. Otherwise, make sure you’re close to a pub or something for fun and chill time.

Essentials to take on any surf mission?

First aid is important, especially in an area like the wild coast. Hospitals are far away. Definitely back up equipment, like a secondary board, fins, leashes, grips and wax etc. Most surfers prepare properly, but give thought to the little things to, like spare grub screws and allen keys. Nothing worse than a stripped grub screw and the surf is cooking. Having a repair kit and a coupla plugs handy can also go a long way and save a solid session.

And wrapping it up..?

Overall it was a great tour, out of 8 days we had one down day, which was a reprieve, and we had a much needed rest. We were lucky to have great sponsorships from BOS Ice Tea for our hydration, and Stacey Doman kept us going with her support from her Herbalife range of nutritional products. We stayed in one of the most tropical places, Buccaneers backpackers and it was great to experience the vibe and friendliness of this place. So a big Thank you to them for the great support of our tour.

Check out the video release of our travels coming out shortly to our new Vimeo channel R-evolve Brand. And if you want a seat on our next tour in January 2015, get in contact with us to book your spot.

www.r-evolve.co.za

Facebook page: R-evolve Surf Apparel
Instagram: revolvesurfapparel
Twitter: @revolvebrand

Images by:
Bruce Viaene www.facebook.com/BVPhotoEastLondon
Christo Zietsmann www.facebook.com/Christozietsphotography

The week certainly went from hero to zero in a big way. Monday saw epic swell sweeping through PE and JBay. For once the wind gods smiled upon us and the good waves were groomed by light offshores instead of the usual pomping galeforce. Guys got properly thrashed at Jbay, but they got properly barreled off their pips too. You paid to play, but for those that scored it was worth the price.

Not many leftovers on Tuesday, and by Sunday it was flat as the proverbial lake. Summer surf is feast or famine. Here's some lines from early part of the week...

I mentioned pay to play earlier. Roy Harley paid his Supers tax. Managed to collect a board to the face and got 2 lekker black eye's for his efforts. Had to wear shades for a coupla days so the ou's didn't think he'd been in a fight. Well, maybe it was a fight. Supers won by TKO.

Either the board broke you, or you broke the board. Like JBay's Shayne McGee, who managed to experience the full deluxe Super package. First he got drilled in the keyhole, then he snagged a bomb, and then he bust his board. The other half was found washed up on Maitlands beach. Pretty damn far way to float.

The big surf claimed other victims too, with 23 shipping containers getting tossed like peanuts off a cargo ship in the bay. Couple washed up at Woody Cape. Careful buying any appliances that say "scratch & dent" in the near future. Might open your "nearly new" fridge and have a few mullet fall out onto your feet.

Anyone who wants to learn how to judge, or wants to refresh, David Leverington and David Lipschitz will be holding a judging training course on the evening of Thurs 4th Dec (just before the first Eastern Province Longboard Assoc trials). Remember that you can get EP Colours for Judging (4 places) and 2 judges can get SA Colours. Drop Eastern Province Longboard Association a note via their Facebook page if you wanna attend, or get hold of Dave or Dave. Maybe you can get the best view in the house one day?!

If you've been having internet connectivity issues in Humewood or Summerstand lately it's cos John has just klapped the band-width stukkend. He hooked up to the web for for the first time with his new tablet on Monday, and by Tuesday the BeerShack's wifi was broken! The ballie has got the web-bug hard, and now suffers from separation anxiety if he's offline for more than a coupla hours. He already has a FB and Instagram account, and is getting the hang of this Gmail thing too. You can teach an old dog new tricks. 

Ebrahiem Abrahams psoted some classic back-in-the-day shots of the EP lighties. Who can you recognise? Happy to report that those that were short a few teeth back then have managed to get a full set by now!

John Fletcher found out this week that penguins go from being "Ain't he cute" to "the lil shit just bit me" really quick. No good deed goes unpunished as the saying goes. Not deterred John managed to get him in a box and off to Samrec. Samrec, located just inside Cape Recife, do some amazing work rehabilitating penguins and other seabirds and animals. They released a batch of house guests on Sunday, and the tuxedo-clad lil guys all swam off happily back out to sea.

Cool to take the kids along to the penguin releases, cos (a) you get to keep em entertained for a bit (b) you can check the surf in the reserve whilst you're there, and (c) all proceeds go to Samrec which the use towards rehab costs. Win, win, win.

Yssss bru, that's quite a bad zit on your forehead! Meet Selso the Seal. Originally rescued in Southbroom where he was close to starvation, the Durban Seaworld peeps fed him up real good. Six months later they popped him on the MSC Sinfonia. After the ship reached Port Elizabeth a few days later he was released over the edge of the continental shelf.

He was fitted with a satellite tag, allowing the guys to follow his behaviour over the next year - and see whether rehabilitated elephant seals survive after release and therefore whether the whole gedoente is a worthwhile exercise.

He swam home to the Antarctic, and lurked about there for the next 10 months. However, this week he was spotted lying on the beach at Cape Recife, seemingly unperturbed that he was getting sand-blasted! He'd begun his annual moult, and concerened that he could get disturbed by curious beachgoers he was taken to Bay World, and will be released once he's finished his moult. Wonder if he's gonna enjoy the thumping dance music from the big jol at the Tropical House this coming Saturday? 

Cape Town surfing family the Bing's have launched their own craft beer - aptly named Bing's Bru. Reckon you can't go far wrong by having some surfboards on your label. Maybe the BeerShack will get some??

The surf mighta done a duck fairly early on the week, but the good weather stayed around anf meant there were plenty peeps just cruising along the boardwalk. Including this ou. Who has a really styling set of wheels. Do bikes get any cooler than this? Turns out that one sacrifices fashion for function though. Peter Lawrence spotted him later pushing not pedaling up the hill to the airport!

The SA team are over in China, on an island called Hainan. They surfing a spot called Riyue Bay. Looks like it was "pumping" Pipe style, with waves being a grovel-friendly 1ft. Lucky some of the team have surfed plenty comps at Pipe and will be only to familiar with conditions! 

Eish, the red tide showed up again on Saturday. It had been spotted along the coast from Plett through to the Wildside for a few days before it made it's appearance in the bay. The water temp shot up late Friday arvo and it was enough for the plankton bloom to go bossies. Pretty gnarly water colour between Avo's and King's beach, but thankfully by Sunday morning it had moved off and was spotted past the dolosses, on the other side of the harbour.

Not a good sign that it's rearing it's head in November already. Last year it started mid-Jan and ran through to almost end of March. Looks like we might be in for a long, red summer? Hope not.....

Further evidence that fishing is nothing more than organised loafing! This old ballie was spotted at Avo's on Monday. Suffice to say the guys caught far more waves than he did fish. He did catch plenty rocks though. But at least he was out getting some fresh air and a few rays, good for him.

Yrrr, I hate these flipping things. Having a quiet lil paddle up the beach for a bit of keep-fit and slammed right into one as I was admiring the view. Nothing worse than being out alone in the surf and feeling a thump against your board. Eye's widen, heart races, kak yourself basically. Thankfully it turned out to be a big blob of jelly instead of a grey toothy friend. 

Luckily for us the majority of our jelly's have more skrik factor than anything else. Not like the Aussies who have the infamous Box jellyfish. A sting from these ou's and you're dead in about 3 minutes. More people are killed by jellyfish each year than by sharks, with jelly's having caused at least 5,568 recorded deaths since 1954.

Even a lifeless jellyfish has the capability to sting. So careful when you go kicking 'em about on the beach. It may just have the last laugh....

Box jellyfish are mainly up the north-east coast of Aus - but changing climate could see them spread further south to the famous Gold Coast surf zone - Snapper could eventually become Stinger! 

As deadly as these critters can be, they're pretty rudimentary lifeforms. No brain, no lungs, no skeleton, no circulatory system. They eat and crap out the same hole - glad we evolved from the mouth/anus combo. Yuk. Some have up to 24 "eye's" but they still can't see for sh*te, basically being able to determine between light and dark. So yah, not the sharpest crayon in nature's pencil bag.

But sometimes simple is the secret to success: Jellyfish were there even before the dinosaurs existed on planet Earth. So they're real locals. 

Most jellyfish live anywhere from a few hours to a few months. There are two phases to jelly life: the stationary polyp stage and the mobile medusa phase. It's the medusa phase that we're usually referring to when we talk about jellyfish. Typically, jellies start as polyps and develop into medusas.

But there is one species that's immortal. The Benjamin Button of jelly's. When the Turritopsis nutricula is gatvol of being all grown up, it just reverts back to polyp stage and starts again. Pretty damn neat.

You may have heard that jellyfish are taking over the world's oceans. However, there's actually a good deal of debate about this issue among scientists. Still jelly's have been around forever and do seem to be getting more prolific as the climate changes.

If you're wondering how the species has managed to exist for so long despite having such short lifespans it's cos they breed like crazy. A single jellyfish can release as much as 45,000 eggs each day! So the saying should rather be "they breed like jellyfish" instead of "they breed like rabbits!"

Also, if a jellyfish is cut in two, the pieces of the jellyfish can regenerate and create two new organisms. Similarly, if a jellyfish is injured, it may clone itself and potentially produce hundreds of offspring.

They're really adaptable creatures as well. There are around four hundred dead zone areas in the oceans of the world where only jellyfish can survive and no other life form. So guessing they still gonna be floating about long after we're gone.

The biggest jellyfish ever found had a diameter of 8 feet and its tentacles were as long as half the length of a football field! Don't wanna paddle into him in the surf!

OK, so a group of fish is called a school; a bunch of dolphins is a pod, so what's a whole lotta jelly's called? 
A smack. So reckon we can just South African-ise it and call it a "klap"!?

The most likely jelly for you to swim into along our coast is the Rhizostoma pulmo. A massive hemispherical globby dude measuring between 40 – 90 cm in diameter (the picture at the top of the article). It will do nothing more to you really than gross you out when you stick your hand into by mistake mid-stroke.

If you do end up getting stung, the best remedy is to run hot water over the area - hot as you can bear without burning yourself. Otherwise some vinegar might help too. Pee'ing on it? Debatable.

Personally, the only jelly I like is the one with custard and ice-cream....

Make sure you pull into the Donkin Downhill Dash this Saturday. PE's annual longboarding- meets-public art extravaganza. This year see's the 3rd time the event will be taking place, hosted by the Mandela Bay Development Agency (MBDA) and presented by Downhill Eastern Cape and the n_mb city project.

Come check the ou's flying down the steep windy curves of the Voting Line path at the Donkin. Spills and thrills for sure. This year see's the introduction of a few fun events in conjunction with the downhill skating.

There is an “Anything on Wheels” fun run as well as the Alley Cat city bike ride.

The "Anything with Wheels Race", hosted by Donkin Bike Co. is a fun downhill race on any non-motorised vehicle to get you down the hill in the shortest time. The fun run is open to anyone to enter. Any human-powered craft or vehicle can enter this competition and a winner will determined by the judges’ at their discretion. Winners may include those for fastest time, best craft entered, best dressed, most elaborate accident etc. Entrance fee for this event is R30 and it will consist of one run only. 

Limited entries available now at www.numbcity.co.za/ddd

The Alley Cat Race starts on the The Donkin Reserve, and cyclists will weave through the inner city: it's streets, crescents, caverns, curves and alleys - taking whatever route get's them to checkpoints along the way. 

Bring your bike and a sense of adventure!

There are 3 divisions in the Downhill skate event - Open, Ladies and groms (u16's). Competitors pay R150 to skate the hill in a time trial. You get 3 runs.

The Donkin Downhill Dash is a free event for spectators and will take place from 9am to 4pm on Saturday 22 Nov. Performers will include singer/songwriter Wandile Mbambeni, Poetic Soul, and bands The Brothers, Umle and Cottonfields, along with various DJs.

There's also a skate ramp and live graffiti.

After the action at the Donkin on Saturday, come and celebrate the mayhem at Chapel Street Studios and witness the Prize Giving, some classic skating Thrasher films, BeerPong and good music by "The Dirty Bandits" and "Pink Lippz" RVCA goodies for the first 50 people through the door at 5pm

Yewee - finally some waves arrived. Unfortunately as per the usual we got the wind/wave combo deal so together with the main meal of some solid surf we got the side-order of gale force winds to accompany it. Ysss, why can't we just get lucky sometimes....and the wind gives us a break. But beggars can't be choosers, after 3 weeks of non-existent surf it was lekker to get something bigger than knee high - considerably bigger.

There were waves everywhere. Robbie Irlam snapped some smokers at Supers. For every smoker there was someone getting smoked. Ou's reckon if you mistimed the keyhole you ended up at Albatross, and had to walk up the point and try again. Rule of thumb - he who hesitates is lost! Like the poor ou below who got a free rinse-and-spin cycle for his efforts in the keyhole. We've all been there done that. He opted for Plan B after Plan A failed and got out further up at Boneyards - and proceeded to hook a bomb. His board paid the price later on though.... 

Discretion is the better part of valor goes the old saying. PE logger Dean Simpson and JBay shaping guru Mikey Meyer appreciated the one step forward, two steps back approach to getting out and succeeded in getting out back unscathed after doing the rock dance tango whilst waiting for a gap. Gotto respect the ocean when it's that size. It'll pick you up like a lil toothpick and clean it's teeth with ya if you give it half the chance...

West of JBay had a few lekker waves as well. Seals local Andy Lenton took a drive down the road and found a left to his liking, whilst everyone else made merry on the rights. Including PE logger & Millers local Chris Sykes, who managed to survive the sesh with his longboard still intact and not transformed into 2 shortboards!

The bay got some good sized swell, but some pumping wind to go with it. Made any sesh more a chop-hop than a surf, but still some fun to be had. Even the poor dawgs had it tough - try going for your Sunday walkies and you can't see bogger all cos the winds blowing your fur in your eye's....

Seems to be waves all over at the moment. Local Gavin Rother is on a surf trip to the States with his son Any, and they've been scoring some good waves on the west coast - like this possie in San Diego. 

The wind claimed it's share of victims over the weekend. The NSRI were called out on Saturday after one of the huge container ships anchored off Coega lost 23 of it's containers overboard (check the stack just to the right of middle of the pic). Kak luck if you had some stuff arriving by container - go look for it on Woody Cape beach!

OK, not everywhere had surf. The chicks down in CT to surf Long Beach for the Billabong Womens Summer Surf Challenge. Faye Zoetmulder made the most out of missing her home break firing and got the win - shot Faye! The event wasn't without controversy after some locals decided to surf right in the middle of the comp zone and drop in on the chicks during their heats.  I suppose they get PO'd cos there are lank contests at Long Beach during the year, but still, "manners maketh man" goes the saying...

The big swells have chowed away plenty of beaches - with rocks and reefes popping up all over PE's popular spots, and St Francis having bogger all sand left too. The shots were taken last weekend - Stan's at mid-tide, mine at low tide....so good luck finding a possie to pitch your brolley there this summer. Expect Seals beach to be packed. 

Which ain't gonna help matters in the corner - usually the only spot to be holding a good bank in the summer....as with the new Blue Flag status being awarded are we gonna see the lifeys getting super anal about chasing ou's away from the bathing flags - which they normally plonk up right in front of the peak?

Methinks they best get a sponsorship from Listerne, cos they gonna be blowing those whistles all day long whilst the guys give 'em the finger from the water. 

JBay's Dylan Lightfoot's recent PE's surfs stood him in good stead when he surfed a dam! Reckons it's about the same size as PE! Could be the answer to the flat summer season. Grab a mate's boat and head to North End lake for a bit of wake surfing.

Dane Cox has a good wave of keeping the surf neurons firing when it's flat. Pop your board on one of those exercise balls and see how long it takes before you eat grass. Keeps the core muscles working when the surfs flat as a pan.

Quite a bunch of EP surfers in the various SA teams that'll be heading to China soon. Grant Beck, Margreet Wibbelink and Hannah Bing are in the SA Longboard team to surf World Longboard Champs, and Dylan Lightfoot and Faye Zoetmulder are representing SA in the shortboard ISA China Cup. Not a bad lil spot they'll be surfing, left point to keep the goofy's happy.

As if Cape Town doesn't have enough issues with sharks, here's an extra bitey thing to worry about in the line up...a huge Cape Cobra was spotted on the beach in Hout Bay.

Local surf club CYOH (which stands for Create Your Own Happening) are now on Instagram. Give them a follow if you'd like to stay in touch with local comp surfing. "cyohsurfclub"

Professional surfing says bye to Travis Logie after he announces his retirement. Trav is one helluva surfer, but had some rotten luck as far as injuries went this year and won't re-qualify for the CT, so he's made the call to retire. Sad to lose a Saffa from the tour.

Just so you know you don't have to be a pro surfer to make a living outta surfing. Seals locals Brad Beck and Hannah Bing are surf guiding in the Maldives to earn their coin, and have just moved resorts. Here's their new "office". Not too shabby.....

Yoh, flat as a damn lake all week. Doesn't seem to bother ex-local Brad Beck though - here he is getting shacked off his pip in his Maldives "office". Life's tough in Africa, but a darn side tougher in the Indian Ocean! The water's been really clear thanks to the total absence of surf. Meant Gary Loest could snap this lekker shot of another waveless day at Millers.

Tristan Torr was the stoked winner of the Scarfini skelli fins from Surf Centre in last weeks Halloween comp. Look like they match his board perfectly. Extra props to Tristan for also winning his school's Sportsman of the Year trophy. Pretty good week for the lightie!

The unique Sunset Surf Club Night Surfing Classic will be returning to the Pipe, Pollok Beach, Port Elizabeth for its 7th year on Friday 5th & Saturday 6th December once again as part of the Nelson Mandela Bay Summer Season. 

Entry fee is R80 per person per division: U/10 Boys & Girls; U/12 Boys & Girls; U/14 Boys & Girls; U/16 Boys & Girls; U/18 Boys & Girls; U/20 Boys & Girls; Open Men & Ladies; Masters; Veterans and Long Board divisions. Still waiting to hear if they're gonna accommodate the boogers too.

All entrants will receive a contest T-shirt. To enter email to [email protected] or fax to email: 086 600 5968 with your deets. Gonna be a rad event, so make a plan to participate.

The surfing world is fixated on toes at the moment. Not toes on the nose, but rather broken toes. Kelly Slaters to be exact. He got done in by the foam ball whilst surfing big Cloudbreak, it flipped the front of his board up, bending his toes backwards and snapping them in the process.

Here's hoping he can get em healed in time for the big Pipe showdown at the end of the year. Ou's reckon you don't really need toes to surf Pipe, just grab rail and hang on. Remember, in order for him to be crowned world champ, he has to win the 2014 Billabong Pipe Masters and Gabriel Medina doesn’t finish higher than 13th place, and Mick Fanning doesn’t get into the final.

Tall order. Even taller with some broken toes. 

It was 4 years ago last week that the world bid farewell to one of it's favourite surfers. Andy Irons was an incredible surfer, a crazy competitor and an all-round super cool guy. Such a pity to have lost him too early. Drugs are gnarly. 

The newly opened Beer Shack (right next door to Surf Centre) launched it's Car Park John Pale Ale this week in honour of local surf legend John Scheepers. It's so popular the first barrel was sold out within a few days. Make sure you pull in and order a pint of John! The bru's brew!
Check out a quick interview with the brewer Niall Cook about John's beer here.

The summer holidays are nearly here. Great chance to get your lighties out into the surf for the first time. Start 'em young and get em hooked early. Anyone recognise this lil mini-frother below? He grew up from a mini-frother into a grom-frother and still has to be one of the most enthusiastic lighties in the water. 

Just a note to all the dads teaching their kid's. Good idea to start them off at spots like Denvils or King's beach, outta the way of the main line-up's. And if you're going to be pushing 'em in to waves make sure you follow the normal line-up etiquette and don't launch em in front of other ou's who are already on the wave. As could end up with peeps getting boards in their pips or shins. Not lekker.

It's awesome that you're getting them up and riding, but don't teach 'em bad manner right from the start. So just as important as getting them up on their boards is explaining to them how the line-up works too.

Pretty classic week as far as surf fashion news goes. Olympic swimmer Chad le Clos launched his new surfwear range from Arena. And copped a fair bit of flak in the process. No denying he's a good looking ou who manages to pull off the hot pant look rather well, but the hiccup is the average Jo Soap who's gonna try rock these on the beach is gonna look scary as hell. And the concept of speedo's on a surfboard is just a plain no-no. Unless you're Big Dave of course! 

The video clip launching the range is worth a watch. Just shows what happens when the sketchy marketing peeps get hold of you! A bit of retro beach-boys music, some random on the beach frolicking, and the total absence of anything that vaguely resembles a wave. He looks like a lekker ou, but don't think his agent has done him any favours with this gig.

And that was the week. No surf. It ended as it begun. Just the water got colder (14C in SF on Sunday, brrrrrr). Seal Point Boardriders held their Expression Session at the beachie cos the point was so small. Hopefully this week delivers something from somewhere. 

Yrrr - have you ever seen a happier looking ou? And how can you not be when you find out you've just had a beer named after you! Local legend John Scheeper has been immortalised by the Beer Shack with their new CarPark John Pale Ale.

Shot to local surfer and owner Matt Repton, who says it's brewed in honor of the countless hours that John's put into the surf lineups across the Eastern Cape. Nice one mate!

I asked local brewer Niall Cook a few quick questions about the bru's brew.

So tell us a bit about Car Park.

Car Park John is an American Amber Ale. We were trying to go for a easy drinking beer that has a rich caramel flavour with a burst of tropical aromas, such as passion fruit and guava. We really wanted to make this beer as interesting as possible. Our hope is that Car Park John will help expand the minds of its drinkers (especially PE's locals) to the vast and interesting world of craft beer.  

How does a craft beer differ from a "normal" beer?

Craft beer generally refers to beer that is produced on a much smaller scale than you would see with the big commercial breweries. However, because of the smaller scale there is a lot more room for experimentation and that is why within the craft industry there are many more interesting and unique beers. 

How long does a craft beer take to brew?

When producing any beer the time that it takes to produce it will vary depending on the style of beer that is to be brewed. For example, the fruitier ales such as Car Park John take about 3 to 4 weeks from brew day to serving whereas, the less fruity lager beers take a lot longer, sometimes up to 2 months. 

Could you outline the process briefly?

Beer consists of malted barley, water, hops and yeast. There are other ingredients that can be added for complexity but these four are the most essential. The malted barley is first crushed to release the starches which are then converted to malt sugars (known as wort) with the addition of warm water. The wort is then extracted from the crushed barley and boiled. Hops are added to the boil to impart bitterness as well as flavour and aroma. 

After boiling the wort is rapidly cooled and transferred to a fermentation vessel where your desired yeast is added which converts the malt sugars to alcohol and carbon dioxide. In our case, the beer is transferred to a secondary fermentation vessel where it is carbonated and matured at cold temperatures. 

The beer we produce is more natural or rather more traditional as we don't need to pasteurise or filter. These processes have the potential to strip some flavour from the beer, something we don't want to compromise on.

Are all the Beer Shacks craft beers made locally in PE?

The only beer produced locally is and sold at the Beershack is Car Park John, the rest are from all around South Africa.

So there you have it - pull into the Beer Shack to sluk some seriously Local is Lekker brew bru. 
The Beer Shack is in the Dolphins Leap centre - right next to Surf Centre, and opposite McArthur Baths/Denvils.

Go give 'em a Like on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/BeerShackPE