So, rumour has it you outta here!? What’s the deal? Yea...it's time for a new adventure! Where you going to be bailing to? I'm moving to Perth, Australia. How come, just over the ou’s dropping in on you here in PE, or what? Haha yea just fully over it hey...jokes. I finished studying at NMMU last year and I feel as if it's time for a new adventure! I have this incredible opportunity to move so I'm going to try to make the most of it! So you reckon Perth won’t be so bad with hussling? Perth is an Australian city so it's probably way worse than PE! I was over there in July last year and all the breaks were super crowded! What sorta surf are you expecting over there? Well Perth doesn't get much swell...I'd be better off surfing Denvilles for the rest of my life! But 4 hours south there are waves like Margret River, Yallingup, Smiths, the Box...it's always been a dream of mine to surf the Box! Perth is also really close to Bali etc. a 4 hour flight I think? I'm going to miss having the luxury of surfing all the time! Immediate plans on landing? Job, study, lurk, surf? All of the above really...only planning on getting a permanent job next year but something might come up sooner. I'm really over studying! When you climbing onto the plane and waving goodbye? Sunday, 9 June...it's soooo soon! Heard things got a lil messy at your farewell party at the yacht club – something about R8 draft beers??
Happy hour at the yacht club was quite a treat! Just got to have a few drinks and laughs with friends before I leave. R8 draughts and some mates = a good time! Was so tempting that even John Scheepers pulled in for a couple! So you cool for ou’s to pull in and do some couch surfing if they in that part of the world? Yea sure! As long as you don't pick fights with Aussie locals hey! Any other ex-PE peeps in Perth you’ll be able to hook up with? Dylan Macleod moved over in Feb. So at least I'll know someone from PE that surfs! Although I think he’s on daddy duty for now!! Last words? PE will always be home! Thanks to everyone I've surfed with in PE for the good times and good waves. The PE crew are something special and will be missed. PE is an amazing city and our waves aren't thaaaat bad! Hope millerslocal will keep me in the loop with PE surfing :) The Kappies are always on about Dungeons and Sunset and all these kiff big-wave spots they have. Well, guess what: PE has some slabs of it's own too. Maybe spots that only very few ou's have actually ridden, but they are there. You just have to be brave (or stupid) enough to take them on. The obvious one stares us right in the face. We've all seen the Bell Bouy throw some pretty massive peaks when the swell is running. I remember ex-PE charger Jason van Greunen paddling out there on a huge day. First he had to punch through some massive shore-pounds at Pollock, and then make the 2.4km paddle all the way out there in wild sea's. All this before even trying to hook a wave. Out there alone. In the middle of the ocean. No support craft, no buddies, no nothing. Crazy ou! The Bell Bouy marks a submerged reef north of Cape Recife that was originally named Dispatch Rock. NOt a bad name considering it could dispatch you to your maker if you got caught out there! It lies only 3m below the surface at low tide. In 1843 the buoy was placed on it, and the notice alerting mariners to it was placed in the Government Gazette naming it Roman Rock. This reef is also known as Roman Rocks due to the large number of red roman fish that are found here. But surfers have always just called it Bell Bouy. Duncan Scott and crew have towed into it a coupla times, but as far as I know there isn't any shots of anyone on a wave out there. Anyone volunteering? That huge WSW swell pulling past the bay on Sunday might just light it up!? The other slab will remain a lil more secretive. Not that there should be too much concern about exposing it. It's a bitch to get to, and the locals are kinda nasty. Pity - cos it's a really legit looking slab. It's on the opposite side of the bay to the Bell Bouy and prefers an easterly swell. Offering up clean left walls in a west wind that barrel off for 50-100m after the peak. The only barrel in Algoa Bay that spits.....properly. Swells come out of deep deep water and unload on a shallow rock shelf about 300m from shore. You're out there as part of the food chain, and there's plenty of water moving about due to some gnarly currents. But if you can dodge the locals, and scratch yourself into a peak....it's game on!
Has anyone surfed it yet? Not likely, although a coupla peeps have had the good fortune to sit on the shore and mind surf it. Let's hope some mad crew decide to have a stab at it some time in the future! JBU Surf Club is proud to announce the Jeffreys Bay Winter Fest, an extreme sports festival set in Jeffreys Bay and environs, and anchored by the Surfing South Africa sanctioned Jeffreys Bay Open Of Surfing. The Jeffreys Bay Winter Fest is set to include a mountain biking race, a skating event, an open water swim challenge, a running event and music, and promises to be an exciting week for the town of Jeffreys Bay.
"We're just happy to be able to facilitate such an event for the town of Jeffreys Bay," said JBU Surf Club Chairperson Arthur Joubert. "We're also very proud to witness the local surf community of Jeffreys Bay embrace it in such a positive way in its inaugural year when it is basically a small and untested event, but we are determined to make it a great success. This year will be the first of many Winter Fests, and our festival will grow from strength to strength each year." The key tournament of the Winter Fest will be the Jeffreys Bay Open Of Surfing presented by Billabong, an invite-only Pro Surf Tour specialty surfing competition that has been sanctioned by Surfing South Africa, the governing body of the sport in South Africa. Proceeds from the entry fees will go to The Supertubes Surfing Foundation. Surfers who want to compete in this contest are reminded to go the event Facebook page Jeffreys Bay Open Of Surfing and put their name down as a possible entry. Entries close on 10 June. The JBU Club, together with Surfing South Africa, will then select the 64 men and 8 women for the event, as well as an alternate list. If you get invited, the registration process and entry fee payment will take place on the Surfing South Africa website www.surfingsouthafrica.co.za here SSA Instructions on how to enter will be on your invite. All successful candidates will be required to affiliate as members of the Surfing South Africa PST. Details of how to join the PST are available on www.surfingsouthafrica.co.za One surfer who is no stranger to the perfect walls of Jeffreys Bay is Cape Town based surfer and giant killer Sean Holmes. Affectionately known as 'The Nemesis' as a result of former world champion - beating performances, Sean is excited about this contest. "I think it's pretty awesome that the town of Jeffreys Bay has come together to present this event for 2013," said Holmes. "It's a positive thing that local surfers have the opportunity to come down with their familes and present themselves and their surfing on one of the best waves in the world. I'm really looking forward to this event, I just hope I crack the nod from the contest organisers." The new Kings Beach skatepark is a rad addition to the beachfront. Every time I drive past it there's ou's using it, which is kiff. Weekends look like organised chaos with all the various discipline vying for space. Bikers, skaters, inliners, and the odd toddler on their push-bikes! Check out Richard Pearce's shots from the weekend.... Let's all agree. Monday's are generally kak. It started out as a mediocre day. Really arb swell, funky winds. Decided to get some work done. Lunch-time comes and think it'd be a good idea to get wet, despite lack of surf. Swim with a surfboard beats sitting working on computer any day. Wetsuit on, sunscreen on. All good. As about to leave my flat to go down and get board suddenly hear our block's generator go on. Not good. Means electricity has gone awol. Double not good cos my garages have electric doors - which mean I can't get to my surfboards. Ah, wait. I installed a manual key lock specifically for when the power goes out and I still need to be able to get my boards. Had planned ahead. Clever. But now not so clever. Where is the key? Eish, she be gone. K, who can I bum a board off?....cos now all dressed up ready for a surf...with no board. Rule #1....if you are in your wetsuit you may not get out of it again if you haven't got into the water. Maybe I can just go bodysurf? Nope, fins in garage too. Call John at Surf Centre hoping he can drop a shop board off as he comes past. Cos car stuck in basement. Door is electric. But John was already at Pipe for a quick surf. K, scratch that off the list. K, who else is in walking distance with boards? Ah, Mush! He's in 5th avenue and has a huge board rack. Call Mush. No answer. Mush sucks at answering his phone. Call Mush's guesthouse. Mush is out. Don't want to just go take board without asking. K, scratch that off the list. Next option? Think, think, think...... Wait a minute...have got Greg Smith's number, and he's just down the lane. Call Greg. "Apologies for random call...please can I come borrow a board!" Greg's like, for sure, no worries. Good man, Greg. Run down the lane, grab Greg's mini-simmons 5ft6 keel finned square-tailed wave gobbling machine. Yes please! Love trying new boards, and have been seeing Greg rip on this lil thing and been keen to give it a bash. Eish, this board went like a Boeing in the pap, lumpy conditions. Plenty volume up front and a massive square tail at the back give it lotsa lift, making paddling a dream. Still has ample rocker and kiff sharp rails at the tail - with a nice double V concave, so turns on a dime. Soft rails and a wide, high volume nose make late take-offs a dream and are very forgiving on turns and getting you back down off the lip. Fun, fun, fun. How much fun? I went and dropped the board back at Greg's after my surf....and ordered one for myself! So what started off as a kak day ended up with me getting a new board. Happy with that. There is always a silver lining to a dark cloud. PS no idea how peeps surf Millers without booties. Got plenty holes in my feet making the walk out and back in over the reef. My booties were stuck in the garage too. First time have ever surfed Millers without booties. Won;t repeat the exercise in a hurry. Happy to admit am a wimp. PPS - this is a super fun board to have in your quiver. Just ask Brian du Plessis - he is absolutely ripping his to pieces. Tune Greg on 083 230 5531 if you wanna get one. Got this classic story from Julian Pledger about nearly getting arrested for surfing Hummies back in the day:
"Looking at those old shots of Humewood reminded me of the time we were surfing some real storm stuff and the beach manager called the flying squad to get us out the water! This was after the loudspeaker effort had fallen on deaf ears. It was mid winter, raining with not a soul on the beach and we had these real boere policeman running into the water trying to grab us at the end of every wave(guns and all)! The cable was still attached, running from the pylons across to the small breakwater and you had to watch out that your head was not taken off by it as you surfed past. One of the locals pointed at the No Surfing sign and asked me what the sign meant, I told him I did not know! He kindly pointed out that it was to warn us to watch out for the cable! To avoid being arrested we surfed till dark and paddled in where the Shark Rock pier is today. My car was parked at the back of Humewood and I had two flat tyres - the beach manager really hated us! No sweat, I drove the car into the army camp behind Humewood and pumped the tyres up........now THOSE were the days!" Nice one Julian! John and I also nearly got arrested, must be about 6 years ago at least. Also surfing with no-one on the beach and had ignored the calls to come in. Next thing a police van screams up onto the grass, and this cop runs down onto the beach to wave us out! I was so mad that they would waste a policesman's time with suck kak, that I paddled straight in to tell him he should rather be trying to catch rapists and murderers than harrassing surfers! I made an appointment to see the beach manager the next day, to discuss why we weren't allowed to surf even if no bathers were around. It started the long discussion process which finally culminated in us being given permission to surf there if there was no-one swimming. The deal is now that if they raise that yellow flag with the black circle on it, and hoot the horn/blow their whistles to get us out, then we have to bail. The lifey's are pretty tolerant at letting us continue to surf if peeps are just wading in the shallows - but then use some common sense ou's, and don't ride the wave right to the end and finish off with a closeout manouveur right into the bathers - that's plain dumb - and of course we'll all then get chased out the water. And you'll be amazed at how many ou's do this! And then moan when we get called out. Rather just pull off the wave before the shallows, and at least we'll be able to keep surfing! And if the lifey's call us out and there isn't even a swimmer in sight, it's normally for a good reason. This happened recently, and turns out they were about to have an inspector come to review their Blue Flag status...which means no surfers allowed. So they not just being arsey, they saving their ass! Hummies is one of our best waves by far, so let's co-operate with the lifegaurds, and make sure we're allowed to keep surfing there. As if they have too much hassle with guys not coming in when they're called in, then they'll just ban surfing outright. Kak idea! Photo's by Malcolm Turner Welcome to the weird world of the Firewire Vanguard. Local ripper Bruce Campbell got himself one, and I just had to find out more about this crazy looking thing... Ok, let’s start by admitting this has to be one of the oddest looking surfboards to hit the waves in a looong time! Give us a quick heads-up on what it’s called and the dimensions. Ya, I completely agree! First time I laid eyes on the board, I laughed at its awkward features. It is called the ‘Vanguard’ Firewire by Tomo Surfboards. It has a thruster and quad fin option. Dimensions: 5' 4" x 18" x 2 1/4" Volume: 25.9 L And what’s the story behind its design? Just someone drinking too many Jagermeisters one night and hitting the shaping bay with a moerse hangover the next day? The original board design comes from the shaper Daniel Thomson. Thomson has forged his reputation on blending the design principles of the thruster - those three-finned, wave-destroying machines that have become standard issue on surfing's World Tour - with the speed and flow of the 1950s-inspired planing hulls and fishes that have come back into vogue over the past decade. The boards look downright futuristic, some of them resembling fighter jets. Stu Kennedy (pro surfer) was over at Thomsons house for a party and Stu started digging through his boards and when he found this design he simply got up and left and went straight to the beach. It has just grown from there onwards. So how did you end up coming to be the proud owner of the double-ended flying machine? I had been looking at it on the net quite a bit and watching all the different You tube videos on the board and listening to peoples interviews and it got me interested. So I went to the Country Feeling shop in J-Bay where all the Firewires are and tested out the demo board, I surfed it for about an hour and got out the water and went straight to shop and got myself one. Looking decidedly weird is one thing, but how does this board actually go? Well I was really uncertain on how it would go, I thought it may be a bit loose or won’t be able to turn critically off the top, but 1 hour on the demo and I was sold! It is ridiculously fast, as soon as you get to your feet the board just goes, got so much drive. I first started off doing some big carves and cut backs on it to try and get use to the speed and then I had to put it to the test on the bottom turn. So I took off on a decent size wave out at Seals and went as hard as I can off the bottom to see if it will slide out and it didn’t, it went off the bottom so well. It is lightening fast off the lip and it holds its rail all the way through a turn. The parallel lines of the board reduces drag and thus lifting the nose up out the water, so to help generate more speed. The tail has a twin diamond tail profile which is super sharp and really bites when you put it on the rail. With the reduced nose swing of the board it goes incredible in the air as well, super quick to pop out the water and rotating is made easier with the reduced length of the board. What sort of conditions is it ideally suited to? Does it like to carve or fly? I initially got it for smaller PE waves but I have been surfing it in all types of surf out here in St Francis, I’ve surfed it in 1-2 foot soft Seal point and then also 4-5ft foot bumpy howling onshore Seal point. Took it out at solid Bruce’s and it just held its line so well, then recently put it through a big test of heaving 4-5 foot beachie barrels and it went amazingly, just had so much drive from the take-off and making barrels was just too easy. Not once has the board skimmed out on me which I thought it would do. Is this something that will be your go-to board now, or you’ll only pull it out in certain conditions? This will most certainly be my go-to board now, unless surfing anything bigger than solid 6-8 foot then I may look at one of my bigger boards. Length-wise – do guys go for the same length as their normal shortboard – or do you ride it a bit shorter? Quite a bit shorter than your normal board, my normal board is generally a 5’10 and this board is 5’4 so that is quite short but you would not be able to tell that it’s so small when you're surfing it. Do you have to be a hot surfer to really get the most outta the board, or do you reckon it’s also got a place in joe-averages quiver as well? No, I reckon everyone should have one of these boards in their quiver. Because the board is narrower than your normal board it forces you to surf on the rail, which is where all your good surfing comes from-on the rail. After riding this board for a few days and then I went back to my normal board, I surfed better on my normal board because I kept the board on the rail the whole time. Shot Bruce - good to know the ironing board surfs like a real board! van•guard (ˈvænˌgɑrd)
n.1. the front part of an advancing army. 2. the forefront in any field. 3. the leaders of any intellectual or political movement. [1480–90; earlier van(d)gard(e) < Middle French avangarde, variant of avant-garde] We catch up with Ryan Anderson - a local longboard legend of the 90's. Ryan still rocks his longboard at Millers, but it was back in the heydays of the 90's that he became the SA Longboard champ, and represented South Africa at the World Games & Oxbow World Champs on a number of occasions. So where did it all start? I must have been about 10 or so. My first board was my Dads board from the 70's. He had it custom made by Gary Cooper, called a Delve. The Cooper Brothers used to shape a lot of boards back then. It was a 7'6 single fin, we later chopped the tail off and made into a twin fin, cos singles weren't cool anymore! I started surfing at Kings beach and Millers with my best mate in junior school, Ryan Hartel, we were super groms, stoked to the max! Then from Std 6 my main posse was Marius Roberts, Greg Heasley, Jason Dixon and Alan Buchanan. We used to hang at Millers, Pipe or Fence every day and connect with guys like the Douglas-Jones brothers, and the crew of Jorg, Bobby and Quintin and some of the Summerstrand groms like Jason Van Greunen, Jean Pierre, the McSkimmings etc. My 1st thruster was about 6'1, it was promo board that Ward Walcup (a famous US shaper) had made as a prize for the Spur Surfabout ASP comp held at Outer Kom in Cape Town. Think it was about '84. It was an iconic event - massive lefts rolling through the kelp bed's. I was there watching the comp with my dad while on a soccer tour. I managed to get the autograph of my 2 heroes at the time, Barton Lynch and Ross Clarke Jones! Someone won the Spur board and we bought it off them. It was called a Bordello! I was a lightie and had absolutely no idea I was walking around with a "whorehouse" under my arm! All the older guys used to tease me when I walked past them carrying it! And I had no idea why! You got sponsored pretty young... Yah, my first ever sponsor was Radical Sports Surfshop owned by "Chappy" Adshade. They flowed us deals on gear and I had the Barton Lynch and Damien Hardman front and back Gorilla Grip on my boards, I was stoked! Greg Smith from Curved Air started making my boards from a pretty young age and we had a great relationship for many years trying new things with my shortboards, eventually crossing over onto the Longboards too. When I was about 12 I made the EP groms side, along with guys like Quinton Jones, Duncan Scott, Koffie Jacobs, Greg Heasley, Justin Douglas-Jones, Nolan McSkimming and Bryan Moulang. Quinton Jones was another Curved Air team rider and we used to train like mad in heavy onshore conditions till our eyes would burn, we put serious time in the water. In those days most of the comps were sponsored by local surf shops and I won a good couple of them like the Bruce's Beauties Classic and the Oceans Surfshop Comp. I then started entering the junior pro events around the country and got some good results in the Samsung Surf Classic, Rip Curl Junior Pro and a few others. This was all on shortboard still. Groms were kept in line by the older guys in those days - any stories? For sure - you knew your place in the line-up! Fence was still a real wave back then with heaving thick peaks and barrels. I remember paddling up towards the main peak - and guys like Clinton Bradfield and Wildy Van Wyk would take one look at you and send you back down to the next peak! But you didn't mind cos you would see them get so deep in the barrel, so it was cool. You had to earn your right to get the set waves! Ross van Zyl, Hammie Combe, Brad Davies and that crew were the real cool cats back then and really good surfers. I remember them ripping me off cos i had a Zero wetsuit that zipped up the front - and they'd go "Hey, you got your suit on backwards!" As a grom you remember those things cos they were the main dudes! Arno Lane was also know for abusing groms like Justin DJ! Good times! Why did you make the switch to longboards? There was a Longboard revival in the early 90's, and my dad started surfing again. I got roped into the EP team for the Longboard SA's in Cape Town as they needed to make up the numbers. I ended up nearly beating David Jenkins, the SA Champ. So I decided to start surfing on the longboard a little more to at least put in some effort and see how well I could do. I never thought that I would become so hooked on noseriding and that longboard surfing would take me all over the world and eventually land me in the surf industry where I am today. After a few years longboarding I ended up winning the Open division of the SA Longboard Champs, and my dad, John, won his division too - so we pulled a memorable family double SA Champ vibe! A year of two out of school I made the SA Longboard team for the World Champs at Malibu, California. Other EP guys in the team were Craig Cuff, Turtle Morris and Greg Smith. This was my first trip overseas for surfing and being in Cali was like going to the home of longboard surfing, the longboard scene was huge and I was very inspired to get into the thick of it. I had a fair event and ended up coming 17th - which was pretty good for my first pro event overseas. I decided then that I wanted to spend more time in Cali and break into the US longboard scene. You competed overseas for a while, tell us about that. After my first World Champs at Malibu, Craig and I stayed on in California for about 3 months. I didn't have any paying sponsors at the time, so I sold raffle tickets and all sorts to collect the money to go on the trip and so we could go to Hawaii too. We connected with the most amazing people up and down the Cali coast who took us in and let us couch surf! We stayed in Silverstrand, Oxnard (Tim Currans home break) with our mate Jimmy Lee, Santa Barbara with Jerry Dow and Van Bergen Family, and Hawaii with the Rasmussen Family. We would busk our way down the coast going to Christian Surfers chapters talking to the lighties and playing music. Basically just cruising and spreading the vibe! After that first US trip all I wanted to do was get back to California! I managed to secure a sponsorship with Xerox and then Minolta through my Dad and they started paying for me to travel to the world champs each year. I would basically use the money to get to the US and then base myself there to surf the US Surf Tour for 6 months (June to Nov) and go between Cali, Mex and Hawaii. Then I would come home for the summer and do it all again the next year! I lived the endless summer for a couple years and it was legendary! How did you fare at the World Champs? I surfed world champs in Reunion, Canary Islands, Malibu and Makaha. My best results in world champs were at Malibu when I placed 17th and Makaha, Hawaii when I placed 9th. The Hawaiians were calling Makaha 8-10ft! I ended up surfing in many other pro events on the US Surf Tour over that time where I got some good results. My best result overseas was a 2nd place at a Budweiser US Surf Tour event at Huntington Beach. I also surfed for the South African team at the ISA World Games at Huntington Beach where I reached quarters and got a quarter finals at the US Open of Surfing at Huntington Beach. What was Hawaii like? Hawaii is still the best place I have ever surfed. I was really lucky to hook up with awesome families and friends who accommodated me, as well as local Hawaiian legend Tony Moniz, an 80's pro surfer and big wave charger. He is connected on the island and hooked me up with a quiver of shortboards to ride on the North Shore when I was done with my contests. He also let me cruise about in his van - which served like an entry ticket to most spots. And your first wave at Pipe? The real Pipe! It was about a 6ft day, and I got dropped in on, and then closed out and got bounced about in the washing machine! But it got better from there - I did score some epic barrels after that. My favourite spot was Log Cabins, as its not as crowded and its a mix of barrels and walls. I got a big backside barrel out there one day that I didn't think I would make and I got some hoots from the locals and the pros who were out. Stoked! We tried to surf some heavy local spots, like Velzyland, but when the heaviest Hawaiian local (perry Dane) just looks at you skeef, and says "Brah, you aren't surfing here", well - you listen!! In Cali I also surfed some of the most amazing places though! Places that most people never get to surf, spots like Hollister Ranch, Camp Pendleton (above Trestles), Point Magoo, The Channel Islands off Santa Barbara. Those were some of the best memories I have. Its amazing how far a foreign accent and a good attitude can get you! For the next 2-3 years I would spend 6 months in the US/Hawaii just travelling and doing comps to make some bucks - usually following the World Champs, and then home for 6 months....fixing dings with Phil Wheddal for Greg. You did some Mex missions as well... Yah, we used to head down to Baja most weekends in the summer - whenever the south swells would roll in. It would light up the right points and the beachbreaks down there. The surf there is insane and very uncrowded. This one spot is called Baja Malibu, which is this long beach with A-frame peaks all along it. The trick was to try take off on a peak, and then connect into the next peak and keep going down the beach. My best effort was connecting through 3 peaks! It was very similar to Fence, so I felt pretty much at home. Is Mex as dodgy as they say? Absolutely, the Federales are always looking for extra cash for another bottle of Tequila. But my mate Piggy worked out that if he put his bible on the dashboard then they seemed to leave us alone! I would also practice my American accent a lot for the border check point, cos I would forget my passport and have to say I was a US citizen to get back into the US, cos I looked like a Mexican after a summer on the beach and I wasn't keen to spend a night in a Tijuana jail! Any close calls whilst you were competing? I just missed out at the US Open in Huntington Beach - by like 0.02 of a point or something. I had to surf on a mate's board which didn't help! What happened was that they randomly used to check the length of guys boards to make sure they were 9ft. And mine came up as too short! This was because Greg measured his boards as 9ft on the curve, whereas these guys just wanted 9ft straight, so mine was an inch too short. That's why Greg's longboards then became 9ft1 as standard after that! So what brought the nomadic lifestyle to an end? I was riding for Tony Moniz's boardshorts label called Faith Boarding Company. I was going to bring the label back to SA, but at the last minute the guy who was going to partner with me and finance the operation decided to immigrate to Oz. So that kinda fell flat and I was then thinking of returning to the US to try get my visa to work and stay there. Oakley was one of my sponsors at the time, and they had heard about my plans. My mate Cuan was the marketing guy and he called to say that I must come for an interview to discuss getting involved with them launching Footwear and Apparel in the SA market. I had grown up around clothing as my mom had a clothing boutique and manufactured ladies clothing, so this seemed like a good direction for me. I ended up working for Oakley for over 4 years, as the Footwear and Apparel Brand Manager. It did mean the end of my competitive surfing, but I learnt plenty about the action sports industry and we did annual trips to conferences in awesome locations like California, Cancun Mexico, Barrier Reef Australia, Lake Tahoe Ski Resorts, Las Vegas etc. I then bailed to the UK for a year, and on my return picked up the Quiksilver/Roxy agency for the Eastern Cape from Greg Smith who was one of the Oakley agents. I have been in the agency business for 10 years now. I represent surf brands like Quiksilver, Roxy, DC, Volcom, ONeill and Fox, among other denim and footwear brands for the Eastern Cape and Garden Route areas. OK.... what's the story about the Dolce & Gabbana fashion shoot!? Craig Cuff and I got a call one day asking if we would like to earn some money modeling and surfing for an Italian fashion magazine called Joyce. We thought, for sure, we are used to being hodads anyways and would surf and make some cheesy poses for cash no probs! It was a killer hot summer and we were hanging around at Sards a lot. So we hooked up with these guys for a few days and traveled around the area wearing and surfing in some pretty groovy threads ....which ended up being D&G. Shot Ryan! Gotto say those green jeans were pretty funky!
There have been quite a few reports recently of guys cars getting broken into or tampered with whilst they're out surfing. Fence, Millers and Pipe seem to be the hot-spots at the moment. Etienne Potgieter, a Fence local, says he's noticed the last few times when he gets back from his surf it looks like someone's been fiddling with his surf-lock. No doubt hoping to strike the lucky combination that'll get them access to ET's keys...and hence his car. A coupla months back Amba's boyfriend, had his car stolen from the Pipe car park. That has to be a super-kak feeling to walk back to where you know you left your car - and all that's staring back at you is an empty parking spot! The lurkers have also been pretty active at Millers car park, with quite a few smash and grabs there over the last 4 months. Laptops, wallets, cell phones...whatever they could grab and run off with. Big Phil had his bakkie stolen from there a while back. The question is.....why should we have to worry about our vehicle's safety every time we hit the water? Durban seems to have it right. You can park your car safety anywhere in the North Beach, Durban Surf and New Pier parking lots. This area is patrolled by ‘The Guardian Angels’ who are a crew of well-known and organized car guards. These guys are so trusted that most local surfers would rather leave their keys with them than chance the old key-on-the-tyre trick. So what are the chances of trying to get something like this working in PE? There're a coupla challenges admittedly in replicating the Durban system. First and foremost is that our surf is fairly fickle - which means that the car parks at Pipe, Fence and Millers aren't going to be fill every day of the week. Durbs is blessed with warm water and pretty consistent surf, which means the guys are in the water most days - which makes it worth it for the car guards as they know they'll get good bucks there most days. Pipe has a pretty regular car guard. But there's some debate amongst Pipe surfers as to how on the ball he is, seeing as a car got stolen from the car park whilst he was there. Flip side of the coin is always if someone threatens to bust your leg if you bust them, well, who's to argue?
As a surfing community we really need to make the effort to find some decent car guards and get them to police the car parks regularly. That way the locals get to know and trust them, and they can earn some bucks by making sure the guys cars are safe. Everyone wins. Etienne has been to the Humewood police station to ask them to beef up their patrols along the beach front, but as a surfing community we also need to support our requests with some facts. It'd be a good start to know how many break-in's etc there've been at the car parks over the last 6 months. So if you've had anyone bugger around with your car, or know of someone else who's had a problem, then drop a comment to the blog post just saying which car park and what happened. That way we can at least get the police a bit of a list about recent incidents to support our request for increased patrols. Also, if anyone has some idea's as to how we can try get some regular trustworthy car guards at our surf spots - please leave a comment. I've been on the hunt for vintage shots of PE surfing, and Gavin Rother had a coupla beauts to add to our collection. Gav’s a born n bred PE surfer, as local as local gets! Decided to catch up with him.... What got you into getting some fibreglass under your feet for the first time? My younger brother, Tony, started it all. My folks got him a board, but it was more like an ironing board. We spent a day giving it a new coat of dark blue resin to make it look spiffy, but all we got was a board that weighed like 30 pounds, and resin coming out of our ears!! After that, we progressed to better boards and left the ding repairs to the pros! My first board was a Country Rhythm single fin pintail. Surfed it until it got deck lift. Any good memories as a lightie? I remember going to JBay when I was about 7 to watch Midget Farrelly surfing Point. He was World Champ at the time and it seemed like the whole of PE was there to check him out. Before I had my own car, I used to have to catch the bus from Newton Park to varsity (having to switch buses in town). As we drove past Denville the one day, I saw the surf was pumping! So I jumped off the bus, ran across the road, and caught two busses home. Grabbed my board and bussed all the way back to the beach for a surf! No classes that day! You were part of the UPE Surf Club – you guys must’ve had some kiff missions! Guessing that Seals was a regular stop-off? Ja, UPE Surf Club was legendary in those early days. Andrew Honey was a prime mover on that score. I think we got Cheron started too cos we ordered team baggies from her!! We made many missions to Seals for Club contests. UPE even sponsored the transport AND prizes for our comps. One weekend, it was blown out by easterlies so myself, Peter May and Dave Charters helped ourselves to the prizes – we had more than a case of beer each cos no-one else turned up. Of course, when we did have waves for a contest, we had like 30 guys sleeping in a hired house. SAU comps those days were epic as well, but I’d rather not go there!! That shot of your boet in a dry suit is a beaut – what’s the story behind that!? The drysuit – well, you get into it in the stomach area, and then tie a knot. You can blow yourself up to look like the Michelin man! Hectic. Difficult to surf in it though. I guess if you fart in it a lot, it also blows up like that. West Coast diamond divers used that trick to try stay warm! The board he’s got there is a Larry Levin – it was a great twin fin and was under my feet when I had the barrel of my life in the Transkei. I can still recall dropping into this 8 foot wall of water, almost falling as I did a top turn and then just getting pitted on it for about 30 seconds or more. Haha! That was the proverbial magic board. Wonder where it is now - hopefully surfboad heaven. You can tell it is early 80s – lumo was in. Diamond diver – means he musta had access to some restricted areas of virgin west coast….did he tell you about any gems hidden along that coastline? Tony was in the old SA Navy when the okes could still swim, and when he left, he went diamond diving on the West Coast. I don’t think he found many places to surf cos it is pretty difficult to explore the coast when you are sitting on the seabed holding a huge vacuum cleaner all day and night! I did make a trip up to Elands the one year, with Richard Rath and Peter Gilchrist. Well, we were royally skunked that trip. Not only was it about one foot for a week, but the wind blew the skin off our legs below the knees and we had to sleep in a sand dune – I think they said it was the camp site. Anyway, once we had no skin left, we raced from Elands to Mossel Bay in about four hours – Volksies doing the business again – and surfed Outer Pool. That night was the start of the Laingsburg floods and we ended up sleeping in the baths at the Point Caravan Park cos the rest of the place was flooded! We literally had to save our boards from being washed away. It was quite a trip. You wrote a classic piece for us a coupla years back about one of your Transkei trips. What got you amped to start making trips there? My first trip – when I got the barrel – was in 1981 I think. I went with Peter May, Peter Gilchrist and three other guys who had just started surfing. As you can see in the photos, Volksies were the mode of transport again. And believe me the roads were no better than they are today. All we had in those days were pencil drawn maps from Andrew Honey. His folks owned a trading store in the TK somewhere, and he’d explored the area together with another PE local, Jonty Hansford. No GPS or Garmins in those days. Lately, I have been going with Richard Rath, my son Andrew, and his friends (Brownie, Robbie, Spoen, Hubble and others) – you know, passing on the tradition. We have had some epic times away from the chicks, I mean crowds. No more camping though – we found our own country club house! With car guards. Is it still a pretty safe spot to go on a surf mission – both in, and out, of the water? Like I said, we now got car guards! But seriously, we just leave our valuables at the country club where it is safe with the kitchen engineers and leave our cars unlocked and windows open. Prevents unwanted broken glass, you see. There is nothing better than surfing with three or four of your best mates in cooking surf and then walking back along a deserted beach knowing the domestic help has made some lekka bread. Beats camping and being chased away by some Joburg prick who thinks he is the mayor of the tribal land. Actually the prick did us a favour cos now we stay in a country club and pee graffitti against his wall when we get back from surfing. Any close encounters? Luckily not really – only dolphins. Although I was riding a wave at Seals once when one of those other big fish swam under my board from the shore side!! Needless to say, I rode all the way to the beach and got out. Any other spots that you’ve stamped your passport for with a board under your arm? I did a fantastic trip to Madagascar with Peter May, Peter Gilchrist and Richard MacDonald in 2006. Flameballs is heavy especially if you don’t surf lefts a lot. JellyBabies is much softer but still a fun wave. We had a blast there – no electricity, no running water, great food and just a fantastic adventure. Want to go back for sure. Have also been to Bali for my 25th wedding anniversary. Wife Sharon had to carry my board all the way from the hotel to Club Med so I could surf. She is such a trooper! Surfed a spot called Sri Lankas – great fun in boardies in 28 deg water. You know what it’s like hey! Surfing is living. What’s still on the bucket list? Well, I would like to surf all the places in the world that start with M. Done Madagascar, but think of all the others. Morocco, Maldives, Ments, Mexico. Not to mention the surf spots that start with M. Plenty of surf out there. You’ve just got back from a stint in Saudi Arabia – I know PE’s flat, but eish – that place is worse! How’d you end up in the desert? I was getting bored sitting at home having taken early retirement from the NMBM in 2011. Don’t get me wrong – I surfed plenty as well! Anyway, got this call just before Christmas from my boet Tony who works for a diving company. They were looking for someone to join their Logistics team in Khobar. Its near Bahrain – which is like Sin City to the Saudis!! Three weeks later I’m on a plane. Spent 60 days there working 12 hours a day, seven days a week. Best part is getting paid in $$$$. Home now for six weeks to rest! I actually lost my tan in the desert. And it was cold. When I got there, it was 5 deg C!! But when I go back, it’s gonna be hitting 50 deg C! So what your plans going forward? Gonna mix up the desert trips with some well-earned PE lurks in between?
Going back to Saudi for two weeks then two weeks in the States. My daughter is graduating from Boston University and my sister-in-law is getting married so can’t miss that! But after that, I will be commuting between Saudi and PE (or somewhere else maybe nudge nudge wink wink) on a six weekly basis. My son, Andrew, is doing skippers course in Cape Town – maybe one day I can go crew on his yacht and have some epic sessions. I really enjoy surfing with him and his friends –it keeps me young. Jeez, I even did my first 360 recently because of them! I would like to surf like Kelly Slater when I am 41! That guy is a phenom. And lastly, I would like to say thanks to you, ML, for pushing us kids to improve our surfing. The exposure you give to surfing in PE is great. Keep up the good work! |
AuthorMillerslocal Archives
July 2021
|