JBay continues with it's awesome run of swell. PE continues to get it's usual skunking in the bay. A few snuck through late Saturday arvo that at least got everyone wet before the rugby. Plenty ou's making the mission west to JBay. Some even did the PE-JBay-Seals mission, only to end up turning round and heading back to JBay. 3 hours drive for a 2 hour surf? Got the balance wrong guys! Big Dave managed to turn his quad into a thruster by smashing off a fin during the paddle out to the Point. Rule #1 - never paddle too early in the gully. Always a nice lil rock just waiting to nibble off your fins. He'll be bummed, cos his new "shortboard" (8ft10) has been going like a bomb - check the shot of him smashing a damn fine turn at Jbay last week. Doing the impossible at Impossibles. Reduce, reuse, recycle. That 8ft10 was reborn by splitting her down the middle and adding an extra 2 inches of foam to widen her up. Looks like it's worked. Some of the SF locals are still lurking in Nam. Mike Hill and crew were due to leave last week, but car issues forced them to stay. They managed to get their car fixed, but then got their camera gear nicked. Win some, lose some. But maybe a win in the end. The enforced stay means they might be lucky enough to score another swell on the way. Guys have been scoring some insane waves there, and clocking up serious tube time. Dale Staples' vid of his trip there is crazy good. Check the video box on the home page to watch it. Some scary facts starting to come out about the Fukushima disaster in Japan. It appears between 300-450 tons of contaminated water a day is leaking into the Pacific. Given that the Pacific is one big-ass ocean system it could see the radioactive water reaching as far afield as the Western seaboard of Canada and the USA. Glow-in-the-dark surfing coming soon? Probably not, but still not lekker that stuff's leaking out. Don't get caught out by the graphic doing the rounds at the moment supposedly showing the spread of the radioactive water - it's actually a NOAA infographic on how far the tsunami spread. But still, nasty stuff is leaking out, and it will enter the Pacific ocean & spread onwards from there. Eish. Something to consider in light of the proposed reactor at Thyspunt. And I'm pretty sure the Japs are a lot better at running these things than we are. So if a uber 1st world country like them can get it wrong, yoh - what does that mean for us? I'd be a bit more confident in our chances of success as long as we get some qualified peeps to run it - not our Eskom muppets. Let's not forget the incident a coupla years back when the ou's dropped a spanner into the Koeberg reactor, which put it offline for yonks. Tough call. Nuclear is cleaner than coal - until it goes pear-shaped, and then it does so spectacularly. Pity we can get enough power from wind farms, like those going up outside Jbay, as definitely take a wind turbine over coal or nuclear any day. Those turbines are flipping big - check above to see how lil the 3 ou's look standing at the axis of the blade. Don't forget to get your entries in to the Cobbles Classic coming up next month. Kiff retro event for single fins and old school moves. Great vibe and great prizes. Entry forms here.
Coupla random bits and pieces from the week. Good to see the whales are back in the bay at the moment. Chilling, bonking, having babies, who knows. But there sure are plenty of them. Lil dude pulled in just off the back of Millers on the weekend and did his best to act like a shark. Cruising about with his fin up. Had me fooled for a bit. Was about to reconsider my Millers solo sessions. How's this for a cool idea to colour up your stick. Check out Casey's kiff Retro Electro CYOH board below. Nice huh, rad design. Guess what. It's a sticker! Just email your high res image to the dudes at DPi Sign Industries (Barry Heasley's company) and they'll do the rest. So for a hundred bucks you get a lekker sticker to plak onto your board. If you're ordering a CYOH board, then Casey can sort it for you, else get hold of DPi on 203 Walmer Boulevard 041 581 5131 or email: info@dpi.co.za Don't foget you can demo the CYOH Surfboard Retro Electro and Big Foot models. Just tune Casey here. Just like when a taxi cuts you off and you go "where'd you get your license, muppet!?" the same could be said for this ou. Boat driver at Chopes the day after the comp goes to drop off a client in the surf. But instead of dropping him in the channel like normal, he reckons, nah, small day....I'll just drive right up to the line-up. The ocean teaches you a lesson for such disrespect. Promptly threw up a nice 6ft west peak that he had made it over by the skin of his teeth. And then went home to change his underwear. Brian Bielmann got the shot. Pretty calm under fire - cos that thing mighta been rocketing straight back at him in the foam ball if it didn't make it over! Weird board shapes are becoming more common, which is cool - cos must be kinda fun to ride something really different. Saw this guy out at Avo's during the week. Not too sure what you'd call this? Ironing board attacked by belt sander? Rode pretty good - he got some nice waves on it despite the chop. Wes was spotted doing some tow-in skating down the boardwalk at Millers. He's obviously in training, as had had a surf that morning at avo's too. Definite points earned by towing your lady. Nice one! Cool to see one of the original Millers locals back in the line-up after a long absence. I remember when I first started surfing Millers about 12 years ago, Wes and Nick were regular faces in the water. Wes went AWOL for many years - and turns out he went to the UK and became a para-bat in the British Army. Pretty damn cool. Jumping outta planes whilst ou's shoot at you! He's back here on holiday at the moment, and was out at Millers trying out his new Greg Smith stick he'd just collected. Looks good.
Dog's are known as man's best friend. And 2 local surfers are lucky enough to have them as dedicated surf buddies too. If you've surfed Millers at all both Shabu and Shaggy will be familiar sights to you. Shaggy, the cocker spaniel, comes to the beach most days with dad Ken - the resident paddle-skier at Millers. He tends to be a dog on a mission, so Ken has to plonk his special Shaggy Stick in the ground near the pipe, and loop his leash over it to make sure he doesn't head off to Pipe to pick up chicks. Shaggy then chills in the sun with his water bowl and bottle. Ou's used to get really confused to find Shaggy just sitting there attached to his stick - and would be looking up and down the beach wondering who'd left him there - so Ken realised it was best to leave a message on his stick. "Hi, I'm Shaggy, I'm happy to sit here while Kenny is stuffing around in the sea. "Trying" to surf or dive. There is more water in a bottle in my bag if my bowl is empty" Shabu is another Millers Local. He comes with dad Mark Gerharty, the classic old school longboarder. Shabu, a massive ridgeback, is a pretty scary looking beast when he first gallops up to you. Ou's walkinBut thankfully he is a super mellow surf dawg. He just waits patiently in the shallows until Mark catches a wave, then sprints down the reef after him! Mark always straightens out and comes in after each wave, and Shabu gleefully joins him in knee deep water for a bit of a head rub and pat. Stoked out mutt.
By Dennis Ellis - The Boardroom Surfboards hold a special place in the hearts of most of us. Surfing is our passion and due to the fact that we spend so much time on the bladdy things, most people grow quite fond of them. Al Merrick reckons they are more than just inanimate objects because they are handmade. So, we love them, and we want(or should want)to make them last as long as possible, hence you’ll be hearing from this crusty sea dog for the next little while about how to get the most life out of your fibreglass friend. Most boards these days start at around 3 and half to 5 and a half sheets, a fair chunk of change which you don’t want to be dishing out every couple of weeks. A polyester board with medium weight glass job should be lasting at least a year. 2 years is good, 3 is probably too long if it to still be a performance board. Remember, shapes are constantly evolving, so not only should you be getting a better board, but your surfing will not stagnate, which does happen after too many years on the same board. The jury is still out on epoxy lifespans, it’s generally double that of a polyester board, but some of the more expensive options out there can last many years. In terms of value, think of your board as a laptop or flat screen TV. Would you bounce your laptop down the stairs, leave it on the roof of your car for days, or let your 3 year old play horsie on it? Nope, so let’s look at protecting your investment as you do your others, which fortunately don’t have to make the hazardous trek to the beach in a hot car, dodge the bergies in the carpark and then the frothing okes and gnarly rocks in the water. It’s hazardous out there. Enemy number one though, is the heat. Leave the flatscreen baking in the sun all day? The same goes for your board. In summer as we know the temp in a car can reach 80 plus. This will destroy your baby like nothing else apart from snapping. On the car roof,not much better. In a boardbag? Still not good enough. Think laptop guys. Sure, epoxy boards are more heat sensitive, but even your polyester board will shrivel up like a Willards chip given enough heat. The air inside expands, escapes and you’re left with an empty shell.
By Blake Sorour "A three month working contract in Dubai left me and one of my mates daydreaming of the waves back home while we sat infront of our laptops building our travelling reserves. When we caught wind of the wave park somewhere in the UAE, the grom froth buried within us was immediately brought back to life and we had to check it out... That weekend we woke up early, navigated our way through the morning desert mist, and an hour and a half later we found ourselves standing at the base of the Jebel Hafeet mountain in Al Ain outside Wadi Adventure. After getting ridiculously lost (street signs must be taboo in Al Ain) we met up with a fellow Port Elizabethan who was already in the water as the swell had started to jack. Before the hydraulic pumps could refill to push through another wave, we had made our way out to the backline ready for the next set. That is the first time it sunk in - it is a surreal feeling to be floating in a concrete wave pool, at the base of a mountain, in the middle of the desert. Every time I chat to my mates there are usually three questions: Firstly what is the wave like, secondly what did it cost and thirdly how many guys are in the pool at once. What is the wave like - to be honest, the wave is no Supers or Elands, but considering it is a wave park I was super impressed. There are 6 different height settings (was at setting 5 in the video as there wasn't enough water in the pool to crank it to 6), the wave can be set to a right, left or centre peak which runs in both directions. They can also play with the timing of the hydraulic pumps to make the wave run all the way to the shore or close at the end section so you can try land your rodeo flips... What did it cost - taking that 1 AED is = 2.5 ZAR, entrance is R250 (100AED) and you can book the pool out for an hour for R1,500 (600AED), if you don't book the whole pool out for a private session, you can join an open session for an hour for R250 (100AED) How many guys are in the pool at once - well this purely depends on how cash flush you are as you could book it out for yourself, but the pool is limited to 6 people in the water in a session. After having surfed it I would say 2 to 3 (max) is optimum. I say this considering the time in between waves is 90 seconds as the pumps need to refill with water. All in all, I left that wave park super stoked and it was a really cool experience, but nothing beats good old mother nature." Check out Blake's schweet lil edit of their surf at Wadi. Yrrr, there were some blerrie big waves that unloaded on the reef at Teahupoo in the last coupla days. Like the type that'll smash you into lil itsy bitsy pieces of fish food if you get caught inside. The ou's are calling it bigger than the Code Red swell of a few years back. I dunno. But either way it was just bloody mental. Check it out... 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.... Some good waves this week. Put in a few 6-8 hour days. Sore ribs, bit of rash....all worth the effort. Thankfully no arc eye's yet - as brough my Oakley Water Jackets with. Takes a bit of getting used to surfing with shades on, and learning to live with a few water drops in your vision all the time, but more than happy not to burn the sh*te outta my eye's. Look like a lekker Vaalie kook with em on, but that's the price to pay! Surfed a rare left that only lights up in an unusual wind direction. Perfect peeling lefts down a long point. Jeesh, I so wish I didn't suck so bad on my backhand, cos you could get super long rides if you could pump a bit to make the odd section every 100m or so. Even being useless still got 100m rides. Nice flat reef too, so face plants went unpunished. Just us and 2 friendly locals. Wind switched up again, so back to our favourite spot. Perfect waves for 2 days. Head high to overhead sheet glass perfection. Most of the time just the 2 of us, with just 2 sessions with another 4 peeps. Surfed so much didn't have time to take any shots. Eish. Caught a few fish trolling between surf spots. Garth picked up a kiff grouper that weighed in at nearly 12kg's. Plenty of dog tuna, and a few red snapper. Freezer is full again. Yebo. Glad to know I'll never starve if my husband has a fishing rod handy! Waste is a huge problem on the islands, as there's no garbage collection - meaning the islands have to dispose of their own waste. Unfortunately this means a lot of it gets dumped in the sea (and then washed back up onto another island!), although some is burnt too. The locals on this island came up with an ingenious way to use all the plastic cola bottles. They cut em up, painted em, and pieced em together to build a fence for the pre-primary school. Reduce, reuse, recycle! Lekker! Missed the lunar eclipse cos was early hours of the morning, but snapped a shot of the moon rising instead. Moon phase plays an important part of surfing here, as tides often govern when you can surf a spot - or how much paddling you'll be doing. Many spots are just too dangerous on the low tide, unless the swells really big and you can surf further out on the reef. The tides create some serious currents in and out of the reef passes too, so you can find yourself paddling your meilie off and getting nowhere fast! You only have to try surfing on the wrong stage of the tide just once to learn that lesson! Think of the worst rip you've ever been caught in....and triple it! Last week here coming up. Charts are slow to start with, then pick up into some good looking surf. Just holding thumbs the winds play ball.....
Landed in the Maldives on Thursday. Nice to swap winter for 28C water and palm trees. Bit of pesky weird wind directions to start with, but more than happy to grab a few waves - albeit not perfect perfection quite yet. Hard to bemoan chilling on a boat with just the two of you and chugging between tropical islands. Did our usual hightail out of the crowded North Male surf zone. Nothing much appealing about having to share waves with frothing Brazzo's, crazed Israelis and clueless Euro's. Nup, much rather spend a few days on the boat heading out into the far quieter central atolls. My idea of the perfect surf trip is to surf with less people than I do at home. The weird winds have also seemed to scare the fish away, so at this stage it's fish 1, us 0. Despite a fresh new Shimano 30 just waiting for something to tug on it's line and pop it's cherry. I reckon we have enough fishing tackle with us to start a small fishing shop. I stopped counting at 40 rapala's and about 10 squid, and countless other small lures and jigs. Let's just say there isn't much space for clothes in the luggage bag... Gotto love the 21st century. Sitting in the middle of the Indian Ocean, and still managed to find an internet site broadcasting the Super 15 rugby. Settled in to watch the Kings vs Bulls game...and then promptly wished we hadn't found the website! Gored by the Bulls. Eish. We always travel on the same boat, and have become good mates with the crew over the years. This year we decided to get them into the water a bit to share in the stoke that is surfing. Popped a new bodyboard into the boardbag, and brought it over for them. Waited til it got fairly small this arvo to get them out on it. No good trying to drown the captain or the chef at the start of the trip! They had a blast, and are now fully fledged surf rats. Tomorrow we head off to a seldom surfed spot that requires a pretty rare set of wind/swell combinations to light up, and it looks like we might just be in some luck. Only challenge is it's a left, and I have a pretty horrendous backhand thanks to surfing right points all my life. It's known to throw up some picture perfect barrels on it's day....so not only will I be going the wrong way, I have a sneaking feeling I might have to avoid face-planting into the reef on my barrel avoidance maneuvers. Pig-dog into eat-shit in quick succession! Let's wait and see....
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. |
AuthorMillerslocal Archives
July 2021
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