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!
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! I ran this classic sequence of vintage Denvils recently. Solid 6ft freight train barrels! Which is kinda ironic given that today Denvil’s is the “learn-to-surf” beach! I caught up with Malcolm Turner - the surfer in those shots, to find out a bit more about how good Denvils got back then - as well as to hear some great tales from back in the day. Like him witnessing one of the first surfs ever at Supers, catching chickens at the Beach Hotel with fishing rods; and finding mysto spots along the coast. Let's start with that Denvil sequence though.... How come you used to surf there so much? In 1970 I was employed at the Oceanarium in charge of the dolphins. With lots of free time & being right on the spot, I was able to surf all the best days. Used to get perfect Fence and unbelievable body surfing at Humewood (no one rode boards there in those days). Denville had very little sand in those days and was a sort of semi point break. The take-off was outside the furthest rocks to the right and the wave would peel off towards the MacArthur wall. The day these shots were taken was one of the biggest and was holding up well in a strong offshore. Luckily one of the surfers was on hand to record it! The guy swimming out is Trevor Dalton one of my colleagues at the Oceanarium. You were one of the first PE surfing crew – what got you into it? When I started surfing in about 1966? (Could have been 65), there were quite a few surfers around, mainly associated with the two lifesaving clubs Kings Beach and Summerstrand. Guys rode polyurethane boards and some of the older lifesavers used canvas and wood surf skis. The surfers were split into 3 tribes; the Fence, Millers and Pollock guys, with Jeffrey’s being the neutral meeting ground. I was introduced to surfing by Durnford Paxton, a Summerstrand member so I gravitated towards the Pollock crowd. Durnfords Uncle Trevor Gelderblom was keen on surfing and used to take us to the beach when the wind was right. There were only about 4 surfers in our school at that time. I remember Andrew Austin bunking school when the surf was up and one day the vice principle went down to call him out of the water! The school teachers were not too keen on surfing as it was not a team sport. I soon got hooked on the sport and bought my first board from Trevor for R80.00, it was #22 Seal Point board, a magnificent 9ft 6in three stringer with a nose and tail block. You guys were amongst the first Saffa’s to surf Supers – take us through that story. The PE surfers were regular visitors to Jeffrey’s and most surfed at the Surfer's Point (what we know as Point today). When it got good the better guys would surf Tubes. We never saw anyone ride at Supers or the “Point” as we called it then. We simply knew that when the “Point” started breaking we could expect a set at Surfers Point soon afterwards. The first time we ever saw anyone on the wave was Easter Weekend 1969. Keith Paull, a travelling Australian surfer was visiting Jeffrey’s and he had the latest “short Board’, a 7ft 6in plastic machine. We had never seen one before, and when we saw him riding what we now know as Supers, we (all 5 of us) got out of the water and watched him riding from the sand dune. The swell was glassy and medium sized. A few days later a violent cold front came through and all the fishing boats had to seek shelter in the bay. Keith went out again, but this time the swells were a solid 12 ft. We sat in awe as he caught rides right through from Supers to almost the Point. Suddenly the Glomar Sirte drill ship came close into the “point” and proceeded to drop anchor, she was so close that we could hear the chains as she lay anchor. Two Australians jumped off the ship and paddled into the break and joined Keith! I remember that they had rugby jerseys on and were wearing tennis shoes for traction! When I saw that they were riding 9ft 6in boards I decided that if they could do it, so could I. The other guys didn’t want to go out, so I went out on my 9ft 6in Ron Board, and caught some amazing waves. The rides were so long that after each wave we got out at Surfers Point and walked back to Supers as it became known. In June I went to the Army and when I got out in June 1970, quite a few surfers were starting to surf there, though it remained fairly uncrowded for the next 3 or 4 years. Super’s used to be on a guy’s farm, right? The whole area from Kabeljaauws River to opposite Super tubes parking spot was a farm. The first gate was just past the Kabeljaauws houses and the other gate was opposite the Supers Car Park. Since the 1950,s the farmer had established a camping ground close to Surfers Point, and the area was popular with shell collectors. The whole part along the coast was thick indigenous bush, and when out in the water you could smell the bush and see the odd monkey or buck on the beach. The only human activity was the shell brick factory opposite “Impossibles” and the donkey cart which collected the shell grit off the beach. There were also the famous octopus catchers who plied their trade at low tide. My first trip to Jeffrey’s was in 1966, and I remember going through the gate with Durnford and his father in a bakkie and having to push the vehicle out of thick mud on a couple of occasions. When we got to Surfers Point we erected a huge bell tent and had the most fantastic 3 week holiday. Over the years we often camped there. I remember lots of PE locals who used to camp, such as Larry Levin, Gavin Rudolph, Mush Hyde, Buddha Horn, Jamie Cowie-Shaw, Dave Smith, Donald Bell, Hartland Wilson and others I can’t remember. When the surf was down we got up to all sorts of mischief. Apparently Gavin Rudolph was quite good at fishing for chickens back then? Suffice to say that the guys camping at Surfers Point were partial to grilled chicken every now and then, and a natural source of that delicacy was the “hok” behind the Beach Hotel. Some well-known surfers were adept at venturing out of a night and snaring them off their perches by means of a snare at the end of a fishing rod, if it was done properly the unfortunate bird did not have time to “squawk” but sometimes all hell broke loose and the staff were not impressed, resulting in an exciting dash to the beach in the dark!!. In the sixties Jeffrey’s consisted of two towns - Ferreira Town and Jeffrey’s, with a dirt road between them. One could hire horses from the farmer and ride into town. It was like a Wild West movie with the mayor sitting on his stoep in the main street and greeting us as we rode past. One day we galloped through town and were told to slow down. You’re pioneered a few other spots too. Tell us a bit about surfing Tofinho in Moz back in the 70’s. When in the army (State Presidents Guard 1969-1970) I made friends with the famous racing ace Kenny Gray. His folks had a house at Tofo Beach in Mozambique. We planned a trip up there and for four years I visited Tofo every June. I started surfing at the little point north of present day Tofinho which was a superb wave. In 1972 myself and the late Rob Berman took a trip up to Tofo in February, and while surfing at the point we saw the most amazing surf breaking in the next bay, which in those days was called “Goat Rock”. When I went out to surf it, locals from a nearby native village came down to watch us and judging from their incredulous reaction we were almost certainly the first guys to surf there. The wave breaks close to a shallow sandstone ledge and gets incredibly hollow. In those days there were no houses on the point and the only way was to walk from Tofo Point or travel along a thick sand track. On our return to PE Rob passed away from cerebral malaria, which he picked up in St. Lucia, where we had slept on the beach. Mozambique in February is not a good place to be, the heat was almost unbearable. There’s a shot of your classic old VW Kombi with a really short looking board on top, what was the story there? That Kombi was a real old dog, but it took me to Beira once. Local surfers were quick to follow international trends and when the short board revolution started we simply cut our boards down. We also started using leashes. The board on the roof had about 2 ft. shaved off; boards became ridiculously short and then went back to a more respectable size. It is interesting to note the leash made of plaited ski rope, if you look at many old boards from the 70,s you will see the scars where the rope cut into the tail of the board. Later on we used surgical cord which had a bit of stretch but on a big wipe out it normally snapped. Love the shot of your beach buggy overlooking the wild side at Seals. Were you doing some surf exploration? Surfing was only one of my interests, and when there was no surf I used to look for and explore wrecks. In those days there was no bridge over the river, and to get to Seal Point you had to take the Oyster Bay road from Humansdorp and turn off onto the long road on the north side of the Kromme River. This shot was taken on one of those flat days and the bay is the site of my favourite wreck HMS OSPREY about 3 km west of Seal Point light. You can see my rudimentary salvage gear crammed in the back of my Kart Kraft buggy. So you were into wreck diving. Anything interesting wrecked off our stretch of coast? There are lots of great wrecks along our coast; the most valuable were the tin wrecks such as the L, AGILE a little west of Klippen Point. I dived on many wrecks in the PE area and found many interesting artefacts, many of which I still have. There are over 300 wrecks between Cape St Francis and Blue water Bay. Diving along the Kouga coast was extremely difficult due to the endless surf that that stretch of coast gets pounded with. And find any secret spots whilst you were exploring the coast for wrecks? The very nature of wreck sites make them good surf spots, I saw lots of potential surf spots such as the beautiful left which breaks over the OSPREY. I saw an incredible left breaking on Bird Island, plus many others probably never ridden. I often put my boat in danger and nearly lost it on a number of occasions. The worst experience was on the wreck of the LYNGENFJORD at Huisklip (west of Oyster Bay), when a huge clean-up set nearly swamped my boat! My surfing experience definitely came in handy when anchoring over wreck sites! Still get into the water these days at all?
I try and surf most weekends, my favourite spot is upper Seal Point and in PE I like to go to Rincon. I enjoy Loch Ness in the winter when the berg wind blows. Currently riding a 7ft 8in board by Dennis Ellis. I also love body surfing when the water is warm; usually I go to Sards or Pollock. I don’t get all that many waves these days, but every now and then I get a good one and it’s a great feeling. Surfing has become very aggressive and egotistical, which is a contradiction to the true ethos of surfing - I'm more of a soul surfer! Just love to be out in the water! Ballies are just loving all these old pics we've been finding, mainly thanks to Jonty Hansford for the bulk of them. So decided to catch up with Jonty and ask him a few questions about that golden time in our surf history back in the 70's - when Fence cooked, so did Millers, Avo's had sand, JBay was all about camping in the bush, and Seals was a full-on mission to get to. Those were the days...mythical Fence cylinders, classic beefy shortboards, and wetsuits that looked like they'd rash you to death. Let’s start at the beginning – were you a born n bred PE local? No, born and schooled in Camps Bay, Cape Town. It was only after the Army in 1971 that I came to PE. What was the go-to spot back when you started surfing here? I think Fence was possibly the most popular break then, with Millars and Pipe also up there. And who were the local rippers at that time? The local rippers back in the early 70’s were Peers Pittard, Mush Hide and Gavin Rudolf. John Davies also displayed some fancy footwork and board control. Weapon of choice? Coming out of the Army saw me dispense with my solid, trusty, 9 foot 6, Seal Point board, in favour of a 7 foot 6, Clive Barber, and I think it was a fairly standard length for the time – they were all still single fins though. The popular tail was a rounded pin, and the noses were fairly broad. After the Clive Barber, and for many years thereafter I rode Larry Levin’s boards. For those with a good bank balance, there was the classis Whitmore and Safari. It looks like the wetsuits were, to put it lightly, rudimentary! Some even looked like dive suits! Coming from a childhood where your Cape Town winter wave kit consisted of a well inflated lilo, a good pair of Cressi flippers and a tight woolen jersey as a wetsuit, it was just paradise to play in the warm PE waves. I took a hammering here though in the winter months, so my dad got me a sleeveless Bodyglove vest with a zip up the front. Suits were big, thick and heavy, and I hated the way they restricted your movement. The popular suits at the time were Banzai spring suits, and Reef who began marketing a bigger range. What was the deal with leashes in those days…did you have them to start with…and then when they came in, where they pretty similar to what we’ve used to today? Leashes were a blessing and eliminated the slashed feet and constant rock-dance of previous years. If I recall correctly, leashes began in the early 70’s. They were ultra-basic. Picture this: Firstly, drill a hole at the back of your fin where it meets your board. Then take a stiff nylon cord of about 2m and thread it through the hole and tie a knot. Then take the other end, and make a slipknot for your ankle. I don’t recall how many fins I had ripped from my board as I plunged over the falls at solid 8 foot Supers. Gradually we got wiser and I remember Larry making streamlined fiberglass lugs near the tail of the board. We had also reinforced the cord, which then ran inside surgical rubber tubing. They were equally as destructive though, as a bad wipeout would cause the cord to wrap around the board and cut through the rail, sometimes right up to the stringer. Happy days! The absence of leashes to start with must have put certain spots we consider normal today outta bounds to you back then? In a way, yes. Millars was still surfed a lot though, and the lack of a leash forced you to surf in a fairly conservative style, and dive like crazy to catch your board in a wipeout. Spots like Avalanche were a no – no, especially with a new board. But I remember surfing there with a hammered old, cord-less stick, and not being particularly phased when the rocks began splintering it to pieces. Did you guys used to make the mission to Seals and Jbay? Musta been pretty different back then. Real undeveloped? Uncrowded too? Getting to Seals was a major undertaking. I had seen it featured in the classic 1966 movie, Endless Summer. Soon thereafter, I came on holiday with my folks to PE by car from Cape Town and I managed to twist my old man’s arm to take a detour down to Seals. The gravel road was a nightmare, passing through many flowing drifts, and corrugations so bad, that before we lost our entire undercarriage we had to turn back. It was 10 years later that I first got to surf there. Jbay was easier to get to, but still very underdeveloped with pockets of surfers from all corners of the world, camping in the bush. Saw a few shots of you in a camper van – was that the deal for outta town trips back in the day? I fell in love with Seals the first time I surfed there, and decided there and then that I needed a Kombi. It was the ideal vehicle for taming the lengthy gravel road, and like a tortoise, your bed was in the back. Many surfers had them, and in those days the Feds were pretty ineffectual so we camped on the point and only sneaked into the caravan park for the odd shower. The van served me well on many out of town trips to Cape Town, East London and the Transkei. How did the photography bug bite? Were you into it before starting to surf, or was it something that evolved from surfing? I think for me, the surfing and photography bug grew simultaneously. I was lucky to get a lecturing job in the Photography Department at the old Technikon where we had the darkrooms and materials to help me expand my creative side. To surf or to take photos? - it was always a difficult decision to make when the waves were cooking. Water photography was pretty unusual back then cos of the limitations of the equipment. Take us through your camera set-up and water-proof rig. Back in the mid 70’s my brother got me a waterproof, Nikonos, film camera. It had no lightmeter but was easy to use and very strong; it had a fixed, 35mm focal length lens, which captured a fairly wide angle of view. It took me a while to get used to this, as a lot of my earlier shots had the surfer too far away, and consequently too small in the frame. I then got a perspex water housing for my Canon F1 camera. This was magic. I also had a few lenses, so I could change the focal length, depending on what break I was shooting. Unlike today, zoom lenses were pretty rare and good ones, very expensive, so I stuck with the fixed focal lengths. After a year of having the housing, I was offered a good price for it and being a bit short of cash for an overseas trip I sold it. Thereafter the travel bug had bitten well and I was constantly saving all my spare cash for overseas travel. And no such thing as nipping off to the local Kodak shop to get your prints done…did you develop your own negatives? Yes, I processed and printed all my own black and white films. I shot very little colour negative film though, as the printing of those negs was a real mission, so most of my colour work was shot on slide (transparency) film. The technically superior Kodachromes had to be sent to Doornfontein for processing, and then after about 2 weeks you received the mounted slides in the mail. Collect any boards to the pip? Looked like you were pretty close to getting scalped in a few? Yes, there were a few very close shaves but generally I warned the guys that I was bobbing around in the line-up, and they had better keep an eye out for me. It looks like the photography bug bit properly – you ended up making a career outta it? Yes, after a fairly low achievement at school I took an immediate liking to the art and design environment, and by 1975 the Technikon offered me a lecturing post. The academic year was pleasantly interrupted with lengthy holidays, which suited my desire to surf. Any last words on the surf scene back in those golden years?
You know, possibly each surfing generation will view their era on the waves as the epitome of the art of surfing, and the ‘good old days’ will just repeat themselves. But even though I only arrived here at the age of 20, I sensed a tremendous camaraderie amongst the surfing community, and in no time, after surfing all the local breaks I got to recognize just about every surfer in town. There was a definite pecking order and the kids knew the consequences of a careless drop-in, so it very rarely happened. But they were keen to learn and loved to surf out of town. I remember heading off for a day at Seals with 10 up in my Kombi and at least half were kids. Now they are the senior generation and their kids are doing moves we hadn’t even dreamed about. But that’s the fun of the game. Thanks Jonty! And thanks for all those lekker pics! Wanna see more of Jonty's shots? Check out the Vintage section <here> It's like Christmas in February. After a long haul of trying to track down vintage PE surf shots, and managing to find a couple here and there, I got given the name of Jonty Hansford. A big-time Avo's & Fence local from back in the day. Turns out he got bit hard by the photography bug, and had a bunch of killer shots from PE & Seals from the 70's and 80's, including loads of water shots. Thanks to Jonty Millerslocal now has a kiff collection of vintage shots from all the local spots. Will be launching a Vintage page for each PE surf spot over the next coupla weeks. But here's some just to wet your appetite.... These are just a fraction of the epic shots Jonty has. In the process of revamping the Vintage section so that each PE surf spot has it's own page, as well as Seals and Jbay. As each spot is finished I'll pop the link up on the home page so you can go check it out.
Cool, we're unearthing some old PE ballies with all this retro talk lately. Wayne Goschen sent in some kiff old shots from the 80's. Wayne surfed for EP in the Longboard division whilst he studied at UPE, and was the first EP Longboarding Secretary when it was first started by Martin Haines and Steve McKetchnie in about 86/87. He was in the first EP Longboard Team that travelled up to the first SA Longboard Champs held in Durban in 1988. EP went on to win the next SA Champs in 1989. He's currently based in CT, but is hoping to find a post as an oceanographer back here in PE. Let's hope so - we need some surfers who have the credentials to be able to look after our coast. Wayne remembers Steve McKechnie used to shoot a bit back then, so does anyone know where he's got to these days? Last I heard he'd left the country? Used to have very entertaining sessions at Millers with him listening to all his weird n wonderful inventions....from neck rashie scarves to mobile climbing walls. Was never a dull moment with Steve! |
AuthorMillerslocal Archives
July 2021
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