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Is your cabbie safe whilst you surf?

3/26/2013

 
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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.
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Your car WAS here....
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. 
Stuart link
3/25/2013 10:41:15 pm

i was so lucky one saturday arvi. i was the only guy out at pipe, all the ou's were watching rugby. Some guys pulled up in a white corolla and tried to force my door open. Big up to the lady living just at the flats by pipe, she mad a huge scene and the guys jumped in their car and ran off. I use of those surf locks but the guys are getting clever in breaking those open in CT now.

Phil Kolbe
3/26/2013 12:25:09 am

I have been broken into on three occasions and had my bakkie stolen once along with laptops, wallets licenses etc. at Millers car park.
When my vehicle was stolen, the keys were in a surfers lock, so I presume they broke it open. I am sick of this ongoing theft as are many other people. I am happy to put money toward a camera system or any alternative system which would work to keep the vehicles safe. If anyone has any ideas please let me know and we can discuss it.
Kind Regards
Phil

Agie
3/26/2013 10:42:33 pm

My bakkie got stolen at Pipe last year Feb. With all the goodies inside. What a mission it was to get hold of the pou pou 1st of all. Took about 30 minutes for the 1st van to arrive. Since then, i am very weary about what goes on and check the ous out. Why don't someone call a gathering meeting some time and let all the ous get together and meet each other and talk about this? you will get leka ideas and if the skelms see us doing something about it, they will be reluctant to try anything. Even a few signs and warnings like a "speed trap" will help a little. maybe some fund raising and sponsors will roll in and we can have safer and secure surf spots. I'm not saying go all vigilante on their asses, but if they see the seriousness of the community, they will think twice to hit the spots......

Enjoy and see you out there!
Agie

HUPPI za
3/27/2013 05:33:46 pm

I used to live in Summerseas, I caught a native on a bicycle with an empty back pack on, so I caved his face, They broke into my car when it was parked outside summersseas for 30 minutes, they got away, there were some gypsy scarras living in a Pipe car park diefing things, after I put the fear of god into them and got accused of being possessed by the devil, they moved on and were last seen in the BWB Parking lot, there is one homeless dude who walks down the beach, I had to almost send him to the next life oneday when there was no1 on the beach except my GF at the time, the crazy native sat right next to her about 5 metres away while she was napping on a big empty beach, so I got out the water and after I asked him what possed him he moved on, but he is a luker. I have seen an old school toyota corrola with caremel natives drive in and out the pipe parking lot on gale force oneshore days, they are def up to no good.

Here is my advice to whoever is left in PE, dont just be polite and think that everyone has a right to come hang at the beach, chase those scketchy useless lurkers away, when no1 is looking, issue them with some fear, so that they think twice about coming down the beach to Rip off some surfers.

Anyway you lot need to take responsibility for your home, just saying...

Peace

Jaryd
3/30/2013 04:50:33 am

Sucks to have to worry about your car when you surf. I've seen a car get stolen at pipe before without even knowing it was being stolen. The guy looked like he owned the car.

I rate the best thing to do is look around before you go for a surf for any dodgy activity etc.

Dave (the cap man)
4/1/2013 10:17:02 pm

I had my laptop stolen out of my boot at millers about a year ago. I saw 2 black dudes on the boardwalk, that looked like respectable students or something. I took my laptop and place it in the boot and got changed. Locked up and put my key into a surf lock. 20 minutes later I heard a car alarm and thought "shame man they are breaking into some poor surfers cabbie", needless to say it was mine. they broke the passenger side back window, pulled the seat catch (and pulled the seat forward), before grabbing the laptop and running away.
My advice is be very wary of anyone lurking around when you are changing into your wetty. especially those that walk past and look (innocently) into your boot or windows to see what they can steal. Make sure everything is out of sight, before you park at the surf spot. Be your brother's keeper while you are in the parking lot, just maybe someone will do the same for you one day when you need it.
Hassle the thieves, not the guys in the water.
Dave

amba holmes
4/9/2013 07:26:00 pm

my boyfriend came down for a weekend from vic bay, bakkie got stolen from pipe while we went for a snorkel and surf a few months ago. a group of 3 black guys apparently were the culprits.everything gone, not such a lekker thing to happen at your local spot.

Stuart Kemp link
4/9/2013 07:32:53 pm

Hey Guys, surfed pipe early on saturday morning in the NE, small 2 foot waves, got down to the beach, 2 guys strolling along the beach, they wacthed me like a hawk. They then seperated, one stayed on the beach, one went to the car park, i was in the water (Missed a killer set because i was watching them), saw the guy walk around my car, look in the dustbin, i paddled out, the guy watching me got such a fright. They then just walked around the car park, luckiliy the car guard arrived then they cleared off soooo quickly. We should do what the ou's do in cape town, they form a car guard community and everyone pays a bit each month for the car guards salary, the local surf stores participate and everything, the car guards are then managed by a club and monitored. It really works and creates jobs as well.

millerslocal
4/9/2013 11:55:55 pm

Sounds like a good idea - will try find out from the CT ou's how their set-up works.


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