Arg, Look who's back! The fecking fish farm. Just when we thought it had been buried back in 2016 thanks to the overwhelming public outcry, they have raised their heads for Round 2. 

Algoa 1, the area just off Pipe is still on the agenda, albeit this time slightly smaller. But the fact that it is a kak concept remains. Why situate a fish farm just 2k's off of one of our main recreational beaches, and in full view of all the tourist beaches? Genius, really!?

The pre-application phase public meeting for the proposed project has just been announced:
Date: 6th March 2019
Time: 18:00 - 20:30
Venue: City Hall Auditorium in Port Elizabeth. Vuyisile Mini Square, Govan Mbeki Ave, Port Elizabeth Central, Port Elizabeth, 6001

The objective of the pre-application meeting is to provide an overview of the proposed project and to present the preliminary results of the environmental impact assessment. The commenting period will be opened at the public meeting and will be concluded on the 5th April 2019.

So..............................

It's really important that everyone objects again. We beat it once, we can beat it again. But you have to get involved. Being a bystander don't help nought. Pitch up for the meeting, and also please register as an Interested & Affected Party (I&AP) and that way you will be kept up to date with all the news in it's regard, and can submit an official objection as opposed to just ranting and raving on social media. Which might make you feel better, but doesn't actually count in the overall scheme of things. Got to be registered to have your objections acknowledged. 

To register: Email the consultants on info@anchorenvironmental.co.za

Tell 'em you would like to register as an Interested & Affected Party for the Algoa Bay Aquaculture Development Zone Project. Make sure you get a reply!

Get prepared for another fight to save our Bay! Cos it is worth saving!

Another scratchy summer's week. Travel a bit outta town and you were fine, but if you were trying to get wet at the town spots you would have been calling it a swim with your surfboard vs a surf. 

What was really impressive this week is that Lippie managed to get a clear pic of the surf with his phone. Normally it looks like someone has smeared vaseline over his lens. But he got it right for once. 

In the face of teeny waves, you could always just body board! The boogers always get to surf overhead waves, so if you can't beat 'em join 'em!

One of the advantages of having to head round the corner to search for surf is that even if there isn't much wave action the beaches out there are pretty stunning and worth hanging out on even if you don't get wet.

Although late a late Sunday arvo walk at Maitlands revealed some weird brown sudsy stuff in the water, and a whole bunch of dead marine life on the beach. Penguins, fish, all sorts. Michele de Vos snapped the shots. Not to sure if red tide, or what the yucky stuff was. Michelle said it didn't smell like red tide though. Nonetheless it seems to have killed a whole bunch of stuff. Eish.

Speaking of yucky stuff in the water, don;t forget to get yourselves registered as an Interested and Affected Party (I&AP) for the Fish Farm project. It's back on the cards again so everyone needs to sign up to make sure our protests are heard.
To register: Email the consultants on info@anchorenvironmental.co.za
Copy and paste the following into the message body:
I would like to register as an Interested & Affected Party for the Algoa Bay Aquaculture Development Zone Project. 
Gotto be signed up for your moans to count! Else you just moaning and it means nothing.

Surfing has to be the greatest gift you can give your kids. Keeps em off the phone and in the water. Always cool to see pop's teaching their lighties the ropes. Just remember though, besides teaching em to stand up, make sure you teach 'em the surf etiquette at the same time. If you get that wrong at the get-go it's a hard habit to change, and you'll have sneaky snaky lil groms thinking they can just paddle up the inside each time - until one of the ballies gives em a tongue lashing.

With the lack of waves the ou's were all making wildside missions over the weekend. Even CarPark John had to move carparks from the Pipe to Noordhoek for the day. Deno was spotted strategically hiding behind his board as he didn't want anyone to see the 6-pack he's been working on.

Summer is made for sundowners at sunset, and no better place to enjoy them than at Sards. All the sand on those dunes will eventually find it's way across the peninsula to the bay - once the municipality get it right to move the water treatment plant in Cape Recife and allow the natural dune fields to move unhindered. Sure would help the beach erosion issues we face - and improve the surf at the same time. All the bay's spots could sure help with some more sand, other than Fence. Pity we can't get a sand bypass system like they have in Aus. Turn Pipe into the SuperBank? Hmm, maybe not.

If you're in kak for losing your wedding ring/wedding band, Karin Anker might just save your a**. She found a guy's ring this weekend in the sand at Avo's. So if you lost one gimme a shout and I'll pass you on to Karin to see if it's yours.

​Not a whole bunch of swell on the charts, so dust off the skateboards to keep your glide going. And in the meantime just sit back and enjoy the lekker sunsets!

Or if you an early bird, the sunrises are pretty darn good too!

Definitely a summer's week as far as surf goes, with not a whole bunch of action in the bay. The usual howling east straight into howling west kinda gig. If you didn't mind a bit of a breeze then you were fine.

If you were really frothing to get wet then round the corner never fails to deliver provided you aren't all that fussy. If you paddle out at Noordhoek you at least know you're going to get plenty of exercise even if you don't get plenty of waves.

Usually the swell runs in cycles so at least one day of waves a week, but didn;t really happen this week. Even a drive out to JBay and Seals over the weekend would have cost you more in fuel money than what you would have had in waves.

If you needing your hit of surf froth and the waves aren't co-operating, then just pop down to the Boardroom for a visit. Nothing like the smell of fibreglass to perk you up, and you can check out the kiff old sticks hanging from the rafters. Plenty of history on dem walls.

Speaking of history. This old shot of Dave Lipschitz and Glen D'Arcy popped up this week. Some things never change. Surfers collected quivers back then just as much as we do the same today. Although these two guys were responsible for making their own! Shaping under the Faith and SeaFlight labels back in the day.

Matthew Botha was one of the lucky winners of an enlargement of his shot from the Pipe Shoot Out last year, and got his print from Katz this week. Poor Matt's been outta the water for quite a while after losing a battle with a chainsaw. Wishing him a speedy recovery.

Always something on at King's Beach over the weekend. Nippers were out this past weekend. The crumpled heap of crane still lying there in the background in the harbour. 

JBay artist and board spray master Stephen van der Watt doing his bit to keep the locals safe from sharks with this cool anti-shark spray, Not sure if it works, but it looks lekker anyway.

In between wind blasting left and right there are alsways the peachy days that throw out photo worthy sunsets. So even though you might not have got wet, you can still enjoy the sun setting over the ocean. 

Take some time to delve in the rock pools and you might even come across one of these amazing guys. Called a Heart Urchin. He isn't the type that attaches to rocks, but rather buries himself in the sand, but sometimes washes loose and does end up in the rock pools. This one was found at Schoenies.

Arg, Look who's back! The fecking fish farm. Just when we thought it had been buried back in 2016 thanks to the overwhelming outcry, they have raised their heads for Round 2. 

Algoa 1, the area just off Pipe is still on the agenda, albeit this time slightly smaller. But the fact that it is a kak concept remains. Why situate a fish farm just 2k's off of one of our main recreational beaches, and in full view of all the tourist beaches? 

It's really important that everyone objects again. We beat it once, we can beat it again. But you have to get involved. Being a bystander don't help nought. Please register as an Interested & Affected Party (I&AP) and that way you will be kept up to date with all the news in it's regard, and can submit an official objection.

To register: Email the consultants on info@anchorenvironmental.co.za

Copy and paste the following into the message body:
I would like to register as an Interested & Affected Party for the Algoa Bay Aquaculture Development Zone Project. 

Then, make sure you put on a delivery/read recipient if you can. And then make sure you actually get a reply from them to tell you you have been registered! I had to chase up my email to them twice before I actually got a response......

Will keep everyone up to date with developments, but at this stage it's a case of register so long, and public participation process looks to start in March some time. 

We have a beautiful beachfront, and to again have to think that they wanna ruin it by putting a fish farm in our bay is just beyond belief. 

Thankfully no-one has tried to build a sky-farm yet, so our sunsets and sunrises will remain in tact for the near future at least! Enjoy some shots from around the bay and out west from this past weekend,

Better late than never! Back from an extended stay in Indo - with a bust laptop. But am now back to my usual front yard of Millers instead of the above. Sure, it certainly ain't Indo, but home is home! And after a 6 week absence "The Week that was..." is back in action.

The usual yin yang week of summer. Flat, with a side order of some waves, and a very large main order of wind. Always a silver lining, so you know after enduring humping east that the wind will do a 180 degree faster than a schizophrenic soon enough and there'll be something to ride. Which is pretty much what happened mid-week. 

What the beasterly easterlies do besides make it impossible to see out your windows, is bring plenty of critters into shore. So lots of things washing up on the beach besides bluebottles. Also some lighties about, like baby oyster catchers. These furry lil bundles will panic if you approach them, so give em a wide berth if you spot them (and keep your dogs far away).

If you're gonna surf in summer there's a good chance you gonna get stung by the lil floating blue bubble of misery. Don;t let your mate in the car park con you that he has to piss on it to make it better. That old wives tale is just that - an old wives tale. 

Best bet is to run it under water as hot as you can bear - without compounding the sting by burning yourself! Heat denatures the protein of the sting. Make sure you try peel all the tentacles off. No hot water - vinegar is your next best option - so mission over to Something Good and grab a packet of slap chips with extra vinegar on the side.

Coupla storms over the course of the week. Common convention is that if there's lightening in the area you should get out the water - cos lightning regularly strikes the ocean, and since water conducts electricity, a nearby lightning strike could kill or injure you. But yah, ignoring all that Ashely snapped this great pic of a lightening bolt whilst out having a surf.

Over the weekend there were some funky cloud formations about, and at least we registered a few drops of rain. 

Weird sightings in the sky were matched by weird sightings on land. Local shaper Dennis Ellis doing his best spongebob impersonation. Turns out not only can the shaping guru make boards, he makes diving masks too.

PE peeps end up all over the show (given that PE isn't quite the centre of the universe and it's not too hard to get motivated to go explore elsewhere!) Andy Rother has just been scoring some surf in Tahiti, whilst surf couple Brad and Hannah decided to swap tropical waters for some chilly Canadian swell on their honeymoon.

Summer time means Sardinia Bay missions are always an option.  Sometimes you don't even need to drive that far - just around the corner is enough. Seek and ye shall find. Definitely worth seeking at the moment to try avoid the usual influx of Euro first years that decend on Pipe all keen to learn to surf. Thankfully a few of the Pipe locals have been politely explaining how the line-up works.

A few midweek waves at Pipe as well, Heather Nel got some shots - check em out in the Latest Shots gallery.

Managed to grab my first surf since being back and first thing anyone mentions is the "Big Day" at Millers - followed closely on the heels with "did anyone send some shots in!?"

Yes they did, so check out the Latest Shots gallery for pics from Petronel Posthumus, Howard Briscoe and Kody McGregor. 

Millers coooooooking - as Car Park John would say.

As much as I do hate missing out on a cooking front yard, my temporary front yard was cooking too, so wasn't too fussed.

Surf report looks like a bit of  a mixed bag this week. Certainly offers a chance to get wet but nothing super flash. Still, a paddle about on your board sure beats going to gym as an excuse for exercise.

That was my front yard for Dec/Jan, so many apologies for the extended absence. It wasn't actually intentional, but my laptop decided to die on Day 4 of our trip so I was stuck in the middle of remote Indonesia with only a phone, and wasn't able to keep the website updated.

​So here's a summary of what went down in the PE 'hood during the hols. For the most part it was flat. Like really flat. Like for a whole month flat.

Well, the bay at least. If you went around the corner things looked a bit better...

As usual for the Dec/Jan period there was plenty of wind, with PE living up to it's name of the Windy City. The kiters didn't mind! We actually only just just pip Cape Town to take out the Windy City claim - you can read more here:
​www.millerslocal.co.za/are-we-the-windy-city.html

In between the wind there were plenty of lekker days to just chill out on the beach. 

Or in the pool....

Or at the point....

Opening of the season went off with it's usual bang, with some kiff fireworks lighting up the beachfront on the 16th December.

Playland at King's Beach also added it's bit to light up the night sky. Possible to hook a quick ride on the Big Wheel after coming back from a late sesh at the Fence!

Plenty of wildlife about as usual. Always happy to have them cruise past you in water - but only after you've seen the second fin. Never lekker to just spot one. As normally if it's just one it ain't friendly!

It isn't a proper summer vacation unless you've leapt off the pillars. It's kinda like a rite of passage for PE lighties. The ballies would probably love to do it to, but just can't climb up the pillar...

Everyone did jump for joy when the big January swell pulled in. From zero to hero literally overnight. It pumped. Properly. Millers was off it's mielie.

So was JBay...

Water so warm you could trunk it.

You can check out Howard and Kody's shots from the Millers Madness here:
www.millerslocal.co.za/latest-shots/monday-mayhem
http://www.millerslocal.co.za/latest-shots/millers-going-mental
​

After a few days of killer surf it was back to the business of being flat again, and life in the bay returned to normal.

​Just the usual awesome sunrises and sunsets to remind why we live in Africa!

Back to my normal front yard now, and back in the land of wifi and laptops, so the page will be back to normal again. Thanks for your patience!

Great waves and good internet seem mutually exclusive. So the price I'm paying for solo sessions at a super fun right point means the internet is like dial-up modem days, when it actually works. Luckily the stars aligned and it's now onshore at the same time the internet finally decides to work like it should - meaning I can get a blog post out whilst not worrying about missing any waves!

The bay's been flat as a pan for ages now, but at least the dolphins are still doing their daily rounds. A pod pulled in to the surf at Jbay yesterday to check out all the Vaalies. And not to be outdone the PE pod aired a few waves.

Opening of the Season bought the usual mayhem to the beachfront. Lekker fireworks but a helluva mess left to contend with afterwards. The municipality not too sharp at the moment with getting the clean-ups done. Be super careful on the beach these days as plenty of broken glass and bottles just waiting to chow your foot.

Summer means lotsa onshore, and that brings all the sea critters and other bits n bobs in to shore. There is plenty of seaweed lurking about at Cape Recife at the moment. Definitely a good reason to go leash-free if you surfing Cobbles. Nothing slows you down quite like a ton of seaweed caught in your leash.

Christmas is just round the corner, and shopping is easy for the surfer in your life. Anything surf related will get a big smile. Pop past your local surfshop, Surf Centre, or your local shaper, the Boardroom, and grab a new or new-to-you stick. 

I highly recommend getting some RSPro Hexatraction as a Xmas pressie to yourself or the surfer in your life. This stuff rocks. Been riding it for a month now, plus a week here in the tropics, and it just kicks waxes ass flat out. Neat lil transparent bits of grip that you stick to your deck and let's you chuck away the wax. No melt on car seat issues, no stick to boardies issues, and no need to bum wax in the car park. Surf Centre has some in stock now, and if they sold out they can probably order it in quick as a flash. Chat to Gav or Chris at the shop. Cost is about a years worth of wax.

Congrats to Cape St Francis surfers Brad Beck and Hannah Bing for tying the knot. The couple who have been surf guiding round the world the past 5 years popped home to get hitched.

In the absence of surf in the bay just nip around the corner to see what's on offer. If nothing much is happening you can always do some rock pool exploring, as plenty of that on the wild side. Plus some kiff swimming gullies.

Coupla new world champs were crowned this past week. SA surfer Antony Smythe won the men's adaptive World Title and Gabe Median took out the WSL. It's Medina's second world title, and hos first Billabong Pipeline Masters win. Nice double whammy to land. Jordy Smith snagged his best ever finish at the Pipe Masters with a 3rd, and ended up the season in 5th spot.

In between all the world title race drama, King Kelly still managed to steal the show for a while with a fall-off-in-the-barrel-and-climb-back-on-board-and-exit-standing move that had everyone scratching their heads. Youtube it.

East Cape locals who did well on the WQS were JBay's Matt McGillivray (30th) and Dylan Lightfoot (98th). Both cracking the Top 100 for the year. 

Besides summer meaning no surf, it also means plenty of high pressure systems and the funky clouds that accompany them. Like these streaky bacon types spotted on the beachfront last week.

The locals turned up in force to welcome back JBay's Steven Sawyer from Taiwan after he won the World Longboard Champs. Other East Cape surfers at the event included St Francis's Crystal Hulett and PE's Alfonso Peters.

Not often we get celebs in PE, so when Steve-O from Jackass fame popped in for a few waves the locals were frothing to share the line up with this legend. One even asked him to kick him in the balls in true Jackass style, but Steve-O politely declined! Him and his mates had hired boards from Surf Centre, and Steve-O so dug the Rebel minimal he rented he ended up buying it. 

PE local Andy Rother has a neat gig working on a surf exploration yacht, and now finds himself in Tahiti with some sucky lil left barrels to play with. Fence training paying off.

And guess what's reared it's ugly head again. The Fish Farm!!! Making a comeback after a few years in the wilderness, the government yet again wants to try prove that fish farming in Algoa Bay is a good idea. Turns out that Algoa 1, the spot just off Pipe, is still on the cards, albeit a reduced size in the latest proposal. A new site just off of Coega has also been proposed.

So looks like we gonna have to kick up a fuss yet again to get the peeps at DAFF to realise that is just a super shit idea. Please go and register as an Interested and Affected Party (IAP) by emailing the ou's doing the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). That means they gotto officially keep you in the loop about all the public participation meetings and you can also register your disapproval of the whole shebang.

​You can read the new fish farm proposal here:
​https://anchorenvironmental.co.za/node/344

Here's what to do:
​Email: info@anchorenvironmental.co.za
Say: I want to register as an Interested and Affected Party for the SEA-BASED AQUACULTURE DEVELOPMENT ZONE ALGOA BAY, EASTERN CAPE (project 1808).

I object to the project on the following basis: write why you think it's a kak idea (saying "feck off" isn't construed as a meaningful objection, so try write something sensible in order to be taken seriously! So whether you think it's gonna look ugly, affect our water quality negatively, create pollution on our beaches, increase risk of shark attack, increase prevalence of red tide or whatever you don't like about it)

Note: add a read receipt to make sure they get it - I had to email twice before I got a response.

The success in getting the original Fish Farm proposal quashed was the mass participation of so many peeps in lodging their dismay at the idea. So same required this time. Luckily some on-the-ball readers spotted the new proposal and shot me an email about it. So let's get the objections rolling!

Public Participation meetings are scheduled for January so will give you a heads up once they are announced. Kinda looks like they were trying to sneak it all through at the end of the year when peeps on holiday in the hope that no-one will notice...but we did!

What's a week without a lekker sunset, and as usual these delivered!

​Wishing everyone a lekker Christmas and New Year and hoping you all score some waves! Not sure when gonna get online again, so apologies in advance for irregular updates to the website and blog.

Hawaii went off it's 'nana. PE? Not so much. Twiggy hooked some monster sets despite "only" ending up with a 5th. Watch the highlights. It's worth it.

In the trend of Saffa's going big this past week, JBay's Steven Sawyer won the Longboard World Champs in Taiwan. Proof that nice guys can win! And that #localislekker!

Coupla ou's who are more familiar with turning for a quick single than bottom turning rented some boards form Surf Centre this week. Faf du Plessis, Ryan McLaren, Chris Morris and Heino Kuhn were in town for the cricket during the week. I reckon there were more guys in the line-up at Pipe than there were watching the game unfortunately. Giants vs the Rocks? Back in the day St George's used to get packed out for the Benson & Hedges night games.

On the other hand, someone who knows a whole lot more about whipping tail than whipping the willow is Rickey Bassett. See anyone flying down the line at Seals and doing crazy stuff? Most likely Rickey. Worth taking a seat on the fence and watching the show.

If you spotted a fancy-ass looking cruise liner in the bay it was the MS Europa paying us a short visit. The German owned ship has been voted Best Cruise Ship in the World. 

Least they missed the usual howling east followed by howling west cycle that this time of year is known for. It does mean if you're watching the wind like a hawk and can time the wind switch perfectly you at least have a chance at snagging a few bowls before they're blown flat.

Hawaii also got pomped by the wind (the wind chop at the Jaws event was bigger than a good day at Pipe). The guys at the Van's World Cup at Sunset Beach have also been scoring some kegs, and JBay's Matt McGillivray is in the 4th round.

Skollie alert again. Last week a surfers car was diefed from Pipe car park. Nothing worse than coming back from your surf and staring at an empty parking bay. As usual the "car guards" where nowhere to be seen. Not too sure what options one has these days for trying to keep your cabbie safe whilst you getting a wave. Battery operated pythons on the dashboard maybe? 
Cos face it, you'd also cry buckets if your car got nicked.

SAVE YA TAIL!  A noteworthy head's up from shaping guru Dennis Ellis from The Boardroom SA. Deno pointed out that todays boards have leash plugs sitting much closer to the tail. Meaning most leash strings are now too long, and will thus chomp a hole through your tail if your board yanks too hard in a wipeout. Reason for this is the advent of future fins. The longer fin box meant that the leash plug was forced further back (cos both the fin box and leash plug extend quite far down into the deck of the board so can't be over each other). Fin placement is standardised so the leash plugs were just shifted back on all boards. So. Now you know! Save your tail and shorten that leash string up, and make sure the leash rail saver actually touches the rail - and isn't off the back!

The red tide is still pretty thick out towards JBay and St Francis, Whilst looking siff during the day it shows off at night. St Francis photag Clive Wright got a lekkerphotograph of a photographer taking a photograph of the bioluminescence in Cape St Francis Bay. Quite a light show.

For those lighties keen to take their surfing up a notch or two, there will be a high performance clinic at Seals during the hols. Chad du Toit (who has coached Jordy Smith amongst others) will be teaching the groms how to improve their technique and other tricks of the trade.

Always great to see old pics of the beachfront. First thing I always check for is if there was a wave - and in this case looked like Millers had a good one! Once the surf check is complete then one can suss out the rest of the shot. No Shark Rock pier yet. Taken some time in the 60's or 70's.

Not too much on the forecast this week. But pretty sure everyone should still be able to have a bit of a paddle. Luckily PE surfers have pretty realistic standards about what's gonna be on offer in the bay during the summer and adjust their expectations accordingly! Paddle out with the mind-set that you'll be stoked if you get a wave. Then be double as stoked when you get two!

Don't you hate it when your wax melts on your car seat? Or messes up your expensive boardies? Or looks like a glumpy dirty mess covering up your epic spray job? Or you're at some remote jungle spot and you've run out of Mrs Palmers and the closest to wax you're gonna find is a candle?

Thanks to the guys at RSPro, the problem is solved. Say goodbye to wax, hello Hexatraction.

After sitting for an hour in the boiling tropical sun cleaning surf wax out of the grooves in the non-skid deck of a yacht with a toothpick I was pretty much over wax in general. So that evening I sat googling to see if there was an alternative. And up popped RSPro. A Barcelona company who was making transparent deck traction. Boom! I was onto it!

My box of goodies arrived from Deon Bosman the South African RSPro rep, that included not only the Hexatraction but some cork front deck grip as well. Hexatraction are these awesome transparent grippy lil pads that you just glue onto your stick. And throw the wax away! They're super thin, but stick to your board like sh*t to a shoe. 

You just stick em on where you'd normally put your wax. I use a back deck grip so I stuck em on from just above that to about 2/3rds the way up my board. Took a bit less than a pack of the stickers (for a 6ft board).

It doesn't take too long to apply (depending on your level of OCD). I'm pretty finicky about stuff so it was a 30 minute process of carefully placing and gluing the pads down. Cos obviously the more care you take sticking em on the better they gonna stick! Air bubbles are your enemy! Using a spray bottle of water and getting some moisture on the deck also helps minimize the air issue.

Your board looks as good as new with em on - so if you want your stick to look just like the day you bought it, this is the way to go. I love bright board sprays and this is the perfect way to not obscure any of your board art with cruddy wax.

The feeling of the pads is like a fine grade sandpaper, just lightly rough. Giving you good grip without that "foot stuck" feeling. I surf with booties so feel like it gives me plenty of traction. Another Millers Local, Gavin Rother, has a full deck of Hexatraction, and he surfs without booties and says he has never slipped on it at all. So it certainly does the trick either way.

I've only surfed on it with a wetsuit so far, so not sure how it'll feel on bare skin from a paddling perspective, although the RSPro peeps say it's "non-aggressive" - meaning it shouldn't chomp up your chest. Off to Indo soon so gonna get to test that aspect out.

Now prior to this I'd thought front deck grip was for air guys like Ozzie Wright. My attempted airs were more like Noah the Ark than Noa Deane, so it had never entered my mind to try some - plus am not convinced about black front deck grip - just don't dig the aesthetics. But cork? Well, that looked flipping cool.

I'd just bought my brand new eco-board shaped by The Boardroom and glassed with hemp by Brendan Basset, and the natural cloth fabric was just the perfect canvas for the RSPro cork deck grip. Time to unleash my inner Noa. Or not really.

​It's a really rad grip - super duper skinny at only 1mm think, so a heap better than normal traction. Normal deck grip tends to be over-grippy and lock your feet up (and tear up your skin), whereas the cork almost feels like you're not even using grip. Your feet don't slip anywhere, but it's still easy to adjust foot placement without feeling like you're glued to the ground.

And of course cork is renewable, recyclable and energy efficient. It's the bark stripped from the cork tree and the trees can live more than 200 years. So - great grip and it's pretty darn eco-friendly too.

I'm so frothing on the hexatraction that I'm gonna be converting all my boards to it over time. 

So, should you buy it?

• sick of wax on your car seats (or your board sticking to your boardbag) - GET IT
• hate getting wax stuck to your lekker expensive boardies? - GET IT
• got a kiff top deck spray and don't wanna obscure it? - GET IT
• going to the tropics and don't wanna apply wax before every sesh?  - GET IT
• don't want to worry about whether you need warm, cool or cold water wax? - GET IT

When you consider how much wax costs these days (and factor in the bars that melt in your car or what the guys in the parking lot scam off you) then at R699 a pop for a box of the Hexatraction it actually isn't expensive at all. About the cost of 10 blocks of wax. Do the math. It makes sense to go Hexa.

The cork front deck grip is R899 a pop. Which isn't too much more expensive than traditional rubber front grips, which look iffy and chow you stukkend. 

It's awesome when surfers come up with a cool product that works, then make it locally and at top quality. None of this Made in China junk (One day good. Two day good. Three day no good!). This is made in Barcelona with love. By surfers for surfers. Am super stoked to be part of ​#teamRSPro. ​

Wanna grab some for yourself? - cos you silly not to! Tune the SA rep, Deon Bosman:
 ajretailers@gmail.com or on Facebook

​If you give the surfer in your life this for Christmas they gonna love ya!
​#saynotohankiesforxmas

​PS - got a white stick and wanna funk it up - you can get black Hexatraction too. 
PPS -they also do rail protectors for SUP and surfboards, grip tape for SUP/kayak/surfski paddles

The summer doldrums continue, and the trend of small days repeated itself this week. Some lekker weather, but really not much in the way of waves. Coupla nice banks if you know where to look (both locally and down the drag) - but you gotto go find those yourselves, cos everyone hates a rent-a-crowd.

It's the time of year to be busting out the logs, the retro sticks or the foam boards. Anything to make the mini-mee days a bit more fun. Else even grab a hand-plane and do some body-surfing - as then everything is overhead! It's all about perspective! 

Unfortunately another dead whale washed up on the wild side. Between Mangold's Pool and Willows. Probably a good idea to avoid surfing in the nearby area. The oil slick from the carcass attracts the finned friends as if it were the local McDonalds drive through.

Some lucky peeps grabbed the chopper flips on offer from Mangolds Pool over the weekend. Coupla hundred bucks for a quick flip, but always cool to see the coast from a birds eye view. 

The NMBS Closed was held at Seals over the weekend. Least some super fun waves out that way. The results of the comp will be announced at the NMBS AGM coming up at the end of the week. 

Sanccob held a Moon Walk on Friday - with the chance to watch the sun set at Cape Recife and then the full moon rise. Sanccob will be offering a full array of events coming up over the holiday period so give their Facebook page a Like and keep track of whats happening. Penguin releases, rock pool explorations, all sorts.

The big swathe of plankton continues to lurk about off our coastline, as evidenced by the green bits in the image below. Local surfer, and scientist for SAEON, gave me the link to a cool website which lets you check out live coverage of all the algae blooms along the coast. You can suss it out here:
https://eo.meraka.csir.co.za/hab/app/#

Local logger Alfonso Peters is currently competing in the World Longboard Champs in Taiwan - looks a lot like a good day at Pipe, so he should be right at home!

Latest edition of the local EC surf mag, The Boardtalk, is out. Grab your copy at Surf Centre or Relic. First 100 copies you score a fee surf DVD and a voucher for a free block of wax. 

This weekend saw the first Surfboard Swap Meet held by Loggers Union, hosted by The Relic Store. The guys had a great turnout with guys bringing all sorts of boards to sell. Everyone made a bunch of new friends and the good vibes flowed. Many boards were left at the store to sell, so if you're looking for a good deal, pop down to Relic in Lower Valley Rd, Baakens Valley, and go take a look.

Even when there no waves it helps to do something surfing-related to help with the misery of no surf. So when Sunday dawned looking like the Vaal Dam it seemed the perfect time to apply my new RSPro Hexatraction. I'd added their cork front deck grip and some Hexatraction to my new eco-board. But now was the time for a full deck of the Hexatraction - cos when you have epic boardsprays like this from Stephen van der Watt, thenn you sure don't want to go putting grubby wax all over them! You can check out my full review of the RSPro Hexatraction here - this stuff really is flipping awesome.
www.millerslocal.co.za/blog/goodbye-wax-hello-hexatraction

Of course there were the obligatory "we're so lucky to live in Africa" sunrises and sunsets. They never fail to disappoint. Although the sunrises are starting to get a wee bit too early for mere mortals. But the advent of summer and the late setting sun means at least the guys get to grab a quick after-work surf these days. 

Well at least there was big surf somewhere in the world this past week - it certainly wasn;t in PE, but Nazare in Portugal dished up the good for the WSL Big Wave event , and Saffa Twiggy Baker walked away with the win.

Back in the bay it was just another mediocre summers week, with a few lil bumps n lumps to have fun on. The bumps to the north of the bay seemed to be better. The secret to surviving summer is to have really low expectations!

The hiccup with summer being back is that the critters are back. A huge swathe of bioluminence was visible in the sat photo's off Wilderness this week, and may well be making it's way eastwards towards us. The plankton often appears in summer, and it's thought that all the ash from the devastating wildfires near George recently has fueled their bloom.

So keep your eye's peeled at beaches away from the city's bright lights, as you might be able to spot the cool blue glow in the waves.

Despite the lack of quality in the surf there were still the odd thumping shorey to clear the sinuses. That's the joys of the east wind swells, lotsa peaks all over the place. 

Small swell plagued the bay over the weekend, which saw the Something Good Classic have to change venues from Pipe over to the Wild Side. The shortboard division was held at Loch Ness and the loggers were out at Noordhoek. Full comp report, results and shots coming soon.

The flat sea conditions were perfect for the penguin release at Sanccob at Cape Recife though, the tuxedo-clad dudes were quite happy to make their way back out into the ocean after a period of R&R at the Sancobb "hotel". 

Summer time and east swells means Humewood is often the place to be. Just remember that the lifeguards can kick out the surfers at any time, so do play nice with them - and just smile if you end up with a malibu sharing the wave with you.

Also, if there are peeps swimming don't be a mullet and ride the wave right til it's death and end up right in among them - cos of course the lifeys are gonna boot the surfers out the water then. Use some commons sense and stay clear of the bathers, and then hopefully you still get to surf.

Super stoked to get my mitts on some RSPro Hexatraction.for my new eco-stick. Had wanted to go fully eco as possible as the board was made using a recycled blank, and glassed with hemp/flax, so it made sense to look at a waxless alternative. Got some cork front traction also from RSPro, and then applied the transparent grip stickers below and above that. They both work like a bomb. Full review coming up soon!

The Port Alfred surfing community said a sad goodbye to one of their favourite locals last week. The Kowie Boardriders Club held a paddle out in honour of long-time local surfer Jannie du Preez. RIP.

The crazy Christmas season is nearly on us - so if you looking for #localislekker gifts, last week I featured Igoti cushions and stools by local logger Margot Saunders, and this week how about some local art?

JBay artist Stephen van der Watt has some awesome pieces, and can do custom work as well. So give him a shout if you keen on brightening up your space - the perfect Christmas pressie! Anything from lighthouses to line-ups, skulls to sunsets, his range is diverse. And of course his surfboard sprays are next level too. Tune him via FB at ​www.facebook.com/stephen.vanderwatt or email ​Stevosprays@yahoo.com

To end off - just some lekker summer sunrises and sunsets. Can never get enough of the African sky. Not a helluva lot on the charts this week - so start spinning those skateboard wheels.