The week that was....

Yoh, flat as a damn lake all week. Doesn't seem to bother ex-local Brad Beck though - here he is getting shacked off his pip in his Maldives "office". Life's tough in Africa, but a darn side tougher in the Indian Ocean! The water's been really clear thanks to the total absence of surf. Meant Gary Loest could snap this lekker shot of another waveless day at Millers.

Tristan Torr was the stoked winner of the Scarfini skelli fins from Surf Centre in last weeks Halloween comp. Look like they match his board perfectly. Extra props to Tristan for also winning his school's Sportsman of the Year trophy. Pretty good week for the lightie!

The unique Sunset Surf Club Night Surfing Classic will be returning to the Pipe, Pollok Beach, Port Elizabeth for its 7th year on Friday 5th & Saturday 6th December once again as part of the Nelson Mandela Bay Summer Season. 

Entry fee is R80 per person per division: U/10 Boys & Girls; U/12 Boys & Girls; U/14 Boys & Girls; U/16 Boys & Girls; U/18 Boys & Girls; U/20 Boys & Girls; Open Men & Ladies; Masters; Veterans and Long Board divisions. Still waiting to hear if they're gonna accommodate the boogers too.

All entrants will receive a contest T-shirt. To enter email to sunsetsurfclub@gmail.com or fax to email: 086 600 5968 with your deets. Gonna be a rad event, so make a plan to participate.

The surfing world is fixated on toes at the moment. Not toes on the nose, but rather broken toes. Kelly Slaters to be exact. He got done in by the foam ball whilst surfing big Cloudbreak, it flipped the front of his board up, bending his toes backwards and snapping them in the process.

Here's hoping he can get em healed in time for the big Pipe showdown at the end of the year. Ou's reckon you don't really need toes to surf Pipe, just grab rail and hang on. Remember, in order for him to be crowned world champ, he has to win the 2014 Billabong Pipe Masters and Gabriel Medina doesn’t finish higher than 13th place, and Mick Fanning doesn’t get into the final.

Tall order. Even taller with some broken toes. 

It was 4 years ago last week that the world bid farewell to one of it's favourite surfers. Andy Irons was an incredible surfer, a crazy competitor and an all-round super cool guy. Such a pity to have lost him too early. Drugs are gnarly. 

The newly opened Beer Shack (right next door to Surf Centre) launched it's Car Park John Pale Ale this week in honour of local surf legend John Scheepers. It's so popular the first barrel was sold out within a few days. Make sure you pull in and order a pint of John! The bru's brew!
Check out a quick interview with the brewer Niall Cook about John's beer here.

The summer holidays are nearly here. Great chance to get your lighties out into the surf for the first time. Start 'em young and get em hooked early. Anyone recognise this lil mini-frother below? He grew up from a mini-frother into a grom-frother and still has to be one of the most enthusiastic lighties in the water. 

Just a note to all the dads teaching their kid's. Good idea to start them off at spots like Denvils or King's beach, outta the way of the main line-up's. And if you're going to be pushing 'em in to waves make sure you follow the normal line-up etiquette and don't launch em in front of other ou's who are already on the wave. As could end up with peeps getting boards in their pips or shins. Not lekker.

It's awesome that you're getting them up and riding, but don't teach 'em bad manner right from the start. So just as important as getting them up on their boards is explaining to them how the line-up works too.

Pretty classic week as far as surf fashion news goes. Olympic swimmer Chad le Clos launched his new surfwear range from Arena. And copped a fair bit of flak in the process. No denying he's a good looking ou who manages to pull off the hot pant look rather well, but the hiccup is the average Jo Soap who's gonna try rock these on the beach is gonna look scary as hell. And the concept of speedo's on a surfboard is just a plain no-no. Unless you're Big Dave of course! 

The video clip launching the range is worth a watch. Just shows what happens when the sketchy marketing peeps get hold of you! A bit of retro beach-boys music, some random on the beach frolicking, and the total absence of anything that vaguely resembles a wave. He looks like a lekker ou, but don't think his agent has done him any favours with this gig.

And that was the week. No surf. It ended as it begun. Just the water got colder (14C in SF on Sunday, brrrrrr). Seal Point Boardriders held their Expression Session at the beachie cos the point was so small. Hopefully this week delivers something from somewhere. 

© Clive Wright