The week that was.....

The week certainly went from hero to zero in a big way. Monday saw epic swell sweeping through PE and JBay. For once the wind gods smiled upon us and the good waves were groomed by light offshores instead of the usual pomping galeforce. Guys got properly thrashed at Jbay, but they got properly barreled off their pips too. You paid to play, but for those that scored it was worth the price.

Not many leftovers on Tuesday, and by Sunday it was flat as the proverbial lake. Summer surf is feast or famine. Here's some lines from early part of the week...

Go yah Beauty! © Shavonne Hill

Rincon running © Christo Zietsmann

Sunday lines stacked to the horizon © Deon Lategan

Parking at Pipe © Morne Cordon

I mentioned pay to play earlier. Roy Harley paid his Supers tax. Managed to collect a board to the face and got 2 lekker black eye's for his efforts. Had to wear shades for a coupla days so the ou's didn't think he'd been in a fight. Well, maybe it was a fight. Supers won by TKO.

Either the board broke you, or you broke the board. Like JBay's Shayne McGee, who managed to experience the full deluxe Super package. First he got drilled in the keyhole, then he snagged a bomb, and then he bust his board. The other half was found washed up on Maitlands beach. Pretty damn far way to float.

This bit washed up in Jbay

...and this bit at Maitlands

The big surf claimed other victims too, with 23 shipping containers getting tossed like peanuts off a cargo ship in the bay. Couple washed up at Woody Cape. Careful buying any appliances that say "scratch & dent" in the near future. Might open your "nearly new" fridge and have a few mullet fall out onto your feet.

Anyone who wants to learn how to judge, or wants to refresh, David Leverington and David Lipschitz will be holding a judging training course on the evening of Thurs 4th Dec (just before the first Eastern Province Longboard Assoc trials). Remember that you can get EP Colours for Judging (4 places) and 2 judges can get SA Colours. Drop Eastern Province Longboard Association a note via their Facebook page if you wanna attend, or get hold of Dave or Dave. Maybe you can get the best view in the house one day?!

If you've been having internet connectivity issues in Humewood or Summerstand lately it's cos John has just klapped the band-width stukkend. He hooked up to the web for for the first time with his new tablet on Monday, and by Tuesday the BeerShack's wifi was broken! The ballie has got the web-bug hard, and now suffers from separation anxiety if he's offline for more than a coupla hours. He already has a FB and Instagram account, and is getting the hang of this Gmail thing too. You can teach an old dog new tricks. 

Ebrahiem Abrahams psoted some classic back-in-the-day shots of the EP lighties. Who can you recognise? Happy to report that those that were short a few teeth back then have managed to get a full set by now!

John Fletcher found out this week that penguins go from being "Ain't he cute" to "the lil shit just bit me" really quick. No good deed goes unpunished as the saying goes. Not deterred John managed to get him in a box and off to Samrec. Samrec, located just inside Cape Recife, do some amazing work rehabilitating penguins and other seabirds and animals. They released a batch of house guests on Sunday, and the tuxedo-clad lil guys all swam off happily back out to sea.

Cool to take the kids along to the penguin releases, cos (a) you get to keep em entertained for a bit (b) you can check the surf in the reserve whilst you're there, and (c) all proceeds go to Samrec which the use towards rehab costs. Win, win, win.

Penguin 1 - John 0

Luc Hosten takes so many penguin pics they named a penguin Luc!

Outta here dudes! © Dave Leverington

Yssss bru, that's quite a bad zit on your forehead! Meet Selso the Seal. Originally rescued in Southbroom where he was close to starvation, the Durban Seaworld peeps fed him up real good. Six months later they popped him on the MSC Sinfonia. After the ship reached Port Elizabeth a few days later he was released over the edge of the continental shelf.

He was fitted with a satellite tag, allowing the guys to follow his behaviour over the next year - and see whether rehabilitated elephant seals survive after release and therefore whether the whole gedoente is a worthwhile exercise.

He swam home to the Antarctic, and lurked about there for the next 10 months. However, this week he was spotted lying on the beach at Cape Recife, seemingly unperturbed that he was getting sand-blasted! He'd begun his annual moult, and concerened that he could get disturbed by curious beachgoers he was taken to Bay World, and will be released once he's finished his moult. Wonder if he's gonna enjoy the thumping dance music from the big jol at the Tropical House this coming Saturday? 

Cape Town surfing family the Bing's have launched their own craft beer - aptly named Bing's Bru. Reckon you can't go far wrong by having some surfboards on your label. Maybe the BeerShack will get some??

The surf mighta done a duck fairly early on the week, but the good weather stayed around anf meant there were plenty peeps just cruising along the boardwalk. Including this ou. Who has a really styling set of wheels. Do bikes get any cooler than this? Turns out that one sacrifices fashion for function though. Peter Lawrence spotted him later pushing not pedaling up the hill to the airport!

Why take your dogs for a walk when you can take em for a paddle instead!? © GoSup

The SA team are over in China, on an island called Hainan. They surfing a spot called Riyue Bay. Looks like it was "pumping" Pipe style, with waves being a grovel-friendly 1ft. Lucky some of the team have surfed plenty comps at Pipe and will be only to familiar with conditions! 

China looking a lot like PE © Faye Zoetmulder

Eish, the red tide showed up again on Saturday. It had been spotted along the coast from Plett through to the Wildside for a few days before it made it's appearance in the bay. The water temp shot up late Friday arvo and it was enough for the plankton bloom to go bossies. Pretty gnarly water colour between Avo's and King's beach, but thankfully by Sunday morning it had moved off and was spotted past the dolosses, on the other side of the harbour.

Not a good sign that it's rearing it's head in November already. Last year it started mid-Jan and ran through to almost end of March. Looks like we might be in for a long, red summer? Hope not.....

Further evidence that fishing is nothing more than organised loafing! This old ballie was spotted at Avo's on Monday. Suffice to say the guys caught far more waves than he did fish. He did catch plenty rocks though. But at least he was out getting some fresh air and a few rays, good for him.