The week that was...

© Ryan Anderson

Waves and lekker weather - smiles all round. On occasion the crowds could remove the smile from your dial, but otherwise all good. The whole of the Eastern Cape coastline had waves for days. You drove 40 min down the track and it was firing, add another 30 min and you were grinning from ear to ear. Sneaky wind shifts meant those in the know scored the not-so-secret-but-very-finicky right point with only 5 guys out.

© At the Beach

CJ at pipe © Petronel Posthumus Photography

The sunrise and sunset brigade were not disappointed either. Although sunrises trumped sunsets this week for sheer awesomeness factor. 

© Andrew Garai

Not only does local surfer and early riser Andrew Garai take lekker shots of the early mornings along the beachfront - turns out he is also a pretty good snake handler! Removing this puff adder for the guys at the Engen at the airport. Maybe we should employ his snake-handling skills in the line-up as well! Just the right guy to deal with the snakes who forget there's this thing called a line-up.

The Proteas were in town this week for the cricket test. They're staying on the beachfront so their bus can be seen going up and down each day. Both the Saffa's and the Aussies have been seen grabbing a swim at Hobie - but get their early if you wanna bump into them. 

The Max Wax comp winner Howard Briscoe popped into the Boardroom to collect his stash. He now has 5 blocks of the big sticky stuff so don't feel bad if you ask him to bum some wax for your stick. Don;t wanna be a bum? Grab your own at the Boardroom. 

© Mervyn Goddard

Fins are great for getting your board to go where you want it to go - but they ain't so great when they decide to have a nibble on your ankle. In the fin vs skin debate the fin always wins, as Pieter-Ben van Rhijn found out last week. But all stitched up and ready to go in record time. Can't keep a surfer out the water!

© Pieter-Ben van Rhijn

Local surfer and artist Ryan Allan has made a cool Penguin Aweh-ness sticker pack of the Penguin crew hitting the water. A portion of the sales from each pack will be donated to Sanccob at Cape Recife. Their work includes the rescue and rehab of our coastal birds, including this endangered penguin species. 
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Want to support their efforts by getting yourself a pack or two to paste up on your car and surfboard? Then head on over to Ryan's online store here. 
https://ryan-allan-illustration.shopstar.co.za/products/penguin-awehness-sticker-pack

Some hefty cyclone swell klapped Durbs last week - and there were barrels aplenty if you were up for it. Can't say we've seen to much of it, unless the south swell we had this week was coming off o fthat?

© ‎Gary Montague-Fryer‎

Anyone surfer who flies into PE always has their nose stuck to the window if landing when the west is blowing, cos you approach the airport via the sea - check out the right and you can see if Fence has a wave, out the left side to see what's going on at Hummies, Millers and Pipe. 

© Stuart White

All the early risers this week got rewarded - with both sunrises and waves. Often the best time fo the day to be down at the beach.

© Frans Gerber

As surfers we're programmed to see things differently. See a pic with a hint of the sea in the background and the first thing we look at is to see if there's surf. Hundred bucks says every surfer seeing the shot below looked at the waves first!

© Colin MacKenzie

Despite the crazy crowds clogging the line-ups locally, you can always find a wave to yourself if you don't mind a bit of travel time. Luke is probably one of the most shacked surfers in the Eastern Cape.

© Chris Scott

We have some of the best beaches in the country right on our doorstep. Sardinia Bay is only a 10 minute drive outta the city. Such a lekker possie for a walk or a swim (sometimes even a surf  - ask Jorg). Schoenies resident and photag Luc Hosten sometimes changes his stomping ground to a few k's down the coast and always comes up with a unique angle on this beautiful beach.

© Luc Hosten

Nazare in Portugal has been getting some monster surf. Check out this lucky escape for this ou who went over the falls on his jetski. Eina!!

​Mixed bag as far as surf goes this week - nothing flash but enough to get wet. And even a mediocre wave is better than no wave!