The week that was....

Back to earth with a bump. Got home after 2 months in Indo to a pretty flat and cold PE. Hard to adjust to wetties and pap waves after being so spoilt. Nothing beats being able to surf in boardies, that's for sure.

Not much in the way of waves other than a lil squirt at the end of the week, with the charts seeming to be a bit wonky at the moment. Midweek had been forecast to show some decent 14-15 second swell, but it didn't arrive. Heard that happened a coupla times over the holidays - charts looking good but then not delivering. I'd rather have them under-call and over-deliver than the other way around!

Water temps had dropped appreciably compared to previous weeks, and Grant Beck found the best way to cope with the chilly surf was just to stay out the water completely. Nice shot by Clive Wright.

Not many waves, but plenty of sea-life. Apparently there were quite a few lil finned friends lurking about Fence later in the week. Just baby hammerheads, but still a good idea to keep your toes up nonetheless. They couldn't do much more than nibble your toe if you went and stuck it in their mouths, but it would still be a kak idea to try.

Later in the week saw a horde of bluebottles invade the city beaches and plenty peeps got a sting or two. Bit of red tide also wandered round the corner from the wildside, which has had some pretty thick patches lately.

Luckily nothing seems to affect our resident pod of dolphins who were cruising close to shore all week. Had them swim all around us the one day, with even a few going right under my board. Could reached down and given em a head scratch! Wes Wiehahn got a great shot with his GoPro at Pipe.

© Wesley Wiehan

Dave Lippie had an altercation with a nail on the steps at the Pipe boardwalk and ended up with a few stitches for his troubles. It happened whilst he was walking down the stairs to the beach for his surf. Being a tough 'ol ballie he just got Luqmaam to bandage it up, went for his surf, and then just went to the doc afterwards. 

Heard it from a reliable source that there is money in the budget this year to replace the Pipe deck area with a proper timber structure. Too much bitching and moaning about how dangerous it is at the moment might just get it removed immediately and then we stuck with niks til the new one gets done. So just be patient and watch your step til it gets it's revamp. Better something than nothing?

The Pipe crew have had lotsa time on their hands thanks to not much surf, and have come up with some lekker stickers. Andre Clarke came up with some kiff designs.  It's to raise funds for the EP Masters going to Richards Bay in August. There are 5 sets of 40 stickers available. Merv needs 5 companies or people to sponsor each logo @R340 /40. Stickers will be sold at 20 bucks each and you can hook from Coffee's Up or Surf Centre. Tune Mervyn Goddard if you'd like to help sponsor production.
mervyn@idealvalves.co.za

The SA Junior Surf team was announced and it's great to see that 3 of the JBay lighties are in it - Matt McGillivray, Joshe Faulkner and Sebastian Williams will be representing the province in the national team. SF's Crystal Hullet and JBay's Zoe Smith are non-travelling reserves. Well done to all of you!

When Sandy Coffey took over as President of EP Longboarding, one of her objectives was to get more ladies into the water. So on Sunday EP Longboarding the first "Ladies Learn to Longboard" series took place at Denvils. Cool to see all the brave ladies in the sea and on boards - many of them, for their first time. Marelize Dalton started off the session by teaching some stretching and core exercises, then Dave Lippie demonstrated the basics of how to get up and then everyone hit the water. 

Dave was joined by Kia Fenton, Mia Baard, Gregg Clarke, Roland Bekker, Johnny Bakker - who formed a team of instructors who made things less scary and provided ample encouragement! Thanks to David Lipschitz and Surf Centre Humewood for the loan of the boards and suits, to Marilize, and to Red Bull for giving us wings. (pics by Sandy Coffey)

The Greenpeace ship – the Rainbow Warrior – will be on South African shores in February to highlight solutions to South Africa’s current electricity crisis. Greenpeace is keen to raise awareness that nuclear energy is dead and the government should embrace renewable energy. It'll be docking in PE on Sunday 22 February 2015 (10am - 3pm) and entrance is free. Hopefully she'll also go anchor out at the Bell Bouy for a while as a protest against the proposed fish farm nearby!

The renovations to the boardwalk's retaining wall between Denvil and Humewood has finally been completed. Looking lekker - well done Emile and Donovan. And good to know that the sewerage pipes that lie right behind these are no longer in danger of busting through. Just before the work took place there was a good chance that we could have ended up with some seriously smelly water in the surf. Wouldn't have done Humewood's Blue Flag status any good. 

© Afri-Coast Engineers

Ever wondered how Clark Little, the legend shorepound photag, gets his shots. By the looks of this it entails getting plenty of sand in plenty of places. Respect!