The week that was...

© Clive Wright

You know it's yet another week of small swell when some of the guys reckon conditions are perfect to swim from the wildside round to Pipe. That's just what a small group of endurance swimmers did last week - getting in at Noordhoek, rounding Cape Recife, and swimming in at Pipe. A scary distance of nearly 12k's. Respect.

They did meet some interesting sea life en route, with a few quizzy sharks and a pod of dolphins saying hi. Support boats were with the swimmers the whole way so nothing that a quick "walk-on-water-jump-into-boat" couldn't solve if anything decided to get too close.

© Dirk Erasmus

The lack of surf is doing guys heads in. Including Richard von Wildemann who's taken to surfing his malibu....in a pink speedo! Scared some of the lighties at Millers for sure, and no doubt a few post-traumatic cerise budgie-smuggler nightmares tormented them that evening.

However, the pink speedo has a message. It's Rich's way of showing support for breast cancer awareness, so props for Rich for doing his bit to raise awareness to this serious cause. Wanna know more about how pimping with pink can help? Check out http://www.pinkdrive.co.za/

Gotto love how the pole did a bit of censorship work....

Things have been getting a bit smelly along the beachfront lately. Some seriously miff stuff has been coming out the stormwater drains - particularly up near the Avo's/Bird Rock area. That lil building just where the road from Millers car park joins the one going up to Avo's is actually a sewerage pump station. It seems as if yucky stuff from there is somehow ending up in the stormwater drain and spewing out onto the beach. The authorities are aware of the situation, and it is noted in the draft Coastal Management Plan that this is a problem that needs resolving. Guess it's lucky there haven;t been waves at Avo's for ages, cos would be tough to skip a firing sesh there thanks to dodgy water quality.

Talking about kak -  a lady longboarder was wrestled to the ground, punched in the jaw & robbed in the Long beach parking lot last week. The guy then sped away in a fancy black BMW sedan ... obviously crime pays? Seriously though - keep an eye out for your fellow surfers. 

Congrats to Matt McGillivray for taking the u18 title in the recent Junior International Shootout between SA & France held in Durbs recently. Conditions were pretty iffy and the French dominated proceedings, other than Matt doing his bit to fly the Saffa flag high. Shot bru!

© Pat Flanagan

Not often you see a board that looks good enough to eat, but Koffie's new stick fits the bill. JBay's Stephen van der Walt did a lekker job. Koffie's stoked cos it matches his TShirt. Hotdog board for hotdog summer waves, what's not to like.

The pro circus has invaded Snapper for the first event of the 2015 ASP - I mean WSL - event of the year. Is it just mean or does WSL just not roll off the tongue well? Could be an interesting year - can Medina make it 2 in a row or are there some other young pretenders to the throne looking to unseat him?

Let's hope Jordy - looking a bit discombobulated below - can step it up and make it his year. Bought time we had another Saffa world champ and his surfing is looking so good at the moment.

Whispers that the comp's could soon be pay-per-view. Already the video feed from the WSL events has moved over to someone called Neulion - who are the dudes who do pay-per-view for plenty of other yanky sports. No more being able to go check out the ASP aka WSL youtube channel - she be gone. You can still check out the comp highlights etc via the WSL event site, but the video player is no longer Youtube. Interesting times.

Local legend Mush Hide was spotted with his mutt Kokorot at Seals recently - appropriately positioned under a No Stopping sign - which pretty much describes Mush perfectly - never stop surfing, no matter how grey your hair might become. Keep the stoke alive. 

A side note on Kokorot - he was rescued from the dump site and was actually going to be called Muffin, but luckily it got saved from a life of embarrassment and ended up with the coolest dog name ever. Being called Cockroach is about as bad-ass as you can get in dog-world.

© Stan Blumberg

Speaking of ballies - all those surfers over 30 are encouraged to take part in the 4 upcoming EP Masters Trials. Management is serious about mounting a proper challenge to the title this year and would be stoked if ou's made the effort to come surf. Plans are to raise money towards the comp in Richards Bay to help team members out with costs. 

Fundraising has already begun with the sale of Pipe Crew stickers (go grab yours at Surf Centre or Warwick at Coffee's Up for just R20), as well as retro surf comp & a multi event beach day. Boardtalk’ Sean has also offered the guys fundraising opportunities, so please support the sale of these awesome local mags!

Trial dates are:
8 March (J-Bay) ,
18 April (Port Alfred –to be confirmed) (afternoon)
24th  (PE Roving)
31st May (J Bay)  

©Andre Clarke

Whilst we're vrekking from heat, in Nantucket it's downright nippy. So much so that last week some of the waves became over-sized slush puppies. Ice-cream headache anyone?

© Jonathan Nimefroh

Now here's a good answer to flat spells from hell - chuck your stick on top of your electric skateboard and off you go. Have been following Boosted Boards ever since I spotted them on Kickstarter a while ago. They're now in production with a long waiting list for orders - if you don't mind the hefty price tag. A snip at R10k. 

But it is the most awesome electric skateboard out there. Cruises at 40km/h, goes up impossibly steep hills, has a great braking system, and is made by ou's from MIT (which is the coolest techie varsity in the states). 

You've heard the saying "Life's tough in Africa". But am thinking "Life's even tougher in the Maldives". Brad Beck & Hannah Bing are still surf coaching in the tropics. Besides having the coolest jobs in the world, it also means you're well placed to hop across into Asia for a quick break when you get sick of sun, sand, surf & palm trees. The pair are off to Cambodia soon. Safe travels!

© Brad Beck

Long term forecasts aren't looking very exciting. Maybe something with decent period this Saturday, with some mid sized 15 second swell due. But it all depends on whether it actually arrives, and what the winds decide to do. Would be particularly crap luck if we get honking east on the only day some half-decent swell pulls through. Sense of humour failure....