The week that was...

© Gideon Brunsdon

Another quiet week on the surf-front. Coupla peaks if you went wildside hunting but the Bay didn't have much to offer at all.  Even on World Ocean's day on 8 June the sea steadfastly refused to cough up a decent wave. Few lumps 45 minutes drive down the N2 at the end of the week just to keep everyone sane.

© Robbie Irlam

© Mervyn Goddard

​Despite the lack of swell, we still have a lekker beachfront to enjoy and for that we're thankful. Kiff sandy beaches and clean water, all easily accessible. Not too many cities can claim to be that lucky.

© Herman Coetzee

The only hiccup is that it isn't too safe at the moment. Just this past week a coupla skelms robbed someone in Admiralty Drive and made a beeline for the beach in their escape. The community is gatvol of this sorta thing so peeps gave chase, and together with the help of some surfers at Pipe managed to apprehend and detain the suspects. 

Skelms are kooks, but it turns out that so is one of the big shots of the World Surf League. Chief Commercial Officer Beth Greves, 4th in command at WSL, was spotted heading down for a "surf" at the recent Kerama's comp with the fins in her board put in backwards. Yip - and these are the people managing our sport. Just saying....
(and to make matters worse she still had the swing tag on the board.)

From kooks to kings. We have some super talented loggers in the Eastern Cape - Crystal Hullet (St Francis) and Steve Sawyer (JBay) took top honours at the Tigers Milk Classic in Cape Town this past weekend. Class act those two.

Stoked with my new Hanalei Fins thanks to Lancelot Pearson, and ex-PE ou now based in Aus. Been riding these fins for over 4 years now and absolutely love them, so was beyond chuffed when Lance sent me some new Q2 flip tips that he hand painted. Can't wait to try em out. Just need waves.
These things are like nitrox for surfboards - tune Dust Surf in Cape Town if you wanna get your mitts on some.

Winter is now fully under way, and the glorious glow of the late arvo sunset always makes up for what we don't get in waves. Although sometimes one can be lucky and get a kiff sunset AND waves.

© Heather Nel

© Marcus Ducker

How do you know it's winter - besides the obvious temperature change? The aloes are a dead giveaway. Any surfer has a special affinity with aloes cos spotting them along the drive from PE to JBay means you know it's waves season. 

Schoenies doing it's JBay impression - just from an aloe perspective! © Luc Hosten

So how flat was it in the bay this week? This flat...

© Heather Nel

© Andrew Garai

But never let the fact that it's flat stop you from paddling out! A dedicated early morning Pipe crew are often out there no matter what, and truly embody the definition of the word "optimist"!

Cos if you don't go you never know...© Frans Gerber

Not too much on the charts for the coming week either until the weekend, and then it looks like the wind might not play ball. Eish, surfing isn't as simple as playing tennis. 

© Luc Hosten