The week that was...

© Robbie Irlam

JBay cooooked. PE? Not so much. Yrr - amazing what a difference an hour's drive can make. Some solid lines lit up the points west of here but somehow seemed to get swallowed up at Cape Recife. A few lines did sneak in to Rincon and Pipe, but nothing compared to the fireworks out west.

© Mark Fine

Thankfully no visits from the grey suits this week. Just the friendly variety​ doing their regular morning and arvo swim-by's through the bay. Be kinda cool to know where they come from and where they go to. Anyone know if they tag dolphins at all?

© Luc Hosten

Sad to read that there are plans for another sonar survey of the coast - this time between Plett and Cape St Francis, with the main area being off Tsitsikamma. Ou's looking for oil. Kak thing about the sonar is that for marine life it's the equivalent of someone letting off sticks of dynamite in your lounge every 10 minutes. For a week. Sound travels lank far underwater, and plenty of studies support the evidence that sonar really ain't good for marine life.

If you'd like to object to the study you can read all the deets here.
Or sign the petition here.

Schoenies photag Luc Hosten has a great eye for the unusual on his regular wanderings about the local beaches, and happened upon this lil story at Cape Recife during the week. Crab cruising along only to find a feather in it's path - and taking a detour around it. Cool for 2 reasons - firstly - it meant the wind wasn't blowing, and secondly led me to find a meaningful Zen proverb:
"​Obstacles do not block the path, they are the path"

Water temps dipped appreciably during the week, with a few particularly chillo days. Chilly for PE being 16C. Warm and toasty by Cape Town standards. Didn't seem to affect the usual awesome sunrises and sunsets.

© David Reed

© Paul Wright

© Heather Nel

© Warri Canepa - early morning surf check

An old shot of Hummies surfcaed, which led to some debate about when it was taken. Consensus seems to be in the 60's. All that was there was the Davis Tennis stadium, the Dolphin Dive Club and the Roadhouse - which went from being a caravan called Gibby's diner, then was the SugarBush and finally the Casbah.

Staying on the vintage theme - an original Miller's Local, Mike Mee, popped in for a surf for the first time in 30 years. Mike used to surf Millers back in the day, but left for New Zealand yonks back. He pulled into town for his 40th school reunion, and has luck would have it times it nicely with a swell. Grabbed a few nice one's at Millers and some bombs at JBay - despite being on a sketchy rental pop-out board nd a wettie full of holes.

Mike and Dave Collins pointing out a shot of them at Pipe back in the day up on the wall at Something Good.

Nothing beats a new stick, and Ross Flood managed to strike a double whammy by getting his new stick to coincide with good swell. He gave it a test drive out at JBay and was happy to report to Dennis from the Boardroom that it went like a bomb.

Still lots of the stinky red tide about. So sad how it's just become a fixture of the coastline these days. As yuk as it looks during the day it does turn on a  lightshow at night.

© Clive Wright

Not so pretty by day though © Robbie Irlam

Seals local Grant Beck left this week to start his new job in Indo. He'll be starting off in Bali for a bit of surf guide training, and then wing over to every goofy footers dream - Occy's Left (aka Nihiwatu) where he'll be the resident surf guide. Not a kak gig.

Marine photag Jean Tresfon was in PE last week and despite the crummy conditions for diving (too much swell out in the bay) he still managed to score some great shots. He reckons PE has some insane dive spots, the challenge being the unpredictability of the visibility - as water clarity can change here so quickly.

Charts don't look like anything special for the coming week, with the wind being funky north quite a bit. Which ain't so bad if you think outside the box.

© Robbie Irlam