The week that was....

© Kody McGregor

Coupla waves about, the harder you looked for them the better they were. Winter is still essentially in a slumber, so hopefully will cough out some decent swell before we head into the tail end of the year.

© Dave Lipschitz

PE surfers are always on the move, and finding waves wherever they at. Nic Flood scored some typhoon surf in Taiwan, and Josh Saunders is hooking some beauts in Indo.

The Nahoon locals had a bit of a heart stopping moment last week when a White the size of a kombi cruised up to them so say hi. Wave skier Bruce Viaene was out there with his surfer mate Aaron when a fin that dwarfed Aaron popped up right next to him. Bruce made the paddle back in right next to his mate, giving some paddleski protection to his prone pal. Respect the egg-beaters in the line-up - as you never know when you gonna have to jump on their boat to get your toes out the water!

From big sharks to big boats. This unusual visitor was spotted offshore. It's a ​semi submersible heavy lift vessel. 

© Chris Scott

PE beachfront lends itself to some lekker drone shots as we have lots of bits sticking out into the sea. The 6 pack at Humewood always looks kiff from above.

© Benita Page

An old pic of Humewood also showed up during the week. Taken from the bridge over the beach and looking back at the valley with Brookes Hill in the background Looks like they jolled back in the day, sign on the hut says "​Victorians Concert Party Nightly 8.15."

Despite all the celebrating that the fin fish farm location has been moved away from in front of Pollock Beach (the issue around them replacing it with a mussel/oyster farm remains), let's not get into the "outta sight outta mind" mindset. The site now identified for fin fish is right near Coega, and right next to the newly created Addo Elephant National Park Marine Protected Area (MPA) which officially came into effect last Thursday.

An MPA was an area of coastline or ocean specifically protected for the benefit of people and nature. Their primary purpose is to help manage part of the marine environment to rebuild fisheries populations, keep marine ecosystems working properly, and protect the range of species living there. So the decision to place a fin fish farm right next to it is a rather kak move.

So let's not drop the ball in terms of letting the fish farm slide off the agenda now that it isn't right on our beachfront. It still poses a big threat to our bays ecosystem bu being located right next to an MPA.

© Ane Oosthuizen

Coega harbour on the west edge of the MPA © Sanparks

Quite a lot of the older surfers in town have been struggling with back injuries lately. Getting older stiffens things up so use it or lose it - good idea to introduce some daily yoga or stretches into your routine to make sure you don;t end up with a miff back and having to stay out the water. If you can twist your neck like Nelson the Seagull here you all good!

© Robbie Irlam

JBay local, Emma Smith, probably thinks JBay water temps are pretty balmy now that she's surfing in the Arctic Circle. Plus it's always lekker to ride your horse to the beach! Lofoten in Norway is home to a committed surf community that don't seem to mind the freezing temperatures to get their salt water fix. 

The guys at WERK_  in the Baakens Valley have made some seriously #localislekker sunnies. The frames are made of old ironwood and teak parquet flooring from old buildings in P.E. Grab your pair of history before they sell out. R700 a pop.

More talented locals doing their thing - Pipe local Andre Clarke designed  a lekker T for the Saltwater Scumbag gang (a whatsapp group of surfers). Tune Chris at Surf Centre if you want to but a shirt.

JBay local Remi Peterson is looking for his brand new board which went AWOL just 2 days after he got it. Either went flying off the back of his cabbie or else someone nicked it whilst he was surf checking. Either way keep your eyes peeled for it please.

Not too much on the charts for the week, so keep looking a bit further afield than the bay if you're after something decent sized.

© Luc Hosten