The week that was...

Matthew Botha © Petronel Posthumus

Finally. A surf shot of PE. Which means at last there were a few lil waves about. Nothing flash, but worth getting wet for indeed. Not only did we get surf, the recent spate of muggings and break-in's seemed to have calmed down a bit - only one wallet stolen from a car at Pipe on the weekend.

But wait - what the skelm's did steal actually was Thurs/Fridays swell. The charts had looked promising, with a decent period and swell size. Everyone was frothing. Plans made to ditch work to catch something vaguely resembling a wave. Even the winds were gonna be good. Instead - this is all we got. Perfect 6 inch peelers. (admittedly the Seals & JBay crewed scored as usual)

We got this....

Whilst JBay got this... © At the Beach House

Despite the skelm's stealing the swell, one thing they can't steal is the sunsets. Which just keep on delivering week after week. Some things are just skollie-proof!

Feedback from the beachfront's super-jacked-up Councillor Dean Biddulph regarding the recent safety issues - he is really doing what he can through the channels available to try and address the current safety concerns along the beachfront. He points out that SAP policing is not under municipal control, so the municipality are working at strengthening the capacity of the new metro police. Dean met with MMC for Safety and Security for NMBM, John Best, during the week to discuss possible interventions. Lekker to know that Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality is onto this.

© Luc Hosten

Couple more shots of the waves this week. Cos hey, when we actually get some have to maximise the mileage! It is after all a surfing website, so have to show the odd surf shot as evidence we not the Vaal Dam. Winter can't come quick enough. 

CJ © Petronel Posthumus

​Hopefully the El Nino cycle is fading and we might get back to some decent winter waves. Over the past 2 years El Nino brought the rest of the world epic surf, but skunked us stuck down here at the bottom of Africa pretty bad. The complex weather patterns kept many of the big fronts offshore from Plett eastwards, whereas we want em klapping us not getting pushed back out to sea!

Swervin' Mervyn © Petronel Posthumus

In the latter part of the week it did feel a bit wintery, as water temps dropped to about 14C for a few days. Coupla ou's got caught out badly as was for all intents and purposes a lovely looking summers day to go have a paddle about in your boardies...right up until the point where you big toe actually touched the water line.

​Then you were screwed. Cos you can't look like a naff and bail out and walk back up the beach, but it meant you had to suck it up and try look chilled (literally and figuratively) whilst you sat out there wondering how long you had to be out there for appearance's sake before you could scramble back to the warm beach and deal with the hypothermia. 

Anyone who's surfed here knows 14C would be considered a warm day! Jordy © AntFox

The windless, swell-less days do have their advantages. Like letting lighties scramble safely about the rocks at Avo's without getting annihilated. Sweet looking lil bank out the back of the rock. Just need waves now.

© @mavsolutelyblog

Pretty gnarly fires out near Schoenies/Marine Drive area during the week meant wildside surf options weren't on the cards. The pomping wind made things hairy at times. But thankfully our town has some amazing firefighters, who yet again did a great job of containing things. And even had time to rescue a torti. 

© Luc Hosten

© Luc Hosten

Ex-PE local Carl Barnard is loving the perks of his job at the moment. The super yacht he crews on is currently parked off in a nice lil set of tropical islands, and he's scoring surf like this with just him and one or 2 other guys every morning and evening. Most ou's would work for free for that!

Carl thinking he'd much rather have a desk job. Not.

Sunsets always get most of the glory - for no other reason than it's just too damn early to get up to shoot sunrises, but Kevin made the effort and nailed a lekker shot at Pipe. Some early birds on the beach, but not in the water it seems.

© Kevin Askew

Some kiff vintage shots of Humewood and Kings Beach cropped up during the week. Thanks to Cat Anderson for posting. Remember back then Hobie beach wasn't an option yet, as was all miff and rocky before they built the pier, so Hummies was what Hobie is today in terms of the "go-to" possie for a day in the sun.

The crystal ball doesn't show anything terribly exciting from a groundswell perspective headed our way for the next 2 weeks. Remember that this is offshore swell, so any swell from a westerly sorta direction must be divided by at least 50-70% for what actually makes it round into our protected bay. South East swells come pretty much straight into the bay though.

Have a surf week. Have a safe week. Remember to still keep your eye's peeled for skollies, and don't leave stuff lying about in your cabbie to appeal to opportunistic impulse shoppers.