The week that was....

Badger boost © Gumby

Definitely a summer week. Bit of swell still hanging about on Monday, but things went downhill from there. Some beaut days, just not a lot of waves to go with the lekker weather and bath-tub water.

Hopefully every banked a few sessions, cos looking at the charts there isn't a hang of a lot coming the way of the bay for a while now, just whatever the east can whip up, or take some trips round the corner.

© Grant Beck

Bit of drama off Cape Recife on Thursday night. Wondered what was going on after the 100th siren screamed past. Turns out a cray boat had taken on water off Cape Recife and eventually sank. But thanks to some mighty fine work by all the rescue personnel - NSRI, SAAF with their choppers & Coastal Water Rescue, they managed to save all 25 crew in what was some pretty gnarly conditions - onshore and big swells. Respect!

© NSRI

© NSRI

Love a lekker cabbie, and what's better than a lekker board in a lekker cabbie? The ou's from the Dutchmann did a lil roadtrip from Jozi down to Durbs to collect their new stick from Safari Surf. They have a collab going with Spider Murphy - you can check it out here ​http://dutchmann.co.za/black.php

Did mention to the Dutchmann that he might end up with 2 shortboards pretty pronto if he drove around like that, or at least a kiff pressure ding on the deck - but he tuned all good at 40km/h but things got sketchy at 120!

Both the car (911T) and the board (retro twinnie) are beauts. Might just need some roofracks though....
(but hey, if you rocking a GP number plate you can get away with stuff like that!)

End of the competitive year so WSL Africa released the results of the local series, which saw JBay surfers doing really well. Dylan hooked a first in the Pro Junior Men, and Matt 5th; with Dylan, Matt and Remi getting 2nd, 3rd and 4th respectively in the Men's. Faye got a second in the Women's division, and Gina a 2nd in the Pro Junior Women. Good stuff!

© Louisa Lightfoot

Some more drama later in the week when I spotted some muppet diefing a groms bag off the beach at Millers and making a duck. Had just got back from a surf and was checking out the window to make sure it hadn't got any better in the 5 min's since I got out, and saw a dodgy dude standing on the dunes in the drizzle. I'd seen the lighties had left their bags below the wall at Millers, as they got in just as I was getting out. So knew he might be eye'ing them out. Next thing he walks back down the dune, behind a tree....and walks out wearing different clothes! Huh!? Gonna watch this ou...up to no good!

So he ambles back to Millers and stands about on the beach for about 20 min acting like nothings up, throwing stones into the sea etc. Finally a decent lil set came through, after which everyone was paddling back out with no eye's on the beach. Dude saw his gap and grabbed the bag and ran back over the dune. Did a quick check of the contents, skyfed the phone and bucks, and ran back to his tree - did another quick change job back into his original clothes, and then calmly walked off. All he needed was a phone box and he coulda been Superman....

The cops had actually just been doing a drive-through at Millers and had seen him grab the bag whilst they were on the deck at the car park. But when they walked down the boardwalk towards Hobie to investigate he'd already done his clothes change so he walked past them un-noticed.

Ran downstairs n over the road to tell him they'd just walked right past the ou, so luckily they managed to pick him up as he was walking back towards Pipe. Stuck him in the van and off to chookie hopefully. Grom got his stuff back, so was stoked.

Hopefully everyone  will now know what this dodgy dude looks like and can chase him away if you see him hanging about. He can buzz off from our beachfront and go be a scumbag somewhere else.

Best bet is to not leave anything on the beach these days. Unless you don't mind it going AWOL.

Good week for Bruce Irons - first he gets signed by RVCA, and then he scores the wildcard for Pipe. He's still a phenomenal surfer despite being off the radar for a while. Could make things interesting at Pipe for those with their eye's on the World Title. If Pipe's firing he could easily knock a few seeds out. So let's hope we see Second Reef peaking.

We might have pirates for car-guards (thanks to Merv kitting out Chris with full Jack Sparrow regalia), but looks like Aussie's go one better. Ex-PE local and now South Aussie local, Pottie, found this ou looking after his cabbie and seeming to be pretty insistent about getting a tip.

© Craig Potgieter

Ending off with some lekker pics from the week that was. Never forget we live in a beaut lil spot.

© Jason Brown

© Dean Cothill

© Tarryn-Leigh Fourie

© Deon Lategan