The week that was...

© Petronel Posthumus

The summer doldrums continue, and the trend of small days repeated itself this week. Some lekker weather, but really not much in the way of waves. Coupla nice banks if you know where to look (both locally and down the drag) - but you gotto go find those yourselves, cos everyone hates a rent-a-crowd.

© Morne Cordon

It's the time of year to be busting out the logs, the retro sticks or the foam boards. Anything to make the mini-mee days a bit more fun. Else even grab a hand-plane and do some body-surfing - as then everything is overhead! It's all about perspective! 

© Marcus Ducker

Unfortunately another dead whale washed up on the wild side. Between Mangold's Pool and Willows. Probably a good idea to avoid surfing in the nearby area. The oil slick from the carcass attracts the finned friends as if it were the local McDonalds drive through.

© Luc Hosten

Some lucky peeps grabbed the chopper flips on offer from Mangolds Pool over the weekend. Coupla hundred bucks for a quick flip, but always cool to see the coast from a birds eye view. 

© Luc Hosten

The NMBS Closed was held at Seals over the weekend. Least some super fun waves out that way. The results of the comp will be announced at the NMBS AGM coming up at the end of the week. 

© Petronel Posthumus

The tail gate gang © Petronel Posthumus

Sanccob held a Moon Walk on Friday - with the chance to watch the sun set at Cape Recife and then the full moon rise. Sanccob will be offering a full array of events coming up over the holiday period so give their Facebook page a Like and keep track of whats happening. Penguin releases, rock pool explorations, all sorts.

© Luc Hosten

Full Moon Millers © Klaas Prinsloo

The big swathe of plankton continues to lurk about off our coastline, as evidenced by the green bits in the image below. Local surfer, and scientist for SAEON, gave me the link to a cool website which lets you check out live coverage of all the algae blooms along the coast. You can suss it out here:
https://eo.meraka.csir.co.za/hab/app/#

© LandWater

Local logger Alfonso Peters is currently competing in the World Longboard Champs in Taiwan - looks a lot like a good day at Pipe, so he should be right at home!

© WSL

Latest edition of the local EC surf mag, The Boardtalk, is out. Grab your copy at Surf Centre or Relic. First 100 copies you score a fee surf DVD and a voucher for a free block of wax. 

This weekend saw the first Surfboard Swap Meet held by Loggers Union, hosted by The Relic Store. The guys had a great turnout with guys bringing all sorts of boards to sell. Everyone made a bunch of new friends and the good vibes flowed. Many boards were left at the store to sell, so if you're looking for a good deal, pop down to Relic in Lower Valley Rd, Baakens Valley, and go take a look.

© Ryan Anderson

Even when there no waves it helps to do something surfing-related to help with the misery of no surf. So when Sunday dawned looking like the Vaal Dam it seemed the perfect time to apply my new RSPro Hexatraction. I'd added their cork front deck grip and some Hexatraction to my new eco-board. But now was the time for a full deck of the Hexatraction - cos when you have epic boardsprays like this from Stephen van der Watt, thenn you sure don't want to go putting grubby wax all over them! You can check out my full review of the RSPro Hexatraction here - this stuff really is flipping awesome.
www.millerslocal.co.za/blog/goodbye-wax-hello-hexatraction

Of course there were the obligatory "we're so lucky to live in Africa" sunrises and sunsets. They never fail to disappoint. Although the sunrises are starting to get a wee bit too early for mere mortals. But the advent of summer and the late setting sun means at least the guys get to grab a quick after-work surf these days. 

© Luc Hosten