Vintage King's Beach

King's was cool back in the day. It was the go-to beach in years gone by, Hobie wasn't even on the radar back then...mainly cos there was no pier yet and so bogger all sand!

Ysss, but KB was the spot. Fence was the premier wave back then, way more of a wedge than today due to a ton less sand. Broke consistently and barreled perfectly. But there was more to Kings than just the surf. It was the whole package. 

Where the new skatepark is today was a full-on kid's jol area, with massive splash pool (whose water temp varied based on the number of lighties packed into it - and pissing -  versus actual ambient temperature). Running around that was the famous Smartie Train. Every kid nagged their folks to death to ride that thing.

You could get melt-in-your-hand-and-drip-all-over-you soft serves from the cafe next door. Choc -99's were the hit. Add a coke-float or slush-puppy to that and you were cooking. Enough sugar pulsing through your veins so you could ride the lil blue wall ramp with your skateboard all day long. 

And if you were a main ou, then you could upgrade to the concrete half-pipe. Was a pretty anorexic ramp so you had to keep the turns tight. Enough skating for the day? Then head up the stairs to the big deck above the restaurant and suss out the action from there. Plenty of neon happening in those days so the cool kids were easy to spot. 

© Jean du Toit

© Jean du Toit

Families used to picnic on the grass between the pool and the beach, and could be safe in the knowledge that if you got up off your picnic blanket for 5 seconds it would still be there when you sat down again. Not like today.

Putt Putt was a big thing back then. Situated in pretty much the area where the upgraded car park now is next to the new skatepark, it was home to titanic battles and many a date night. The minute an ou had a putter in his hand it was serious stuff, cos guys don't like losing in front of their girls. It was apparently manly to win at putt-putt.

Serious attention was paid to picking a putter that was the right length, and time spent selecting a lekker ball. Whoever in the group could count to more than 10 got the kak task of scoring (which sometimes turned out to be advantageous, cos you could then cheat like hell). 

Massive self-restraint came into play on the 18th, which had a nice steep ramp which just begged for a ball to be moered at it and launched skywards. Many of which were. Much to the amusement of everyone other than the chick running the place. Yss, kids today dunno what they missed out on. Putt putt was a jol. Seriously.

As you got older you could upgrade from lurking with the minors at putt-putt to hanging with the majors at the regular Kings Beach lifesaving jols. They were legendary. Partly because there wasn't a helluva lot of other options at the time. Neon and kyf's were in. Guys rocked in their big padded Instinct jackets and Gotcha tracksuit pants. Chicks had big frizzy hair. Everyone drank Esprit. 

Yah, Kings Beach saw some action back in the hey-days of the 80's.

Now the only action it sees is dodgy drug dealers, muggers and thieves. Bummer.