The week that was….. – Featured Blog

The week started off with a bang. Really good waves on Monday, out west was cranking and even the bay had some decent one’s. Warm water, light winds, could be worse ways to spend the day. Round the corner had some solid stuff as well.

Surf frothness does have it’s downsides though. Amy Van Niekerk  bolted down to the beach after work for a surf, and in her eagerness to get out there before the sun set, didn’t pay quite the close attention required when positioning her board in the carpark next to her car – cos a mullet managed to drive over it and turn her thruster into a side single fin. Eina!! 

Pretty awesome sunset on Monday evening thanks to a fire out near Walker Drive billowing some smoke into the sky. The sun was sinking behind it, turning it into a glowing fireball and throwing out some incredible light onto the dusk wave faces. One of those times you wish you had a pair of Google Glasses on to take some snaps.

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From flames to furnace. Billabong have just released their new winter wetsuits, which include the Billabong Furnace Carbon Pro. Besides being lank warm and stretchy, they are also sporting a new zipperless chest closure system.

Richard Arderne sent me a classic old shot of himself as a gremmie at Millers back in the 60’s. Gotto love the interesting board shape, homemade leash complete with hankie for a leash cuff, and the ill-fitting wettie. To say surf equipment has improved exponentially over the last 50 years would be an understatement…

Seabass took the win at Margaret River last week, in some solid surf. He beat Julian Wilson in the final to claim his maiden WSL win. One happy chappy. It also means the leader board for the WSL looks very different to previous years – the only “usual suspect” there is Parko at 5. Topping it is Wilko, then Seabass, Italo, Brother then Parko.

​The next 5 surfers to crack an invite to the JBU Supertrial presented by RVCA have been announced. Ricky Basnett, Matthew John McGillivray, Dylan Lightfoot, Davey van Zyl and Shaun Holmes will be among those having a stab at hooking a slot into the JBay Open. Good to see the locals getting some slots. Hopefully the organisers give PE’s Dylan Stone a slot too, cos he’s pretty damn good out there.

Grab the latest copy of Boardtalk from a store near you. Warwick at Coffee’s Up also has in stock. It’s packed with R150 of free vouchers, and plenty of local surf action and news.

Super stoked to finally have got round to buying a piece of art from JBay’s Stephen van der Walt (aka Stevo). His lil gallery in the Core Surf Shop is packed with a selection of brightly coloured modern wavescapes. Now just gotto suss out my picture-hanging skills…..

Start em young. Bruce Iron’s lil guy already looks to have the grab rail game of daddy down pat. Just 4 years old, can’t even swim yet, but looking confident as anything on that board.

Stanley Badger is doing some board magic these days, turning beaten up, yellowed out old sticks into gleaming new (almost) freshies. If you have some old sleds in need of some love, Stan’s your man.

Millers local Brett Hoppe found a cool bottle of Vino whilst on a Cape Town mission last week. Turns out not only is it a sweet right point, it’s also a tasty Merlot. Made by Kleine Parys Vineyards world renowned winemaker Kosie Möller, it has spicy, smoky aromas with gentle well-integrated tannins on the palate and a soft delicate finish. You wonder who the ou’s are that sit in a dark lil room somewhere and come up with all the kak they write on the back of wine bottles….

Calling all skateboarders – make a plan to hitch a lift up to Cape Town for the Element Make it Count event. Cos who wouldn’t want to stand a chance of winning a skate trip to Barcelona!!

Staying on the subject of cool events, Sunday sees a mass pop-up instameet taking place. The ‘Colour the City’ event is a creative instameet where people can come together, socialize and explore the city. The plan is to mission the streets together, taking photographs of the city and culture with the aim to ‘Colour the City’, attendees are encouraged to bring along any colourful props, their smiles and friends. Starts at the Donkin at 3.30pm.

The week had started well, then went into the doldrums midweek, only to have Sunday throw out some good waves again. You must know it was half OK if the ou’s were raving about a surf at Pipe…
​Even better cos the forecast east didn’t really show up as predicted, with winds staying light and glassy most of the day.

​Despite some fun waves out front, this is where I would rather have been. One of our fave spots in the Maldives looking like the berries on Sunday. What makes it worse is that had planned a trip to be there right now, but was veto’d by “management” thanks to the kak exchange rate. #ZumamustfallSOIcansurf

Charts looking very promising for next weekend, with some solid long period swell meant to arrive. Here’s hoping no major downgrades during the wind, and the winds don’t go funky…