The week that was… – Featured Blog

Winter finally arrived – and so did the swell. Saturday was the pick of the bunch, with solid lines pouring into the bay, and further up the coast. The JBU Super trial went off in epic conditions, with some of the top surfers in the country going to town on the big walls. JBay local Steve Sawyer grabbed the win – and the wildcard. Remi Peterson hooked the barrel of the day. Check out the full wrap & results here
http://www.millerslocal.co.za/comp-news/steven-sawyer-wins-the-jbu-supertrial-presented-by-rvca

Whilst Jbay was firing, so was the rest of the coast. Things were a bit wild n woolly at the end of the road. Heaving mountains of water blasting past the point, with some peaks twisting in around the corner amongst the jumble. Plenty of takers in the moving mayhem, and some solid sets ridden. 

Even PE had some waves, although they were pretty windy to start with. The gale-force west ripped through the line-up’s for most of the day. Although the late dusk sesh saw things clean up a wee bit.

Not to be outdone by the fact that the surf was cooking back home, ex-PE local Aron Simmons took to the shorey in Thailand to get wet. Nothing wrong with 30C cover-up’s…..

Kiff to see local surfers being shot by local photags getting some wall-time. Alex van Rijswijck is now hanging in the Billabong store at Baywest Mall. Nice snap by Grant Beck.

The JBU Super trail presented by RVCA wasn’t only about cooking barrels. Those that were kak on the day also got a special trophy to honour their (non) achievements. Check out the Comps blog to see which lucky ou has a  new loo-seat. Faye seeing the funny side!

In case you were wondering why it was vrek-cold over the weekend. Here’s your answer. Plenty of snow inland.

Earlier in the week, whilst things were still toasty and the sun was still blazing, Shayne McGee spotted this dude chilling on the deck at Supers with his squid lid. Apparently the ou sat with it on for over 3 hours. Gotto respect rubber-heads for their commitment!

Having decided that leopard print slops are not enough to woo the chicks, CarPark John has now resorted to the age-old chick magnet of puppies. Not sure if he managed to score some numbers whilst rocking this cute lil guy.

So that wraps up the week – sunny, hot and dead flat for 5 days, and freezing cold, blustery and cooking for two (Sunday was throwing out some monster peaks groomed by the onshore that was offshore on that side, if you knew where to look).

The theme of this year’s World Ocean Day is “Healthy Oceans, Healthy Planet” and individuals and organizations across the planet are taking action for prevention of plastic pollution in our ocean.

Cos plastic ain’t fantastic!

​More and more plastic waste is ending up in our oceans and seas. Due to the effects of weathering, sunlight and wave action, this plastic reduces to smaller particles – leading to serious pollution. The oceans occupy 72% of the earth’s surface and they are our principal source of oxygen.

Plastic in ocean environments is deadly for many marine animals and does not degrade biologically. Cos of the breakdown and fragmentation of it into smaller particles, ocean water has been transformed into a sort of global microplastic soup or Plastic Soup. Even worse is that toxins are released from the plastic. All sorts of organisms living in or off the sea – even the smallest of critters – can mistakenly chow the plastic debris and microplastic for food. This means that often toxic waste to enter our food chain. Eish.

For more than half the world’s population, oceans provide the principal source of food, so besides screwing with the environment, plastic marine pollution can be seriously damaging to our health. Most of the plastic pollution comes from land sources – being dumped by industries and cities, and finds its way to the sea via rivers, canals and harbors.

​What you need to know about plastic pollution

Eight million metric tonnes of plastic end up in our oceans every year, according to a UC Santa Barbara study in February 2015.

This is equivalent to five plastic shopping bags filled with plastic debris for every foot of coastline on Earth.
Plastic is gradually eroded into small fragments known as micro-plastics, which along with plastic pellets, are already found on most beaches worldwide.

The amount of plastic waste will be greater than the number of fish in our oceans by 2050, research by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation found in January.

Researchers estimate the amount of plastic in the ocean is set to increase ten-fold by 2020.

More than five trillion pieces of plastic weighing over 250,000 tonnes is afloat in the sea, according to a study published in the scientific journal Plos One.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a vast gyre of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean, but while the term is widely used, it is not entirely accurate. Marine debris concentrates in various regions of the North Pacific.
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Eighty percent of marine pollution comes from the land, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

What can you do?

Let’s keep it simple. You can save the ocean’s one bag at a time. Just make the commitment to stop using plastic bags, and make the effort to take re-usable cloth bags to the shop with you. That’s one less bag in the ocean. Every time you shop.

After every surf, grab a piece or three of litter as you walk back up the beach to your cabbie. That’s one (or 3) less pieces of plastic or rubbish that’ll end up in the sea.

Every lil bit helps, and if everyone does a little bit it can end up having a big impact.

#Maketheeffort