The week that was… – Featured Blog

Yeeeuw, Twiggy Baker you beauty! Twig took the win at the WSL #PuertoChallenge in macking conditions. Most certainly the world’s gnarliest beachie. And don’t think, ah beachie, easy. Forget it, that sand’s like concrete when you get pummeled into it. Crazy how more guys don’t get annihilated out there. Personally think I’d drown just sitting on the beach watching….

​Coupla waves about in the bay during the week. Nothing to bunk work for, but at least some “get-wet” opportunities. 

We’re officially heading towards summer after the shortest day of the year last Tuesday. Winter still continues to throw out some amazing sunrises and sunsets.

The shortest day of the year in the southern hemi obviously coincides with the longest day up north. JBay local Shannon Ainslie is over in Norway at the moment, and managed to hook this schweet lil sesh…..at midnight!

Couple more locals on travel missions. Seems that East Cape locals have some weird sort of in-built “find-another-local” GPS system. Etienne Potgieter and Remi Peterson managed to bump into each other at the standing wave in Munich.

For all those thinking that the working for a surf company is all free gear and waves, turns out you have to fulfill a range of obscure jobs, some of which include cleaning windows! Grant Beck making sure the judges at the Billabong Junior Pro at Ballito can see what’s happening.

Pretty hectic sewerage issues at the Brighton Pier it seems. Nikolaas du Plooy got a few grim looking shots of the situation last week. Looks like that’s not the only issue – on closer inspection it seems like a few big holes in the pier itself. If I remember correctly the latest coastal management plan did include a re-assessment of both the pier’s integrity and the outflow pipe, but not sure when they’ll actually get investigated.

Kiff to see some East Cape flavour in the latest Zag. Kody McGregor teamed up SF’s Simon Fish for the back-page ad of the mag. Super clean looking shot and some fresh looking sticks.

School holidays kicked off on Friday, so expect an influx of frothing groms all over the line-up’s for the next few weeks. Surf morning, noon and night whilst you can lighties!

This Wednesday see’s the launch of ex-PE local Hagen Engler’s new book. There is no-one that encapsulates PE in the written word quite like Hagen. His surf/lifestyle column in the Weekend Post back in the 90’s was legendary, as were his collections of short stories on the local surf and jol scene. This new book promises to be a classic.
“”In The Maid’s Room is a scruffy, hilarious shambles of an episodic novel set in the coastal city of Port Elizabeth, that trendsetting bellwether of national change. It’s about the surfer, stoner culture of the Bay, but also the slow ignominious death of white entitlement. There’s also lank pomping.”
Pull in on Wednesday, Gino Fabbri is MC’ing, and it promises to be a blast.

Brad and Hannah are still having a rad time surf coaching over in Mex, but have to appreciate the irony of traveling halfway across the globe….and end up surfing waves like Pipe! Mind you, one up on Pipe cos always baggie-warm water, and less crowds.

The 2016 USSA Surfing Champs were held at Vic Bay last weekend. Shot to the Madibaz who achieved a bronze placing, finishing in 3rd place behind Maties (2) and UCT (1) respectively. ​All surfers did well to advance through a couple of heats, with standout performances coming from Dane Cox and Dane van Greunen (making USSA Surfing team, top 8)

Found a shot of the old putt-putt course at King’s Beach whilst googling for image’s of Rink Street to include in the article on Ocean’s Surf Shop. (Check it out here)

Anyone else that used to moer the ball on the 18th hole so it shot up the ramp and onto the roof?? Notice the sign on the roof above the kiosk…”Join the South African Putting Association” They used to have Putt-putt league and national champs back in the day!