Location : Stilbaai / Oudtshoorn / Wilderness / J-Bay
Surf : N/A
Events : Ostrich Race, Surfed Sharky Spot, Donny's Gig
Woke early to check some of the local surf spots. Nothing! Flat!
Some tiny surf showing the potential of the reefs and points, if only there was even 2ft more swell! :(
We packed up and set off for Oudtshoorn, the ostrich capital of South Africa. The guys wanted to ride an ostrich! (or chicken as Benji called them)
On the way there we stopped for a pee-stop on the side of the road, in the middle of nowhere and hundreds of ostriches came flocking over the hills from miles away, to greet us. It was crazy!
We arrived in Oudtshoorn and went to the Safari Ostrich farm where I had to beg and bribe the owner to let us arrange an Ostrich Race for the film. He was very against it but we promised not to sue him if anyone got killed and would mention his farm in the movie credits.
The guys were given a training run in a fenced off area and then taken to the race track. There were some serious wipeouts! Pottz nearly had his head taken off! He fell off his bird right in front of Pat who couldn't hang on as his ostrich jumped over Pottz! Check the DVD to see the results!
Pottz has been my co-pilot for all the driving so far and we've been having some awesome chats! I'm filling him in on how much things have changed in South Africa, since he left all those years ago. It's a completely different country now! The best place and people in the world - in my opinion!
From there we raced through to J-Bay to make sure we saw Donny play his gig at the Billabong Pro party. As we drove through Wilderness the guys spotted a small but perfect looking beach break. Wilderness is a wild coastline with a large river mouth and I have never wanted to surf there! Pat was amped! He didn't care if there were sharks there...
It only too 2 minutes of Pat's infectious enthusiam to have all the guys wanting to get wet. I was trying to voice my feelings that I had a bad feeling about this spot and wouldn't paddle out myself, but my concerns fell on deaf ears... 15 minutes later Pat saw a fin and in a flash they were all standing on the beach asking me why I let them surf there! They thought it was hilarious but that's only because they survived!
We arrived in J-Bay, dropped our stuff at the Misty Lodge, a beautiful thatch roof mansion right by Supertubes, and ran across the road to the Billabong Pro party! Donny's gig was awesome! A whole bunch of pro surfers like Kelly Slater, Occy and Curren got on stage to accompany him. It was the ultimate pro surfer jam session!
Mike Lossness and Pottz introduced me to some of my surfing heros like Occy and Taj Burrows! Occy was pretty wasted so there was no small talk but Taj is a super cool guy! Really friendly and down to earth, pity he didn't do the trip with us! Maybe next time :)
Location : J-Bay, PE, Durban
Surf : Flat
Events : Donny Bitten by Lion, Pat Electrocuted, Fly to Durban
The swell is still flat up here in J-Bay but Greg Brunt (Surfing Safari Surf Trip Co-Ordinator) says there are rumors of a giant swell hitting Cape Town in the next few days!
We met up with Taylor Steele (Legend surf movie producer from Poor Specimen & Drive Thru South Africa Executive Producer) and Matt Beauchesne (Cameraman & Editor) in J-Bay who got there earlier to film the J-Bay Billabong Pro. Dave Emgy our one camera man left us in J-Bay to work on one of Taylor's other movies.
The Billabong Pro surfing competition was still running and the surfers in our group weren't interested in hanging around in J-Bay where (if there were waves) they would only be able to watch other guys surf it.
They wanted to fly to Durban. I tried in vain to convince them that we should head back down the coast to meet the giant swell and follow it back up the East Coast to J-Bay and then on further up to Durban. There are countless epic surf breaks between Cape Town and J-Bay and all would be cranking in the solid swell that was predicted. We could hit more than one spot in a day and stay in a different town each night...
Nope. I was out voted. The surfers decided to visit the Lion Park outside Port Elizabeth and after that wanted to fly to Durban. While on the road to the Lion Park, Adam and I called the various airlines, car rental companies and Durban hotels to set up the next leg of our trip.
The Lion Park was amazing! We saw lots of animals in the reserve and even got to play with young lion cubs. Donny, Blakey, Noodles and I climbed in to a cage with some of the bigger lions! They were the size of very big dogs and already incredibly strong for their age. You had to be quite rough with them to keep them in their place or they could definitely take you out! The guides told us to say "No!" loudly and push them away if they got to friendly/rough.
Donny tried to be bold with his "No!" but the lion didn't take him seriously and he got bitten on the ass! Next Pat got electrocuted buy an electric fence! You have to check out the DVD!!! It was a hilarious experience!
We went through to the airport and ate there before flying to Durban and moving into a great hotel, right on an excellent beach break!
Pottz and I shared a room with an insane view right over the beach! He's telling me loads of awesome stories of his life as a pro surfer and his memories of South Africa in the days of the Apartheid.
I have realized from the way that the guys talk about the pro tour, that being a pro surfer is definitely not as cool as I thought it would be. It's a hardcore job! They spend most of their lives in airports and on airplanes and very little time at home with their families and girlfriends. They surf a shit load but the dream of scoring perfect surf that we see in the videos, doesn't happen nearly as often as you think. Surfers on the World Tour spend most of the time being forced to compete in small, shitty surf in foreign countries. Sad - but it still beats most other jobs!
Location : Durban
Surf : OK 3-4ft
Events: Surfed New Pier, Flow Rider, Sushi
We woke up to a perfect sunrise of nice 3-4 ft offshore surf. The guys wanted to head North of Durban to check out the breaks up there. Unfortunately there was nothing to be found.
We got back to the hotel grabbed some boardshorts and ran through the hotel to get into the surf! Managed to get a few decent waves even with 6 international pro surfers and several local pros crowding the line up.
The water temperature was incredibly warm compared to my home breaks in Cape Town. A "Boardshorts Session" is a rare luxury around Cape Town.
That evening we drove to the West Gate Shopping Mall to visit the famous, artificial, indoor, standing wave called The Flowrider! I had never been here before! It was insane - a perfect wave in the middle of a shopping centre! Riding the flow rider is VERY different to surfing a normal wave. Everyone had a go and everyone got seriously wiped out! It was hilarious to watch. You have to check out the DVD!!!
After dinner we went to a Sushi Restaurant and caused havoc playing the cork game and the moose game! Dinner time with the guys was always complete madness! I can hardly breathe I'm laughing so much! Hilarious! This trip is awesome!
End of Part 2
For you chance to surf the best waves in Africa check out:
www.surfing-safari.co.za
Submitted By
Ryan - Magicseaweed.com on the 25th January 2008.
This article has been viewed 922 times.
