theBOMBsurf blog - theBOMBsurf - South African surfing magazine

The things we do to impress girls

30 December 2009, 10:33

My friend Mac came out from Dublin for a visit this holiday. An old friend of mine, Mac is an ardent sports fan and a real ladies man at heart. So it came as no surprise to me when he called me from the cricket Test at Kingsmead to say "Hey Iain, I've just met one of your BOMBshells - can you take us surfing?" I'm not quite sure how Mac managed to meet this young lady, nor out of all the people in Castle Corner to convince her to come surfing, especially since he doesn't surf, but I'm pretty sure theBOMBsurf connection had something to do with it! Nevertheless, I loaded a few boards into the car, called my mate Stefan as backup/lifesaver and met them all at North Beach.

The west was pumping, but the water was warm and the dairy shorebreak on a high tide was really fun and easy to surf, but had a brutal shorie. Mac and Lauren (theBOMBshell) acquitted themselves well under Stefan and my extremely close guidance. Now most of us are pretty quick to stereotype models, but Lauren quickly broke that mould - being a Durban girl and living right on the beach, I could see she was totally comfortable in the ocean. She even caught a few waves all by herself. Mac on the other hand...wasn't! Besides the rubber arms, the raw stomach and a severe beating in the shorebreak, Mac has this bad habit of opening his mouth when under water, resulting in a good half drowning most of the time!

Ah...the things we do to impress girls!

Lauren, Mac, Iain and Stefan. One for the holiday album.

1 Comments so far:

Country Feeling on 2 January 2010

At least Mac has goo dtaste in Surfboards:)

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You can't choose 'em!

27 December 2009, 19:01

Back home in Durbs today, after being inland for Christmas with my Folks and extended family, I finally got a chance to have a surf with both my boets, something that is a rare occurrence, since one lives in CT and one here - and both travel and work extensively. We paddled out at New Pier, with not a soul out, just as the tide went full high. My bros aren't great surfers, but they love it. The little 1-2 footers bowling through were perfect for them and we traded waves for a few hours, while my wife, my sister in law and my little one-year old niece built sandcastles on the beach.

None of us surfed very well, but I could see how stoked they were just to be out there, all of us like little groms. We mucked around, joked, pulled each others leashes, dropped in on each other and caught a few real Family waves together.

It wasn't pretty. But damn, it was fun!

Iain

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Christmas Eve

24 December 2009, 19:04

Christmas eve

I just headed out for a quick evening rinse off at North Beach. My timing was impeccable. As I arrived the last two surfers exited the water and I had a fun little 2' split peak all to myself. I was riding my Alaia and having such a jol. Suddenly the light went radically green, I looked over towards Umhlanga and the sky was just this mean black colour. I could hear a bit of thunder rumbling around but it just added to the atmospheric mood of the session. The water was surprisingly clean given all the rain we've been having. Suddenly the storm arrived. I have never seen lightning like that in DBN ever. One moment the sky was green and black and then it was like someone turned on a switch and the whole sky was alive with lightning. All around me. I took off on a perfect little left and grabbed my rail, as I did so a bolt of lightning hit the shark siren right between the lifeguard stand and the showers. As my tail released and I spun around I watched in wild fascination as a 50m current of electricity ran down the pole and along the ground leaving behind a massive plume of steam and smoke. Because the surf was so small I was surfing very close in. I reckon I was about as close as you can get without actually getting hit. Taking that as a sign that my session was over I had one last wave in and ran up through the smoke to my car. The car guards were cowering under a tree and babbling about what they'd just seen. From where they were standing it looked like the lightning had just taken me out. They were so stoked I was ok. Nice guys those car guards. I tipped them extra and then jumped into my car to dash home and unplug my computer. Shew what a trip!
John

1 Comments so far:

Kelly C on 25 December 2009

It's a raining on the rock too.

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Happy Christmas!

24 December 2009, 10:00

I was optimistic when I drove across the Umgeni River and into town for a Christmas eve surf. There were little waves peeling through at Blue Lagoon with no wind at all. Pulling into the paking lot at North beach, you would swear it wasn't Holidays at all, especially as the rain was still gently falling as it had through the night. Just the usual suspects such as, the Brothers Logie x 3, the Coffee Shop crew, WW, and few other locals. It was like another "normal" day at the beach. I had a fun surf in the far Bowl at North, swapping waves with Jono James and his Alternative Wave Riding Equipment, plus a few groms. Super fun and super chilled.

Then it dawned on me: Holidays come and go, Tourists come and go, the parties, the boozing, the over-eating, the money-splurging. All of it comes and goes. But come rain or shine, surfers, like the consistency of the tides, will always continue to do what we do. Surf and surf and surf some more.

We hope you have a very joyous, safe and peaceful Christmas, and most of all, we hope you get to surf....alot!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Iain and John.

1 Comments so far:

jono j on 2 January 2010

single fin got me more waves in the conditions, the waves tho provided good talk time :) ha ha love surfing.

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Super Gnarly BOMBsurf Wetsuit Review 2010 - errata

21 December 2009, 09:15

It seems in our excitement to release the Super Gnarly BOMBsurf Wetsuit Review 2010, we made a couple of schoolboy errors. We know you BOMBsurf fans take what we say seriously and are hardcore surfers with an opinion on EVERYTHING surfing related - so it was no suprise to get the feedback coming in thick and fast regarding the wetsuit review, mostly good, but some bad.

Firstly, for some people 27MB was too big to download. We know, we know...bring on the screaming broadband, hopefully with the Soccer 2010, Neotel, and that big-assed fibre optics cable being ploughed into the ocean, by next year the majority of us will have broadband at home and at work. We'll try to figure out how to compress it more without losing quality.

Secondly, there were a few other errors that slipped in which we managed to correct - like the correct price of the Quik Cypher 2/2 (R3290) and the correct price of the Rip Curl 2/2 H-BOMB (R13 999).

Finally, we dropped in an incorrect logo on one of the Reef Wetsuits slides - our humblest apologies for this everyone.

We really, really value everyones input, constructive criticism and correspondence on the wetsuit guide - it was a huge learning curve for us making it - and we can only improve next years one, if you let us know what you liked, what you didn't like, what worked and what didn't.

Looking forward to your comments.

Iain and John

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Freediving.

17 December 2009, 20:52

Today John and I hit the South Coast to do the much-anticipated Freediving course with SA champion Freediver, Hanli Prinsloo, who is up in KZN running a series of courses for people wanting to learn about breath holding and freediving. We met Hanli about 2 months ago, while in Cape Town, where she was training the Big Wave crew prior to their assault on the northern hemi big wave winter season.

All I can say is that today was one of those once in a lifetime experiences. Besides learning all the theory of how to relax, breathe and push past your body's natural limits (a fascinating subject in itself) but the opportunity to apply it immediately, first in the pool and then in the deep blue sea, all in one day was incredible.

Hanli coaching Trav to the surface.

So much of this sport is mental. Self control. Self belief. Focus under pressure. Concentrating and keeping calm when all else about you screams to do otherwise. The challenges, the failures and the successes.

Contractions are your friend, Iain!

So many life lessons all gleaned from the essence of Freediving.

And what, I hear you ask, has any of this to do with surfing? Everything and nothing.

Everything, because if you re-read 3 paragraphs back, all of those things are directly applicable to your surfing - no matter if your an un-witting grom, a hell man, a weekend warrior or a pro.

Nothing, because if you can't apply it, it is useless.

John, going down.

Example? John held his breath for over 4 minutes in the pool today. I free dived to 14m in the open sea. These are not amazing feats in themselves - quite ordinary by freediving standards. But in a surfing context, they are going to help massively. How? Firstly, just knowing that we can actually do that kind of time underwater and actualy go down to that depth and still be ok is an amazing comfort. Secondly by using the techniques, the knowledge, the confidence in our abilities and just by being aware of what to do, how to do it and apply just a fraction of the knowledge to survive a 30 second hold down or being plunged down to 5m and not drown is...well it's a life-changing and possibly a life saving realization.

A massive Jellyfish cruises by during our dive.

Surfing aside. I'm psyched to keep learning, practicing and most of all, I can't wait to go free diving again!

Thanks Hanli.

Iain

1 Comments so far:

zane on 18 December 2009

try spearfishing, its freediving but you get to take home dinner, which means the wife is often happy to let you go, as Parko says, "Happy wife, Happy life"

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In the end it's Mick, Joel and Taj

16 December 2009, 05:41

Geeze what an exciting last couple of weeks it's been watching surfing online! In the end it's come down to Mick, Joel and Taj.

I've burned 3 months supply of data bundles in 2 weeks and seem to have been permanently living online, but what a show this years Hawaiian leg of the ASP tour delivered us. The waves of course make it all happen but the way these guys surf there is mindblowing.

Last night Taj beat Kelly in the final of the Pipe Masters, Joel wrapped up the Triple Crown and Mick as we all know cemented his second World Title a few days ago. I was really stoked for both Taj and Joel, pronbably more so for Taj. I think the reason for this is that he just never gave up and his victory at Pipe will be sweet for a long time, especially against Slater who when it's come to the crunch before has often taken the nod.

Soas the Pro tour all go home for christmas I feel as if I can now start to get over the jetlag I've accumulated by being awake all night and 'living' in a time zone on the other side of the world. A special thank you to Kelly Cestari for all the incredible behind the scences photos and reporting from within the Triple Crown.

It's 6am, goodnight!

John

1 Comments so far:

Mark on 17 December 2009

And what with the close of the Hawaiian leg and the ASP for 2009, comes the beginning of the mob season, for those not familar with this time of the year it is the silly season when the hordes descend en masse onto the beaches of KZN and particularly Durban. Now I am one all for having a great time, sucking a few cold ones while soaking up the sunshine and sea, but what i saw (AGAIN!!!!) this morning really saddens me. What is it about people in today's society that feel the need to trash a place, just because they don't live there and they don't have to clean it up? The Durban beachfront this morning was greeted not only with a new swell but also a rising tide of litter - bottles, both glass and plastic, various discarded food items, plastic bags, wrappers and who knows what else... Not to mention the bodies in various states of undress and intoxication....WHY???? Is the question I ask? And what is the eThekweni municipality doing to stop it?? Even though bins have been provided, they are hardly used used. No visible policing seems to be in effect and there is just general apathy and disregard. The sad thing is that it seems to be mainly young people, the people who are the future of this country, trashing it so blatantly!! Is Durban really becoming the "DirtBin" of South Africa??

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So Mick takes it.

13 December 2009, 13:18

Well a year that certainly looked as if it was going sideways in terms of the entertainment value it presented us online surfers turned out to be a real cracker. Mick's rally this year has been incredible. One has to spare a thought for Joel. To be honest I wanted him to win. He tried so hard and surfed beautifully this year but his mid season stagger combined with Mick's audacity put paid to his world title hopes. Still it was amazing having the race go down to Pipe. As it stands the Pipe masters is not yet completed, so the show is not over yet, but what a Triple Crown its been. Then throw The Eddie into the mix and you have a fairy tale ending to the year. Not one I think we're gonna see again anytime soon. The real star of the show has been the ocean. What swell the guys have been having!
John

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Burn Baby, Burn.

10 December 2009, 08:29

What do Burn, the Steers in Broadway and the Kings Park swimming pool all have in common? Nothing, besides the fact that I visited all three within 4 hours of each other this morning. Not a very good idea, considering today was the second day of our 7 week swimming & breath-hold training course, in preparation for the imminent cyclone season. And especially not a good idea when your swimming trainer is nicknamed "Cyclone Wilma" - who makes you do burpies till you want to faint and then sends you into the pool for lengths underwater!

To be honest, I didn't have a big one last night - just a late one. You see everything was going smoothly - my connection Eezy Mike (a talented goofy footer of the Bay Bowl, who I had actually convinced to join the swimming & breath-hold sessions) and I had given ourselves an 11.30pm curfew at Burn, but just as we were about to leave 2 things happened: 1. We were accosted at the bar by a cunning and wily young lady aka Sneaky Tayla and 2. the DJ, out of nowhere, played a set of the classic Burn anthems that demanded some respectful moshing.

And that, my friends, is what they call in the classics "the turning point".

Eezy Mike didn't make it to swimming this monrning. I, on the other hand, did.

So there I am, several meters underwater, pulling myself through the perfectly clear blue water towards the opposite wall of the pool an eternity away, my body screaming for oxygen and all I can hear in my head is the chorus of "Lonely Lonely Sunday Morning" in perfect time to the thudding of my pulse in my head. The only burn happening here, was happening in my lungs.

This swimming and breathold training must be working though - 'cos I've never been able to hold my breath for more than a minute before, yet after only 2 sessions, I've improved from 1 min 12 secs to 1 min 37 secs... who knows what we'll be doing in 5 weeks time - Burn sessions not included!

Bring on the Cyclones.

Iain

3 Comments so far:

Mike on 10 December 2009

Buddy coke in hand. Check. Back up Red bull in desk drawer. Check. Sleep in office emergency exit stairwell at 2pm after lunch surf. Check.

sneaky tay on 10 December 2009

haha eezy mike! another one bites the dust... :P sneaky sneaky!

frewbru on 11 December 2009

The season has already started, the third cyclone (Cleo) is tracking towards Maritius / Reunion. First two were called Anja and Bongani, check these two sites: http://www.solar.ifa.hawaii.edu/Tropical/Gif/sin.latest.gif or http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutnames.shtml

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BOMBsurf Super Gnarly Wetsuit Review

9 December 2009, 12:26

The majority of you BOMBsurf fans out there buy wetsuits and thermal rashvests on a relatively regular basis - at least buying one every 2 years, but most likely one a year and most likely having a range of suits and thermals for different water temperatures. You probably own a 4/3 for the Western Cape sessions, a 3/2 for the Eastern cape sessions, and either a 2/2 or a Thermal for the KZN winters - and either a combination of all of the above, or several of one type, depending where you live and surf the most.

Bottom line: You spend a fair chunk of change every year on neoprene to keep you warm while surfing.

But have you ever wondered why you choose to buy a particular suit. How do you know what's a good suit and what's a bad suit? What are the criteria for choosing a suit? Do you go with what the salesman in the store says or do you go with the marketing message that the brands are selling you? Do you go with what you've always bought or do you ask a friend?

These are pertinent questions considering a normal wetsuit costs anywhere from R1000 - R4000.

At the BOMBsurf, John and I set about creating a digital wetsuit guide which takes all of the above into consideration. We surfed in all of the best wetsuit offerings on the market and we rated them according to the following criteria:

Warmth.
Leakage.
Flexibility for paddling.
Comfort.
Drainage (from legs).
Mission to put on off.
Perceived durability.
Aesthetic.
Cost.

The cold water wetsuit testing grounds.

We surfed the 4/3s at Dungeons, the Outter Kom and a heaving slab just outside CT.
We surfed the 3/2s at Supers and Boneyards.
We surfed the 2/2s and Thermals at Cave Rock and at New Pier.

The cool water wetsuit testing grounds

We compiled a review of every suit, with images, the technical specs of all the suits and completed the Rating of every suit based on the criteria above. then we put all this info into a digital application that you can download to your desktop for FREE and explore, like an interactive game.

To download it - click here - there is a Windows version and a mac version. The App is 27MB and takes about 5 minutes to download. Once you have it, you can explore it offline on your desktop at your leisure.

The warm water wetsuit and thermal vest testing grounds

Enjoy.

Iain and John

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The World Title Race

8 December 2009, 08:30

So it comes down to Joel and Mick. Joel was unstoppable in the first half of the year, until his ankle injury started to hinder him. Mick has won 3 of the last 4 WCT events, but Joel has just taken out the O'Neill World cup and is leading the Triple Crown. So it all comes down to Pipe.

The scenarios for the 2009 ASP World Title heading into the Billabong Pipeline Masters are as follows:

- Fanning finishes 33rd through a 9th at Pipeline, Parkinson needs a 3rd or better to overtake.
- Fanning finishes 5th at Pipeline, Parkinson needs a 2nd or better to overtake.
- Fanning finishes 3rd at Pipeline, Parkinson needs win the event to overtake.
- If Fanning finishes 2nd or better at Pipeline, he will clinch the 2009 ASP World Title.

So who's it gonna be people?

3 Comments so far:

Justin on 8 December 2009

Fanning The Fire all the way!

Mark on 9 December 2009

Joel show us your BMT!

Warren L on 9 December 2009

I seriousley hope Parko pulls it off.

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The Eddie may go tonight

7 December 2009, 08:25

The Eddie May Go tonight...

At most beaches in SA today the surf will be pretty small, typical summer surf. However on exactly the other side of the world Hawaii is about to get klapped by the biggest swell of the year so far. According to the charts it should be 20-30ft. It is difficult to relay the excitement that this event brings to The North Shore. Traffic on The Kam highway comes to a stand-still as people literally park their cars on the road to stop and watch the amazing spectacle of men trying to ride these massive waves. Unlike most other big wave spots Waimea is right there. You don't even need binculars to check the guys throwing themselves over the ledge. You can go to foodland, grab yourself a starbucks and then mosey on down to The Bay to watch the action. It is all about status, respect and courage and it happens in the most amazing location. As anyone who has ever been to Waimea will tell you it is a special place. When the swell builds on the North Shore to the point where it washes over the Kam Highway and makes the houses at Pipe and Off The Wall shake everywhere maxes out except Waimea. There the deep water of the Bay absorbs the crazy ocean energy and transforms it into a perfect ridable beast of a wave. Below 15 ft Waimea is not actually considered Waimea but is referred to as Pinballs and it is a very easy wave to ride. Between 15-20 ft it's actually still quite easy to ride provided the wind is not too strong offshore. Above 20 ft and The Bay as its known by the locals, really comes to life. The mellow take offs are replaced by heart in your mouth drops. The whole thing goes up a level. Right now in Hawaii it is the evening (they are 12hrs behind us) and I bet there are quite a few people who won't sleep much there tonight. Stay tuned because if the eddie goes Twig is in the first heat and you don't want to miss that.
John

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Who's your money on?

4 December 2009, 07:18

I've been on Skype with Kelly Cestari from early this morning. He's been in Hawaii since the start of the Triple Crown and is writing a pretty insightful (and pretty damn entertaining!) Guest Blog for us, giving us the inside scoop on the North Shore during the final stages of this Year's ASP Events.

Apparently there is a MASSIVE swell about to crash into the Islands. It starts tomorrow, building to Sunday but with bad winds, and then Monday is supposedly, THE DAY. With 30-40ft faces predicted, the Eddie could be a go - Twiggy is expected to arrive on the island shortly.

In the meanwhile the O'Neill World Cup of Surfing comes down to the last 16 tomorrow - Who would you back out of these 16:

I'm gonna go with

Dusty and Jihad
Mick and Torrey
Joel and Taylor
Bede and Sunny.

And an outright winner? Against all odds I'm gonna say six-time Vans Triple Crown champion and two-time O'Neill World Cup champion Sunny Garcia...just for sentimental reasons.

"They say be careful what you wish for, you know?" said Sunny in an interview yesterday. "I wanted big waves and we got big waves. It's almost too big. You go out there and hope you get two waves.... Some of the sets are kind of big and go into the channel. The takeoff seems like it's going to be a big wave and it turns into a 4-foot mush burger, so wave selection is crucial today. I'm having fun watching some of the kids sit on the shoulder and they didn't want any part of it. That's what I wanted to see!

Go you good thing.

Iain

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Shimmer & Shine

2 December 2009, 11:37

"Shimmer and Shine, leave it all behind..." sings Ben Harper on his latest album with The Relentless 7. John and I have been listening to this album alot while traveling around SA's coastline and while making the latest issue of the BOMBsurf. I'm sure Ben is singing about surfing.

Over the past week, John and I have been feeling the pressure - a massive deadline crunch on the mag, another deadline on a digital project we're releasing soon, family pressures, the end of the business and tax year, planning for next year...all the things that I'm sure everyone is feeling at this time of year, especially THIS year, which has been generally a tough one for most people.

We decided to escape the city yesterday and we took the Alaias up to one of our favourite spots, a quiet little point and just surfed them till we couldn't surf any more. This morning, we abandoned the office again and hit another secret little back beach. What greeted us was nothing short of manna from Alaia heaven. Perfect, steep little A-frame 3 footers running both ways. Both of us got some of the best waves we've had in the last 2 months. Walking up through the jungle to get back to the car, the words of the song just came to me..."Shimmer and Shine, leave it all behind..."

Ben was right.

Fascinated groms getting a feel for the wood.

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Naming your Alaia

1 December 2009, 06:26

Naming your Alaia

The most well known Alaia in SA right now is Sarah-Jayne, the Ocean Minded, Maybru collaboration to look for an environmentally responsible alternative to surfboard production. Legend has it that this board was named after a beautiful woman, but that's another story.

Iain and I own two Alaia surfboards. Well one of them is actually Travis's but he's in Hawaii and you know what they say about possession...

Anyway we're currently loving these things. If I've surfed my regular board five times in the last 2 months that is a lot. Almost every session I find myself choosing one of the Alaias over the regular glass and foam.

They're a bitch to figure out, but when you learn how to coax them and understand their inner sensibilities they'll blow your mind. A bit like a girl you have a crush on I suppose.

All this wear and tear has taken its toll on our sleek and sexy home grown models and culminated in Matt Pallet trashing one and Jono James the other. With none of the special Pulowina blanks available in SA right now to make more boards we had to patch our girls up the best we could. On the one board this was really just a band of fibreglass around the tail, but on the other it involved some serious cosmetic surgery that even left Clayton's ding fixer, Sunny, scratching his head. Clayton cut a huge fish-tail into the back of the board, narrowed the hips a bit and then proceeded to glass the whole thing top and bottom.

Iain and I were not sure how we felt about the use of fibreglass, being recently converted wood loving hippies and all, but eventually our lust to get back onto riding these things drove us into the water.

After Iain's first wave on the cosmetically adjusted board he turned to me and said "I know she's not all real, but damn she's fine to look at even better to hold and she's fast man, so fast ... a bit like one of our BOMBshells, I'm gonna call her Shella!"

So now Iain and I fight over who gets to ride Shella everyday.

2 Comments so far:

boooBOMB on 2 December 2009

have to admit BOMBsurf...getting a bit fed up with the way you are objectifying the ladies. Where I can see the joke you are making about the fibreglass biatch being like your plastic bombshell - its one thing to say to each other...another completely to post on your site. Think you guys got to pay a little more respect to your female readership and maybe put more attention to finding some bombshells that have more street credit than dropping out of school and looking pretty.

JMc on 3 December 2009

Hey booo no offence or disrespect intended and apologies if you were offended. We know plenty gals who charge! See you in the water.

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