theBOMBsurf blog - theBOMBsurf - South African surfing magazine

Hot surfer babes flock to sign up to theBOMBsurf!

28 February 2009, 16:13

I can’t believe my esteemed partners comment the other day about the fact that it is time I had a make over. The fact that he had the gall to fabricate a story about me scaring young girls away on top of that is just about as outrageous as it is inaccurate. Anyway we’re getting a bit of a swell next week and karma will no doubt sort him out for his mischief. Either that or I’ll have to fade him into the pit on a beast ha ha.

Anyway while I was working this morning (he was sleeping in after another big night out) I had the great pleasure of meeting a whole bunch of stoked surfers, many of whom were female. It’s weird you know walking around on the beachfront and saying to people “hey would you like a free subscription to our magazine?”

EVERYONE looks at you and goes “Ja right, what’s the catch?”

“It’s free.” I reply, “There is no catch, you never pay, once you are subscribed, that’s it you get it until you unsubscribe.”

“Wow, no way! How is that possible?”

Its quiet simple really. We don’t waste anything and we have low overheads - there are only two of us full time in the business. If you consider that most consumer magazines sold at the newsstand budget to waste 40% of what they print on securing their distribution and most of them have biggish teams of people to put them together they have serious costs to deal with. What we’ve done is not rocket science, its just very basic maths. Also its environmentally responsible publishing.

If you overprint by 40% you pay 40% more than you need to on your print run. You then need to pay for that 40% to be distributed, recalled and pulped. Typically a magazine will only receive 50% of the cover price back once it’s sold. We crunched the numbers and worked out that we could make a magazine on environmentally friendly paper (triple green – basically recycled sugar cane pulp) with no wastage and give it to the consumer and still make it viable as a business.

It makes you think doesn’t it?

One can’t help but question the sanity of the traditional magazine distribution system. Apart from it being economically insane, it’s environmentally criminal! One could accept a system like that in the 70’s and 80’s when people didn’t know better, but on the verge of 2010 it’s unbelievable.

Anyway I digress, the point of this blog was to illustrate to my partner that I was out there doing some work, spreading the love and the word about theBOMBsurf, while he was sleeping in. True story, photographer Mike van Heerden just happened to be walking past when these two hotties (Hayley and Camilla) rocked up to sign on as subscribers to theBOMBsurf after their morning surf at North beach. As you can see by the stoked smiles on their faces they were loving my work. Eat your heart out Iain!

4 Comments so far:

Iain on 28 February 2009

Touché. Nice work partner!

Caroline on 2 March 2009

Go John!! You always had a way with the ladies - glad to see you have not lost it!!!!!

What seems like a lifetime ago you even managed to grab my attention for a while at UCT! Those were the good old days and the only stress was finding the next great wave to ride!!

Wishing you all the very best for the best waves ever this year!
Callie

Chris Chapman on 2 March 2009

Hi John - I think your business model is brilliant. I publish a forestry magazine and am thinking of going a similar route. The wastage of paper and energy (to power the printing presses) in the traditional publishing arena is doggone disgraceful. Worst offenders are the knock-and-drop newspapers.
So howzabout an in-depth article on the surfboard industry's contribution to environmental degradation, and perhaps more importantly, the solutions that they are coming up with to lessen those impacts. I'm sorry to bring up an awkward topic, but surfboards (foam blanks, fibreglass and resin) are nasty biscuits cluttering up landfills around the world. Imagine how many acres of landfill you'd need to accommodate all of the broken and discarded boards made for someone like Kelley Slater. Scary!
My solution is to look after my boards and ride them for years until they fall apart. But then I'm not surfing like Kelly!!
Shotto!

john on 13 March 2009

Chris ,I think both of those models are brilliant. I am not sure if they are business models though

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theBOMBvst

26 February 2009, 08:58

theBOMBvst (video surf tour) is well under way with our first 2 entrants, Matt Pallet and Nicky Godfrey, going head to head for the R1000 cash this week. It's still nexk and neck with only a few pageviews separating them! We'll announce the winner on Sunday night in the email newsletter.

If you've been dossing under a rock for the last 10 days and youre wondering "What the hell are these BOMBfreaks talking about" then let me explain. theBOMBvst is a digital surf contest where surferes go head to head each week for R1000 cash. Each surfer posts a video section to us which we upload and then it's up to the public to vote with the mouse. The video with the most pageviews wins the moola.

All you need is some footage of yourself surfing, a cool soundtrack and viola! Send to us and you're in the running. We want your submissions now! All entries sent to us by 18h00 on Sunday will be enetered for next weeks VST.

Click on this link for more info: http://www.thebombsurf.com/pages/124/submit-your-video

2 Comments so far:

John on 27 February 2009

"All you need is some footage of yourself surfing, a cool soundtrack and viola!"

Tune me why a viola?

Iain on 28 February 2009

Because everyone needs a small wooden string instrument. I meant "voil�".

Un millier de flagellation pour ma stupidit�

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Extreme makeover time partner!

24 February 2009, 17:58

I've never seen people run away faster! John and I went down to North Beach on Saturday to do an interview and to hook up a few people with subscriptions. So as we were showing people the mag and signing them up, the word started to spread and more people came over to get a free subscription. We realized we were onto a good thing as far as gaining new subscribers was concerned, and every now and again a group of surfers would walk past with boards under their arms and we'd call them over and hook them up with a subscription.

Just then a group of three good looking young girls trotted past, amped to get in the water. "Hey girls", John called out to them as they went by and he got up and walked after them. They obviously thought he was a drug dealer, a Hell's Angel or both coming to harass them, so they sped up. "Hey let me hook you up" he called after them as he broke into a jog and they now started to run. "Hey wait - it's free" (Isn't your first push always free from a drug dealer?)

"Yeah right", these girls must have though and they started sprinting away, not looking over their shoulders! Eventually, John gave up turned around and walked back to where I was sitting with the laptop. "What happened I asked".

"Argh, they just wanted to surf, they'll come back later." he reckoned

They did come back....via a detour around Joe Cools, in a close huddle and within shouting distance of the baton wielding car-guard, should my esteemed business partner try get near them again! Eish. Sorry John - maybe it's time for an extreme makeover :)

Iain

Would you run away from this man? I would! John, hanging outside his favourite entertainment spot's namesake.

3 Comments so far:

warren on 25 February 2009

Don't do it John! I remember a while back you shaved the goatie off and I didn't even recognise you. I think you should get it registered as a trademark!

Carol on 26 February 2009

Hands behind your back and step away from the goatie!!! You would not be you without it.... Very funny that girls are running away from you though... ha ha

Caroline on 2 March 2009

Do whatever makes you happy and comfortable!!! Do not chnage yourself for anyone else other than yourself!!

People should NOT judge on superficial appearance, but on how you treat, respect and help others! In today's society people are far to preoccupied with appearance and not doing nearly enough to develop their talents, skills and spiritual well being! I believe we should look to the inside more and forget about the external which is going to disappear eventually anyway!!!!

This is just my opinion do with it what you will!

Callie

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The end of an epic trip for Twig

19 February 2009, 20:05

Blog 11 – End Days

Hey Guys,

Well its nearing the end of the waiting period for the Eddie and still no sign of the swell we need to get this historic event up and running and with the swell charts looking as bad as they do for the next 10 days I'm starting to lose faith that we will get to compete in the event this year. It's a tough pill to swallow after 3 months of waiting and hoping but I know the game and all I can do is accept the fact and come back better and stronger next year. Hopefully my performances this Winter in the swells we have had and a few nominations for the XXL awards will stand me in good stead and ensure my place in the event for next season.

The Mavericks and Jaws events however still have the month of March left in their respective waiting periods and although I am looking to return to South Africa around the first week of March to catch the North swells on the KZN and Mozambique coasts I will be keeping a close eye on these events and will jet back if they look ready to go. It's a long haul to come back but well worth it and I wouldn't miss either event under any circumstances.

Otherwise in the past two weeks since returning from Europe I have been busy in the far North West of the USA and even though we didn't score insane waves, it was a good trip up there to check out new spots and setup's for the future....And we did score one great day of surf at a river mouth bank that was 10ft and barrelling so no complaints from my side.

But once again it was cold as hell with temps dipping below 0'c and I am looking forward to getting back to the warmth of home and into some nice fun clean point breaks.

It's been a fantastic experience for me living the nomadic surfer dream these past few months and it's been an honour representing my country, city, friends and family over here but it's always after a long trip like this that I start to really appreciate home and how good the life we have in South Africa is, we are so fortunate and we should do everything in our power to preserve what we have.

And that brings me to my next point, please everyone VOTE. Register ASAP and use your small piece of power to make sure the ANC does not get a 66% majority in these next elections so that they cannot change the constitution, making it illegal to prosecute a standing president and make it possible to change the amount of terms a president can hold office for.

We are standing at a threshold in our countries future and if we choose to sit back and do nothing right now then we stand to lose everything we have worked so hard for these past 15 years. Please, everyone needs to vote and you can now vote if you live out of the country as well.

Check out these websites for any information you might require on the subject.

http://www.saelections.co.za/
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=34239237226

See you at the polls in April.

Thanks
Twig

5 Comments so far:

Matt Gray on 22 February 2009

howsit okes - do you have an RSS feed that we can subscribe to ?

would be good to have...

shot

Matt

Brendan on 23 February 2009

Gosh I find it amazing that every contest has to be a dairy. I have also noted a few development contests taking place at Dairy I thought Addington or U Shaka will be better suited. KZNSA are making a few enermies with their view on contests. The excuse that the pump house is the only means of judging a contest. what a load of Bollocks. To top it off Dairy is littered with vehicle on the Lower Marine parade no other contest do the same. i think Durban has enough beaches and KZNSA can also spread the load.

Jarryd on 23 February 2009

If Brendon above is Brendan Callaghan, then remember that you were once a big part of KZNSA and you have surfed in many longboarding trials held at the very same beach that you are saying contests shouldnt be at. you also used to promote the grommets trials and compo's and then you were recently overheard saying to a fellow surfer that "you can just drop-in on the ou's in the water cos it's not a serious contest".
You made quite a few enemies yourself by paddling out and telling the groms that they shouldnt have their contest at Dairy and that you're going to drop in on them.
If you take the 52 weekends a year and see how many events are actually held at Dairy and split them up into their respective divisions, you'll see that everyone's just trying to get there share of having a contest at one of the sickest spots in Durbs.
Dont get me wrong, i know comps irritate probably more people than they do give pleasure to, but the groms froth off events and need a break too. everyone was a kid once, and they're just looking for your support.

Brendan on 25 February 2009

Jarryd I think you should be very careful in quoting what people thought I may have have said. Having got that off my chest your other comments are relevant and thoughtful. I have always been mindful of contests that can effect the surfers who work all week and have to contend with grommets sliding over to new pier all the time. I will always take reponsibility for any of my actions. This is a forum for oppinions and not invidual attacks. I have promoted the grommits and will continue to do so. My feelings are novice contests should be held at beaches more condusive to their level of competency.

kznsa on 28 February 2009

To Brendan
Regarding your comments I reply as follows:
- Because you are a so called development surfer you must be relegated to a beach that does not produce waves on the day of a planned and paid compo. Development of surfers of all groups have the right to be given an equal opertunity in showing their form at the better surf spots of Durban.
May I highlight that there where many young hotties in this compo that have the potential to be and will be a name to look out for on the future surf contest circuit.
- If I am correct the above actually relates to a Surf Club contest ie North Swell where the above had surfers such as Travis, Ricky and many others taking part. To which I take may hat off to Ted in trying to bring surfing back to Durban Beach and let the kids get exposure to some great South African Surfers.
- Regarding the issue about KZNSA using the Pump House for compo,s. I suggest you review the above as we as an union have not used the Pump House since 2008. All the contest run by the union have been judged from the beach in a dedicated area.
- It seems that you memory is rather short regarding the above. Did you not run a KZN Longboard Trial at the same venue in the past weekend together with using the pump house as a judging plateform. Did I not also see your Colt Double Cab also parked at the venue???????
- It seems you memory is also rather short, as I recall when you where invovled with KZNSA your and many vehicles where always parked at the contest venue. What has changed.
- The comment regarding vehichles parking at the contest area is a issue that seems to be personel. All vehicles that are parked at KZNSA contest have permits issued by the Metro and they are there for a purpose. ie to make sure equipment and items are safe for our surfers.
As you the generator of the above together with been a law enforment officer can maybe explain why at some times ( more than three times a day) there are not one or two maybe three Metro Police ( Traffic, Higjack) pratrol cars cruising the marine. They certainaly dont stop crime on the beach.
In closure KZNSA is doing it best to bring surfing back to Durban Beach front and our future is in our Groms (Devlopment) Without them the sport will not progress and certainly if they get a negative attitude from people that they should be looking upto, how do they grow into to be winners.
Note: One must realise that one day you will all have children and you will then also want the best for them to achieve their personel goal.
Lets share what has been given to us and by doing this all will prospure.

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Whale Shark skriks surfers at North Beach

19 February 2009, 11:07

Dabbling in a pretty measly 1-2ft slopp this morning surfers in Durban got the fright of their lives as a huge fin cruised past them and swam around the piers. The water cleared pretty quickly until the Sharks Board cam in and confirmed that it was in fact a whale shark that eats plankton and not little surfers...sheww. Got the heart pumping!

1 Comments so far:

warren on 19 February 2009

At least we now know how to clear the line up! LOL!!

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Kite surfers clashing with surfers

18 February 2009, 16:37

It seems as if surfers and kite surfers have clashed recently in Cape Town. I'm not understanding this completely, so if there are any Kite surfers out there who could explain this to me I'd appreciate it. Surely as steam gives way to sail, tow to paddle, and paddle to bathers, so kite should to paddle? A high powered kite traveling at speed through a line up full of surfers is an accident waiting to happen. Surely we can be sensible about our resource management before something gnarly goes down and the areas become heavily regulated?
John

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BOMBsurf issue 2 is in print!

17 February 2009, 14:06

Just a quick one to let all you BOMBsurf fans out there know that issue 2 of theBOMBsurf went into print this morning! It's looking absolutely insane!! This issue is gonna take pride of your coffee table for sure. Check out our latest cover below - now you gotta understand how mad it looks as an oversized DPS gatefold cover - trust me I was holding the proofs in my hands this morning.

For those of you who don't know, we've increased the print run to 2500 this issue, so it's still very exclusive and limited edition. To those of you who subscribed, but were not in the first 1000 subscribers for the first issue, you guys will definitely get issue 2 this time around.

There are still a couple of subscriptions left before the 2500 quota is filled so if you know of any surfers friends or family that would like a copy, please send them this link www.thebombsurf.com/pages/8 so they can get hooked up free too.

Just a reminder, if you've changed postal addresses in the last 3 months since the last issue came out, please mail us on crew@thebombsurf.com and we'll make sure we update your postal details.

We can't wait to see issue 2 come out of print, and we're sure neither can you!

Cheers

Iain

1 Comments so far:

Julie de Vries on 17 February 2009

KZN Surfing will be taking preventative measures to try and prevent conflict in the water with free surfers and contest surfers.

KZN Surfing is really working hard at the grass roots level and promoting more KZN Surfers into the contest arena.

Dairy is the ideal beach for contests as it has the pump house so judges are raised and the contestants can leave their bags etc in a relatively safe place while surfing.

When we have contests at Dairy - we book the beach and pay a fee to the Ethekweni municipality. Therefore giving our contest surfers the paid for right to surf there.

We have 100% respect for the New Pier locals and all free surfers that are surfing at New Pier, and recognise that this break

In future - we will be marking the beach at Dairy, and contest surfers will be informed to stay within the boundaries of Dairy and not surf New Pier.

Likewise we ask free surfers to stay on the New Pier side. Hopefully this wll help the situation.

KZN Surfing will also be employing a life guard to be on duty to keep free surfers out of their paid for area during contests.

We sincerely hope that this solution will benefit all surfers.

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Angry Locals

15 February 2009, 23:41

This Blog was sent to us by Dougal, an Addington local, who tells of a pretty nasty incident tht occurred last week....feel free to comment.

Howzit.

Whilst surfing on my own on Wednesday, I was scoring some sick waves by the 24hr takeaway on Addington beach on a dawny....loving life and so stoked for some good waves I was actually amped when a couple of the older generation surfers paddled out to join me to share the stoke.........however, much to my surprise when I greeted them with "good morning, howzit guys?".....they responded with "I wasn't a local and I shouldn't surf here.....this is locals only...." I was duely told to leave the water...!

Sickened by these un-necessary, absurd and pathetic remarks I responded with.....

"I buy surf magazines, I buy DVD's, I watch surf websites. I'm an avid fan of the ASPand follow it like a hawk and unreservidly supported S.A surfers, I spend all my disposable income on surfing, from petrol to leashes and wax or even the odd custom shape.
I'm a surf artist in my spare time and I am a loyal surfer to wave etiquette....no body has ownership of the ocean and let alone a wave unless its there turn, nobody worldwide has the power to stop someone on being out at sea to surf......until i drop in on you, snake you, show disrespect to you or am even rude to you you have no right to tell me to leave the water and go because I'm not local"

......aside the fact that I own a beach front flat and work within walking distance of here doesn't not make me local.....all with 3 guys out on a rich line up of left and right peaks every where....

Their response was rather heated, but exactly the same content as before......"not local, get out the water etc etc" .........poor show guys!

I went on to say that

" you guys need to get over yourselves and allow the basic worldwide laws of surfing shine through. you hadn't even made it to the back line before you both started to bleat your pathetic tones of we're the locals here, leave and be gone with you"
needless to say the dropping in and anger in the line up all came from them......its a shame they ruined their own surf with bad attitude rather than fly the flag of the aforementioned basic laws of surfing.....and all with only with 3 guys out!!

I expect more from the old masters of surf......shame on you old men!! where have you gone?

p.s. i've never seen these guys surf addington in all my years of surfing there...how's that!!

Dougal
Proud and law abiding worldwide surfer

18 Comments so far:

Roy on 16 February 2009

I was saddened to see a compo at Dairy yesterday with Jason Ribbink free surfing and dropping in on a grom (twice). The grom was surfing to get into second place. Jason you are a good dude and should know better, Please dont become a "Barry the bully of the grom"

Julian Faasen on 16 February 2009

This is bull! These okes need to catch a wake up or retire from surfing. If you're not capable of sharing the "free" ocean with others, then go find something else to do with your pathetic existence you muppets! (Are you going to ban others from joining your game of Bingo when you get really old??? Locals only....no Bing for you old chap!!!)

I do believe that "true" locals deserve some form of respect since they committ to certain breaks no matter what the conditions are. However, this does not give you the right to bar others from surfing a spot. If someone is pissing everyone off in the water, then give them a stern warning and take necessary action if all else fails. You okes beloing in old Nazi Germany or the apartheid days with that kind of attitude.

jean on 16 February 2009

my thoughts exactly bru two weeks ago at long beach here in the cape we had some guy on a plane wing catching everything before it was even a wave eventually after like 4 or five sets the guys started dropping out of pure frustration when i challenged the guy about not hogging everything with his board/sail boat what i got was "you dont know ze rules, you wanna take zis to da beach" we all laughed here was a german ballie telling us za rules sometimes i think its the older guys with bad attitudes and not the groms anymore i respect da boys dont get me wrong but how do we foster new talent if we dont allow them the waves.

Gary on 16 February 2009

I cannot believe that localism has gone on for as long as it has. Think about this as a hypothetical example to show how absurd the concept of localism is: I live in Florida Rd in Durbs. Some guy from greenpoint (for arguments sake) comes into Florida Rd (where I'm a "local" and he's not). If the principle of localsim has any validity, then I should have the right to tell him to get out of my road cos he's not from around here. "No you can't use the petrol station in my road, No you can't buy food from Steers cos you don't live here. In fact, don't even drive down my road my bru. F**ck off!" If you think that is acceptable, then "go localism!" If you have an iota of intelligence in your body, you will agree that this is ridiculous on land, and is just as ridiculous in the water.

Warren on 16 February 2009

Hey Dougal, it really saddens me to see that this trype of rubbish stiil goes on in the water. But rest in the knowledge that Karma will always come back and bite them on the ass when they least expect it. Keep up the stoke and try to remember not all the older generation balles are idoits. We're just not as flexible as we used to be. Aloha mate!

Trevor G on 16 February 2009

This whole locals only crap has got to stop! Showing respect to others is not a sign of weakness. Only when someone pulls in with a kak attitude or a deliberate I am better than you or @#$% you vibe,should one consider a firm word intended to enlighten the offender. Violence is a short term solution that has long term consequences.
Just because you can catch every set wave does not mean you have to. Longboarders and SUPs are becoming an issue when there is limited waves and crowds.They tend to hog the waves and escalate tension in the water. Locals are also guilty of claiming more than their fair share by virtue of their status.This becomes an issue and they then feel justified in enforcing their perception of the law. Do we really want to come to blows over a wave? Surely we need to leave the aggro on land. Why are we surfing? For me it is the purest way of leaving the crap of life on the beach for a while.By being a doos in the water, you show that you are probably a doos on land! Whether you are a young buck or old ballie, you are still a doos.
Carpe Diem.

mark on 16 February 2009

trevor g,on the button.
if you older generation surfers involved are reading this,maybe its time to be big enough and apologize to the man concerned.this might also go a long way to giving us all a bit of hope in this regard.make it better.

Azza07 on 16 February 2009

This is unfortunately a common occurence here in the Cape. Spots like Long Beach, Kalk Bay and Llandudno all have huge issues when it comes to localism with no respect for anyone else. Trevor G you are most certainly spot on. In fact just the other day a certain Kneeboarder and his midget local friend were causing some HUGE crap...At SANDY BAY, who is a local at Sandy Bay? (Well everyone knows exactly). Dont forget Surfers, there are a lot more guys showing respect than not, which means power in numbers...large numbers.

JDawg on 17 February 2009

Well said Trevor G....Maybe these so called old ballie locals aint getting anymore ***** ! (Keep it
tidy now, J-Dawg - I.E :) )

Mark Becks on 17 February 2009

Hey guys, I bodyboard as my 3 sons all took up this sport when I was surfing. I kept getting chased away from the bathing areas so decided to join them. I still get stoked when anyone, surfer, grom, boarder gets a good wave. There are supposed to be unwritten laws of the sea that we all know about. I have seen guys catch a bomb, and then kick out paddle back out to the line up and then hussle the guys on short boards and boogie boards for the next set which causes a lot of frustration. We are all here to share the water, but unless people change their attitude, its always going to put pressure on them. Twice on Sunday, I let the compo guys go, even when I was on the inside and had been waiting 15 minutes for the line up. I am not patting myself on the back guys, but it just takes one bad attitude in the water to get everyone swearing. I have also got involved in arguments before, so I am no saint, but its usually when someone with an attitude needs reminding of the unwritten laws. To those surfers, longboarders and bodyboarders that I get along with and share the water with, take a bow. To those same guys with suck attitudes, I feel sorry for you, karma has a habit of dishing out more than you give

JDog on 17 February 2009

Sorry there I.E could not help myself to include that...Ill keep it tidy
Iry Vibes

beyrick de vries on 17 February 2009

bru. it was the first swell of the year. and i am the grom that got, " dropped in on". jason is my surfboard sponsor and one of the oldest locals. and is out there when most of the other guys who snake and dont look back before taking off would just stand on the pier making excuses as to y they arent out there. guys. new pier is the most competitive surf break in south africa, even more so than Jbay. there is a hierachy out there that is half as intense as 5 otr ten years ago...if u cant handle the heat get out of the kitchen and go surf north beach. and if u are gonna paddle out at new pier when there is swell or even when there isnt swell, be prepared for the worst and that makes the stoke after you put the time in all day or even swell and eventually get that barrel of ur life and all the drop ins, snakes and that stuff is worth it. so if u are gonna be a soft c@CK then go dodge bodyboarders at north beach.
laka
beyrick de vries.

Fiona Chudleigh on 17 February 2009

"LOCALS ONLY" always confused me does that mean the person claiming LOCAL status has NEVER EVER surfed another spot????? Can't have your cake and eat it guys!!!!

Warren on 18 February 2009

Hey Beyrick, to some up that whole thesis you just wrote. "What a heap of c#$p!" If that is your honest feeling about how things work out there, (and you're not just smooshing up to your sponsor), and boys like you are the future of surfing, then God help us all. Sorry Mate.

TrevorG on 18 February 2009

Question for Beyrick, is your stated view limited to when you surf New Pier? What happens when you surf Supers? Do you then justify the hustle and bad vibe if you get snaked by a local with your mentality?
Another thing, people can and do get seriously hurt when drop-ins occur. Serious water injuries are very dangerous as drowning and neck injuries can often occur.Me thinks you need to ease off on the testesterone as you are not endearing yourself to too many people.
TrevorG

Julie de Vries on 18 February 2009

Beyrick! Your language! @

beyrick on 18 February 2009

hey guys.

didnt mean to come across like that.
what i meant to say is that i have been surfing new pier for years and since i was a little lighty, we have been brought up to know that the elders, locals and ballies that have been surfing new pier forever and deserve respect. there are often beginners out there and new pier is not really a beginners wave. we are fortunate in durban to have lots of spots to surf and there are lots of places where beginners can go. so what i was saying or trying to say is that if u want to surf new pier, then u should be able to handle the intensity of new pier and its charecteristics of the break. most groms are aware of the rules and the pecking order out at new pier and jbay for that matter, we may occassionally take waves we shouldnt, but everyones human. on sunday there was a norhswell club contest and we were meant to surf dairy beach, but the temptations of surfing the first swell at the new pier overcame us and we anded up sitting out behind the pier. so basically we created our own problems and we understood when we got burnt.
sorry if i came across as high testeronish haha.
cheers
beyrick.

TrevorG on 20 February 2009

Message to Beyrick, fully understand your pride and sense of place in the grand scheme of things, Please back this up with good karma and channel your energies into minimizing the degradadation of our precious beaches and sea. The biggest challenge we face is pollution and all surfers are affected. I do not want to surf in a toilet!!
No worries mate.

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Establishing a SA Surfing Heritage Foundation

15 February 2009, 20:56

This blog entry is a forum for comments on John Whittle's appeal for interested people to join together to form an SA Surfing Heritage Foundation. If you want to read the full story on our news page click here, or if you have read the letter and want to comment, please do so below.

2 Comments so far:

Paul Botha on 16 February 2009

Well done to John, Arthur and others in setting in motion the formation of a South African Surfing Heritage Foundation. This country's long surfing history and contribution to the expansion of surfing globally deserves to be preserved, presented and promoted. The example set by Dick Metz and the trustees of the American SHF provide an excellent guideline for how this can be achieved.

I would be stoked to be involved in this initiative and urge everyone in the surfing community, both here and internationally, to support this worthwhile project.

Paul Botha

TrevorG on 23 February 2009

I did not bother to comment on the formation of a South African surfing heritage foundation purely due to it being such a no brainer.When I read the John Whittle interview, I was stunned by his despondancy and lack of support from all players in the fraternity.Dare I say that many have become wealthy from the popularity of our lifestyle.How much of this windfall has been channelled back into the origins of the sport?
A heritage is as much something of the future as the recognition of our past. I am sorry to say this, but surfing has not exactly been a active protector of our environment. We number over a hundred thousand active/past participants, yet we have been unable to make a difference in any of a number of contentious issues. Vetchies being the most recent example.
Perhaps I am simplistic, but believe that if we do not become a unified body of committed activists, the combination of development, pollution and global warming will result in a severely degraded environment not conducive to ANY form of recreation.
We need a body that will represent us and I believe that the establishment of such a foundation will be the ideal vehicle.Another important component could be the formation of local chapters that document the unique contribution of the regional pioneers. This will enhance the overall inclusivity of the sport.

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Keeping it tidy

15 February 2009, 14:52

If you read the comment below on the blog about Ponta, Anton raises his concerns about hyping and exposing certain spots, and you know what he's right! We're sometimes guilty of exposing certain spots in our quest to share the stoke. I guess its about finding a balance. We'll take our scolding and from now on don't worry we'll keep it tidy.
John

1 Comments so far:

Ben on 17 February 2009

Hi, did anyone else what the monumental f*#k up that happens at ponta during the dec season on 50/50 last night. I am embarrased to call myself south african when i see what stupid, short sighted up country petrol heads on land and sea are doing to ponta, the dunes and roads leading into this amazing place. Are we as surfers not also adding to this balls up in our constant quest to find new and unspoilt waves and then share the stoke. Would ponta be as busy today if the vaalies had found it out for themselves. Sure the divers and fisherman must also shoulder a big portion of the blame in polluting the area and forcing developers to build on pristine dunes to cater for our accomodation. As surfers we have the least impact on the sea in comparison to fisherman and divers so please guys, no tow - ins at ponta, if you cannot paddle in, tough luck. The resident 250 or so dolphins that call that bay home are being driven away by the sound of these engines, sure the vallies might still come and be pricks but we can set examples by reducing ocean noise and pollution. Think about it..........

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New Pier comes back to life

14 February 2009, 20:58

Finally today after what seems like months the New Pier awoke from its really, really long slumber. The locals were literally frothing to get slotted. The boys battled the rip, but the barrels were worth the struggle. Stand out barrels have to go to Shane Thorne and Simon Nicholson, but the Mega Barrel award goes to Graeme Bird. I was on his outside and watched him claw his way down the face of a beast before it unloaded on the shallow sandbar. It spat so hard from the back it was almost unbelievable. The screams and hoots on the North Beach pier lasted for at least 30secs after the wave. What a ride! Flip I hope there are some more of those tomorrow...
John

3 Comments so far:

Anton Engler on 15 February 2009

Looking back at the previous blog and forecast...what is wrong with you guys? I know Ponta is not a secret spot, but those who have been surfing it for the past decade have done this relatively quietly, enjoying those fickle rewards when they come. Not shouting from the rooftops like a bunch of idiots and making a huge deal of it when it breaks. All surfers share the joy of the ocean, but there is a common code of respect and discreetness involved when it comes to certain places. This is not New Pier or J-bay. But it looks like some magazines, Spike, and now you guys are intent on making it that way. It's just short-sighted gain for you and a few others that smacks of selfishness and disrespect to all the other guys who have also been surfing here for years and years. Leave the hype at home and rather bring a good attitude and your patience because if you surf Mozambique much, you'll need it.
Aloha
Ant

mark on 16 February 2009

howzit anton,whilst i hear you i feel that the fact that you are reading these articles and blogs in the first place is to glean/attain
info for your next semi secret spot assault which actually applies
to every surfer i know.there are not many of us that just up and go
and hope for the best because of limited time and resources so we need to obviously do our homework.how do we do our homework,?
whether its fisherman,googleearth,magazines,other surfers etc we get help,assess and maybe go and score.is this selfish,i think not. perhaps you are being selfish for not wanting to share it but then expecting to share waves everywhere else you go where you did not pioneer.the perceived ownership of a surfspot is shortsighted , selfish and is also all about personal gain.but yeah maybe it was hyped up a bit but thats what "stoke" is,its difficult to contain but its not necessarily bad attitude or disrepect to the locals.to me selfishness,b.a. and disrespect only apply to that one bloke who hogs the lineup and wants to own every wave no matter where.take it easy.

Jdog on 17 February 2009

mellow out Ant, I reckon most folks in S.A cannot just drop there 9-5 job .....to mission up to Ponta and get waves, some lucky flexible workers can...good for them and for you if you can.

The same as when Vlees is working in the Cape.....people might know when it is going to happen, but if its midweek how many are going to make it to surf there if they need to make a living. Once again the flexible will score and good for them whoever they may be.

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48 hours of Ponta Perfection

11 February 2009, 22:41

Whew! What a trip. It's incredible to think that we've been to Mozambique and back in less than 48 hours. We left at 3am Tuesday morning, got to the border as it opened and were surfing the point by 9.30am. It wasn't the best of days but was a good loosener for what was to come. Tuesday afternoon we surfed the Shorie and then made the pilgrimage to Fernando's bar for the customary R&R.

Ryan Ribbink of Bink surftours organised a motley crew of Durban surfers, drove us up there and checked us into the styling accommodation at Kaya Kweru. Now I have to mention at this point that there's a few things that are essential when visiting Ponta on a cyclone surf mission as far as accommodation goes. 1. Aircon. 2. Big portions of tasty chow. 3. Swimming pool. Kaya Kweru has all 3 in abundance. Stoked!

So we wake up to absolute cooking surf - 3-5ft, lots of sand on the point and Spring low tide at 10am. Perfect Ponta. The boys surfed and surfed and surfed until they could surf no more, only coming in to chow and re-hydrate. The groms on this trip Beyrick, Matt Pallet and James Maddox thrived on their first ever trip to Ponta and everyone got waves. Some of the longest rides of our lives from behind the bricks at the top, all the way into the bay, racing over the shallow sandbar, a steep little section with the odd barell and then, if your legs could still carry you, a rippable wall all the way into the channel right at the far end of the bay.

By the time we hit the border on our way out this evening, there were 13 red eyed, stiff shouldered, chaffed, sunburned and thoughroughly stoked surfers.

We'll be back at Ponta very often in the coming month, that's for sure. It's a world class point, with world class accommodation and great people. The stoke tanks are filled to capacity once again!

The groms, Beyrick, James and ....hey Matt where you going bru... the photos back there.

5 Comments so far:

vino on 12 February 2009

Looking forward to receive more people.
at the end all will be saying :
"WHAT HAPPENS IN PONTA STAYS IN PONTA"

Badger on 12 February 2009

Perfect Ponta you say...but not a single photo. What happened, was everyone surfing and no-one prepared to ching for camera duty? I have a friend like that, we went to Tofu and he came in because he was sunburnt, while the rest of us surfed 3 -5 ft punchy waves until we had noodle arms. Zero footage of that session...very disappointing indeed.

mark snowball(broken ballie) on 12 February 2009

we packed in so many waves(not me though),laughs,beers
and good times into 48 hours that it felt like a long trip.
but i am a broken ballie today.thanks so much to all the
crew concerned for a great experience.
it was a short but very sweet trip.you guys were ripping.
i reckon i had the longest wave of my 34 year surfing career once
i stood up on one when i nearly blew the takeoff.so stoked again.
take it easy.

beyrick on 13 February 2009

did u guys get waves?

mark on 14 February 2009

lightie,did u get the milk out of the fridge?

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To go or not to go...

8 February 2009, 22:30

To go or not to go...

I'm having the funniest discussion right now with Spike from Wavescape. For years now I've called him before any of my major surf mission I go on. In the days before you pull the trigger on a mission you always second guess yourself. Will it be on or will I get skunked? Will the expense in cash and time be worth the waves I get? These thoughts fill your mind until you can't think about anything else. So I always phone Spike to give me some peace of mind, to comfort me and reassure me that I'm making the right decision. Spike talks in soothing tones filled with scientific jargon about swell angles, fetch, period, refraction, wind speed and a hundred other things and then calmly and confidently sends me on my way. I always feel better having spoken to him and somehow find it easier to commit to the airfare and other expenses after our little chat. This time though the roles are reversed. I reckon based on my own humble surf forecasting talents (I can just about read wavescape and windguru and thats about it) that Southern Moz is going to cook this week. Spike has been desperately wanting to sample some of this cross border perfection I always rave about, but now he has to make a call that involves airfares, cash and time. He's changed his mind three times already and I'm still not sure what he's going to do. I think my soothing tones are not that soothing and he does'nt trust my forecasting ha, ha. We'll just have to wait and see.
John

1 Comments so far:

beyrick on 9 February 2009

myself and patt mallet are going to ponto with bink on tuesday. heard a rumour that nicky G myt head up that way too. pumped.

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Rainy summer missions

4 February 2009, 22:31

I arrived at theBOMBsurf Global HQ aka "theBOMBshelter", pretty excited. We had been looking at the charts and had planned a mission to one of our favourite point breaks a couple hours out of town. I'm barely through the door when John tunes me "You must check the crew I've got lined up for today's mission!" Turns out my esteemed partners has rustled up a veritable who's who of surfing to join us on this particular mission. As he says this the doorbell rings and Dr. Philip Chapman, well documented in surf mags for his exploits in Indo and Tazzie's Shipsterns bluff, steps into theBOMBshelter.
We climb into the trusty X-trail and John tells me the rest of the crew are waiting for us, just across town. We pull up outside and there's one Jordy Smith, Travis Logie, Photographers extraordinaire Craig Kolesky and Rich Hamblock, and one of Jordy's american friends, better known as Grog (wonder why?)

Two hours later we've arrived and we're suiting up. The local custodian of the surf spot we're at, Trevor, saunters over to greet us and catch up. He's a cool guy and he always looks after us when we're in this neck of the woods. He is pretty stoked to meet Jordy, which you'd think is strange from a middle aged, rural, african man - but Trevor was so stoked and is obviously a fan. I'm still trying to figure out exactly how Jordy's fame has spread to this remote place, but i guess that's the power of the surfing media and the influence it has, seeping even into rural africa.

The wave was a fun sloping 3-4ft, with some bigger sets every now and again. It was bit wonky in places, but some really good sections linking up and making for some solid rides, some fast sections and even a cover up or two. Jordy and Travis just surfed ridiculously. On one wave, Travis went pretty much upside down right in the jaws of a stupidly hollow pocket, then hooked the tail around, landed it and smashed the next section to pieces, all on his backhand. Jordy, besides thrashing every turn and boosting like a man possessed, on one set wave was heading for a gnarly looking closeout section that looked like it was going to eat him whole and he just floated over the entire section for at least 15 feet. Mad!

The Doc, John, Grog and myself all got some really good rides too - it was inspiring to be out there! On one hand these guys are just normal, stoked surfers like you and me....on the other hand, they re just complete freaks.

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Making the call, part 2

3 February 2009, 15:00

Blog 10 – North Atlantic

Making calls was the heading of my last blog but it's also the start
to this one because we just made a dandy!

It's wasn't easy sitting in Los Angeles at Reg's place with my
girlfriend Kate and looking at a computer trying to make a call on
whether or not to head halfway around the world chasing surf while
having to send her home at the same time.

But the Pacific was looking shithouse and the Atlantic was just lining
up swells and my new job for Billabong is to make sure that I'm
getting waves so....I'm really sorry baby, it's been a great month
together travelling the coast of California but I have to go.

Luckily she is the best girlfriend ever and as always was totally
supportive, so I dropped her off at the airport to fly 30 hours home
and I went to the next terminal and jumped on a flight with Greg to
Europe. This was exciting for me because I've never surfed the North
Atlantic before and one of my passions in life is to surf new spots.

We arrived at the airport at 6am and had planned to meet our new
friends Mickey, Fergal, Tom and Pete for a surf first thing in the
morning. Luckily everything went smoothly and we found ourselves
surfing 12-15ft slabs just a few hours after getting off the plane.
This was a baptism of fire and started a week long crusade to find and
surf some of the heaviest slabs in the world in an area that is as
beautiful and friendly as any other I have been to before.

The boys looked after us like gold and the only downer of the trip was
Tom dislocating his shoulder during a particularly heavy wipeout, but
as we all know that's the price you sometimes pay in our line of work.

You know how sometimes you just feel a natural belonging when you go
to a new place? This area was defiantly one of those, the countryside,
the people and the waves all felt very familiar and homely. I guess it
could be that both South Africa and this country have had a tumultuous
past and have both had an amazing recovery in the past 10-15 years and
that we have the same mindset. Or it could be that like South Africans
they have a natural aversion to negative thinking that makes every
situation fun to be involved with even if it is a bad one. Or it could
just be that the weather is so similar to the Cape of storms that if
you are not upbeat and positive you would slip into a nightmare of a
time.

But If I am allowed one complaint it would have to be the
cold....Europe in Jan/Feb is not warm and on more than one occasion we
had to scrape ice off our car and break chunks off the Jet Ski before
we could go surfing in the morning. And if you have ever surfed in
below zero conditions you will know what it's like to drag yourself
out of bed before dawn and pull on a still wet wetsuit to paddle out
at a surf spot that has snow on the hill overlooking it, hell on earth
that requires some expert wetsuit management...ha ha

But besides that it was an amazing trip and we scoured the coastline
from north to south and found the most incredible slabs in amongst the
wind and weather. To say it was a successful mission is an
understatement and I'm pretty sure the fruits of our call will be seen
in the pages of magazines around the world.

Oh and I almost forgot, the boys can drink to, like true Saffas!! We
had a bit of a competition on our last night in town and I lost, or
did I win, I can't really remember but it was howler.

Thanks guys it was a special.

And now it's back to the USA to sit out the last month of the Eddie
waiting period, so stay tuned because it's now down to the wire.

See ya
Twig

1 Comments so far:

gumby on 4 February 2009

living the dream

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Only a surfer knows the feeling

1 February 2009, 21:18

I finally convinced my gorgeous wife to come surfing with me. After 3 years of subtle persuasion she finally agreed to give it a go. Saturday was a stunning day in Durbs. Hot, windless and a little playful wave breaking at the cradle of Durban's surfing talent - the Addington shorebreak.

It was jam packed at the beach, there were groms, auties, babies, grannies, ballies, mom's, ice-cream ladies, paddleskiers, lifeguards, surfskiers, snorkellers, longboarders, Stand up paddle boarders, boogie boarders and of course all the learner surfers. It was a perfect beach day and everyone was down there enjoying it. Even Jonty Rhodes, his wife and kids were down there surfing!

My wife is a strong swimmer and an avid body surfer, so she knows the ocean and she knows how to catch waves. She's just never tried to catch them standing up on a surfboard. I got her onto a 7" Warren Loom special "H Bomb" board and swam out with her. There was a gentle wave breaking and as the tide drained, formed a nice little 1 ft wave.

For the first 15 minutes she was a little scared. I pushed her into a couple and she rode the foamie, struggling to her feet, then falling off. After that it was all down hill - once she tapped into the rhythm of the ocean, she was getting up easily, hooting with joy and revelling in the experience. A guy on the beach waded into the water gave her a few tips, they laughed, she paddled out for more. We surfer for 2 hours after that and I was so stoked that she enjoyed the experience.

We returned from the beach, sunburned, tired but stoked. I'm so glad she got to experience surfing and the amazing feeling of riding a wave. I'm sure it won't be the last time either.

Iain

3 Comments so far:

Warren on 2 February 2009

Hey Iain, glad to see she got a few "bombs" ! Looks like she's hooked. Keep up the good work.

Surette on 2 February 2009

Hey Iain

Stoked you got your wife in the water! Better watch out though - soon you'll be cooking the supper at home..........
ha ha ha - note left in kitchen: "Honey gone surfing!"

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