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BMT Rankings 7 February 2010 |
| Who blew up? |
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1. Roxy Towhill.
Roxy has a long line of surfing credits to her name. She’s a surf diva, instructor, coach and multiple surf title holder. Recently she added another feather to her cap by becoming the first SA woman to paddle surf Sunset. She paddled out with a friend but as they got out to the back all the crew that were already out there decided to head in, leaving her and her friend alone on the infamous big wave reef. It was super sketch and scary for them but true to form Roxy managed to catch a few waves and in so doing has showed a generation of frothing female surfers that women’s surfing in Cape Town needn’t be limited to the mellow waves of Muizenberg and Long Beach. Nice work sister!
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2. Lauren Schreiber.
Lauren is one of our BOMBshells (check out http://www.thebombsurf.com/pages/382/bombshell-lauren-schreiber). She lives and surfs in Durban and for her sins she agreed to help us out with a shoot we needed to do this weekend. The shoot is for a top secret digital application that we’re developing (more about that soon) and we had to complete it before Monday morning. This meant shooting through the afternoon on Sunday. Lauren had to do a variety of things for the camera but the shot that took the most time was of her fully decked out in a 4/3 fullsuit, booties, gloves and hoodie. As anyone who was in Durban yesterday will tell you it was by far the hottest day of the year with temperatures soaring into the mid to higher 30’s. Despite being clad in rubber for 101 takes from every different angle she maintained her sense of humour and nailed the shot. Nice one Lauren and thank you!
"You might need these to cut me out of that suit, John"
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3. Bart Willems.
Up until a short while ago we’d never heard of Bart Willems, yet he’s made the BMT rankings 2 weeks in a row. This hard charging Capetonian who last week made the BMT for swimming from Alcatraz Prison Island back to san Francisco harbour clocks in again this week with a cool session at Mavericks. There have been a lot of cool sessions at Mavericks this year but what makes this one special is that by filming it with a Go Pro camera he takes us all along for the ride, effectively sharing the magic of the place with most of us who will never get to surf there. Way to go bru, thank you!
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| And who blew it? |
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1. Euro-trash kiteboarders and windsurfers at Elands.
I sense a storm brewing here. We’ve heard repeated complaints of windsurfers and kiteboarders riding through the lineup at Elands risking serious injury to surfers waiting for waves or paddling back out. These guys who blow in for our windy summers and the relative value of the euro rand exchange are becoming an increasing menace in the lineup at Elands and seem to have scant respect for the local surfers... Mmmm.....not good. Last week it happened again with Surfing Doctors founder Phil Chapman amazed at what he witnessed, he reckoned there were about 50 sails out there. Basically it’s just an accident waiting to happen.
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2 The SA Minerals and Energy Department.
Aaah we’ve heard this one before. Pick a beautiful spot on OUR coastline that is rich in mineral resources, grease some sleazy politicians hand, shaft an impoverished local community and then sell the F@#*%G rights to another government to plunder at will! I ask you with tears in my eyes what the hell is going on here?
The East London Herald reported last week that the Legal Resources Centre (LRC), acting for the AmaDiba Trust which comprises members of the affected communities at Xolobeni in the Transkei issued a statement slamming the granting of a licence to Australian mining group Transworld Energy Minerals (TEM) to mine heavy minerals on the pristine dunes at Xolobeni, on the Wild Coast, saying it was “clearly improper and ought to be withdrawn”.
The appeal documents claim that the Minerals and Energy Department failed to co-operate with other departments as required, blatantly ignored objections to the proposed mining project and failed entirely to implement its own statutory requirements for the issuing of mining licences.
The community is appealing against the department’s decision to grant TEM the mining licence.
The LRC, on behalf of the trust, will make oral submissions to the Minerals and Mining Development Board which will sit in Durban early next week.
The LRC says the mining right should never have been granted because:
The Xolobeni area was part of a protected marine area and mining required the written permission of the minister of minerals and energy, the provincial MEC and the minister of environmental affairs and tourism. Such written permission was never provided. In fact, the department had completely ignored serious objections and concerns raised by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, including its concern that mining could negatively affect the adjacent Mkambati Nature Reserve.
The mining would cause unacceptable pollution, and environmental degradation and damage.
No community resolution was passed authorising mining activities on the land.
The public consultation process undertaken by TEM was a “sham” and not in line with statutory requirements.
The environmental impact assessment undertaken by TEM was severely deficient in that it had failed to provide key environmental reports, including baseline reports, had failed to consider and assess alternative land uses, and had not assessed cumulative impacts.
TEM’s application to mine the area had also been fatally flawed. For instance, the group had never provided proof of its technical and financial ability to mitigate and rehabilitate relevant environmental impacts.
TEM had ignored requests from the Minerals and Energy Department for required information, including a detailed mining plan setting out the mine design and proposed infrastructure, water reticulation plans to manage environmental degradation, and rehabilitation plans.
Seriously how are these ous?
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3. The Saturday morning New Pier Crowd.
There is a tradition in Durban on a Saturday morning that goes something like this: Anyone who owns anything that floats is obligated to start their weekend by paddling out for a morning surf at New Pier. The longer and thicker the board the better, though kneeboarders, Alaia riders and the occasional bodyboarder are also deemed acceptable modes of clogging the lineup. We all contribute to the problem so there is an unspoken acceptance of each others presence in the water. Despite the crowded lineup it is for the most part peaceful, if a little chaotic. Like lemmings we get in early and surf until breakfast time, when there is a mass exodus to the North Beach Wimpy or the Durban Surf Coffee Shop. This Saturday was different though. I arrived in the car park to find it buzzing as usual but empty in the water. A slight easterly chop on a perky 3-4’ SE groundswell guarded by a sentinel of bluebottles lining the beach. Only 4 guys out at The New Pier! What? I rushed out there to find these guys in the middle of a wave glut in broad daylight. We surfed for an hour and a half before the onshore killed it, but what waves we had. To all the weekenders who I usually have to share it with I dunno where you were but you blew it! |
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This weeks Bombshell is the
tantalizing surfer chick, Donna. |
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