Surfing South African Style

Sorry for the delay in posting this blog. It has been constant motion since we left Jeffreys Bay, and I am just now getting to the computer.

Cape St. Francis and Jeffreys Bay are synonymous with epic waves. The design of the coastline and the angle of the bays allow swells to wrap in and peel down the points. We were in the area for just over a week, and I got lucky to catch fun surf at Cape St. Francis and a really good summer swell at Jeffreys Bay. On the best day, it was double over head, and the biggest waves would break for about five hundred yards. The best part of the swell only lasted two days, but the waves I caught were worth the wait, and the trip to see why this place is such a surfer's dream.

We spent our first two days in a nice B & B in Cape St. Francis. This time of year, the area is really quiet. The school holiday crowd is gone and there are just not that many people who head to the coast when the weather is nice (about 80 degrees and sunny with afternoon wind). It was so quiet that a lot of the stores and restaurants were closed or on reduced hours. We had a fun time exploring the area and chasing the best waves between the point breaks and the bay. Both Mat and Charlie were able to get in the water here and really had fun surfing in Africa. Supposedly it is not very sharky here, but one point is called "Shark Point", and the surf reports say to get out of the water quickly if you cut yourself. So who knows? I didn't see any sharks while we were surfing, but when we went out on a fishing boat, the other guy on our boat caught a nice three-footer.

In Jeffrey's Bay, we had a house that was directly across from the Supertubes break, one of the best breaks in world. On the day we arrived, there were no waves but the forecast said a new swell was due by the end of the week. My brother Chris flew out from Colorado and met us here. We spent the first few days checking out the town and going to some of the local attractions. We went Sand boarding on the nearby dunes, the Zip Lines Tour at Tsitskikama Falls, the Monkeyland Sanctuary, and the Birds of Eden Sanctuary. During this downtime, it was fun to spend time with my brother, who I usually only get to see twice a year. Sally enjoyed catching up on some reading, helping the boys with their projects, and cooking some wonderful meals. We made great progress on the schoolwork front, and the boys are putting their experiences to good use. Mat completed a nice research paper on Nelson Mandela, and Charlie enjoyed reading the abridged version of Nelson Mandela's autobiography, "The Long Walk to Freedom".

The swell arrived as they said, and the next few days revolved totally around surfing. Unfortunately, the afternoon wind usually messed up the late session, but the morning sessions were epic with only about ten to fifteen guys out at each break. Most everyone was local, so I did my best not to be a pest and gave plenty of waves away. I caught my fair share and really wished I had someone here to surf with. The swell was too big and the break too strong for the boys, so I surfed alone. The worst part about these waves are the rocks. The entire coastline is sharp rock covered with barnacles and urchins, so getting in and out of the water was very tricky. Big kudos again to my brother in law Bill Gassett for setting me up with the Vibram Foot Gloves. These things really paid off on this trip, especially in Jeffrey's Bay. This was our last time on the coast, so I hooked up with the Billabong surf shops and got a pretty good deal to sell them all my stuff. Thanks again to Mike Dolsey for hooking me up the surfboards, and I look forward to buying similar ones when I get back to the States. Next stop Kruger National Park and our four day safari.