Muizenberg is arguably the best place to learn to surf in the world, the beginner friendly waves are second to none we reckon. Every week 100’s of surfers, SUP’s, longboarders and beach goers flock to Muizenberg to enjoy the beachfront with its vibey restaurants, apartments, surf shops, sandy beach and coastline walkway. This little hub became our home for 12 days staying right out in front of the beach at the African Soul Surfer backpackers.
Like I said, Muizenberg is arguably the best wave in the world to learn how to surf in and thats exactly what we came to do. Most guys who join our trips have very limited or no surfing experience and it is the very reason we start our trip at the very beginner friendly Muizenberg Beach. This is not to say the more experienced surfers aren’t catered for. Very nearby we have a number of more advanced waves, namely; Danger Reef, Kalk Bay, The Hoek, Dunes and Long Beach (home to Jarred Veldhuis, our trip leader, head coach and provincial representative for the Western Province Surf Team where he is the no.1 seed in the mens division heading into the SA Champs later this year). So there is something for surfers of all levels on our trips. On this particular trip there are only beginner surfers and so Muizenberg suited us just fine. The waves at Muizenberg are flatter (less steep) and crumbly breaking onto a soft sand bottom with very limited power relative to most waves in the area, allowing riders lots of time to pop-up properly and set their balance and line on a wave. Muizenberg on its day though can be a very formidable wave and be quite challenging which is great for really testing out the groups skills as they improve. Everybody showed plenty of promise in the first few lessons, with us slowly tweaking out bad habits formed from years of skiing, snowboarding and surfing without any real coaching. We surfed almost twice a day on most days and the fitness element of the trip really started to take its toll on the guys, fortunately we had a few onshore days where we got plenty rest while exploring everything else Cape Town has to offer.
Soon the group started to really get the hang of things and were much fitter and stronger, now paddling past the breakers and trying their hand at the backline and open faced waves. The stoke really started to come through now, it’s difficult to explain the feeling of catching and riding your very first open face wave and there were smiles all around. It’s an incredible feeling for coaches alike who work hard in preparing the guys and seeing the collective hard work pay off in the water is the reason we love what we do, we know first hand how positively surfing can impact someones life and this small milestone is what often starts it all .
The guys are well prepared going forward towards Plett and Jbay where the waves will be a real step up and it’s a challenge we’re all looking forward to. The coaching continues throughout with some of South Africa’s best and most experienced coaches joining us along the way. We try and film and take pictures of every session providing video and picture feedback to the riders helping them visualise their surfing and target their weaker areas and is a very useful coaching tool. The other benefit of all this footage is we get to make fun little edits of what we’ve been up to in the water, I hope you enjoy this one I put together of the guys in Muizenberg.
Till next time 🙂
Luke