Cape Town blog 2
On Monday the 16
th the TTRide team woke up early because we had heard rumors that a great offshore wind would be blowing. An offshore wind blows from the land out to sea and combs the waves, which causes the swell to be very smooth and to ride a lot better.
We arrived at the beach to exactly what we were hoping for. A north-westerly offshore wind was pumping (surfers slang for something excellent) so we suited up, waxed up our boards and got into the ocean with some great speed for the mornings first lesson.
The lesson went very well. We got in a solid 2 ½ hours of really fun surfing and then back to shore for some well deserved lunch. After that we had a power chow (another South African slang word for food) and then headed on out for the second lesson of the day in some of the best conditions I have ever seen at Muizenberg Beach. The TTRide group had such a fun session and I could see some real surf stoke setting in!
On Tuesday the team got up rather early hoping for another day of epic waves but Neptune wasn’t on our side so we decided to make our way towards Cape Town city bowl and hike 1088 meters up the newly crowned 7
th natural wonder of the world, the infamous and truly beautiful Table Mountain.
The hike was long and challenging, but everyone made it to the top in 1h15min. I don’t know about you, but an hour and fifteen up a 1 kilometer mountain is pretty impressive! Once we had summated we enjoyed lunch at “Shop at the Top” and then caught the rather pleasant cable-car ride back down to the where the van was parked. After we touched down at the base of the mountain we headed back to Muizenberg for an afternoon free-surf.
On Wednesday morning, we headed off to Lifestyle Surf Shop where everyone was very excited to be buying their very first surfboards! It started off with me giving the group a talk on surfboards, which included a bit of history on surfing and the surfboard evolution, the different types of surfboards (longboards, minimals, fishes and shortboards), fins, tails, rails and nose shapes, board sizes and of course what would be the perfect boards for the group to buy to optimize their surfing progression throughout the next 4-6 weeks.
With brand new sticks (“stick” surfers slang for a surfboard) under their arms and grins ear-to-ear, the TTRide crew headed off for yet another super fun surf on their new boards for the very first time! The group found their new boards challenging at first but everyone still had a fun session. We got out of the surf and headed to the shops for some lunch and then off to Klein Constantia, a wine farm in Cape Town that is very well known for excellent wines. There, the group was given a very informative wine tour and delicious tasting of what South Africa has to offer in the wine industry.
On Thursday, once again everyone got up bright and early because the forecast for the day looked promising. The surf lesson was a great success. The ladies had started to gain confidence and all paddled out to backline where the bigger, steeper and more challenging waves break. Klee and I were very impressed at how they all handled themselves out there!! Well done girls J After a quick lunch we headed over to Masi, a township near Kommetjie where roughly 100,000 people live in shacks and informal dwellings.
We got to Masi in time for the local kids’ soccer (football) training where the group helped train the kids and played a game against them afterward. A lot of the TTRide crew were very surprised to see these little guys’ ball skills and what they could do with a soccerball! It was a great afternoon for the local kids as well as “ours”.
We headed back to the backpackers for a quick shower and to spruce up and get dressed for a night out on the town in the bright and vibrant Long Street, to experience Cape Town’s bustling nightlife.
Friday started off late as the group had a well deserved lie in after all the surfing, hiking and a night out on the town. We then headed off to explore the V&A Waterfront next to Cape Town harbor where the TTRide group got to shop around and spend some more time in Cape Town central soaking up the South African culture.
Klee took the group out for their surf on Saturday morning. The swell had dropped off and the waves were quite small but this enabled the group to be a little bit more daring with their wave selection and the boys were starting to experiment with some turns. Off to lunch at “Kalkies” in Kalk Bay harbor just around the corner from Muizenberg. Kalk Bay is also home to the famous surf spot named "Kalk Bay Reef". This is renowned for heavy barrels and the associated shallow reef, a spot where TTRide’s Chris Bond is known to be seen getting “shacked” (surfer’s term for getting barreled).
On Saturday night, the group missioned (surfer’s term for “going out”) back into Cape Town central to enjoy some of the local Cape Town bands and live music for their 2nd last night in Cape Town.
For their last day in Cape Town the group free-surfed all day in some calm and perfect Muizenberg conditions. It’s incredible to see how the group has progressed in just 10 days from being pushed onto their first wave to paddling out and catching the waves all on their own. The TTRide surfers headed back to the backpackers to pack up their things in preparation to leave Cape Town and head onto our next destination, Plettenberg Bay.
The past couple of days in Cape Town have been awesome and we have managed to squeeze in so many activities! Klee and I are both really stoked to see how well the group is taking to surfing and the “stoke” that they are showing for the sport already.
I hope that you enjoyed reading the blog!!
Chad