Hi all and welcome back to Ballito…
The past few days has seen quite a bit of swell on the east coast. The howling north-easterly winds from the beginning of the week have managed to kick up quite a bit of east swell and the Durban crew have been all over it!
On Wednesday we awoke to the last of the really stiff onshore breezes. By the time we had made the drive from Ballito into Durban, the wind had dropped off completely and in no time at all the offshore began cleaning up the surf. We decided to enjoy a few rides at the Wet ‘n Wild water park while we waited for the fresh westerly to groom the waves into something a little friendlier to ride. By lunch time the tide had begun to fill and the wind had done a great clean-up job on the surf so we waxed up our boards and headed out for our first official surf in Durban!! The waves in Durban are a big step-up from the mellow point breaks we’ve been treated to over the past few weeks, but fortunately for us, the tide was on our side and the waves came gently crumbling into the bay at uShaka beach, which was perfect for the guys to get a feel for the new conditions. We made the most of the wave-window that the tide had provided and surfed all the way to sunset. Ollie got to give his new board a go, which he paddled over a few considerable sets during his session. Emma gave the Ticket to Ride spitfire a try to see how she would cope on a shorter board. In all it was a classic little session and a great introduction to surfing in Durban.
Thursday was results day for most of our crew so no one was going anywhere in the morning. The guys waited nervously to get their marks and hear how their University applications had gone, which, fortunately came back very positive for everybody. This was the day that everyone had been waiting for with great apprehension, so to get a good result was a big relief. And what better way to celebrate a good result than with a good surf! We all piled into the van and headed back into Durban to try and catch the high tide again. We stopped off along the way to pick up Emma’s new board, which had just come back from being sprayed. When you see someone dancing on the spot when their new board is being unveiled, you know that they’re stoked with what they see! After that it was off to the beach to catch a few waves.
As I mentioned on one of my earlier entries, Durban has got the great little bonus of being able to jump off the piers instead of paddle out from the beach and our crew were about to get a taste of how we do things Durban-style! There’s no real skill to jumping off the pier, as most of it just involves falling, but there are a few precautions that one needs to take before plunging off the edge so we had a quick safety chat on the pier before I helped each of the guys jump into the line-up. The wind was quite strong and the waves had picked up so we didn’t stay in for too long, but it was nice to see the guys out in the Durban line-up during a good swell.
Yesterday we headed back down into Durban to check on the waves. They were absolutely perfect!! Big round barrels came powering down the sand bar at New Pier and the Durban crew were all over it! Unfortunately we had to be content with watching the waves, as they were just way too big for the guys to paddle out in.
For lunch we got stuck into a popular Durban delicacy, the Bunny Chow, before heading back down to the beach to see how the conditions were looking. The onshore had picked up again and with the fresh swell the sea looked big and messy so we decided to give it a miss for the afternoon.
While we did forego a surf in the sea, we didn’t totally write-off surfing for the day. Another one of Durban’s little surfing bonuses can be found at the Wavehouse in Gateway Mall. This is home to Durban’s inland standing wave, the D-Rex, and no matter what the swell’s doing or which way the wind is blowing; it is always 6ft and perfect at the Wavehouse. The one stark difference between riding an ocean wave and riding a standing-wave so that; on an ocean wave one moves over he surface of the water at great speeds whereas on the standing wave, you stay stationary and the wave moves under you. So in effect, you’re not moving at all. It’s a tricky concept to get right and I watched as the guys came to terms with this new style of wave riding but it looked like they had a really good time in the process.
In the evening we came back to the hostel or another one of Roz’s delicious dinners before the guys went out to celebrate the results.
The next few days looks quite nice on the surfing front. The swell is due to swing southerly and drop off quite a bit which will be good for our guys, but only time can tell what transpire.
Till next time…
Take Care
Bevan