Durban, in Kwazulu-Natal, is know as South Africa's surf city. It is where the longest running International surfing event in South Africa (Gunston 500 and later Mr Price Pro) has been held and home to many of South Africa's best surfers including Jordy Smith, current world no.2. In more recent times other parts of the country have started to take over from Durban as surfing hubs, but I won't open that debate here. All we need to know is that there are great waves in Durban and warm water.
Moving from Coffee Bay to Durban there is a big change, not only going from the 'middle of nowhere' to a city, but also culturally we are going from the Xhosa culture to Zulu. People are different and the countryside is of course different too. South Africa is an immensely diverse country ecologically and in just a few hours drive everything around you changes. The first stop in Durban is at Ansteys, the backpackers is owned by one of South Africa's most high-profile surfing families, the Palmbooms. 'Ballie' Rudy is known both for his amazing barrel riding antics when the waves get solid as well as his big-wave riding skills, son Rudy is currently on the world tour trying to make it into the top 32, and daughter Heidi competes locally around South Africa in the junior contests as well as for her province. Mother Tash looks after everyone and tries to remind the other three that you can't actually just surf 24 hours a day! It is always a great place to stay and we got some really good waves out the front on one of the mornings, though pretty heavy for the group. Pippa seems to have that knack of being in the wrong place at the wrong time when it comes to surfing, and when the biggest set of the day came through I looked back to see the wave about to break on her head. She persevered though and made it back out to catch one of them!
We did most of our surfing in 'town' where the photos are from. There are a whole range of options in town, both of waves between the piers as well as down the beach. We usually avoided the crowd by going down the beach and got some great waves and it was fantastic to see how everyone's surfing had improved so much.
When the onshore came up it was time to hit the flow rider. This is a man-made still wave and is incredibly different to surfing, but still a lot of fun. Personally I find it very difficult and usually end up face-first getting sucked over with the wave every now and again you get someone who takes to it well. There were quite a few in this group who did well and we also got to see some fantastic wipeouts!
Take a look through the photos to see some surfing and flowrider photos.
The next and final blog will be up shortly so check back in soon.
Chris