Hi all and welcome back to the South Coast.
As I mentioned in the video blog, we’ve been getting some ridiculously good waves lately!!! Definitely the best surf we’ve seen, and also the biggest as a nice ground swell hit the coast a few days ago.
With all the swell around it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that the courses are just around the corner so on Monday the guys were issued with their pre course workbooks and lecture topics. As part of the surf coaching award each rider needs to present a 10 minute talk to the rest of the group as well as an assessor who marks each lecture. These lectures are based on topics that are randomly selected so that each rider needs to research into their subject and report back with their findings in a clear, concise and captivating way. The topics range from ding repairs to coaching techniques so everybody is going to learn a lot from each other just by sitting in on the lectures.
Later that afternoon we made our way up the coast a bit to Scottburgh to look for waves. We found a nice, mellow inside wave just in the bay and surfed for the rest of the day.
Yesterday we headed straight back to Scottburgh after seeing the conditions and ended up surfing at a nearby point. The waves were on in a big way!! The morning offshore kept things clean while the perfect ground swell wrapping round the point kept things interesting. The waves were probably the biggest we’ve had since being out in SA so this was a big step for most of the guys. Hell man of the session had to go to a lady this time as Holly showed her colours by out-braving some of the boys and paddling out into the line up. Tom found himself on a beast that took him to the shore, while Hugo scored both the wave of the day and the biggest drop of the day with one amazing ride that had him dancing on his board.
The surf just kept coming and coming so we decided to pace ourselves and have 3 surfs spread out throughout the day, with a lunch break at Scottburgh in between. A truly epic South Coast session, topped off by a classic braai and tales of the day’s exploits.
This morning we woke up to some serious swell – unfortunately a little out of our league, so we headed into Margate to do one last timed swim before Durban.
After the swim we spent some time in Margate, before making our way to the Wegde surfboard factory to checkout how boards are made. Wedge is run by the 2 Maisch brothers, Gary and Justin, who took the guys through the factory and explained all the intricacies of making boards. At the end of the tour the guys were shown around the fin factory and learnt a lot about how fins effect the overall performance of your board.
Then it was back to the hostel for some dinner and packing.
Tomorrow we leave for Durban where we start with the business end of the trip – the courses! So join us again for more updates on how we get along. Till then…
Take care,
Bevan and Byron