Jbay is built around the surfing lifestyle with an abundance of surf-themed cafe’s, restaurants and big brand factory outlets upon which we all indulged in, getting great deals on surfing apparel and meeting locals and gaining local knowledge on the town and surrounds.
We were lucky enough to spend one morning with another local legend and shaper Mikey Meyer, who showed us around his factory where he shapes 100% handcrafted boards unlike many popular shapers who have now gone on to use machines to shape. It was interesting for the guys to see the process of work and commitment that goes into making a board along with how technical and unique each board is when shaped. It also went a long way in helping the guys understand the setup of their own boards and how they are tuned to their specific needs as beginners in comparison with more advanced surfers. It’s been great watching the group grow from stop to stop and really immerse themselves into the surf culture and grow as athletes and surfers.
On days when the surf was less desirable we had a few day activities outside of surfing. A few guys from the team enjoyed a sunrise horse ride along the beach. For the Equestrians amongst us it was a graceful gallop along-side the beauty of crashing waves with a blue sky backdrop that’s tinted by the golden sunshine of the east coast, for the rest of us it was an off-beat grind and bump that had us holding on for dear life and sitting on pillows in the days that followed but lots of fun none the less. Another day of fun involved us visiting a nearby river and waterfall with a few rock jumps and a zip-line. We picnic’d alongside the river in the african sun enjoying the occasional swim and those who were brave enough got involved in the rock jumping.
We’ve had a great time here and its been great to meet such wonderful people and experience the luxury of being a surfer in a place like Jefferey’s Bay. We’ll be moving deeper into the Eastern Cape now, with Cinsta being our next stop on the Wild Coast. Im looking forward to being back in the jungle 🙂
With a Smile
Luke Geldenhuys