Wow, that is all I can say. This place is amazing. We are now in Chinsta, near East London, and everyone absolutely loves it here. The view from the backpackers is amazing, overlooking the lagoon and the sea, and the waves have been really good too. It is just a five-minute walk down to the surf and the backpackers we are in is awesome too.
We have just been surfing the beach in front of the backpackers every day and it has been really fun but challenging. The waves have definitely been the biggest yet while we have been here, but with it being a beach break it is not too scary. It amazes me how well everyone is doing with their surfing considering how short they have been surfing for. Everyone is really taking it on and pushing themselves. A lot of them have been using the Ticket to Ride shorter boards and taking to them well. Matt, the Irish/American has particularly impressed and improved rapidly here in Chinsta. The girls have been doing really well too, not being intimidated by the guys and still taking the big waves on.
We did a training swim in the local 50m pool to see how the group are doing with their times. The goal is to swim 400m in less than eight minutes. While everyone put in a good effort, there is quite a lot of work still to be done here to pass the swim for the lifeguard award at the end. Poppy lead the charge despite having a badly injured knee, while Jon was a mere three seconds behind! Today we had a great game of Volleyball on the beach court here at the backpackers and Jeremy, Rob, Janine and Hilde got to show their skills. Janine and I have challenged J and Rob to a game so we’ll see how that goes tomorrow! With table tennis, volleyball and awesome pizzas down at the swimming pool it is the perfect place to chill after a surf.
Have a look at the amazing video of Jeffreys Bay made by Jeremy and Rob to get a better look at exactly what we’ve been up to. There are lots of waves around us here, with not very many people so East London has really been the perfect stop for us.
Here’s to sunshine and surf,
Chris