Durban marks the end of our 10 week South African surfing adventure. Although 10 weeks seems like a long time it feels as if its breezed by rather quickly and everything we’ve experienced and learnt together has united us in close friendships, right before it separates us again and we all going on our separate ways and share what we’ve experienced and achieved together with everyone back home.
Only then I think it all really sets in, when we speak to others and recollect what it is and what it means to be a part of something as unique and as special as this. When we think of each other and the friendships we forged that stretch all over the globe and which will be remembered in pictures, video and memory for the rest of our lives. All of this because we wanted to Surf, this trip is so far beyond just surfing, I guess its one of those things that really broadens your perspective on whats possible for your life and its something you can appreciate at any age. That said, everything we’ve done has led us to Durban, the business end of the trip, especially for everybody doing their ISA Level 1 Instructor Course.
Surf City
A big part of the ISA course is passing your First Aid and Surf Lifeguard courses with Deon Woodley, It’s all fun though as you spend your days at the beach learning valuable rescue techniques and equip yourself with the necessary skills required to react accordingly to any incidents that may potentially occur.
The other element to the course is of course the surfing, everything we’ve been working towards over the 10 weeks comes down to a 30min heat in which you’re required to catch and traverse on two open faced lefts and two open faced rights. Not to worry though, if you don’t make it the first time around you can keep trying and we put you in the best possible conditions to help take the pressure off
Battery beach provided us with very fun wavesÂ
In the end everybody who enrolled came through and passed, now all thats left is for them to complete their training hours at a surf school and they’ll officially be surf instructors!
Durban is an extended stop because we have quite a bit to get through with the courses running and so we split our stay into two stops, one on the Bluff at Ansteys and the other in Ballito near Salt Rock. Both locations are right near world class surf breaks.
Ansteys beach, a short walk from our accommodation
Some of the guys in the group have quite a bit more surfing experience than others and when the conditions got bigger and heavier for a few days on the Bluff at Ansteys beach they were eager to step up and take on the challenge. Former trip leader and Bluff local Chad Schwab was there to guide the guys through the session as they took on the biggest and most powerful waves we encountered on the trip.
Outside of the surfing and all the course work we managed to get a few other fun activities in. A stop favourite is the flo-rider and pump track which require similar skills or motor mechanics to that of surfing so when the waves were flat or on-shore we still managed to get our fix of fun.
You don’t go to Africa and not go on Safari. We set out early one morning into the Imfolozi Game Reserve and set out to see some big game, despite a quiet start to the drive we managed to end off with seeing quite a few animals both large and small.
Its been and incredible 10 weeks with this group, most of whom are now currently in Mozambique with me for an extra 3 weeks of surfing adventures in a tropical paradise so it hasn’t quite been the sad goodbyes just yet. It’s been a fantastic journey, check out our video playlist from the trip on youtube to get an idea as to what it may be like on an adventure like this, here is the last installment to that playlist, our time in Durban
Shakka’s
Luke