Good morning
Its Tuesday morning in beautiful Durban, the sun's out and we have light onshore wind. We are nearing D-day for the swim for the lifesaving course, so after a good breakfast we headed to the swimming pool for a 400-meter swim. It’s the distance that they will have to do in the lifesaving course. I joined the group for the swim to just join in with the fun. Everyone swam really well and they really pushed at resting less and knowing that it’s the distance they have to do, helped them keep focus and get the swim done. The waves are generally fun in Durban central, even on an onshore day. We got to the beach and it was a bit messy, the group decided to have a light snack and chill out in the sun for the afternoon. The girls tanning and boys being boys just relaxing and chatting. We watched a few local kids rip the tricky conditions and spoke about all the different areas you need to work on while surfing messy waves. It was an awesome rest day to get the crew energized for the lifesaving course.
It was a very hot sunny day on Wednesday morning. It was the groups first day of the lifesaving course. After breakfast we headed to Marine lifesaving club, which is on Durban beachfront near Ushaka beach. The group was very excited to do the course and learn new information on helping in bad situations in the sea if needed. They also did some knee boarding. A kneeboard is used to rescue a patient in the water that is in danger or has been sucked out to sea. They got some theory worksheets and signals that are used to communicate with people in and out the water. Everyone was super tired after the first day and supper was needed, bed followed soon after.
Thursday we had another super hot day on the golden mile on Durban beachfront. It was also the day the group was doing the 400 meter swim. We did the swim at 9am in the fastest 25-meter pool in Africa. The swim went well and the few that just missed the time were a few seconds off. They will be getting another go at the time later on in the week and will surely get the time. We then headed back to Marine Lifesaving club for more theory. They did one man CPR and two man, then went over some of the theory from the first day and were excited to get in the water as it was very hot. They learnt about spinal injuries and how to deal with them. They learnt to use a torpedo buoy and how to save someone with one. It was a beautiful day and that evening we had a braai for dinner.
It was Friday and the group had a few more things to go over in the course. It’s an awesome place in Durban that they do their course, Ushaka beach. The waves are weaker than in between the piers. There is also Ushaka food court, where you have a choice of many fast food restaurants and healthy food. There are also many shops to buy gifts or clothes and Surf shops to get accessories. The group started the evaluation for the course. They had to do spinal board rescue, which can be very tricky, but everyone worked as a team and did well. They did the theory part of the course, going over emergency situations you could experience and they had to explain what they would do, and then one man CPR and two man. It was a good course and everyone passed the evaluation. That evening we went to Tiger Tiger to celebrate.
Our weekend was really good. Both Saturday and Sunday were sunny hot summer days. We took the group up the north coast to watch a contest, it was the off-the-lip retro surf jam. All the guys who competed in the contest had to use boards that either had one fin (single fin) or two fins (twin fin). These styles of boards were how surfing revolutionized to where it is today where guys use thrusters (three fins) or quads (four fins). The contest was relaxed and the guys competing were just out there to have fun and surf with some style. The crew were also very lucky to get to meet world number 3 in the surfing world, South African Jordy Smith.
Sunday was a relaxed day, which we spent down at Ushaka beach. Surfing and absorbing the sunrays. The girls tanned and the boys chilled and relaxed. It was a good day to relax and chill out from a hectic week doing the lifesaving course.
Monday we woke up to some fun small waves. The sun blessed us once again, and we needed that sun cream. We did some warm up drills before our surf. A lot of people don’t know, but warming up is really important and helps your from getting cramps or hurting yourself. It also wakes up the muscles you are about to use, a key muscle in surfing is your abs, so we worked on mainly abs and leg warm ups. I did some drills with the guys where they had to catch x amount of waves and then come in and talk me through their waves. We would then outline key things to work on in the rest of the surf. Nicola, Chris and Josh had some really good waves. We then had lunch at House of Curry where they sell some of the best roti or bunny chows found in Durban.
We packed our bags and packed the trailer early Tuesday morning, as we were saying goodbye to Ansteys, but hello to The Secret Spot up the north coast in Ballito. Before the Hour drive, Rudy Snr did a ding expo on his ding repair kit. His ding repair kit can be found all over South Africa and a few overseas countries too. It is really useful and easy to use. After the talk we said our good byes and took a drive up to Ballito. We stay at The Secret Spot which is an awesome accommodation and has you feeling in the wild. Once we had checked in and got our rooms sorted, we headed to Gateway Mall to ride the flow rider. It is super fun, and kind of like surfing, but very different. You use small just under a meter boards that are oval and have no fins. Everyone was so amped and excited to get on it, and once they had all had a go, it was set they were hooked. Sarah, Dayne, Manuela and Sam all were really enjoying their selves. There were a few wipeouts, but lots of surfing going down. We then had a shop around the mall and went home for a relaxed evening in our last stop in Durban.
Wednesday we woke up at 6am and got on the road to Tala Game Reserve. It’s a game park situated about 70km out side Durban. We were lucky and had our own safari guide, Tobias, who filled us in on the way on info about all the animals. On our arrival into the park we saw rhinos grazing on the hill, which was a great start. We saw loads of buck, antelope, zebras and blue water buffalo. We also saw lots of giraffes and got a good close up look at them. As we were leaving the park we saw some hippos relaxing in a dam made for them. Tobias and Ryan got a close up look at these amazing animals. On our journey back to Durban we collected the groups boards that had been ordered. We got new grips and leashes and headed down to the beach for a surf on them, everyone was super amped to get on their new boards. the surf wasn’t great, but that didn’t stop them. Everyones boards were a big difference to what they first got. It was going to be a challenge, but lots of fun.
Thursday was our last day in Durban as a whole group, we headed down to Durban beachfront for our last group surf together and a snack. The surf was small but fun, Nicola was really doing well on her new board. Chris was loving his new board and had a big smile, which he always has. We had lunch down at the beach and skated on the promenade for a bit. We then had to head back up to Ballito to start packing and getting ready for the farewell dinner and fines. We started the night off with dinner and then followed up with some 'fines' for things each person has done on the trip, being funny, crazy or amazing. It was a good laugh and walk down memory lane on the trip. We stayed up talking about the trip until the early hours in the morning. It’s been an amazing last 10 weeks, the group’s dynamics have been spot on and at every stop we have left a mark. Everyone is an individual, yet works so well together never the less. I'll miss them all and hope to see them soon in the near future if not on another trip. Hope they all stay in the water as much as possible and keep the stoke of surfing.
Only a surfer knows the feeling
Till Mozambique blog
Klee Strachan