‘Don’t be sorry. Be better,’ said the surfer, after I apologized for my role in a collision with him. He didn’t look back. I watched him paddle out, his head high, back arched, shoulders squared, with the tips of his toes perched on the tail of his board. Be better? That seemed unfair. I’ve certainly made my fair share of…
Tag: sup
THAT Downwind
A kitesurfer at Fishhoek had a four and a half meter kite up on the day of my first Miller’s Run. If you speak Kite (which I do, because I am the GOAT Kite Widow) it means that either the kitesurfer is the size of Tinkerbell or the wind is stronger than you can imagine. Anyway, the husband ID’d the…
Six Degrees of Kai Lenny
Did you know that when someone writes ‘an SUP’ it means they say Ess Yew Pea? Uh huh. Indefinite article vibes. Surfers of the lie-down-arm-paddle variety say Ess Yew Pea all the time. And why is that a problem, you may ask? Well for starters I’ve noticed that sometimes it’s a teeny weeny clue that the person may have a bit of disdain…
The chronicles of longboarding
The first time I went out on a longboard was in the honeymoon years. Not the actual honeymoon, but those times when you try to impress your hottie and do things he enjoys even if you are terrified/have absolutely no interest. So he pushed me onto a wave in the shorebreak at St Francis Bay (at the time I had…
How to Lose your Nerve in Five K’s – the wahine guide to downwinding.
Once upon a time I read a terrifying book about a a man who walked alone from Canada to the North Pole and fell through a crack in the ice into the Arctic Ocean. He didn’t die, but the thought of all that water (plus the entire globe) below him haunted me. I realize that I have read or heard…
Surf Trip, Staycation Style
Costa Rica is our dream surf trip destination. But we would take Maldives, Bali, Hawaii, Long Island or even Mauritius if you threw it at us. But you didn’t, so we gathered our battered Rands and set off for Melkbosstrand instead. We left after work on a Friday, so we missed the traffic. The journey from our home in the South to…
Surfer’s Ode
I went to the seaside on one misty day And there, on a perch at a dip in the bay Was a cross surfer man with a camera phone He was tight lipped and grumpy and stood there alone. He filmed with that phone and he spoke with those lips He reported on wave sizes, wind, tide and rips. But sometimes he laughed…
The Kook Diaries Part 4. On biting off more than you can chew.
The ocean was glassy and inviting as I leapt onto my 14 foot flat water racing SUP with glee. “To the lighthouse,” they said. “And back.” “It’s not that far,” I said to the husband, as we peered out across False Bay from Fish Hoek beach. “It’s like to the bridge and back at Kromme.” Right. Except Kromme is an…
Talking Fiji with Tarryn King
I had a quick chat with Cape Town’s ultimate Wahine, Tarryn King, who just returned from the ISA SUP world champs, where she and her husband Tom King, and the rest of the SA team, did so well, coming seventh overall. Tarryn competed in the technical race (7th place) and is stoked with a 4th place in the sprint race, which…
Spike’s Winter Swell Course-my review
If you let go the fear, the fear let’s go of you So said the surfer I passed on my first grim and terrified march down to the waterline at Muizenberg. Easier said than done, you Crusty Old Salt. But since knowledge is power, (And I already got a handle on the shark side of things HERE ) I decided to enroll in Spike’s Winter…
Melissa A Volker 