When I Was Your Age

I was looking at the facebook group ‘PE Surfers’, clicking through the photo archive, when something very strange occurred to me: I am old enough to start saying, “When I was your age…” to younger people, and actually tell a story about a time when things were different.

Things weren’t immensely different 15 years ago, but some stuff that was once there isn’t today. Like the mighty Chinese Takeaway shop and the Put- Put course at Kings Beach. Gone now. There was a time when the Supertubes were cool. In about 1992 it was rammed every Saturday afternoon; you’d wait in line for at least 5 minutes, before going down the main slide. That actually happened! What about Pipe during the pre- Summer Seas days? Nobody remember the hotel that used to be there, not the luxury apartments? And Hobie Beach before the Pier?

I’m sure people in Jefferies, St Francis and East London must have similar stories.

Maybe another telltale sign of growing old is suddenly giving a crap about the historic significance of architectural geography in our city. I don’t think any of this would be interesting to a fourteen year old, unless you had photos of a tiger chasing people down beach road, or something similarly bizarre.

Maybe it’s also because I’ve just had the Time Realization Epiphany thing. I’m in the ‘mid-life puberty’ sort of phase, where realizing I’m not a lightie anymore freaks me out. My grandpa has much cooler stories to tell. PE must have looked a hell of a lot different when he was growing up. He’s had time to nurture his Time Epiphany and grow into zen. If I had a head full of memories from 1940 (and the war), I’d probably be screaming from the roof top with a microphone and an overhead projector. I’d demand people appreciate the landscape for what it is now.

There’s a point I can’t quite work out, too. Were the waves more consistently bigger 15 years ago, or was I just a lot smaller? Back in the day, my brothers and I would join a massive throng of people for a quick session before school. Fence was like Pipeline on some mornings. Frikkie Kritzinger and company would be getting stand up barrels.

I don’t know man… this is giving me a headache. I’m going to listen to Nirvana albums and stew over how different things were in 1994.

Today’s surf report is nothing different for the Eastern Cape. The South Westerly has just picked up and it’s small in the bay. There are some little peaks at Fence (nothing like they were 15 years ago!), so maybe on the full tide there’ll be something worthwhile. It will probably be a lot windier this afternoon though, so who knows. J-bay and St Francis are also windy and small, but I hear East London looks pretty good. No surprises there.

Some interesting news on the World Qualifying series: 1980’s and 90’s surfing beast Sunny Garcia is sitting at number 20 on the ratings. The top 17 qualify for the World Championship Tour (Dream Tour). Now, with the Hawaiian leg of the tour looming in December, Sunny is looking set to qualify (he’s won the Triple Crown several times already). That’s brilliant. I’m so excited to see one of my hero’s from childhood take to the tour next year.

This reminds me a bit of Demolition Man, in a way. The only way Kelly Slater can be stopped is by hiring someone from the past (his own era) to kick his ass. So Kelly is like the Wesley Snipes character on tour, almost completely unstoppable. Sunny is Sylvester Stalone character, summoned to take on his old rival. Should be very interesting stuff.

Other exciting surfers to watch are Saffas David Weare (Durban) and Greg Emslie (Slummies), also looking to requalify for the Dream Tour next year.