Notes from the School Holiday in PE

Its school holidays at the moment. You can smell it everywhere. The Bridge Shopping Centre was like a biltong flavoured teen movie yesterday. Tables full of awkward teens were gathered at the Steers, nursing ice creams and milkshakes; some naughty kids got busted trying to run up the escalator that goes down; young girls were walking around with bags of new clothes. You know the scene.

I can’t believe how popular long hair and skateboarding have become.

Skating was always a substitute activity for surfers when the waves were kak— which is pretty often in PE. But it was an underground, rebellious pastime. Your boards had to stay in the garage or out of sight.
We’d ride up and down the streets of Walmer or Mill Park, pretending to get barreled in shrubberies or doing airs off the pavement. It was hardcore. House wives, Grannies and shop owners would chase us down the road with wooden spoons or metal rulers, screaming, “You bloody kids are making scrape marks on my stoep!” and so on.

Anyways, so I was browsing through Musica yesterday when this swarm of (+-) 12 year olds walked in with a stern looking mother. All of them (except the mom) had long, dark hair hanging in their faces and were holding skateboards. I wanted to warn them and be like, “Jussis guys, your old lady is right there! Stash the boards near the dance music section; she’ll never suspect a thing!” I held my tongue though, waiting for them to get a scolding.

Instead mommy walked them over to the rock music stand and picked out a CD full of swear words and teenage angst, and they all left jovially. Shocking, but also strangely cool.

I took the dogs for a walk on the beach this morning. The weather is perfect outside, but there is hardly a drop of swell. The waves at Kings Beach were about three goat’s feet. All the spots that work on a north easterly must be really fun though, if you’re prepared to take a drive. The reserve, Blue Horizon Bay and Ducks are probably the only places worth a look on the PE side of the Eastern Cape. Otherwise Port Alfred and East London will be worth checking out before the wind gets too strong.

The Billabong Pro (Mundaka, Spain) started today. The waves look similar to PE, but it’s still an exciting event to watch. I’ve never surfed at Mundaka, or even been to Spain, but it seems like this particular tournament is plagued by kak waves every year. I’ve seen video footage and pictures of Mundaka firing. And the advert for the contest has a picture of Joel Parkinson getting monstrously barreled by a Mundaka Cyclops, but the waves are always appalling. Maybe a change of venue or time frame for the event is necessary? I don’t know. I probably sound like one of those guys that played high school rugby you see at Barney during Super 14 games. He’s the guy wearing a Sharks jersey, nursing his 4th pint before the match has started, swearing he knows the way to victory for our boys in Green.



Whatever. I checked the Spanish surf report online, and it said the swell would get better towards Friday, so maybe I'll eat my words. I’m sure Al Hunt and the boys at ASP wouldn’t even care. Jordon Smith’s heat is just about to start, so I’m going to put on a green singlet, pour myself a drink and start shouting.