Somma Syma Summer

Summers great. It means there will be warm weather, braais four times a week and plenty of festivals to go to— it’s not all about surfing.
With temperatures in excess of 25 Degrees Celsius come prominent easterly winds, flat spells and swarms of vaalies. So you have to find a way to get your kicks in despite the exodus of blue bottles, jelly fish and genital balaclavas littering the beach front. Lord knows there’s nothing quite like paddling out next to a middle aged tourists wearing a Speedo, flippers and purple zink, screaming “Surf’s up China!” at you.

Surf Lifesaving is a productive way to utilize the weather during summer. It’s not difficult to get involved, either. All you need to do is to join a club (there are several in PE, Slummies, Plett, J-bay and Port Alfred), pay your affiliation fees and start training with the buggers. Most women and men affiliated with lifesaving are mellow, friendly types who do it to give something back to the community and keep fit at the same time. Once you’ve done an SPA (Surf Proficiency Award— an exam that tests your physical ability and first aid knowledge and training), you can start doing voluntary hours at the beach as an official ‘Life Guard’. The club’s facilities, like Malibu boards and surf skis, are open to all members; most of them are as fun to use on flat days as they on days when the waves are firing.

My family plays a game called King Of The Beach. It takes the form of a body surfing contest. On days when the conditions are right (hot weather, warm water, medium swell), we body- surf for household honour. Wagers include setting up the braai for supper, picking up Maxi’s poos on the back lawn, washing dishes and answering the phone. Money never taints the game— it’s all about pride. The rules are simple. He who catches the biggest/ and/ or best wave for the longest functional distance is deemed winner- in other words, your goal is ride a wave on your stomach, and get as close to the sand as possible. It’s not that different from the old ASRO Surfing criteria.

Richard Gibello, a St. Francis local, takes the down hill skating route. The sport has a solid history (see Dog Town and the Z-Boys) and is alive across the world. Red Bull hosts a contest every year in Cape Town, show casing the country’s top down hill skaters— plenty of them are surfers, too. I don’t want to build the sport up with clichéd metaphors and comparisons to sky diving and sex. Rick gave me an amazing video clip of his down hill skating endeavours, which I've spent the last forty five minutes trying to upload. The gent at the icafe' has just informed me that I've got more chance of growing an extra eyeball than getting this 101MB clip onto the blog by the end of today, so I'm going to ask Rick if there's a way of making the beast a bit smaller. Drop me an e-mail if you'd like the video footage via e-mail.

Lastly, sober minded American’s across the world must be letting out a sigh of relief over the election of Barack Obama. What fantastic news for the USA and international politics.