Waveski Surfari 2001

CLOVER SA WAVESKI SURFARI 2001

Participants:	Gerhard Kriel � Organiser, Chief Cook, Chief Pot-stirrer and Bus Co-driver. Anton Van Schoor � Organiser, Penalty Administrator, Assistant Scribe and Babe Spotter. Deon Dorfling � Bus Driver Gert Roux � Chief Scribe, Photographer and Assistant Babe Spotter. Craig Seale � Chief Core Dude. Rob Rumbelow � Assistant Core Dude and Assistant Pot Stirrer.

Day 1: Friday, 13 July 2001

This inaugural tour got off to a slightly hiccupy start. Firstly, because the full complement of seats couldn�t be filled on the Microbus, we opted to save a few pennies and use Deon�s Red Lorry (an 80�s vintage Landrover). The only problem with this arrangement was that, until the night prior to departure, the Landy�s gearbox was not snugly attached to the engine, and vehicles generally don�t work well without this cohesive marriage. That being said, Deon became a mechanical vicar and performed the, at first reluctant, nuptials using a mixture of some colourful wedding vows, pleading and sweat. At about 10PM that night the marriage was completed and consummated at a local park.

	This resulted in the packing of the trailer being delayed until the morning of departure. On top of this, we still had to renew the trailer�s license that morning, since Deon couldn�t get it done during the week because of work pressure.

Gerhard spent a torrid couple of hours that morning trying to scrounge possibly the last bottle of industrial grade gearbox oil in Port Elizabeth for the Landy. This was a result of the national oil shortage in the country.

	Eventually the packing was completed, followed by a �quick� trip to the Traffic Department for the license and then to pick up Craig after which we were on our way. This was at 1PM! Our intended departure was supposed to be 8:30AM.

Our driver assured us that the Landy was capable of quite a turn of speed when needed. A whole 120kph!!

	Our boards went everywhere with us, much to the irritation of drivers behind us. Parking was an occasional hassle.

We arrived at J-Bay point an hour later and immediately hit the water for a very enjoyable hour of 3-4 ft waves. The surf began to drop off in size and we got out and headed for the campsite.

	Gerhard enjoyed his session at J-Bay.

Anton was also riding well. It's amazing how once contest presuure is off, one surfs so much better!

	At the campsite office the lady asked us suspiciously if we were surfers. Gerhard blithely pointed out that we were waveskiers, which is a better breed of surf rider. She pointed out that she had to evict a group of surfers that morning due to excessive rowdiness. The point was taken. We were slightly less rowdy. And we were very friendly with our neighbours. They even asked us if we were taking part in the Billabong contest. Sigh��.

After we had set up camp Gerhard prepared an excellent steak meal, which was followed by plenty of beers, chasers and laughter in the chilly evening weather. We were presented with our sponsored handouts, which comprised a pamphlet describing the details of the tour, a waterproof rain jacket sponsored by Tropika and a T-Shirt with the tour logo printed on it, sponsored by Mageu No. 1. Anton also enlightened us on how the penalty system would work. This involved the use of a fiendish device consisting of a plastic funnel, tubing, diving goggles and mouthpiece. The hapless victim would have his punishment liquidly administered via the funnel, tubing and mouthpiece. The goggles helped to complicate breathing while the penalty was being served! After a few more drinks we all headed for the sack at around 11PM.

	Most of us (excluding myself) had a restful night�s sleep even though it was the coldest night we would experience on the trip. In the morning everything was heavily dewed over and, much to our surprise and pleasure, the surf had picked up slightly overnight. So instead of packing and going to Cape St. Francis we headed back to Point after a quick cup of coffee and rusks. Rob joined us just in time for this session and we had a great hour and a half in the 3-5ft surf. After the session Gerhard, Deon and Craig got involved in an intense game of �Toss The Booties�, which boils down to grabbing your mate�s booties and hurling them as far down the beach as possible.

Afterwards, we headed for the shops to stock up on liquid refreshment, did a little sightseeing and then headed back to the campsite, had a delicious brunch and then packed the campsite up. After a quick conference it was decided to push onto George since there wasn�t much time to swing past Cape St. Francis for a session at Seal Point and get to George at a decent enough time to set our camp up again.

	The trip to George was uneventful except for a stop at Storm�s River and Knysna and the jokes flew thick and fast. We were convinced we would be hoarse after the trip from all the laughter. We also decided that we would make George our central campsite and foray to surf breaks from there to prevent excessive time being wasted on setting and striking camps.

It was already dark when we got to George. We stopped to buy some necessary groceries and then headed for the campsite. Finding our campsite in the grounds proved to be amusingly complicated as we circumnavigated the grounds twice using their rather inaccurate map, but we found the site eventually. There we were greeted by a Maltese guard dog and prayed for the Lord to rescue us from this vicious beastie!

	After tents had been pitched and Gerhard began work on his chicken potjie, we got down to the serious business of having fun. Anton went off to the ablutions only to come back and find that his tent and contents had mysteriously disappeared. The others had picked it up, contents and all and had deposited it behind a fireplace several sites away.

The OBs, Jack Daniels and Sours flew thick and fast as we got down to the intriguing game of Jenga, where one builds a tower of small 2x4 style blocks, and then attempts to remove blocks from the tower without upsetting the whole mess.

	Anton was the Jenga king as he managed to escape punishment completely. Woossie! Dinner was very late (midnight!) but it was worth waiting for. One of the best chicken potjie�s I�ve ever eaten and I�m not a potjie fan. After that we crashed for the night.

The next morning wasn�t as cold as J-Bay and there was little dew. We were all a little jaded from the previous night and things got off to a slowish start. Anton and I had the dubious pleasure of seeing a pair of ostriches on the neighbouring ostrich farm engaging in carnal activities. You won�t believe where a male ostrich�s genitals are located!!

	We packed the breakfast stuff into the Landy, loaded the boards and set off for Vic Bay. We had a good look at Vic but opted to go to Buffalo Bay, because although Vic Bay was a good size, it was very crowded.

Some people have a lot of money as the photo alongside bares testimony to.

	Buffalo Bay wasn�t as good as Vic and the wave tended to be a little unpredictable. We surfed off the middle reef because the point was mushed out. The middle reef would have a couple of smallish waves which petered out quickly often followed by a close-out beach sweeper which tumbled me about quite a few times because I was out of position. Craig enjoyed the session, wowing the locals with his risky take-offs right over the reef. Rob also had fun and Gerhard caught some small waves near the boat launch. At first I went out with the water camera intending to take some action shots but the sweepers bashed me around so much that I thought I had torn a muscle in my neck. I even lost my paddle at one stage and a friendly local surfer had to recover it for me! I gave the water photography up as a bad job, went back to shore, gave my neck a good massaging and was relieved when the pain receded quickly. I went out again and had some good fun.

Gerhard started brunch and we all lazed around in the warm winter sun while we ate. Shortly afterwards we went out again and had another session. This time when I paddled back to shore I had the bad luck to catch a little grubber and nosedive my board into the shallow rocks near the boat launch. Fortunately, Craig had built my board tough and all it suffered were a couple of pressure cracks, which I taped up back at the camping ground.

	Our mishaps for the day didn�t end there. As we were pulling away after packing up, Gerhard�s board slid off the top of the trailer rack and did a pas de deux in the road behind us. The day tripper behind us had to take some evasive action to avoid having a flying waveski land on his larney 4x4. We thought it a hilarious episode but Gerhard wasn�t amused, and for several hours afterward remained very ticked off with himself for forgetting to tie the board down. His board suffered some scratches and a crack in the tail. Back at the camping ground it was board repair time. We had a quieter evening sitting around the campfire and much later eating another of Gerhard�s gargantuan steaks. The weekend was starting to catch up to some it seemed. We were just about to hit the sack when it started to rain. Hastily we moved all exposed belongings undercover and went to bed. It rained lightly for most of the night.

The next morning also got off to a latish start, and we decided to go surf Vic Bay first and give the tents a chance to dry out from the rain before packing up.

	At Vic Bay we found the swell had dropped off a little, but there were still some 6ft sweepers coming through every now and again, and it was less crowded.

After studying the break for a while Craig, Deon and I decided to go out.

	Craig had a great time as the attached photos show.

Deon and I, when we managed to catch a wave, basically just chased the section in order to make sure we didn�t get dumped into the rocks.

	It was mentioned that an SA Champs needed to be held at Vic Bay again. Maybe when WP get their chance again they can arrange it.









After that we went back to the camping ground, packed up and left. We stopped at the Wimpy for brunch and then began the sad, long trip back to PE. Apart from stops in Knysna and Storms River, the trip back was uneventful. Everyone was subdued, possibly pondering a return to the drudgery of work after a glorious and memorable long weekend. I�ve already put my name down for next year�s trip and started saving already! I can�t wait!!

LESSONS LEARNT ON THIS TRIP:	1. Not more than two centrally located campsites next to the sea to commute to the breaks from. This saves time in packing up and setting up. 2. Check to see that boards are properly tied down! 3. Use a faster vehicle. 4. Take music with!! 5. Lots of ice. (Lots of food and lots of drinks.) 6. Remember eating utensils!