SURFING: All the Elements Align - What are the Odds?

in SurfHive2 years ago (edited)

Hello everybody on Hive and especially the SurfHive community! It's Jasper the surfing-musician Dad from Cape Town in South Africa!

So on Thursday we had a day of pumping SE winds that blew a lot of windswell into the usually sheltered False Bay. Unfortunately a SE wind is onshore there and everything was a ragged mess.

But what are the odds? On Friday, the wind switched to a wintery NW, indicating that we would probably have rain today (Saturday morning it is raining as I type...). Using my incredible powers of deduction, I figured that there would be a window where the offshore NW wind had cleaned up the False Bay windswell waves created the day before... before the swell completely faded away. That window would be linking up with spring high tide just after the work day ended... giving us a two hour window before dark.

Even more unusual... a normal SW groundswell can make Muizenberg big enough, but some of our favourite reefs in False Bay are hidden even more around a corner and are often a bit smaller. This SE windswell angle would suit them far better... maybe everywhere in False Bay would be good??!! What are the odds that all these things would line up for us?

Disobeying my own thread of 3 days ago (https://ecency.com/hive-141964/@jasperdick/surfing-surfing-alone-friends-are) where I teased that surfer friends are usually more trouble than they are worth, I actually did tell my friends to be aware of the anomaly and to try meet me after work. Two of them (Spike and Max) actually arrived... on time!

The world class reef was crowded. Even our usual reef that we surf often with one or two other people was crowded with about 15 people. Luckily, the swell and conditions were so good, that there was a third option available only about a few hundred metres from the carpark we all met at and quickly discussed our options... and the three people that were there suddenly came in... tired and satisfied. We would have it all to ourselves! Well, Max's friend Alex came to make it a crowd of four! Hahaha!

So: SE wind swell created the day before, a NW wind cleaned it up all day, spring high tide just after work ended, and a fickle wave working well enough for us to be stoked about it! What are the odds?


Spike is usually land-locked in a small inland town and had just arrived in Cape Town... what a warm welcome!


Somewhere in the middle of this sequence of photos where I carve a turn, and then look at the spray landing, you should see some colourful beach huts to give anyone from Cape Town a good clue where we were!


Max on his backhand was able to pull off this late take-off...


Getting started...


Look carefully and you will see Max gathering his board as he's just finished riding the wave before...


There are those colourful beach huts again... now for an extra clue... If you look very carefully, you will see that the remainder of Max's wave is washing over the wall of a tidal pool - now anyone from Cape Town should know where we are! It's a favourite pool for young families to come and swim - including ourselves: My 20 month daughter Madison gets to experience the tidal pool and beach, and then there's a lovely playground at the local restaurant!


The conditions usually don't allow us to get this far in, and the wave doesn't usually have this speedy inside section!


Pulling off to see that Spike managed to get the third wave of the set - what a natural wave-pool! Hahaha!

As per my brilliant prediction - we really did have to race to False Bay after work on Friday evening. By the following morning the swell had dissipated... here's a webcam shot of the beginner beach Muizenberg this morning. All of the reefs would be even smaller than this now! Hahaha!


Image sourced from:

THE END

Sort:  

Is there any kind of caution taken to avoid sharks?? Sorry if I saying anything wrong, but here in Brazil we are very afraid of SouthAfricans waves because of the shark risk. We say that we would never surf in a such empty peak. It would be better to face a huge crowd, then you could spread the chances of being attacked with the other surfers heheheh

But seriously, you just face the situation or is there anything in that specific surf point made to keep sharks out of there?

Hi! I actually have a friend originally from Porto Allegre who now lives here in Cape Town. It is as you say - he struggles to want to surf anywhere but the most crowded places because the shark risk of surfing less crowded places seems too much for him - too spooky! I'm more of an introvert and love to surf alone (or at least with few enough people that everyone gets waves)!

South Africa does have sharks - great whites in these colder waters, and then tiger and zambezi sharks further East in the warmer waters as well. Lately some of the great white populations have cleared out and run away from Cape Town because they are being eaten by Killer Whales! Not really a comforting replacement!

I think as a Brazilian you can appreciate the idea that you are probably still safer in the water than on land (car accidents or crime... my good friend was killed in a botched hi-jacking after getting out of the water after a surf...). Still, there are some places in South Africa I would think twice about surfing because of shark risk - but not many, and none in Cape Town. Are there any precautions? Durban has shark nets far out enough to protect surfers there - Cape Town only has a shark net at one swimming beach with no waves...

What many of Cape Town's most popular spots do have: is a shark spotting person who is watching down into the water from the cliffs above with binoculars, who will then sound an alarm and raise a flag if he spots a shark. I've had to get out of the water at the most popular beach a few times now!

It seems going to surf is really an adventure hahaha, but i guess knowing there's someone looking for sharks would made me feel much safer. Thank you for he answer!

I am in awe of your surfers.

SO cool. And so brave! I'd love to learn to surf but I'm terrified of the waves.

I scuba... very different underneath the waves. But what a rush that must be!

There must be some kind of size of wave that you're not too terrified of? Many surfers in Cape Town stick to the relative safety of Muizenberg and that's fine!

I'm headed back to a place with smaller waves and surf lessons... :)

We will see if I can do this.

My boy is good at it. Was a natural so I got him lessons. I watch him with much admiration.

I got majorly dumped when I was a kid. It was terrifying. So I need to get over that... yeah.

Ooh yay! Roughly where would this be?

:D

I'm around the Overberg now.

It's very beautiful here! 👀

I'll be hanging around here for the next bit to rest, save for wheels and rebuild resources. It's like a zombie apocalypse out there. People are nuts at the moment. Send backup! 😆

(I need a car to travel beyond my invisible fence and financial resources when things go awry from here. It's just too crazy out there right now. People are in survival mode and behaving badly. One must be sensible about this stuff. 👍)

Whoa this is all a bit cryptic? The Overberg is stunning, and you might notice that I get to go to Hermanus every now and then in previous surfing posts?

If it is Hermanus - avoid Ryan Halkett's surf school. He is the one that has been accused of sexually abusing female tourists that come to learn to surf in Hermanus. I know of somebody else who gives lessons in Hermanus instead if you like? If it's not Hermanus, then never mind!

Good lord. People 🙄

Thanks for the heads up.

Not Hermanus! I don't like towns anymore. I'm a Pippin, my son says. And we thrive in our natural habitat. Barefoot. In the wild!

But hey... say hello if you come past Rooi Els, Pringle, Bettys or Kleinmond. Let's have tea :)

I have to be a liddle bit cryptic. Child in tow and security... :D

Knowing the weather pattern, condition of waves good idea on Spring Tide to make the break and meet when you did.

Muizenberg a gorgeous town, many happy memories visiting over the years, normally stayed in Bakoven, caught bus into Cape Town then travel by train stopping here then onto Simon's Town where family friends lived.

Moth Cottages - Bakoven video, these have been maintained throughout the years...

All of Cape Town is stunning... except maybe the CBD and some of the townships I guess...

Cape is stunning!

Well... I used to scuba...