There’s a time and a place for everything. At New Pier, that time and place happens to be when the swell goes into the red and starts pushing beyond the eight foot mark on a straight east cyclone swell.
The sand gets trapped and does funny things. It explodes through the front and back of the wave, blows out big plumes of mud and rips ous boardshorts off. We’re talking sandbox enemas here. Gnarly stuff.
Then there’s the wash, running from pier to pier that would give the Amazon Tidal Bore a run for its money. The few brave takers out there on their 7’0 guns (yes, 7’0 is considered a full gun in Durbs…) look like they’re paddling on a treadmill for the peak, swinging around at the last second and dropping into ugly tubes or getting hopelessly molested. Usually both.
The thing about the piers is, they are not big wave spots. They’re probably at their beautiful best in the solid four to six-foot range with funneling tubes. Throw a few extra feet on, and suddenly all that water doesn’t know where to go. Things get weird. All the energy’s compressed from pier to pier, with no deep drop-off or channel to absorb some of the pressure. Just sand, concrete, and some very wide barrels.
So when a four day run of swell culminated over the weekend in a dirty barrel orgy, it was the time and place to dust off the 7’0 and get a few, or resign yourself (ahem) to watching from the pier.
The crowd from the week was whittled down to a committed crew, dodging muddy closeouts and pulling into big boxes. Made even more impressive by the fact that this isn’t Puerto Escondido or Hossegor, where a massive oceanic trench offshore allows the lineups to handle that energy. It’s the Durban Basin bru, and when the swell’s caning eight-foot plus, there’s nowhere to run and hide, no trench to make it more manageable. So you put your head down and paddle hard, like these fine gentleman in the photos and video below. Or you take your place on the pier, and enjoy the show.
Outlook for the week: It’s safe to come out again in KZN.
Keep it real.
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