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April 25, 2010

Frango Beach Ferrals

Non_violent_fisherman take on Mozambique

Life in Mozambique does not lend it self well towards maintaining an on-line audience so apologies all round for the delayed blogroll/age…things have been characteristically slow out here in East Africa since the waves stopped waving, but today there is swell and i’ve promised my self i’m a surfer again- I just hope the current stops currenting down the point I rode three waves this morning and came in broken!

nymphos aboard the Nymph...

How’s Royden winning the Cold Water Classic hey- what a champ, Dave Richards bailed Scotland for some tropical reelers here in Mozam shooting with me and AVG, he flew straight to Brazil from here looking sweet for a good seeding what with the volcanic cloud of ash thingy trapping most of the world tour in Euroland-eish!

good for something

Lilo ended up a little Mozam-bleak after losing his passport and after failing to take notice of the fact that when you enter a foreign country, no matter how small the airport is- you need to get a stamp…he found himself very close to spending a bit of time in an African jail but thanks to a little persuasion and guidance from the local crew(Dom King, Jao and Richie you guys are champs)and of course the token wad of cash he finally got on the plane toward J-bay. Shame is all I can say- his first photo trip, he loses his passport, Ipod and flight details on the first day, gets hardly any shots and quite literally has to buy his way out of the country- I hate to use the expression but This Is Africa- she takes no prisoners so there’s a lesson here- the other lesson I learnt is when there are waves- and AVG is amped to shoot- ride ‘em! This is the first time i’ve had the oppurtunity to shoot with the energizer bunny that himself- our first session was nearly five hours of shooting! I kept waiting for him to say something or pull the plug and when we finally got out he admitted the same thing- gota make hay while the sun shines hey…that we did.

lurking down Frango beach side with Shonalan

For now, we’ve rented a sweet pozi with a glimpse of the line-up for May so if you know where I am-come visit! We plotting a bit of prospecting a thousand or so miles North in the Cabo Delgado province- truck rides and chappas, one board and the full camping set-up, feral time proper and if we find what I think we are gona find- it’ll be on like Donkey Kong and the ‘zag better send AVG here pronto!

lurking Frango beach style with the angry snail, what a ride....

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April 19, 2010

Rolling with RVCA / Melkbosstrand – Full Gallery

Filed under: Zigzag Says... — admin @ 1:15 pm

On Saturday, RVCA pulled into Melkbosstrand to host their second event in their country wide, Rolling with RVCA series. More than 70 surfers rocked up to participate. Check out the surfing action and scenes that went down in the full gallery highlights below.

Click on images below to enlarge. To return to gallery selection click backspace on your keyboard.

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April 13, 2010

Onda Grande

Filed under: Roosta's Pluck — Tags: roosta, rvca, zigzag blog — Roosta @ 6:43 am

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Eish its been a bit of a blitskrieg flurry of shooting and missioning since AVG and the boys arrived…

Lilo got a tour of the town thanks to the local boys- when we woke him up this morning he looked like he’d mummified himself in his mosquito net- classic, South winds have been a bit of a plague early mornings but it seems to ease up during the day with the sun- this is the first significant Winter surge so sand is packing itself nicely on the points courtesy of the South North current winding- yesterday was most productive, grey skies made for a moody light, AVG was floating on one my boards with his long lense nailing shots, Lilo was getting to know the reef a little better and Dave took got one from way up the point i thought he was gona have to some exploring in the caves underwater to get back out!

Right now the sun is shining, studio’s open, the boys are starting to shuffle and pace- time to go spend some more time in the office…

the brothers checkin out the new zag

little backdoor pitty

South wind morning bust up North

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April 9, 2010

Part 16: The Dangerous Isles

Filed under: Golla's Log — Tags: Surf travel — Gideon Malherbe @ 9:37 am

We are on the road again. Our destination is the Tuamotu Archipelago, 500 miles south of Fatu Hiva. These atolls are unlike anything you’ve ever seen. They consist of these massive clear blue lagoons, up to 40 miles wide, surrounded by a narrow ring of low lying sandy islets and coral reef.

Here are some of the Tuamotus

They are the oldest island structures on the planet. The original volcanic island has sunken and dissapeared, and all that’s left is its coral reef, still growing around the islands forgotten footprint. The reason the coral reef is still there, is because even though the island has sunk, the coral will keep growing up to the surface of the ocean. Another interesting thing is that unlike the younger islands with multiple reef passes like Tashiti and Moorea, these atolls only rarely have more than one or two reef passes. You need fresh water run-off to create reef passes, which is why your mountainous islands with plenty valleys will also have plenty reef passes. But once the island is gone, there is no more fresh water run-off to kill the coral and create a pass. This is significant for us, because a lower number of passes means less potential for waves. Capiche?

Faaite Atoll: Only one way in, its on the left side

And when all the excess ocean water (that washes over the reef and into the Atoll’s lagoon) can only vent out back into the ocean via a single pass, then you have a force of nature which you need to see to believe. Don’t try to enter one of these passes on the wrong tide, or with the sun ahead of you. You’ll get flushed out into the ocean like a twig in a drain pipe. Each reef pass is different with its own quirks and dangers, most have scattered coral heads, and you better wear your polarized sunnies with the sun on your back. The Tuomotus used to be called the Dangerous Isles, they are still top of the list as the most dangerous area to navigate in, one of the main reasons is that they are so low, you can’t see them until you are right on top of them. For these reasons most other yachties simply give the Tuamotus a skip. But most other yachties don’t surf, do they?

How's this for a dodgy pass: Can you see the rip into the ocean, and the dodgy scattered coral heads once you are in?

Anyway, we are not there yet. Alas, we are once again in the middle of nowhere. Later tonight we will pass west of Tepoto and Napuka islands. Our main destination is the atoll Faaite, its has a reef pass into the lagoon with a left and a right (waves!!!) either side. Google it at 16deg42.014S, 145deg21.334W. Spirits on board are a bit low, Chantal has to do virtually all the cooking, cleaning and looking after kiddies as Andy and I are just steering and sleeping. We are doing 4 on 4 off hand steering shimmi, we are taking strain, especially the night watches, staring at a compass for 4 hrs takes the fun out of cruising. Its during these night watches that i wonder why we are doing this without our autopilot. But the alternative was at least another 2 week wait.

What a crazy day. At sunrise we were still sailing with one reef in the main. Conditions were dodgy with an increasing SE wind and a building sea coming onto the port beam. By 12pm the wind was solid 20 knots and we were shunting along at 8-9 knots with plenty double figure surfs. By 5pm the wind was close to 30 knots and still showing no sign of letting up. Shimmi’s weather helm even with one reef in the main was a handful. Our speed topped out a 14.5 knots, shimmi was like a runnaway train, going like a speedboat with a trail of white foam behind us.

We decided on another reef before sunset, ended up having to drop the main completely as the topping lift had wrapped around the starboard shroud. Nothing a sharp knife could not fix. So here we are, 2 reefs in the main, genoa on 1st reef and we are still doing 8-9 knots, today will surely be a record milage day for us, close to 190 or 200 miles even. But the sea is rough, we are sailing across the path of the se trades and the massive fetch which stretches over 4000 miles behind them. So yes, with a fetch like that you cant expect a milk pond.

Hopefully we will arrive at our atoll before sunset tomorrow so we can put the pick down and SLEEP. The helm seat right is now is ‘hot’, either my butt or Andy’s is in it at all times. Weird to think that we are doing a Easter weekend drive with not a car or another human in sight! Stay safe.

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