While Cape Town was battered by unruly waves over the weekend and surfers fled up the coast to J-Bay, a small group of surfers headed east and west looking for something different.
“We woke up super early on Saturday morning hoping to surf either Sunset or Dungeons. But with the ocean a total mess and some good winds predicted we decided to go up the West Coast,” says Frank Solomon. “We’ve surfed this wave before, it’s one of the heaviest lefts in the country when it’s big but it wasn’t huge, just really fun and only four of us out – myself, Mike Schlebach, Roderick Torr and Paris Basson.”
Frank’s keeping tight lipped about any other details, only saying, “It was a risky call but it was worth it.”
Meanwhile, the Boland duo of Phil Nel and Tommy Kruger in went the opposite direction.
“Tommy and myself journeyed long and hard to share this first ride. First we went to Kommetjie on Saturday morning, amped to score some big rides. But the waves didn’t produce what we were hoping for with the wind picking up and a tow crew getting the best from it. After spending the morning at James Lowe’s house we heard from Brad Coetzer that there were some solid, empty waves up the coast. So we drove for two more hours, arriving with an hour to spare before last light. As we walked to the jump out a big set closed out across the bay. We had no other option but to run up the bay to find a safer jump out.
“We paddled through dark deep water for minutes before finally reaching the take-off zone. This area is reputed for it’s great white inhabitants, but that was the last thought on our minds as a solid set arrived. We paddled over the first two seeing this bomb behind it, we both swung, paddled hard and went. At the bottom I turned around to see Tommy getting mowed down by the foam and taking several more on the head. Later, sitting at the back-line waiting for the next set, with the sun already behind the mountains we both just boiled over with laughter as that one wave made a whole day worth it. One wave shared.
Just before dark, Tom got another and managed to pull into a huge tube, making the beers taste even sweeter afterwards.”
Tommy and Phil’s rides are the first official entries for the 2016 Striped Horse Challenge presented by RVCA and Hurricane Surf, but with the South Atlantic Ocean kicking into high gear, we’re expecting to see plenty more to come.
The Striped Horse Challenge – Surfer: Tommy Kruger Videographer: Morbophoto.com
The Striped Horse Challenge – Surfers: Tom Kruger & Phil Nel Videographer: Morbophoto.com
*More on the Striped Horse Challenge presented by RVCA and Hurricane Surf HERE.
**Still Images © Gunter Berens