29 December, 2015 29 December, 2015

Dappat se Gat – Mountain Goat Cleans-up

After Stellies med student, Jaco Roodt, organised 30 of his fellow learners to clean up Stillbaai, the medicine man couldn’t help but get his hands dirty again (on his ace this time) by cleaning up his favourite beach – Dappat se Gat (which we hope looks better than it sounds). Respect! For documenting his efforts, Jaco gains entry into our Tuffy Beach Clean-Up competition, putting himself in the running to win a brand new shred stick compliments of Firewire and Share The Stoke Foundation.

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“Yesterday (December 29) I decided to do another beach clean up after I saw the state in which my favourite beach, Dappat se Gat, was left after the Christmas and Boxing day public holidays.”

“It was a scorcher of a day and after having hiked down the path from the parking lot to the beach I just felt the need to clean up.  I am utterly disgusted with broken glass strewn on the beach after having my dad jump off a rock and land on a piece, subsequently ruining my December holiday as a lightie.”

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“There were massive barrels pulling through, but I knew what had to be done. I started my clean up on the far right hand side of the beach and worked my way up to the small waterfall and then I combed the rest of the beach. I did receive quite a few penetrating stares as other sunbathers observed me cleaning up the beach, but that didn’t matter. I think they must have found my selfies holding a plastic bag quite amusing.”

“I soon realised that I was a little bit underprepared and I needed another bag. So I asked a few people on the beach if they might have an extra bag and luckily a kind old tannie had one for me. So I continued my quest to clean my favourite beach. After having filled both bags, it was time for a quick swim and then a big hike up the mountain with the trash to the parking lot.”

“I felt like a ‘pack horse’ hiking up the mountain with two bags of trash and all our beach stuff. Halfway through the hike “I was sweating more than a one armed bricklayer in Bagdad”, but I knew I was just working off my Christmas lunch. After having reached the parking lot, I felt an overwhelming sense of pride, joy and accomplishment. Leave nothing but your footsteps” – Jaco Roodt.

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1 Comment

  1. Brian Groom
    13 January, 2016 at 3:04 pm · Reply

    Awesome Jaco, that’s the way to go – a true surfer who cares for his environment!

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