Zigzag April - May 2020

Coronavirus. Economic depression. Loadshedding. Record unemployment. Unfathomable political corruption. A weak Rand. Rising petrol and food prices. Crumbling State Owned Enterprises. But here’s the circuit breaker: you can still go surfing. Nothing will ever get in the way of that. Planes can fall from the sky, markets can crash and politicians will likely run off with pockets full of cash, but none of it will matter. Because when your hands leave the rails, you leave it all behind in a violent, furious and beautiful crash of salt water, sand, coral, fibreglass, wax and neoprene, speeding across walls and through tubes to howls of approval. It’s all dust next to surfing. They can’t reach you out there. It’s forbidden. Your personal quarantine zone. When you strip it all down, it’s the simplicity…

DROP THE ZAG A LINE ON LETTERS@ZIGZAG.C0.ZA AND BE HEARD SURF SHOP CONNECTIONS No one knows the true definition of a perfect surfing community, but I tell you what, mine was pretty damn close! I recently moved to Mossel Bay but my heart longs for the place I found the real meaning of friendship. St Mikes beach is truly a surf paradise, but to put the cherry on top, we had the ‘bestest’ ever surf shop just one street away from the beach. It’s a wonderful place for all us groms to hang out when the waves are bad and the owner of the shop is one of the most stoked okes I have ever met. A dude once said that the best friendships are made in bikini bottoms and board shorts……

Cold water is a reality for the Cape Town surfer. Against the backdrop of fynbos covered mountains, when the water looks inviting, it never is. Cast aside any notions of firing barrels in boardies. Instead, reach for the steamer and encase yourself in neoprene from head to toe. Some ‘Deep South’ locals prepare to get their skulls split by an ice cold South Atlantic sledgehammer. Flip the page for a different perspective. Far from the fynbos, blue skies and runaway mountain fires of Cape Town, Shannon Ainslie stays warm in Norway by keeping the engine running at red line speed on a Nordic race track. Instead of bush, there’s snow and blue sky is replaced with gun metal grey. But if there’s one constant amongst the points of difference: it’s the…

Legs spread almost a meter wide. Each knee pressing down on a pectoral fin. Lactic acid building in my forearms from applying downward pressure. All the while the skin of a 3m+ six-gill shark chafes away at my inner thighs. Due to the fact its vertebra don’t calcify, this shark could literally contort to the point it would be able to bite the base of its tail (precaudal pit), or me. But all that wriggling introduces the issue of ‘shark rash’, a very real and painful eventuality of being a shark researcher. While it may be scratchy, shark skin, is in itself a marvel of the natural world. Shark skin, characterized by its grey colour and rough, tactile texture, is truly an exceptional piece of evolution. In fact, it is still…

I met Alex a while before this trip, as well as the guys who were filming, like Jimmy Jazz and Tom Hawkins the photographer, they’re super creative individuals. Being around people who have an appreciation for different things when it comes to surfing, you know like different styles and manoeuvres, it makes a huge impact on your approach. I mean I don’t want to put myself in a bracket or one sort of style of surfing, so it’s nice to be with those people and embrace that way of thinking. I felt right at home. You know growing up and looking back, it was definitely a goal to be going on trips like this. Harry and Alex are both pretty cool and different sorts of characters, particularly in their approach to surfing,…

7am. 140 metres above sea level. Matt stares into the abyss that stretches out below the bridge, heart racing. Adrenaline pumping. Cars drive past, slow down. hoot and flash their lights to make certain he isn’t a jumper whose life has run into a cul-de-sac. Matt shuffles closer to the lip of the bridge, toes over the edge. No turning back now. But then he sees it, and it changes everything. A subtle rustle in the foliage far below. The wind has changed direction. The risk of the slightest draft could prove fatal. Sometimes stepping away from the ledge takes more courage then throwing yourself over it. Matt knows this. Beneath the quiet demeanour lies a highly calculated individual who is always prepared for quick changes in life’s events and…