Zigzag September 2021 - 45.4

When Jason Lemmer was attacked by a shark at The Point in Jeffreys Bay on 14 July, it was the quick thinking of his wife, friends and bystanders that saved the day. That, and the NSRI shark bite kit located on the beach. “The initial response from my wife and friends was one of calm and reassurance,” Lemmer later wrote on social media. He sustained deep puncture wounds to his right leg and his torso after being bitten by the shark, injuring his knee in the process. “They tied off my leg to stop the bleeding at my knee and got hold of the NSRI, who then co-ordinated everything going forward. Without the NSRI, we would certainly have had a different outcome.” In particular, Lemmer pointed out how the NSRI shark bite kit…

When it comes to naming the Mentawai Islands’ premium right-hander, arguably the finest surf discovery of the modern era, surfing’s traditional power brokers see things a little differently. “Lance’s Right, mate. It’s fuckin' Lance’s. Right?” I’ve just been put in my place, in no uncertain terms, by the authoritative growl of Doris. Tony ‘Doris’ Eltherington is something of an Indo legend – first as a prodigiously talented bowl-cut teen surfing Ulu’s Racetrack section in 1973’s Crystal Voyager, and more recently as a charter boat captain in the Mentawais. Not a skipper – the skipper. He’s the one who found Brett Archibald, the South African who fell overboard in the Strait at night and spent 28 terrifying hours alone at sea. He’s seen as many perfect waves break as anyone alive. When it comes…

Just don’t swim in front of him!” I was warned before I got into the water. “It makes him feel uncomfortable.” “Just I nodded emphatically, but thought to myself: I’m about to get in the water to photograph a three-ton, ocean-swimming elephant. How can I not get in his way? I first caught a glimpse of Rajan while watching The Fall, a beautiful fantasy film made in 2006. There’s an enduring scene in which a large elephant swims gracefully in blue, tropical waters; and as soon as I saw it, I was both fascinated and determined to find out where this elephant lived, and to photograph him in his environment. I eventually ended up tracking Rajan down to the small island of Havelock in India’s Andaman Island chain. I’d heard of the…

For decades, this large succulent has framed juicy lineup shots of Jeffreys Bay; you’d be hard-pressed to find a wave rider who doesn’t immediately recognise its distinct orange and yellow flowers, to the point that the plants have become synonymous with cooking waves. Part of this has to do with the fact that Aloe africana flowers from July to September – the same months that Supertubes is graced with winter swells. Like many succulents, Aloe africana plays a vital role in the ecosystem, from pollination to providing a food source for hundreds of bugs and birds, while acting as a natural stabiliser for the dunes that feed the points of J-Bay with sand. Also known as the Uitenhage Aloe, it’s indigenous to the Eastern Cape, but is able to adapt to a…

I am not a morning person; but as I stand on the boulder in the early dawn, my mind is sharp and alert. I am more than awake, concentrating on the vast endlessness below. There is a noticeable lack of early birdsong here; no hiss of offshore wind fanning the waves. The only sound is my breath, heavy after the scramble to the top. It is by no means a difficult climb, but I had to hurry to beat the sun. “If you stand at the top of Kubu Island just before sunrise,” one of the returning visitors had said over the embers of a fire the previous evening, “you can see the curvature of the Earth.” He was right. From up here, across the unfathomable distance of the Makgadikgadi Pan, the horizon…

Frank Solomon has forged a unique career as a professional big-wave surfer. Now 38, he first learned how to surf in the closeouts of Hout Bay beach, before graduating to the heavier breaks around the Cape Peninsula. Hout Bay is barely considered a wave for most Capetonians, let alone a training ground for an aspiring big-wave rider, but that never bothered Frank. “I always had a go-for-it attitude,” he says. “And I was determined to be a pro surfer.” Conveniently, the Solomon family lived next door to the house that Red Bull rented for the first Big Wave Africa event at Dungeons in July 1999. By then, Frank had already hiked across the mountain to surf smaller Dungeons a few times with good friend Mike Zietsman. Enthralled by the fledgling scene, Frank…