Table of contents for April - May 2017 (41.3) in Zigzag

Like you (perhaps), I was surprised to hear in January that SURFING magazine was closing its doors effective immediately – the latest in a series of titles going belly-up since the start of the digital revolution. I’ve always been taught to look on the bright side, so even though it’s a huge bummer that SURFING is no more and there aren’t really any positives to take from their closure, it’s kind of an honour that Zag now moves up a position to the fourth longest-running surf mag still in existence. Most of all, though, it was a heavy reminder for any business but particularly ours, that things can suddenly end – even after 53 years of relative stability. This lead me to think about the role ZIGZAG plays in the…

“We were really lucky to score this spot, because it never breaks,” says photographer Ian Thurtell. “Well, it does but never this clean, it always has a bump on it.” As the story goes, Ian and frothing grom, Max Elkington, had just got out from a long surf at another spot nearby. On the drive home, eager Max spotted this peak and jumped out the still-moving car whilst simultaneously struggling into his wetsuit. With the sun beginning to set there was no time to waste – the opportunity gone for who knows how long again. “He caught about twenty waves in twenty minutes,” reckons Ian of Max’s spur-of-themoment score. Flip the page for a different perspective.…

As South Africans we suffer from optimism. It’s all good; see the bright side; the glass is half full and all that. Actually, no. Wait. We’re a fickle bunch and we love to hate. This especially when it comes to our national teams in the mainstream arenas. If SA’s soccer team, rugby, netball or national cricketers perform badly, then the Boo Brigade begins. I might not be talking about you, but these voices are the loudest. The same has been happening in the SA competitive surfing scene, with a bunch of negativity creeping in. At least for the past few years. In 2015 Zag published an article that was part state-of-the-nation, part crystal-ball rub titled Sink or Swim. At the time, South Africa did have a certain Jordan Michael Smith…

A fter dominating the South African surf scene and one quick year on the WQS in 2012, Bianca Buitendag landed her spot on the Dream Tour the next season. And she certainly showed her worth after finishing eighth in 2013, seventh in 2014, and a career best of fourth in 2015. Bianca’s WCT rankings were on the rise. Until she fell off tour at the end of last season. The news came as a bit of a shock to the Saffa surf scene. Her surfing is still very much up to the standard of the elite Top 12 with her vertical, smooth backhand and innovative forehand. So what went wrong? It’s an age-old tale of how those “uncontrollables” can get the better of the best surfers around. Sometimes it is…

L-osperd’s Bay or Melkbosstrand as -it is now known, got its name from the Euphorbia mauritanica bushes originally found here in abundance and the milky substance they secrete when cut or broken. The town has also played an integral part of Cape Town history; for one it is the site of the Battle of Blaauwberg, where the British first landed and fought with the French/Batavian troops that were stationed in the area to control the Cape Colony at the time. A cannon to commemorate this battle, which lead to the establishment of British rule in South Africa, is situated on our foreshore at the famous Damhuis. For all the diving enthusiasts, numerous shipwrecks dating back to the Portuguese Discoverers of the Early Renaissance are strewn along our beaches. There are…

K errupt flips feel great because you can really push hard when you hit the section. As with anything in surfing, timing is crucial. If you’re able to hit the lip at the perfect time, just a little bit ahead of a barrelling section, you’re pretty much set. All you have to do from there is turn your head towards the tail of you board and do a somersault. Another crucial part of the trick is to make sure you get the grab, although that’s kind of a natural progression when you’re doing the somersault. Once you’re flying through the air doing a somersault, you can’t really do anything else but hope that you’ll land on your feet. I remember seeing a black and white sequence of Dane doing a…

I twas in Kommetjie the other day at the end of Diemaar Road – otherwise known among the Kom skom as Goofballs – wondering if I should suit up and paddle out or go home and hammer nails into my eyeballs. At least I’d be able to do the mutilating in peace with nobody shouting at me for the hammer or stealing all the nails. It seemed preferable to getting into the water with 57 other people stealing all the waves and shouting at me for dropping in. I watched disconsolately as a line of nine paddled shoulder-to-shoulder for the same wave. In front of them, a couple of dozen surfers on the inside scrambled to avoid the charge of the laaitie brigade. A few bailed, a couple of girls…

UNLESS OTHERWISE CREDITED When our lone world tour campaigners Jordy Smith (Championship Tour) and Grant ‘Twiggy’ Baker (Big Wave Tour) paddle out to do battle with the world’s best, we could be forgiven for thinking they’re alone out there on the global stage. And although they’re the only surfers actually competing on the Championship Tours at present, there’s a whole team of Saffas hard at work just in the wings, off centre stage, representing us proudly. From the dawn of professional surfing, South Africans have been at the forefront; both leading the charge in the water and spearheading the body that is responsible for hosting events and crowning the world champions of our sport. You can go right the way back to 1969 when Max Wetteland, Ian McDonald and Ernie…