There is no alarm set this fine Saturday morning. I have a suspicion that the swell is going to be late, and low tide is only low at 11am. Rain greets me at around 6am and it’s a loverly snooze through the morning with the comforting sounds of the pitter patter on Ralph’s roof.
I make a coffee and take a stroll down to the point to watch the waves. I bump into Wayne who has come to join Bryan and Doro. Chris joins me on the point and we talk about suggestions and things to do around Jeffreys Bay and Cape St Francis when he heads down that way next week
There is the odd small wave that looks longboardable. The coffee hits my bowels and I have to run back to the bathroom. I make a bowl of oats with Jabs, Zingi and Chris in the kitchen; Zingi is once again just the cutest.
I eat my oats in the common room (or Winter Gaarden as the Swiss call it) and look into some gear for the run as well as a map for the Drakensberg (Slingsby has released a new edition and I’m so excited).
The swell might have started pulling into the point. I’ve got a flask of Rooibos tea, honey and ginger that I’m going to be taking down to the point to get excited. I meet a guy selling sculptures and we share some tea and assess the waves together. Chris is out there and he gets some fun waves - I decide that it’s worth a little longboard.
The surf is fun. I get some little runners on Angelica. I manage to get a nice cutback or two in and a few little nose rides. Bryan and Chris come join and we are all hooting each other on. The swell starts picking up slightly and they all move up a little higher up the point. I can’t join them as I’ve decided to add an another dynamic to the surf by not wearing a leash. As the swell starts building I realise two things:
- I’m hungry
- Now that the swell is building - I should get Kim
So I decide to call it there and go finish up the pasta that I made yesterday.
While I’m busy eating my pasta Isipileh comes to get his bicycle fixed again. We share the pasta and I ask some questions about his life, family and he tells me how medicine is his favourite school subject
With a now working bicycle, me and Isipileh and myself cruise down to the point. He jumps onto the rocks and quickly manages to exchange his bicycle for a fishing rod and watches me from the rocks.
There are two people out there - one with a dreadlocked mullet who is absolutely ripping. The ocean is wilder, there are multiple swells and small peaks all over. There are some barrels coming down the sandbar in front of the rocks and Mr Dread Mullet is double arm barring his way through some of them on an old fish that he has dialled. I get a couple good waves and do some strong turns. The rip is relentless and my tired arms gave up after an hour.
Isipileh has got his bicycle back and he comes back to my car with me. I have wash myself and some clothes and he helps me hang up my clothes. I manage to find my bank card that has been missing for a day. We share a chocolate on the back of the bakkie as it starts to rain. I give him a slip of paper with my number and email on to keep me up to date with his plan to become a doctor. It starts to rain and he cycles home.
With a plan of doing some writing I head to the common room with a flaks of ginger, honey and rooibos tea. Immediately that plan gets derailed by a hilarious chat with Wayne, Doro and Bryan. Eli and Chris join and we devour chips.