Jason Heyne is right in the current when it comes to what’s cutting underwater, up and down the KZN Coast…
“Well below average diving conditions this week with the August winds kicking in gear. Tuesday and Wednesday morning were diveable with the garrick patrolling as the east picked up late morning. A south west wind will follow close on the heels of the north east today improving conditions and settling the sea. Saturday you might find some cleaner water far south coast. Light to variable winds Sunday with a 1m swell running should make it a cracker day. If you have the time Cape Vidal and Sodwana have been producing some good fish! Please be aware that there is a whale carcass in the Scottborough area which has been attracting some very large sharks and 2 divers were chased out the water at Brighton on the bluff this week by a 4m great white. As always dive safe and straight spears. “
DYNAMIC YOUNG RVCA PRO USA SKATE TEAM TO TOUR SOUTH AFRICA
DYNAMIC YOUNG RVCA PRO USA SKATE TEAM TO TOUR SOUTH AFRICA
Arguably the best skater in the world and current X-Games Gold Medalist, Curren Caples will be joining his fellow RVCA team mates and professional skateboarders, Greyson Fletcher, Julian Davidson, Kevin “Spanky” Long and Josh Harmony on a skateboarding tour throughout Joburg, Durban and Cape Town this August, 20 – 31. This promises to be a tour of fun, action and some serious skating and slams as this international team is one of the most progressive and radical skate teams in the world. Their personalities are huge, and they will be joined by the local RVCA team, Yann Horowitz, Khulu Dlamini and Adrian Day.
Joburg:
On Saturday 22 August at 1pm they will be having a skate jam with the local kids in the community indoor skatepark in Maboneng on 11 Staib Street. The Maboneng skatepark has been running many local events, bringing together kids from the surrounding communities and giving them a place where they can skate safetly. This promises to be an exciting day where the local kids can meet their heroes, hang out and learn from the best in the world. There will be free pizza and loads of product giveaways, as well as signings by the pro skateboarders, and this jam will be packed. Did you see what we did there?
Fujifilm will also be having an Instawalk in the Maboneng area, starting with a graffiti tour and talk by Cale Waddacor, author of Graffiti South Africa, which will finish off at the RVCA Pro Skate Jam. They will be giving away some sick prizes to the best Instagrammers on the day. Details to follow.
Durban:
In Durban the team will be spending a day with the kids at the Valley of 1000 Hills Skatepark, recently featured on Carte Blanche. This community skatepark in the Hills has been an upliftment project in the area with skateboarders being taught life skills over and above what they learn in skateboarding.
While in Durban, the team will also be spending some time at the Durban Beachfront public skatepark, and skaters like Greyson Fletcher, son of legendary Christian Fletcher and nephew to big wave aficionado Nathan Fletcher, will be hitting the New Pier if there are some good waves around.
Cape Town:
On Saturday 29 August from midday, the Pro RVCA team will be having a free skate jam with local kids at the Mill Street public Skatepark. They will be joined by skateboarders from the local community as well as the boys from the Salesians Institute. Here there will be free pizza and some more of those sick product giveaways.
Afterwards the Pro Team will be doing a free signing at the Baseline Skate Shop, 8 Kloof Street, where locals can come and meet their heroes and hang out with the pros as this groundbreaking tour draws to a close.
For news and updates you can follow RVCA South Africa on
Average diving conditions this week with a bit of swell churning the inshore up. Lower south coast and the kei have been very clean. Decent size garrick are coming out north and south coast. Snoek middle south coast and north coast. A big cuda was lost on the lower south coast and I managed to plant a decent shot in a large wahoo today but after stripping the gun reel and 2m off the belt reel it came off. Tricky fish to land! There is a buster of a north east predicted early Saturday morning with some swell. South coast will probably be diveable come Sunday. Guys and gals please be aware that there is a dead whale at zinkwazi attracting some very large sharks so please don’t dive in the area! Alex from the club had a 3m great white come have a look at his crayfish skills at umtwalume this morning. We had a great club meeting last night and the revamped club champs trophy was presented to Andrew Mcdonald. Thanks Dylan for the great work! As always dive safe and straight spears.
KZN’s First Adaptive Surfing Competition a Huge Success
Adaptive Surfing competition: KZN’s First Adaptive Surfing Competition a Huge Success
The province’s first-ever Special Need’s Surf Competition took place at Addington beach on Sunday 2 August and proved to be a resounding success. Seven talented young surfers, five of them from the Open Air School, competed for a number of different prizes with a large crowd of supporters cheering them on in the 2 – 3ft surf.
Dean Hart proved to be fearless when he won the “biggest wave of the day” award. The “stand up award” went to visually impaired youngster Erynn Geddie who impressed the judges with his stand up surfing abilities, riding a number of waves to the shore on his minimal surfboard. “Charger of the day” award went to the only female entrant Sarah Wright and the “stoke award” for demonstrating his sheer passion for wave riding went to Mohamed Essack. “Longest wave of the day” went to Luke Lotter for riding a few waves from the back line right up onto the sand and Danito Mondlane won the “ripper of the day” award for his stylish approach to wave riding. Sebastian Orbe won the “Most Waves in a Heat” Award.
The contest director, Wez Smith, said, “Thank you to all of the volunteers, sponsors and spectators on the day. The quality of surfing was very promising, some of the grommets show potential to become real chargers one day.”
The event was the brainchild of Smith, whose son Reece attends the Open Air School for children with physical disabilities. Smith invited some of Reece’s friends to join them bodyboarding and they loved it so much that from there, Smith organised a surfing session every few weeks for the group to practice. Although the five participants have only had a few training sessions, they are avid surfers and excited to take to the water again.
Dries Millard – a former junior Springbok rugby player who was left a paraplegic following a tragic car accident – has been integral in growing support for adaptive surfing in Cape Town and has been involved with a number of Surfing South Africa events targeting differently-abled surfers. Millard was on hand on the day to inspire and encourage all of the youngsters taking part and he performed a demonstration with beach wheelchairs and modified surfboards to show the young watermen and women what they too can achieve if they put their minds to it.
“IOLProperty is delighted to be given the opportunity to be part of this special initiative, particularly as its is the first of its kind. We hope that the participants had a great day and we hope the event grows from strength to strength,” commented Liv Allison, Relationship Manager: IOLProperty.
IOL Property sponsored rash vests for all of the competitors and Surfing South Africa donated board bags, leashes, wax and rash vests, through Reef SA. Various KZN bodyboarders sponsored professional bodyboards.
“We are incredibly grateful for all of the assistance that we received as these sponsorships have given the competitors a great starter kit to practice paddling and duck-diving at home or public pools, with the aim of getting them ready for some more solid surf as they get more confident, said Smith. In addition to this, private individuals also sponsored Spur Vouchers, Surf HQ sponsored a R500 voucher for their surf shop and Splash Waterworld also sponsored a family day pass to each competitor. Simon Williamson, owner of Maniac Bodyboarding, sponsored caps for competitors and was also instrumental in ensuring that the event ran smoothly. Corner Cafe sponsored lunch for the day and Wayne Kisten sponsored cooldrinks for the day.
Organizers hope to attract more special need’s competitors to future practice sessions and events.
Early Shark Detection & Bather Protection Technology Unveiled By Local South African Company
LMSurveys have explained that shark detection technologies are available, but still have to thoroughly tested for environmental impact (pic by Ocearch)
What started 6 months ago as an environmental discussion on a trip back from Mozambique has led a local South African survey company, Land & Marine Surveys, to unveil a new set of complementary technologies for early shark detection.
Clint Marx – “I’ve always wanted to give something back to nature, to try and use my knowledge and equipment in a more positive way – so our discussion got me thinking on how I could use the acoustic equipment I already had – this led to other things.”
L&M Surveys (lmsurveys.co.za) have been for the last 6 months carefully investigating and evaluating various complimentary components with the goal to assemble and combine an early shark detection and warning system – to be as comprehensive a system as possible. The end product will have scope to continue to evolve and improve upon itself as other new technologies become available.
L&M Surveys has over 25 years of local and international experience in most facets of survey and specialising in all things marine especially underwater acoustics. L&M have been responsible for some innovative solutions over the years and remain at the front of modern survey technology by constantly assembling and using equipment in “out of the ordinary” situations.
“We are at a point now where we are ready to start trials and are busy finalising a test area. There are still some minor technical hurdles to cross but I am a firm believer that everything is possible.”, says CO Clint Marx.
The various components that make up the shark detection system have also been carefully evaluated to make sure they are environmentally friendly.
“There’s no point in offering a system which is detrimental to the environment – even if it is to protect ocean users – our oceans are already over stressed as it is. Working in harmony is fundamental for us and forms the basis of our philosophy.”
Unfortunately events like that which happened to Mick Fanning over the weekend do tend to get blown out of all proportion and sensationalised by the media. While an extremely terrifying event to witness by all, least of which Mick himself, these events are extremely rare when considered. If you listen to most pro surfers interviewed none can recall something like this happening before and that is going back some 60 years of international surf events around the world. However encounters or interactions will still take place – we hope to minimise these by adding our system as additional safety to augment what is already in place. Hopefully the reduction in encounters will reduce the bad rap that sharks have got.
“In addition the scientific and public awareness spinoffs are mind boggling. It is our intention to open up the data gathered by our systems to the science world and the public at large to try and create more awareness of the beautiful world below the water.”
Trials are expected to take 6 months to a year. However should things look promising before this there are options to start rolling the systems out early on other beaches to continue as a local trial.
At this important stage, it is noted that we do not need kneejerk reactions but meaningful disciplined scientific evaluation over time before one can say a shark detection system is functional to the extent that is acceptable to the environment.
Clint Marx is out on assignment on The Suez and will be back early August but can be reached on:
