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Umzumbe Backpacker options

Justin Maisch about to paddle Umzumbe backpacker options

Umzumbe Backpacker options

The good old days of living out of a camper van, or in a tent…carpark to carpark…in the sixties, gave us the dream in the first place. Those days are long gone now, and all we have to compensate for the lost nostalgia is the backpacker scene.

Umzumbe back in those olden days was heaven. Nobody. Not even cops!

Surfers lived in the carparks. For weeks/months/years at a time! Surfing. Fishing. Diving. Living.

But that golden birth of the surfing adventure is now way gone. Everywhere seems to be blown up by now…

Including Umzumbe.

And even then, backpacker spots, which were just that, are now, star worthy. If you don’t got en suite for the lady, you are nowhere in the backpacker business. Yuppies and all. There are now a bunch of accommodation offerers around the place, queuing up to serve you a marginal percentage slice of the dream. They even got hot showers?!

Justin Maisch and his highly motivated wife Hayley, run the Pumula Surf Camp. The closest thing to the dream, since Justin’s Dad lived and surfed and fished and dived at the very same beach. Peter Maisch. Nuff said.

Justin works at Wedge Surfboards, where he and his ilk have been thumping out bespoke surfboards of the elitest type, for decades. Justin, Hayley and Roosta run surf tours and coaching, for the lucky few. It’s a small and unique operation. You need to book way in advance. And, you can get hands on and help shape your own surfboard. Packages available.

So, there are remnants of the golden era of surfing lying around the south coast of Natal, you just got to look really hard, through the jungle, to find the real deal.

The rest is just imported capitalism looking for a place to grow money.

Enjoy another surf video shot near Umzumbe, on the way to the Transkei Wild Coast – featuring Calv and The Roosta, remembering the fun times of yesteryear…

Get in touch with us for advice about Umzumbe Backpacker options.

We will make sure you get the right vibe!

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Cyclone Dineo: Message from Lalaland in Tofo, Inhambane

Cyclone Dineo: Message from Lalaland in Tofo, Inhambane

Some of you may know that southern Mozambique just sustained a direct hit from Severe Tropical Cyclone Dineo. The majority of the southern coastline has sustained unbelievable damage and entire communities have been physically erased. Many in these communities have lost literally everything they owned: homes, crops, and livestock, and livelihood. Everything.
There will be no Big Government swooping in to save them. No international movie stars will rally to their cause or help them feed their families and rebuild their homes. No catchy Top 40 song about it will grace your radio waves. To the outside world, African tragedy is just not news.


Literally all they have left is their sense of community, which is absolutely unbreakable. Its the kind of community that most better-off people with lots of material wealth will simply never know. It’s also the exact reason that for almost 10 years, Corinna Heidi and myself have been very proud to call Mozambique home. It is a beautiful, friendly place full of beautiful, friendly, hard working people and they need your help.


Please consider doing just that. It’s impossible to describe how far the smallest contribution can go in this part of the world. Thanks.

Chad Leavitt and Corinna Heidi

Contact Chad and Heidi through http://lalalandafrica.com or buzz me on umzimkulu@gmail.com if you would like to assist in ANY way.

 

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Angola Grander Blue Marlin

Angola Grander Blue Marlin

Some more pics of the sensational Angola Grander Blue Marlin taken this week. This time off Lobito in Angola, and yes again, on a small 21ft ski-boat type vessel.

This one made it to the scales however and it came in at 497kgs!

Inside the huge marlin, was a sailfish, estimated at about 25kg’s…mmm, using sailfish for a livebait?!

It seems to be a good time to go hunting for 1000 pounders!

Thanks to Sardine scribe Marc Lange on the spot in Angola, for the pics and details.

Stay in the loop as Captain Duarte Rato, regular contributor to The Sardine News, keeps on 1000 pound marlin watch. Each year Duarte researches the information and posts it here and on http://fishbazaruto.com.

Also on Fish Bazaruto, you can browse through an incredibly informative and entertaining collection of articles and journals by Duarte, as he chases these 1000 pounders all over the world. You can also join him in this quest by getting in touch through the Fish Bazaruto website or his Facebook pages…

https://web.facebook.com/marlinmoz.sportfishing/

https://web.facebook.com/fishbazaruto/

And while we are in the marlin mood, check out the video linked below, of an Angolan Blue Marlin chasing the teasers and giving them more than one go. This is another huge fish that also seems intent on growing over the mark.

https://web.facebook.com/fishbazaruto/videos/594966870669874/

https://web.facebook.com/fishbazaruto/videos/594966870669874/

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Waiting Period Announced For 2017 JBU Supertrial Presented By Monster Energy

Jbay Supertrial

 Waiting Period Announced For 2017 JBU Supertrial Presented By Monster Energy

JBay – The much-anticipated JBU Supertrial event that happens every year at Supertubes in Jeffreys Bay will take place sometime during their normal waiting period slot of 1-11 June. The event organisers have traditionally held these dates as a prime time for early winter swells, and this year will see the contestants on stand-by for a suitable swell during that 11-day window.

The event is an exclusive invite-only tournament, and the winner receives a wildcard into the World Surf League Championship Tour event that takes place every year in JBay, the Corona JBay Open. It is the only contest in the country that offers a stake into a Championship Tour competition, and a win here could very easily launch a young South African surfers’ pro career.

The value of a chance to compete against surfers like Kelly Slater, Gabriel Medina, John John Florence or Jordy Smith cannot be measured, and that sort of experience is absolutely vital in a surfer’s bid to compete at the top level of our sport.

“This year we will see a change of format, which will be announced shortly, along with the list of invited surfers,” said contest organizer Koffie Jacobs. “The JBU Surf Club is looking forward to hosting this event again, and being part of getting a South African surfer the chance to compete at a Championship Tour level. Good luck to all competitors.”

The JBU Supertrial runs in the best possible conditions that Supertubes can offer
The JBU Supertrial runs in the best possible conditions that Supertubes can offer

The waves for the 2016 event were all time, and this year looks set for more of the same ©Van Gysen

The JBU Supertrial is a precursor event to the JBay Winterfest that takes place in Jeffreys Bay from July 12- 23. The JBay Winterfest is anchored by the Corona JBay Open Championship Tour competition.

Hashtags# JBUsupertrial  #JBayWinterfest

www.wavescape.co.za is the media partner.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbaywinterfest

The JBU Supertrial is sanctioned by Surfing South Africa, the recognised governing body for the sport in South Africa.

About Surfing South Africa

SSA is a member of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) and the International Surfing Association (ISA).

The JBU Supertrial also is sanctioned by the World Surf League (WSL).

About the World Surf League

The World Surf League (WSL), formerly the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP), is dedicated to celebrating the world’s best surfing on the world’s best waves through a variety of best-in-class audience platforms. The League, headquartered in Santa Monica, is a truly global sport with regional offices in Australasia, Africa, North America, South America, Hawaii, Japan and Europe.

For more information contact the event organiser

Koffie Jacobs

Koffie@silverbullet.co.za

Compiled and distributed by

Craig Jarvis

info@craigjarvis.co.za

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Cyclone Dineo damage count

Cyclone Dineo damage count

The Cyclone Dineo damage count is really bad for the local population, many of whom live in reed and grass houses. And on exposed islands and wetlands. The lodge owners and better off population in stronger houses held out far better.

The technique of building rooves to go, on top of sturdy ironwood frames, worked really well in application. The roof blows off leaving the structure intact. Houses built in valleys or behind the primary dune, were relatively unscathed.

Four fatalities have been reported in so far.

Hats off to Kevin Pitzer of Construa Inhambane, who had this to say…

“Construa/ Built it are saddened to learn of the devastation within Inhambane province owing to the huge damage caused by Cyclone Dineo which made landfall yesterday pm. We are currently investigating discounted pricing to victims of which lately the liquidity of individuals in Mozambique has been extremely low. We understand the damage did not choose against wealth of poverty where we would like to go further and offer an emergency line to the impoverished people who have very little income so that they may at least replace what little shelter they had. Should anyone wish to join us in this iniative we intend to accept donations to assist in subsidising replacement materials at our own already discounted pricing where we intend put teams on the ground in conjunction with our local Ministry of Finance where after damage and individual status of affordability is assessed the victims can access replacement materials. Construa/Build it has outlets in all the major effected areas and is a legal and honourable and accepted Mozambican National Buiders Merchant brand. My initial and personal contribution will be MT 1 million where I believe many small helping hands can go a long way to make one big helping hand.Should any person or company wish to participate in this endeavour please inbox me personally or drop a mail to Dineo.victim@construa.co.mz of which will be operational as of 08.30 this morning.”

Hats right off!

 

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