Part 9: Freakish Times

A giant session at Dungeons in 2006 saw Californian Greg Long and local tow crews tackle the biggest surf ever seen in Africa, in the same league as huge days recorded at Jaws and the Cortes Bank. Long’s giant wave won Biggest Wave at the 2006 Billabong XXL awards, while Marr took second in Best Ride of the Year.

Also in 2006, Muizenberg beach became the unofficial home of the Guinness World Record for the ‘Most surfers standing on a single wave’ when 73 surfers caught and rode the same wave on a perfect spring day. The event, organised by Dene Botha of the Kahuna Surf Academy, was a substantial improvement on the official record of 44 set by the Lahinch Surf Club in Ireland in May that year. The record was to be broken in 2007 by 84 Brazilians riding a wave at Quebra Mar in Santos, now part of a bigger event – the Earthwave Global Challenge to highlight global warming – which had its roots in the first attempt at Muizenberg in 2006.

Continuing the amazing 2006 run, the South African Masters Team won the inaugural ISA World Masters Champs in Puerto Rico. Competing in the ASP WCT that year were Rosanne Hodge, Ricky Basnett, Royden Bryson, Travis Logie and Greg Emslie, with Smith looking good for a berth in 2008.

In 2007, Smith again stormed into the limelight, taking the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships in North Narrabeen, Australia, with many pundits, including Sean Tomson, predicting a world title for him in the not-too-distant future.

Also in 2007, Durban stalwarts Hugh Thompson and Terry Roderick started African Surfrider, a magazine catering more for the older, more discerning surfer, with an emphasis on feature stories.

Later in 2007, big-wave paddle-surfing grew further with the announcement of the O’Neill Raw Courage Awards to reward gutsy performances by local surfers in testing big wave conditions.

With people of all colours, creeds and genders now enjoying the waves of our surf-rich coastline – from the cold-water power of the Western Cape to the perfect point breaks of Eastern Cape to the warm-water tubes of KwaZulu-Natal – South African surfing has much to be thankful for.