While the black southeaster ripped the SW Cape and S Cape with hurricane-force winds that killed five people, hardcore surfers were pulling into barrels at False Bay reefs yesterday.
Mickey turns on a dime a short distance from the manhole. Photo Peter Lambert
The wind reached unheard-of levels, with gusts reported by the
weather service at 75 knots, which is more than double a normal gale.
According to the Cape Times, five people were killed and another was
missing in "raging thunder storms, massive seas and wild gale force
winds and hurricane strength gusts which are expected to continue
thrashing the Western Cape on Tuesday".
"Gusting winds, hail and thunder showers on Monday caused widespread
mayhem, from power outages and traffic jams to the uprooting and
snapping of trees which smashed into houses."
The surf is expected to continue today, Tuesday, with smaller sets
up to 6 feet, as opposed to the double to triple overhead bombs that
were closing out yesterday. Surfers from as far afield as, well,
Kommetjie, were expected to return for an epic day of surfing.
Intrepid surf photographer Peter Lambert was on hand to capture the
carnage yesterday, and is there again today, along with Wavescape photo
editor Pierre Marqua. Look out for a more complete pictorial
representation of the two surf sessions a little later, when the mayhem subsides.
Unknown pulls back. Photo Peter Lambert
Unknown chases the sun. Photo Peter Lambert
Comments
RSS feed for comments to this post.