All things local

25 May 2010

Kalk Bay Reef in False Bay is not a secret spot and when it works it is the only wave on the Peninsula that attracts equal amounts of spectators and surfers. By Pierre Marqua

Kalk Bay Reef is by far one of the most photographed waves in South Africa. It has graced magazines and newspapers world wide for decades and this has resulted in it being one of the most crowded surf spots on the Cape Peninsula. Ironic because the take off zone is the size of a man hole cover and the urchin infested rock shelf reef claims skin and broken boards with evil malice. Yet, just like Pipe, it seems everyone has a point to prove.
The Cape Town Municipality recons that an average of 15 000 cars drive past the reef on any given day and when the swell is up, I am sure we can double that. Everyone and their dog fights for spectator rights in the small car park that over looks the reef.

Even tour buses stop to add to the feeding frenzy with camera clad tourists gawking at the perfect lefts exploding over a shallow reef, before being hustled off to the Bell for fish and chips and a ring side seat to the action. The car park spews out surfer after surfer over the railway track and down the wall till the take off zone becomes a manic zoo, but in amongst the chaos, there is order and the local crew know how it works and well at the end of the day they always manage to walk away with the best waves.

As with many Cape surf spots, Kalk Bay has locals (An affectionate term for people familiar to one another at a certain break, that generally interact with one another on a daily basis through the medium of their sport, sadly often associated with violence and anti social behavior) The KBay local crew is a large one, partly due to Kalk Bays central location, ease of access via both road and rail link feeding from both the deep south and the mid south suburbs of the peninsula. The crew is a colourful mixture of flamboyant personalities. It’s probably the most politically correct of all local crews in South Africa and its made up of shortboarders, bodyboarders, black, white, coloured, old and young, male and female, each with their own spot in the pecking orders, all surfing together in perfect harmony… just like Nelson envisioned: a truly democratic South Africa. Well kind of… it does happen.

Kalk Bay is also a photographers dream, and on any given swell, there are hundreds of lenses trained at the take off zone. From cheap instamatic “mik n druk’ cameras to pro rigs sporting expensive glass lining the rail way tracks to the water men bobbing in the channel hoping that their actions don’t attract the attention of the every present shark community that isn’t too far away. Everyone wants to capture a piece of this action.

But just like the local riders in the water who seem to pick off the best waves of every set, it’s the local photographers who know how to capture this beast at her most beautiful. On this last swell, local photographers Simone Robb and Ant Fox combined with local bodyboarder Ross Painter in a moment of sheer magic. It’s not the exact same moment, as we saw with the Chris Bertish shot at the Hoek, but it is the same wave, Ants shot is a few seconds after Simones shot, but it’s still interesting to see this heavy mutant of a beast from these two unique angles. Browse the Slideshow galleries for many more photos of this world class break.

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