Deep in the Desert

And by surfers, read several of the top professional surfers in the world, not just the grizzled double-cab crew that normally lurks in that windswept sand-land.

Wavescape Photo editor Pierre Marqua, called early one morning last week as we were packing the car in Port St Johns to drive 10 hours through the Eastern Cape to Jeffreys Bay, which was about to ignite.

After a 24 hour car ride from Namibia, and one sleep later, Marqua burst forth in a spirited rendition of a madman just released from the asylum. We left Port St Johns one hour late, such was his ardent soliloquy.

Apparently the infamous but elusive Skeleton Bay fired all day recently at 4-8 feet.

Nothing unusual about that. In winter, many spots break at that size. But this session was something special. In fact, the sand bottomed left-hand point – discovered on Google Earth as the Americans claim but we all know otherwise – delivered a sublime surfing day.  

But the plot thickened, in the form of half the ASP World Tour.

"When we arrived, expecting an empty desert and perfect uncrowded lines, we couldn't believe it. The entire ASP crew had turned up, and a whole bunch of other ous. There were cars and bakkies all over the place. Kelly Slater was there. So was a helicopter filming the Quiksilver guys."

And yet, Marqua recounts, it didn't matter. "For every one wave ridden, five rolled down the point empty." Consider that in your deliberations on how best to keep this spot secret after the media frenzy hit it last week. And according to Marqua, who had a good chat with Carlos, one of the leaders of the local crew, the locals are stoked at the attention the spot gets, and really don't mind that people make the effort to get there. They want the economic boon the spot brings.

Truth is, it is not a secret spot any more. And yet it is. Even if you can afford the trek up there whether by flights or big-ass vehicles, can you deal with the heaviness of the lip, the unrelenting pounding into hard sand, the 4x4 missioning, the endless waiting for waves sometimes while it's cooking but the mist is so thick you can't see your hand, the tough desert conditions when the sand storms howl around you, and the vast distances combined with a contorted route to get there. And yet, when it does fire on that elusive day when you do happen to be there, it can absorb just about any crowd you throw at it.

The waves pumped, and the pros scored waves that Marqua struggled to describe, though he tried hard, and with earnest elaboration. Particular attention fell on South African pro bodyboarder Sacha Specker, who pulled into not one, not two, but FIVE tubes on one wave.

"Every tube ride on that wave was 10 seconds long," says Marqua. He added that Sean Holmes, who will be surfing in the Billabong Pro J-Bay this week, said it was the best wave he had ever seen ridden in his life, and that includes by anyone, anywhere, standing up or lying down.

"The pros gave Sacha huge respect after that. It was great to see stand-ups and bodyboarders hooting for each other."

"Guys were coming out of their third or fourth ridiculously long tube and turning around and blowing kisses back at the wave."

Guys in bakkies ferried surfers up to 2kms back up the point, then drove down with the grinding waves  20 metres from shore.

"One guy clocked 60km/h tracking a surfer riding down the point."

Surges of water punched inland. People were pulled from cars after getting washed into the desert.

The wave, says Marqua, is simplicity in its purest form, and the best wave he has experienced.

Okay, back to your desk, and stay there.