Soaking up the Retro

Wikipedia defines Retro as a "culturally outdated or aged style, trend, mode, or fashion, from the overall postmodern past, that has since that time become functionally or superficially the norm once again."

Aweh my bru! Right on brother!

And so a cool new hybrid has come to pass after the hip New School set flirted with the grizzled Old School and melded their eras. It was a fusing of styles in a fantastic hodge podge of bad hair, crazy fashion and hoot-worthy surfing moves at the “Rolling Retro with RVCA and Vudu Surf competition” at Llandudno. The coupling took place on a balmy Sunday afternoon before a three foot turquoise sea and gusty, but clean, offshore - perfect conditions for profound procreation.

The promise was kept by the brainstrust of Kai Linder, Robbie McDonald and Andrew "Roosta" Lange, and others of Cape Town's Atlantic Ocean clan. They delivered an exhibition of surfing's past, and then some. The style, culture and fashion of a bygone era was boosted beautifully by the unconditional buy-in of an eclectic clump of stoked pros, amateurs, groupies, and old school-clad new schoolers who frolicked, lolled and lapped up the vibes at the famous "Shack" at Llanduds, now the Lifesaver’s club.

MC Dene Botha and Captain Kai kept the crowd entertained with one-liners and anecdoates, and later, prizes were handed out to those who painfully endured a day of spandex, nylon and polyester in the baking sun, the ‘hippest retro rockers and rockets’. In fact, everyone who took part in the actual surfing got a prize, including the groms, such as Jordy Maree, who had their entrance fee paid for by their hero Jordy Smith.

The orginal brainchild of Captain Kai (The Good-Life), the Rolling Retro was enhanced by Macdonald's amazing antique boards ("they are no good in the roof, and that’s why we had this day, for people to ride the boards") and 10 grands worth of RVCA product up for grabs, as well as "other cool free stuff" (ding repairs, dinner vouchers, and more).

The sea at Llandudno gleamed clear turquoise in the hot summer sun as the cool kids soaked up the Retro and enjoyed some good, old-fashioned fun in the baking summer sun.

On the 'patch’ at the Lifesavers Club reclining hipsters and surfey types guzzled beer and looked sexy in their gleaming shades. Everyone chattered and occasionally hoots broke out as someone threaded a barrel 80 metres away.

The collective imagination of the Cape Town surfing fraternity was captivated. Captivated by something meaningful and loose, the idea of going back to the old school, going Retro.

Most people there wouldn’t have been able to give you a accurate paraphrase of the definition of Retro in the dictionary, but everybody knew what it meant. Simply put, Retro means the cool part of what is old. Admittedly, the crowd was a bit young to be authentically retro, most of them anyway. They were the young and hip. How many of them would remember AC/DC's classic track Highway To Hell (released 1979) that blasted from the Patch in the final heat?

The crème of the surfing crop, complete with superstar Jordy Smith and local heroes, such as Mike Schlebach, Mickey Duffus, Twiggy Baker, Andrew Lange, Roydon Bryson, Liam 'Yeti' Wood, Shark Boy Tom Catlin, Mark Fine, Richard Johnson, and many more. There was the elite Llandudno crew of Cool (kids). We drove over happily from the other side of the lentil curtain, feeling like we were going to an exclusive resort in Italy, while our friends in Muizenberg did clothes swops. 

It was a perfect day for the beach, and everybody relaxed and enjoyed the burning sun, the hubble and bubble of the care-free and young. The bar ran out of beer three times. Smiles widened and voices grew progressively more animated. Even Jordy admitted to having a few too many (to stick an air reverse 360). It was about cutting loose, chilling out and calming down.

But the real stars of the show were the surfboards. A beautiful and varied collection of vintage surfboards released from the rafters of Vudu Surf. Chunky-nosed old Durbanites like Larmont and Safari mingled with single-finned Country Rhythms and old guns that bore no name. A few neon day-glow twinnies and quads from the 80’s also floated from hand to hand, to sea. But the most prized were the old Whitmore longboards. One in particular caught my eye. Twelve feet long with a curved 3 foot fin. Yeti got cleanly tubed on it too, soul arching in a revised statement of the simple old joys of surfing.

When asked how he managed to build up such an impressive array of old sticks, Robbie of VUDU Surf responded: “Well, I am very lucky to have a surf shop, and people who don’t know the value of old boards come in and do trade-ins, and I have built up a hellava collection, which we put in the roof. But you know, they are no good in the roof, and that’s why we had this day, for people to ride the boards. We’ve got Whitmore’s, twin fins, single fins, we’ve got history here. Years and years of south African surfing history, and that’s what it’s about, it’s about guys getting down onto the beach, to have a great time just enjoying the old boards and coming together as surfers.”

Robbie was right, in a way. It was about history. Maybe not the certified and scholarly history of dates and wars. Rather a faded, nostalgic memory of a time gone by. A time that now seems to represent the ideal of pure stoke and simple pursuits, of style, unfettered by the clutter on modern life.

Maybe Retro means something different to everybody, but it is clearly a word that has the ability to bring us together, to elicit fun and freedom. But going “Retro” is not something new. It is simply revisiting the halls of our past, taking down the surfboards of our forefathers and appreciating the lines of their shapes, the imagination in their design. And as with any study of the past, if we look hard enough, we are sure to find lessons useful to us in the future.

Going retro means going back, a good place to visit occasionally, as we speed forward.