Stilbaai Paddlethon

Once again, winter threatened to turn this boisterous gathering of wine ous and their brethren into a big wave contest, or maybe the Stilbaai Paddlethon. Catch three waves and you were in contention. Catch four and you’re a winner!

A howling winter buster had smacked across the bow of the coast on Thursday, and by Friday morning, a solid open ocean 10-12ft SSW groundswell was smashing the open coast, with solid 6 foot sets surging down the point.

Like in 2012, an infamous year in the annals of Vintners Surf Classic history, the rip was like a river shunting down the point. The 50 competitors took to the water in the morning during low tide, with the first heats of the juniors, seniors and ballies divisions battling the rip currents and surging sets.

It was tough. Just getting two waves in your heat was a challenge. Some made it to the next round with one ridden wave. In Round 1 of the ballies, a total of three waves were ridden in one heat, and two of them by one guy, the inimitable Deon Bing on his twin-fin yellow fish - one helluva feat.

Bing was later in the semi-final to wow the buzzing crowd lining the point with a skitterish skateboard glide on a bomb - the surf reporter proving he's not just a chatty voice!

 Such was the brutality of the staunch rip currents that the other two okes in that heat - JP Roussouw and Johan Rademan - went waveless. Luckily for Spike, his eight Oh got him on one, and that was enough to go through.

The paddleout was treacherous. Time it wrong and you were swatted down the point like a pesky mozzie. Ask Rademan. He ended up past the harbour wall in the above heat. When it takes 17 minutes to paddle back to the lineup in a 20 minute heat, then you know.

And so it was with several guys, some a bit caught out by a lack of foam beneath their chests. However, while a lot of foam helped you catch the set waves, it meant big boards and a lot less zip in your moves. But those on short boards hunting the smaller runners closer to the inside were prone to big cleanup sets that washed you right down the point and back to the beginning. Decisions. Decisions.

As the tide filled in, and we moved towards the business end of the event, the deeper water brought even bigger sets, with 3x overhead bombs blasting across the backline. The surging rip and increasingly ragged conditions brought about by a stiffening southeasterly wind turned the finals into a lottery.

As Mickey Lindsay quipped, “We wouldn’t be out in these conditions if it weren’t for these vests and a bit of peer pressure”.

Interestingly, all three winners dominated their divisions, with Chris Boustred (Juniors), Nicky de Villiers (Masters), and Mickey Lindsay (Veterans) all winning every heat they surfed right up to the final. With the ladies, a podium finish was guaranteed because there were only three contestants: Trizanne Barnard came out on top.

It was a day of great fun, high spirits and jovial camaraderie as winemakers cheered or groaned at the big wipe-outs, snapped leashes and broken boards. The quality of the wine on the beach was only matched by the wisecracks, quips and sharp-edged wit.

Eben Sadie, sporting allegedly shark proof stripes on his board, smiled a cheeky smile when he said he would give Mick Fanning some good wine if he won the WSL Championship Tour.

“If he wins, I will send him good wine because I know in Australia they surf well … but they struggle with the wine.”

As the finals ended and the day began to wane, everyone gathered in the car park for impromptu beer and wine tasting and chats. Bottles were pulled from bakkies, and notes compared. Pinot Noir was a popular varietal in the tasting stakes this year.

The winners were announced in a raucous prize giving party at the Stilbaai Golf Club, followed by dinner and more great wine, and then invariably followed by rugby scrums in the bar, crash tackles on the lawn and loud verbal jousting. The party continued at Gerrie Mars’ house around a lekker fire. There were David Kramer lietjies on a guitar, springbok steak cooked at 3 in the morning and much hilarity shared.

It’s pretty cool to see how far this event has come in 16 years. Miles Mossop of Tokara winery and a few friends originally created a weekend away for a small group of winemaking surfers – an informal combination of surfing and wine appreciation. Now it attracts up to 100 people including 50 winemakers and their friends and families, with proper sponsors and a team of dedicated judges to help raise the bar.

The most important tradition must be the Big Red. Each wine maker donates six bottles of wine. These are blended to create the Big Red Blend. A few years ago, the ‘Surf for Life’ charity was started by Jeremy Walker (Grangehurst) and sales of Big Red raised R63,000, helping a number of cancer victims cover costs of treatment and more.

The project has gone semi-commercial and Christo Le Riche (Le Riche Wines) has been responsible for the blending of the wines for the past three years. To sustain the trust the next bottling will be 800 magnums, with an end goal of 4 000. Each of the 23 winemakers involved contribute 50 litres of wine and, adding to the trust’s beneficiaries, they also teach underprivileged children to swim and surf.

See the photo gallery

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Juniors:
1. Chris Boustred - Remhoogte
2. Christo Le Riche - Le Riche
3. Alex Starey - Keermont
4. Hendri Burger - Cape Point Vineyards

Masters:
1. Nicky de Villiers - Durbanville Hills
2. Francois Hanekom - Winelands Estate Management
3. Pieter Walser - Blank Bottle
4. Duncan Savage - Cape Point Vineyards

Veterans:
1. Mickey Lindsay - Nixon
2. Gary van Wyk - Tkana
3. Johan Reyneke - Reyneke
4. Steve Pike - Wavescape

Ladies:
1. Trizanne Barnard - Trizanne Signature
2. Julia Blaine - Blank Bottle
3. Tanya Weyers - Bos Iced Tea

Thanks to Sponsors:
RR Wine Technologies
Reef
Thales Wine Services
ZigZag
Bos Iced Tea
Wavescape
WAWA
Estate Mobile Bottling
Consol Glass
Hallmark Press
Sun Media
Country Digital
Nixon
Cool Dandy
Scarfini Fins
JF Hillebrand
Best Tile Company

Thanks to contributions:
Thys Lombard photography and Social Media
Hassequa Municipality - hospitality
United Church of Stilbaai - catering
Pieter Walser for label design of Big Red
Judges of the event - Penny, Shane, Rene, Peter, Hannes