Surfers in Durban Protest

SURFER PROTEST: The group heads out to the shark nets behind the New Pier in Durban.

The protest by eight local surfers - including professional surfer Beyrick de Vries, former street kid Ntando Msibi and organisers Jean-Marc Tostee of the Surf HQ surf shop and lawyer Graham Taylor - cruised out from the harbour on a chartered boat at 6am.

Durban surfer John McCarthy was on board, and pointed out that all protocol was adhered to during preparations in the harbour: "The charter boat operator was perfectly within the regulations, so all of that was done 100% legally."

The boat proceeded around the backline as far as the shark nets, where it dropped the surfers off. It is illegal for vessels to come on the near-shore side of the nets. After paddling the considerable distance from the shark nets to the spot, the group "had an amazing surf - fun, clean, peaky little glassy barrels".

After about an hour or a little more, the group paddled back to their boat. As they were boarding, the SAPS Search and Rescue vessel arrived. The protestors were apprehended and instructed to escort the police back to the harbour where they were met by metro police.

"There seems to be huge confusion about the interpretation of the laws. Clearly the captain who was sent to deal with us didn't want to have any confrontation so it was very peaceful and friendly," McCarthy said. "But all in, it could have gone really seriously south but thankfully it didn't. Everyone is home safe and sound after having had a few waves at the New Pier. I am hoping that what comes out of this is that the ridiculousness of this whole thing gets highlighted, and that we all get back in the water all over our coastline as quickly as possible."

Yesterday, Tostee put out a post on Facebook to say they would be protesting and called for people to come to the promenade to watch and support: "Time to surf. Wednesday 6am and eight surfers and The captain of the dog unit and the officer from SAPS Search and Rescue both said that the police had received multiple complaints from Durban surfers asking why we were being allowed to surf when other surfers could not. The police would not have bothered if there had been no complaintsbodyboarders on a boat to be dropped off at New Pier to show that we ARE legally allowed to surf. We just aren't allowed to walk on sand to get there because of a silly rule.

"We know the SAP boats are going to come to get us but we gotta do what we gotta do. If you're on the promenade show some support by stopping to watch please and share some photos and this post too. Keep us in your thoughts. We're doing this for ALL surfers, not for personal gain."

It appears the message did not make it to other surfers in Durban. Lawyer Graeme Taylor, who was on board, said that once they were in the harbour, "The captain of the dog unit and the officer from SAPS Search and Rescue both said that the police had received multiple complaints from Durban surfers asking why we were being allowed to surf when other surfers could not. The police would not have bothered if there had been no complaints."

The back story is that surfers and surf shop owners have been engaging with law firms and various provincial and city bodies to test and request clarity on the regulations. "Law firm Shepstone & Wylie wrote a letter to a local police station for clarity on the law pertaining to surfing. There is nothing in the regulation about not being able to surf."

Surf HQ owner Tostee had also been engaging with various stakeholders and municipal offices to get clarity, Taylor said, adding that it had appeared that the requests had gone far up the line, but as yet no reponses had been forthcoming, let alone any decisions made.

"We were not breaching any regulation or breaking any law. We weren't doing it with any intention of confronting authorities. We were merely demonstrating that we can surf legally. The message was for the greater good of all ocean users in Durban. This wasn't an excercise to do something negative," Taylor said.

Tostee later said on social media that no fewer than nine surfers had called the police to complain:

"Cannot believe that nine surfers reported us to the North Beach SAPS Charge office mostly saying that "if I can't surf then those people in the water must be arrested". The SAPS made it clear that they HAD to come out to get us BECAUSE they are bound to respond to complaints by the public, so they are just doing their job."