The 45-year Itch

Allan and friends had got a little tipsy, and were fooling around when he dived head-first off the cliffs. He was 23.

Colleagues and friends in the wine industry pulled the Cape Wine Master from his wheelchair and paddled him into the waves at Muizenberg on Friday. The crew had procured the use of a massive Standup Paddle board that must have been all of 18 feet long, and the biggest surfboard I have ever seen. In fact, organiser Duncan Savage from Cape Point Vineyards said the board was "visible from space".

His connection to the assembled vintners was evident. As a Cape Wine Master, Allan has been called ‘the most influential personality in South African wine’ and the man responsible behind the success of the wine selection at Woolworths, where he worked for 21 years. He founded the Wine Society at SACS and has become famous as one of the best, if not the best, wine blenders in the country with an incredibly sharp nose and palate for the good stuff.

It was the turn of the young wine-makers around him to repay his contribution to the wine industry. Big wave safety expert Ross Lindsay held a briefing before the assembled crowd, and Allan said a few words. He spoke briefly about the challenges he had faced, mentioning that he had always missed surfing, telling the small crowd gathered around him that this was a "great, great moment".

Allan was then hoisted out of his wheelchair and placed on the board.

Surrounded by about 12 skilled surfers, the board bearing Allan was walked through the surf, resembling an Hawaiian royal procession. There were some interesting moments when the board tipped, and Allan dipped, but he was surrounded by willing hands at all times, with medics on standby, just in case.

They surfed for more than an hour, and an exhilarated Allan returned to shore. The crew moved on to the new Rolling Wood craft surf store in York Street, Muizenberg, where gifts were handed out.

It was one of those serendipitous days. Store owner Cobus Joubert, a member of the Joubert-Tradouw wine family, was about to open the brandnew store to complete the adaptive surfing and wine making loop. It also marked the leadup to a wider event, an Adaptive Surfing Day, next Sunday at Big Bay, Blouberg.

Veteran Surfing South Africa administrator Robin de Kock, speaking before Allan’s paddleout in the carpark, urged surfers to participate. “Registrations starts at 9am at the lifesaving club, so come along,” he said.

The healing power of surfing is a powerful therapy. It seems we’re on the cusp of a boom in adaptive surfing, particularly after South Africa's successful participation in the World Adaptive Surfing Games in the US earlier this year, when team captain Antony Smyth won a silver medal in the Standup division.

More than 70 individuals with disabilities ranging from spinal cord injuries to intellectual disabilities and blindness have already registered for next Sunday.

A joint initiative between Extreme Abilities, headed by former rugby player Dries Millard, and Surfing South Africa, it also has the support of the Department of Sport and Recreation.

You can't keep good people down.