Two Thousand Toes

Christmas specials give way to Valentines gifts, Easter hampers and then on to Mothers day. The retail treadmill finds a way to keep the tills ticking over ... and then its May.

Time for the South African Longboard Champs. Board shapers and ding repairers rub their hands in glee as they anticipate a glut of mangled boards.

Lets be clear. This Longboard Championship is made up of generations of surfers, starting with 12 year olds who are working on their reverse air stalefish grab, and landing a few. Guys that find a standard 6' 2” thruster set-up boring, though they have their place. You have quad riders, fish riders, hybrid brus, retro collectors, alaia mullets, and anything that goes.

Of course, the longboard completes the quiver. So when you get over 200 surfers coming to Durban, with a spread of ages spanning five decades, you've got some serious depth of talent and experience.

From Bali to Japan, Hawaii to Costa Rica, Brazil to Aussie. These okes have paid the excess and left Sticky with a landfill sized collection of two 4' 5” surfboards to repair.

They see a wave and know which board they wanna give a go out there – they've tried them all. But Longboard Champs – they got one choice – 9 foot!

And here we go again. It's 2011, and we've done some pretty gnarly spots. From Scottburgh, to Cave Rock, to St Mikes. And now New Pier. When the contest is on, and your brain is screaming that you've got 4 foot of board too much in front of your chest, you ... well ... you go.

That's because your buddy is hooting from the pier, your mate is laughing in the channel, and your teammates are on the beach. You go.

That's because you managed to sneak an extra midweek session, cos the over 55's needed a member to fill the slot, and that extra time made you fit. You go.

That's because that broken board will score you a free beer when your mates tune you in the pub that night. You go

Even though its gonna cost you another R3,000 when you're home again – your shaper will love you – and you've saved excess baggage.

And next year, another day, another dollar, older and deeper in debt, you'll be back to surf with your mates at the biggest event on the SA Surfing Calendar.

They'll go – as they have done for the last 50 years.