Cape Town diary

[magnusod]

Hugh, haven't you considered SUP yourself? The last time I was in CT 2014/15 we had at least one week of light westerlies. That summer it was probably more like 60-70% of windy days 9 m or smaller. I've been there three times between 2002 and 2006 and also had more than a week of no wind so it might be fairly uncommon but far from what could happen.

What I'm trying to say is that a kite/SUP combo is perfect for CT as when the wind is light, and it's rarely completely flat, it's absolutely perfect for an SUP as the waves are quite soft and mellow and often with long periods. This will be, I assume, gentle on your knee as well. Note, I'm not a surfer and doesn't live in a country where I get a chance to use my SUP a lot but those westerly days have been by far my best surfing days on an SUP. Mostly in Table View but several days also in Muizenberg including one epic epic day in Muizenberg straight offshore and close to double overhead waves.

For anyone coming to CT for a long time I would definitely recommend a kite/SUP or kite/surf combo as there will be light and no wind days. During my years in CT the Cape Doctor had a period of ranging from 2-3 days in a row up to 9-10 days in a row until the wind swung around for 1-7 days before the SE was back again. Of course you can reduce that light wind window by driving down to the Cape or driving even further wave but I always enjoyed the non-windy days on an SUP or a surfboard.

[Hugh2]

Yup Magnusod, lots of locals do that, either SUP or surf when there are westerlies, although even more are winging and foiling on those light days. I foil, but don't have one here. Not keen on yet another set of equipment for winging. Never surfed, despite growing up in East London within reach of the famous Nahoon Reef break. I've tried SUPing at Cape Hatteras and I must say it is really hard. Every little wave tossed me off, but of course I need to be persistent.

Anyway, doing downwinders readily solves my knee problems, so today I met up with my new sailing/kitesurfing buddies (their boat is SV Webik with an instagram of sv_webik). So we started at Dolphin Beach, me on 7m and strapless surfboard, them on 6 to 9m kites around 4:30. Unfortunately my Fone Surf directional had long since been so damaged at the tip that I had cut if off. I should have at least put a layer of fiberglass over the tip instead of just epoxy to seal it. And when I nosedived down a wave the front of the board split open and ripped off most of the bottom surface. Luckily this was right at Kite Beach so I headed into the BKA shop and the owner, Lanral, kindly let me buy a second hand directional to complete the downwinder for $200 promised later. It's a nice light little surfboard with some strengthening at the pads and straps, and it was far more nimble than my old board so I had lots of fun working on bottom turns and top slashes. All so much easier on a strapped board, of course. Three of our crew bailed at Big Bay and hitched a ride back, while the owner of SV Webik, Michael, and I continued down to Holbaai enjoying the small but well-shaped waves along the way. He was on a strapless converter board that he also uses for foiling, sort of like my Slingshot Converter board I have on my similar sailboat in Panama. We got back around 7 by bus. A really nice day and the last SEaster here for a while as noted earlier. I've yet to decide whether to stay here and find wind at Cape Point, or head east.

[Hugh2]

I decided yesterday morning to head east, hoping to get some decent easterlies and NEasterlies further along. First stop yesterday was Struisbaai near Cape Agulhas. My fourth visit and I finally had wind, albeit dead onshore. Waves were small so I rode 7m and strapped directional for a while, but soon ran out of power, so changed to 9m and TT. A decent session, but the waves never really built to the forecast 2m, and I don’t think I will drive there again. Late afternoon I got to Knysna, and there were kiters on the lagoon, but by the time I got to the launch they had quit as the wind died.

Today I drove on to my hometown of East London, arriving at Nahoon beach around 1, only to find it closed due to a large sewage spill caused by their recent heavy rains. So I headed 30 minutes further east to Cintsa, which is a nice beach with river mouth and the NEasterly was blowing hard. I should have pumped 7m, but instead launched 9m and rode fully depowered. The waves were short interval and broken up, but one could get a good head of speed up riding diagonally and launch off a ramp for some big floaty jumps, the only downside being landing in shallow water close to shore. Eventually two local kiters came down, but by the time they got out the wind was dying. Still a nice session in a place I’ve visited before only twice. Warm water is a plus, although it was cloudy with rain threatening. Hopefully more to come in the next three days.

[Hugh2]

Today was excellent. Watched the dawn at Nahoon Reef surf spot and had outdoor breakfast at the little Beach Break Cafe under the coastal forest, sadly without the entertainment of vervet monkeys that are usually present, hoping to snatch a bite to eat. I then drove a little further north than yesterday to Morgan Bay for a long walk on the beach at low tide, followed by a visit to the Kei River mouth. I’ve kited here before on a NEaster, but the wind had not filled in yet. So I headed back to Nahoon Beach for lunch and waited for the forecast 20 knots, but by 2 there was still nothing. So back to Cintsa where it was blowing hard again, for two hours, but this time in warm sunshine and longer period waves, so on depowered 9m some lofty jumps were enjoyed. Back at Nahoon beach where I am staying, there were three guys out but all on 12m, so Cintsa seems to be the best local spot on NE, and nearby Cefani is the only spot for SW, which is the other prevailing wind direction.

[Hugh2]

Cintsa beach

[piccio]

Hugh for president !!!!!!!!!!!!

[Hugh2]

Thanks a99, and Puccini, I think!

Change of pace. Yesterday I drove all the way back from East London for a good forecast in Cape Town today, more later. But I made a stop in Knysna to visit a motorcycle museum called the Motorcycle Room which has a great array of bikes of all vintages and sizes. But I was there to see Savannah, a Honda CRF250 that the Dutch woman Noraly Schoenmaker, known as Itchy Boots on YouTube, rode all round Southern Africa last year, 22,000 km altogether. It's well worth watching her entire Season 5 if you want to see parts of the country most visitors don’t see. Here’s the bike, replete with Kalahari dust from her efforts in the Kalahari rally at the end of her trip. And the actual map of her route in black. What a great trip she had. I’ve been most places she visited, mostly during a similar car trip in 1982, but not some of the dirt tracks she found.

[Hugh2]

[Hugh2]

Forecast for today was a reasonably strong NWesterly with some rain, the more typical winter wind for Cape Town, and decent swell. Around 10:30 I parked north of Kite Beach and met Kevin from New York, who was pumping up a 10m North, I think a Reach. There was a large guy trying to ride in place on a 9m Cabrinha, but struggling to stay upwind, so 10m seemed right. It was not hard to persuade Kevin to do a downwinder to Milnerton with me, and we set off, me on strapped directional and him on TT. He's only been kiting for two years, but is already better than me, and being goofy-footed loved jumping off the waves, including boardoffs. And practising double back-spins on the way in. Meanwhile I tried to work on bottom and top turns. We had a blast, although I was overpowered on the 10m and should have been on 9m. After catching the bus back, we decided to do it again, this time both on TT and in brilliant sunshine. I am regular footed, so struggle with these starboard-side jumps, landing on my weak left knee, but still had a good time, albeit a bit worn out by the end. We got back to our cars around 5. Unfortunately the main line on my 2020 North Navigator bar broke, see pic below, apparently a known issue, and amazingly Kevin had a replacement because he has had the same problem with his same bar, and kindly gave it to me. Thanks David! Hopefully Lanral at the BKA shop can replace it for me. Tomorrow looks tough, with huge swell from a Southern Ocean depression and not much wind.

[Hugh2]

My broken main line on 2020 North Navigator bar, see shredded line at top left and open end of the tubing.