Table of contents for June 2015 in Zigzag

A couple of years back we decided to take the pulse of the South African surfing community. We constructed a reader survey and put it out there, hoping for some decent feedback that would give us a better idea of who we are collectively. The response far exceeded our expectations. Along with the nuts and bolts answers, you sent in your thoughts, shared your experiences and told your stories. It was enough to make a magazine entirely steered by you, the reader, which is exactly what we did (see Vol 37.4). This year we plotted and planned and decided to roll the dice again. There was always the risk that perhaps the idea had run its course and the response would be mediocre. We needn’t have worried because this time,…

VINCENT COOK SOMEWHERE DOWN MEXICO W AY According to the 2015 Zag Reader Survey, your three most favourite things in the magazine are travel (46%), epic photos (28%), and stories on working class heroes (10%). All three of these fortuitously came together when this sequence of Bluff surfer Vincent Cook landed in our inbox. We tracked down Vinnie deep in the heart of Mexico to get the rundown. And no, it’s not Puerto Escondido. Zigzag: You’ve been posting up in Mexico for a while now. Why Mexico? Vincent Cook: This is my third trip to Mexico and I have decided to live here permanently. This spot is one of the best beach breaks in the world! It’s super consistent with barrels almost every day, offshore nearly every morning, and it’s…

BY THE NUMBERS: 198 000 000: cases of malaria occurred globally in 2014 584 000: number of malaria deaths globally in 2014. 90: percentage of these deaths that happened in Africa. *source: World Malaria Report 2014, WHO ANTENNAE: Can detect carbon dioxide in human breath from distances of over 30 metres. Between the antennae is the maxillary palp that pick up the odours released when you sweat. Goes some way to explaining how they can always find you, but it’s so difficult to find them. THORAX: The part connected to the head. A pair of larger wings for flying and smaller ‘halteres’ used for steering extend out from the thorax, as well as its six legs. HEAD: Home to all the stuff used to find their target (you!) in the…

SA’S BEST REGION FOR WAVES IS 26.39% KZN (Zululand to the Wild Coast). 22.27% the Eastern Cape (Wild Coast to Plett). 4.54% the Southern Cape (Plett to Aghulas). 21.65% the Western Cape (Aghulas to West Coast) 1.03% the Northern Cape. 24.12% All of the above. BEHIND the NUMBERS KZN narrowly takes the win over the Eastern and Western Cape, thanks in no small part to baggies and sand bottomed barrels. But 24% of us also know that no matter where you are, SOUTH AFRICA COOKS. Transkei. Free food from the ocean and an endless supply of waves. - Bruce Viaene, Nahoon Weskus is die Beskus. - Joseph Ottiger, Yzerfontein Point, reef or beach break, KZNs got it all between 700kms of coastline. - Daniel Dedekind, Toti Slummies has so many…

DUNGEONS TAKE 1 The WSL Big Wave Tour not coming to Dungeons is a huge disappointment. Something should be done to rectify the loss in some way. Wilhelm Schumann, CT No Dungeons event is short sighted and selfish. Andre Lategan, J-Bay The BWWT is a great idea, but it’s seriously flawed. It’s refreshing to see surfers banding together to make a stand like the Cape Big Wave Trust have done, instead of just chasing fame and money and taking what they can get. Rob Visser, Durban This whole thing of Dungeons being removed from the Big Wave World Tour is ridiculous. We want more recognition for SA surfers but we block the whole event...really? Lee-Ann Elliott, Blouberg The selection criteria for the Big Wave tour is questionable. They should also…

I had to get out of Cape St Francis in a hurry. For a start, Craig Jarvis and I had run up a nasty-looking tab at Stix, a dark and depraved den of iniquity where nobody cares if you live or die. I thought Jarvi, being the gentleman that he is, might want to take care of it and went off to spend a few days getting my feet ripped to shreds in J-Bay. Because booties suck more than flesh wounds. Now I’m back in the 031. The water is so warm that I sweat between sets. Of course, if there are more than four clouds in the sky and there’s a bit of a breeze, you’ll still find half a dozen guys wearing full wetsuits. Durban ous. Excellent surfers,…

The evening scene was disturbing and beautiful. Down at Garie Beach in a national park south of Sydney, Australia, 1000 surfboard noses and tails jutted from the sand, arranged like tombstones and licked by candlelight. Some of the broken boards had rat-eaten tails, crusty ducktape covering old dings and peeling spray jobs. Others still looked fresh and fluoride white, likely snapped when they were just a few months old. Australian artist Chris Anderson erected the ‘1000 surfboard graveyard’ exhibit to draw attention to surfboard waste. “I like to think of the graveyard as a snapshot of the disposability of the kinds of boards from our time,” he says. “All those boards were going to landfill. I just diverted them for a photo shoot for a moment in time.” Unfortunately the…

NAME/ TIDE-LEE IRELAND AGE/ 11 HOMETOWN/ NORTH BEACH, DURBAN SPONSORS/ RIP CURL, REEF BRAZIL, XTRA FOAM BLANKS, DAKINE, ELS SURFBOARDS, VANHUNKS, K. P. M.C.D First time: On a 7’2 soft board I named big blue. I wanted to be out with my dad. Who inspires you? Mick Fanning cos he had a life like I’m living. Where will surfing be in five years? Tight power surfing and big, high 540 airs with style. Bacon ‘n eggs or muesli and fruit? I like the pig, so bacon and eggs. Favourite tunes before paddling out? On Fire by the Beasty Boys. Hidden talent? Baking and making food. Ultimate place to be stranded? Hawaii for the winter. Biggest mistake you’ve made? Not putting on sunblock. It hurts. Summer or winter? I like autumn and…

As with many crazy ideas, we were drunk on tequila and gwaffed on good Kei zol when we decided to do it. Then, a few weeks later, when Chloe’s old man dropped us off in the Landy, our backpacks way too heavy to carry and the surf pounding against the rocks, we looked at each other again. Just what were we thinking? It was New Year’s Day, many years ago. We hadn’t really dossed the night before, and our hangovers were cruel. Ahead of us a sand track wound its way behind the rocks, heading south. Or north. Whatever. About 100 kilometres of wild coastline lay ahead of us. The inaugural ‘Survival Hike’ had begun. Our mission was simple: To walk from Aasbaai to Oliefantsklip along the coast. We intentionally…

I didn’t used to like Mike Schlebach very much. He had a jetski and I didn’t, and even without it, he still surfed better than me. For 10 years we’d been riding the same spots together, but we’d never had a proper conversation. Then we had a fall out over some storytelling evenings that I was doing in Kommetjie. Mike had taken offence with my motivations, but instead of talking behind my back, he called me out with such straight talking diplomacy and humility that I couldn’t help but start to like him. We agreed to meet up to talk through our differences. It was over a breakfast at our local bakery that he first told me about his deep-seated dream of becoming a professional big wave surfer, competing on…