HISTORY
by Graham Gradwell
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Part 2:
New boats, new partners and new waters ... IN the first part of this series in the November/December 2014 issue of SKI-BOAT, Graham Gradwell shared his experiences of fishing off Port Elizabeth in the 1940s and 1950s and the innovative craft they used. In this issue he continues the tale, venturing into the 1960s and 1970s.
I
HAVE always believed that magic lives in the now. If I died, I would want my remains to become part of this land, this water, because there is a way in which the geography of one’s life makes its way into one’s bones. On one occasion I contemplated this while fishing with my late grandson, Roston, watching the stars spin with only the sky for a quilt. Geography is destiny. In the early 1960s I returned to Port Elizabeth after a short stint in Natal. A thumbing back through time and memory forces me to render some order to the events of my life — to say it began here, and then, because of this, that happened, and this is how the end connects to the beginning, and so here I am! My mother always said that life was in the palm of my hand, so play and leave no part unexplored. I have spent my life living by her code, travelling beyond the borders of convention. So, where silk and steel failed, the fishing bug succeeded and I was always out looking for a new boat to buy. JAY-BEE John Bain of John Bain Sports was a fine fisherman and had a 17ft cathedral hull boat designed for himself by Arthur Perry. The boat was called Jay-Bee and John sold it to Curt Purslow (the Mercury outboard motor agent in Port Elizabeth) who subsequently sold it to me. It came with a 60hp Mercury and a 15 as a spare. The pounding I received from this boat ensured I had a problematic back from then on, but it would have been difficult to have found a better boat for making that bid for freedom through the breakers of Swartkops River mouth. Jay-Bee took on the waves like a fish to water. My friend, George Swallow, and I were back at sea and catch-
St Francis Bay and the Kromme River mouth ...
SKI-BOAT January/February 2015 • 71