Wildside TIMES #2

Slipway Surf Crew

There is a very well-known surf etiquette that has developed over the years, allowing all surfers at a particular surf break to enjoy waves without being bullied and intimidated. We intended to educate visitors about the importance of sticking to these rules. This has gone down very well with parents who surf with their kids and gives them some insight into their expectations when surfing at other spots.

by Derek Cook

There is a very well-known surf etiquette that has developed over the years

Starting a surf club at the Grannies Pool slipway resulted from the problems caused by the increasing numbers of ‘Out of Town’ surfers that started arriving during the first 6 to 8 months of COVID. Before this time, this was never really a problem in SFB.

As the local surfers, we decided that we needed to have at least some form of “footprint” at our local surf spots so that we could attempt to control the situation.

Several regulars met and agreed with this concept. The name “Slipway Surf Crew” was adopted with an instantly recognisable logo designed by some of our members. I called Simon Fish of Seal Point Boardriders Club, and he suggested we affiliate our club with theirs. Once we put the word out, a lot of interest was shown.

Over the years, since the club was launched, we realised that our local surf spot was also frequented by families who have holiday homes in the area. This realisation caused us to discuss who was a ‘Local’ and who was not, which would affect membership rights. Surfing with these “permanent’ visitors had always been a pleasure. So the constitution was drafted to embrace all those who supported our values and ideas.

The initial club committee consisted of myself, Barry and Dave Thiem, and we launched the club in late 2019. Unfortunately, In the beginning, COVID severely limited the club in terms of out-of-water activities such as social get-togethers. We later drafted in some younger members to the committee to ensure that social events would be able to take place as soon as they could. These new members were Jade Dace, Mathew McLeod and Ryan Anderson. In fact, we recently enjoyed a fun first social event hosted by Bruce’s Coffee Shop.

It is difficult to say whether the club’s presence has impacted in any way on the visiting surfers. However, some recent ‘run-ins’ with Cape Town Foilers highlighted that there was an active local surf club at this break. As a result, we have explicitly asked Foilers not to surf within the area for safety reasons of the break. Our signboard at the top of the slipway explicitly mentions this. In addition, we have requested that normal surf protocol be observed with SUPs and Foilers staying away from the main break. SUPs have also been asked to monitor their wave count. This is due to their ability to catch a wave earlier than surfers.

Generally, the club has been well received. It is a rewarding experience to see the attitude of the youngsters and learner ‘Groms’ from our’ out of towner’ members when surfing here whilst on holiday. They have started to show signs of learning respect and asking advice whilst learning to understand surf etiquette. We have a great bunch of members, and hopefully, the club and the desire to have all surfers enjoy our waves will become better known to visitors.