East London, SA kneelos

southpeakbrad · Post by **southpeakbrad** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 5:18 pm

Will be in East London for much of May for another HIV/AIDS mentoring visit. The Clinic is renting a condo at Nahoon Reef

Any kneelos in the area, or anyone have any kneelo buddies? If so, you can PM me their phone # and/or email.

How about any other useful info.

Red?

Mike Fernandez · Post by **Mike Fernandez** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 5:52 pm

Have a great time Brad, stay away from the rivermouths!
http://www.wannasurf.com/spot/Africa/So ... index.html

Jimbo · Post by **Jimbo** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 6:04 pm

Dang brad - you get some great business trips....

albert · Post by **albert** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 9:28 pm

There are quite a few SA kneelos that I regularly keep in touch with on Facebook, if you ever get in there I would be glad to put you in touch with them.

red · Post by **red** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 2:00 pm

Arthur,

Too long since I was in East London. Don't remember much of a kneeboarding crop there, even when we held the pro kneelo event there (back in year 33BC!)

Only advice I have for Nahoon is to paddle out wide (yes, in that dark, black water!) There's a rip that runs down the point, making it hard going along the break line,
Stay away from the mid section of the foam - it will eat you alive - do cutties to hit the top of the foam or avoid it all together.
Oh yes - the urchins are radical. Stay on the walkway going out and come in past the pumpstation, on the sand.

Yellowsands and Gonubie are worth a look.

Red

KenM · Post by **KenM** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 8:01 pm

Brad, don't forget to take some shark repellant, I believe there have been at least 6 shark attacks on surfers at Nahoon reef. Be extra careful. Check out the Natal Sharks Board website, sorry I don't have the address but it's worth a google. Good work on the HIV project.

Scott · Post by **Scott** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 8:48 pm

Boy, Brad: all these posts really get 'cha excited to surf this reef, doesn't it?

Andy · Post by **Andy** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 11:23 pm

Distance = East London to J Bay = 350 km max
Month = May = start of winter = cold fronts = swell
Solution = Drive down to J Bay whenever you can, could be a life-changing experience !

cheers

Andy

southpeakbrad · Post by **southpeakbrad** » Thu May 29, 2008 8:26 am

Got back from South Africa a few days ago and it was a great trip. Posted some pics if you're interested:

album_showpage.php?pic_id=15376

Was quite busy the whole time (HIV/AIDS mentoring). Traveled to Umtata twice from East London and had to present two teleconferences and do site reports, respond to email.... Traveled to J-Bay for a short weekend then had 3 days in Port Elizabeth.

Business: More people are being treated for HIV than in 2006 and more hospitals/clinics in the public sector are providing services which is good. But treatment is difficult to adhere to and to monitor in resource-limited settings and the drugs available are harder to tolerate than what people in non-resource limited settings have access to. So, side effects limit treatment and can be life-threatening. Couple that with TB and drug-resistant TB and you may begin to see the crisis that SA and other sub-saharan countries are dealing with. Of course, the same goes for Eastern Europe, Asia, and India....and others. Had good, productive interactions everywhere I went.

Surf: Wow! Thanks Red and Andy for the info. Stayed in Beacon Bay right near the beach across the Nahoon River. Nahoon Reef is a worldclass right reef/point, and I didn't even get out! I wasn't able to bring a board and was pretty busy but did check the surf some. Bob Gove met a kneelo in Indo last year from SA and got us in email contact. His name's Donald and he's from East London but living/working in Johannesburg. Spoke with Donald by phone as well and he gave suggested I call Glen D'Arcy down in J-Bay

http://www.glendarcysurfboards.co.za/

Glen had a board I could borrow but the owner is 95kg and the board had been broken in half and repaired, twice (middle and tail). But, I RODE IT at J-Bay. It didn't turn as tight as I wanted it to and I found myself projecting down the line instead of up the face on more than one occasion, but I was stoked.. Glen is supercool and is a friend of kneelos. His painter is a kneelo names Steve and we talked on the phone but he didn't make it down for a surf. Please look up Glen if you get to J-Bay and say hi.

Get this, the surf had been very week for at least a week but the swell started to fill in the day I arrived such that from 2-4 PM it started to get really good (8-10' faces outside) with only 20 guys out at Supertubes! It was glassy and warm and just a blast. Met a stoked kneelo named Tony from about 200 Km South of J-Bay and his wife and young son. Also, a kneelo from East London named Jedd (in college in Port Eliz) was out and he was ripping it up real good! The wind came up however and destroyed it and it blew overnight so Sunday AM was pretty poor. No worries though

Met some guys from Del Mar (San Diego County) as well and on Wednesday on the way back to East London we ran into them on the R72 (they took a day trip to EL and were returning home). They had been at J-Bay for almost two weeks and said that that little Saturday afternoon session was the best it had been!

That's it in a nutshell. Also, I know I can't gloat for long since Randy, Greg and most of Kneelo Cove are about to board a boat in Indo

Mike Fernandez · Post by **Mike Fernandez** » Thu May 29, 2008 9:54 am

That's great Brad! At least you got a taste of great J Bay for a day, and petted the lion cubs.

So is J Bay all it's hyped up to be? How does it compare to something like Sunset?

mutiny · Post by **mutiny** » Thu May 29, 2008 5:46 pm

Brad thats so cool that you are giving your time to educate others
your a great person

nice photos too of your trip

southpeakbrad · Post by **southpeakbrad** » Thu May 29, 2008 8:02 pm

Hey Mike,

I would say that J-Bay IS everything it's hyped up to be but I wonder where on the scale my short session fits. I was in a surf shop and some video was playing of J-Bay going off and realized that my session was probably a 5 out of 10. Others with more experience may have a different idea maybe. I've never surfed Sunset but they're probably quite different.

Thanks Tom!!