Hello everybody at Surf Hive! It is Jasper from South Africa here! Normally I write about the surf scene in Cape Town, but today I am up in the Garden Route, on the South Coast of South Africa, to celebrate New Years!
This is the same coastal village I wrote about back in the winter-time when I managed to discover, and then tackle, my own little wave on a hike... you can check that post here: @jasperdick/surfing-the-spirit-of-adventure
I am a dad to a beautiful baby daughter... this means I didn't even stay awake to see the New Year in - we don't take sleep for granted anymore! Hahaha!
But it did mean I was awake to see the sun rise on 1 January 2023! This is good, as I am not on the Cape Town peninsula, and so the onshore wind that comes up later in the morning is an actual issue that needs to be planned around with early morning surfs (in summer at least!).
The conditions on the village beach looked okay, but I decided to grab a board and start walking along the sharp, slate-like rocks towards where I had discovered "Maddy's Left" back in winter...
My old discoveries (Maddy's Left and Maddy's Right) break in a river mouth and the swell was too small for them and another spot I've been building up the courage to try... but I did see this wave breaking on an exposed reef out the back...(#newwave!)
So, while everybody else was nursing hangovers or sleeping, my New Year's morning was spent surfing into the sunrise at a new spot that I'd never really considered before... how beautiful is this location? I don't think this wave gets surfed much by anyone else either?!
I think one of my 2023 resolutions should be to try a new wave every month... they don't all have to be secret spots or discoveries like this... but just to practice learning new spots! I guess January is ticked off already!
Perhaps if I practiced surfing new spots more often I would have seen that there was a much better place to get back onto dry land than this rock shelf! Haha!
Pulling my board up by the leash before the next wave smacks it onto the rocks!
Coming back to the village beach I saw dolphins (middle), and another solo-surfer (left)... can you see them?
So... I am in this coastal village for a couple more days! Hopefully I get a couple more surf sessions in before I have to go home and back to work!
I hope everybody on SURF HIVE has a wonderful 2023, and that you all get to try some new waves wherever you are!
THE END