Table of contents for Issue 45.2 - Autumn 2021 in Zigzag

Mikey: I only really got into experimenting with different shapes the year after I fell off the world tour, but I was still competing when I became obsessed with twin-fins. I loved the looseness and ease with which you can express yourself on twinnies and fishes, and always carried one in my quiver that I’d jump onto in-between contests. But the more I rode them, the more I was looking for something that would fit in the barrel a bit better and feel more connected through turns. That’s where the idea of combining the twin with a rounded pintail came from. Twin-fins are great for speed because there’s no drag from a middle fin, but they aren't always the best in the pocket. A round tail just feels more controlled…

"IF I HAD TO CHOOSE SOMETHING FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE, I’D HAVE TO CHOOSE BIG BARRELS… BUT MAYBE WITH A GOOD END SECTION FOR A TURN OR AN AIR, SO I DON’T GET BORED" I met Kai a few years ago and he’s such a unique kid – super polite, super friendly and well-rounded. But then he has this other side to him… this side that's way older than he actually is. He wants to roll with guys twice his age, and he charges more than any kid his age – not just in South Africa, but globally. The way he’s been charging non-stop in Indo is incredible. He's got that attitude that nothing is too big for him, but he's super calculated and has such a mature…

I know Surprise through his dad, Jakes, who works at the Channel Islands factory in Durban. Jakes is amazing and has really taken control of the operation there. Surprise grew up around the factory and has come a long way, fast. There’s a story about him that really speaks about his character. He was invited to join a Nippers relay race and of course, he was dead keen. When it came to jumping off the pier, he didn't tell anyone he couldn't swim, but he jumped off the pier anyway because he wanted to win so bad. It tells you a lot about how much he wants it, no matter what. The other day I went to watch a grom event that Surprise ended up winning. You could see he…

We’re deep in the guts of the Wild Coast. The mayhem of the N2 has been replaced by pastoral scenes: rolling hills, turquoise rondavels and abundant herds of cows. It’s slow going on the deeply potholed roads but every now and then we catch a glimpse of the Indian Ocean, stretched out like a blue rubber band between the coastal hills in the distance. It’s the first time Mikey is making the journey to surf the Kei, something he can scarcely believe himself. His wife, Zelti, rides shotgun as we navigate the road ahead. The couple has been together since high school and they operate as a tight unit. Mikey had told me that without Zelti, his life would fall apart – both emotionally, and practically. She is the love…

I'm sitting in a rundown bar called Twin Fin with my face melting faster than the wax dripping off my board and onto the roof of the borrowed Jeep. My shirt is soaked in sweat. If I wasn't chain-drinking Imperial beer, I'd probably die. Slump face down in my ceviche de pescado. I swear, the equator runs straight beneath this wooden bench I'm on. You think Durban is humid in February? Please. Try Costa Rica. And if the heat doesn't get you, some of the snakes here can put you into a coma just by looking at you. The howler monkeys sound like angry leopards and there are falling coconuts that will crush your skull. There are active volcanoes and crocodiles in the lineup. The country has a downside, too,…

The reef is covered in thick patches of kelp, their bulbous heads glowing in the late afternoon sun. An oncoming swell draws water off the shallow bottom and the forest of seaweed starts to writhe. There’s an audible gurgling and clacking as the water pulls backwards through the tangled heaps, then a hiss as the wave surges forward, sucking the kelp beneath the surface. Michael February slides past, a silhouette framed against the backlit wave. I look towards shore as he passes, not sure where he is for a while until he kicks out down the line in a shower of spray. A flock of seagulls continue to jostle each other for space on the edge of the beach. They’d eyed us suspiciously as we’d crunched over the coarse sand…

The steady percussion of the ocean wakes me up early. It’s not the crisp, cracking sound of a small shore break hitting dry sand that sometimes fools you into the thinking the swell is big. This is a deep sound that seems to emanate from the bowels of the sea. We’d been surfing fun, clean waves until then but, despite the coast’s reputation for lucking into empty waves, the crowds had become stifling. On one weekday morning, I counted 40 of us sitting shoulder-to-shoulder at a playful right point. The 25-second period has cured this – there’s barely a handful of surfers looking to make the jump-off this morning. The swell is too washed out for most of the regular spots. The hollow ones hitting the bank are mostly closeouts…

As a surfer, I was obsessed with the beach culture in Durban. I always loved the sense of community and the vibe there, where everyone knows each other and everything revolves around the sea. I opened a number of venues over the years and would often see the same faces in the lineup that I’d see at my venues. Some guys even started calling me the unofficial mayor of Durban. I know it was a joke but I loved that – bringing people together and adding to the culture of Durban. After Society, a jazz club we started, I didn’t really have a plan to open another venue. But then I moved to Cape Town, where I had this idea in my head to do an old-world, authentic athletic club.…

I’m originally from Tsolo in the Eastern Cape, which is just a few kilometres from Mthatha, but I grew up in Cape Town. I only discovered the ocean when I came to Cape Town and started to spend time in Fish Hoek. We would sometimes walk from Masiphumelele to Fish Hoek just to be at the beach. I got into surfing after meeting Tim Conibear in 2007. I was 17 years old, living in Masi, playing soccer and also teaching young boys how to play soccer. Tim invited me for a surf lesson at Muizenberg and I really struggled, I was just falling off. But I knew then that I wanted to become a surfer. After that, Tim would come to Masi to pick me up for sessions. He saw…

Popular histories of surfing tell us that Polynesians were the only people to develop surfing, that the first account of surfing was written in Hawai ‘i in 1778, and that Bruce Brown, Robert August, and Mike Hynson introduced surfing into West Africa while filming The Endless Summer in 1965. All these claims are incorrect. The modern surf cultures currently developing along Africa’s long shoreline are not something new and introduced; they are a rebirth; the remembering and reimagining of thousand-year-old traditions. The first known account of surfing was written during the 1640s in what is now Ghana. Surfing was independently developed from Senegal to Angola. Africa possesses thousands of miles of warm, surf-filled waters and populations of strong swimmers and sea-going fishermen and merchants who knew surf patterns and crewed…

Eli has been been putting so much work into his surfing lately and the outcome has been insane. I saw him compete at the WSL World Juniors in Taiwan, and he was doing these amazing airs. He really stood out compared to other guys his age and has been charging some of the big stuff around Cape Town, too. He's got a really good style and all the qualities that make for a polished, all-round surfer. Definitely one of the most exciting talents coming out of SA at the moment. – Mikey Eli, on the first time I started surfing when I was around six years old in Lamberts Bay, after my dad pushed me into my first wave. I remember my dad always missioning up and down the West…