The Seawin ship wreck at Dardestein

Last week a ship ran aground, The Seawin, in heavy seas and came around at (a classic surf spot) Derdesteen. The beach is currently closed off, you can make out the tape in the photo after the break.

News reports say the ship wreck caused a fair amount of damage to the dune area, and the mostly wooden hull is breaking up.

The ship is sitting on the beach right in front of the surf spot car park, and the car park is currently full with waste removal equipment.

These are the photos from this weekend.
There are some more great photos here http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?p=6053630

Read the full article on News 24: http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_2367937,00.html

The Seawin ship wreck at Dardestein

As for today, the surf is evern small, with Seapoint and Greenpoint having better conditions for Wakeboarding than surfing – no jokes. It’s like a pond/oil slick out there.

Bring on some more swell.

I had a surf last Saturday at Long Beach, but it was nothing to write home about. Onshore 2 feet, weak and overcrowded! Nothing unusual then!

The wind seemed to be pretty westerly, the tide was very low, and the swell was small, which only means one spot will have  wave – Llandudno.

Llandudno on a Sunday, for me at least, normally means I put myself in the mindset of being happy with just 1 wave.

But unfortunately, and I know stories of locals are nothing new, but there are several boys at Llandudno that insist on catching every single wave that comes through, leaving nothing for anyone else. In addition to this they think it is their god given right to do so, claiming to be locals and that they live there. The thing is I’ve been surfing at Llandudno for years now and I can say last Sunday I have my first run in with a complete and utter twat.

I’ve seen the guy many times, and given him space like I do any surfer. I’ve even seen him go nuts at some people, but naively thought he was justified because he had never said anything to me, so I didn’t say anything. If anyone reading this does surf at Llandudno, you’ll have seen the guy I am talking about. He is about 5′8″, later 30’s, black and grey hair, he always wears a Zero wetsuit and he surfs very well as a natural footer.
So after I managed to squeeze in 3 really bad waves, this dude tells me not to sit deeper than him? He declares that I should not be catching his waves, and insists that I should show respect to people that “Live Here” [I wasn't sure if he meant living in Llandudno or Cape Town, because he certainly doesn't live in Llandudno], and should he see me sitting deeper that him again he will “Burn Me”. Now I was kind of shocked at this coming from this guy. I mean I’d seen this guy surfing a lot, and we have even exchanged pleasantries from time to time. He was yelling at me claiming I was sitting deeper to “Command respect” [What a load of bollocks], and then shouted at me basically saying I should respect him by not catching any waves. He also muttered something about me being a goofy footer and not being as good as the other people there.

So needless to say I didn’t get out of the water, I stayed and sat close to him and got one or two waves before it got dark before I headed in.

So now the response. Normally people that demand or command respect by shouting, like our subject in this story, are scared themselves. Unfortunately this guy likes to do the talking so basically shouts until he catches a wave and then says nothing after he paddled back out.  In addition to this I will not be giving this guy any space in the water, and if I see him unnecessarily shouting at anyone else I’ll try and help. Here is the plan.

• I’ve started a “Localism” category and further stories will be posted in here.
• I am going to be naming and shaming this guy, when I have the details.
• I’m going to name and shame the surf instructor that just sat and watched.
• I’m going to try and help other people out if this sort of thing happens to them.

But why should I do this?

• Everyone, even the Llandudno Idiot, have been on the other end of the stick.
• Everyone was once a beginner.
• Everyone was not a local at one stage.
• Everyone deserves some set waves and space to catch them.
• Everyone should surf with the Aloha spirit.
• Everyone should show their fellow surfers with respect.

Once this idiot shouted at me, he merely lost all the respect he did have – which is the opposite of what he wanted.

Here is a picture of Glenn Beach before I went to Llandudno. At the time it didn’t look that great, but to be fair, I probably wouldn’t have bumped into this trouble maker!

The surf was good with some sets being head high, and the end section was hollow enough for me to pull in most times and even get barreled.

The wind also seemed to switch from the west to the south eastish, which made the inside a little less bumpy.

Happy surfing.

Look out for the surf spot review int he future!

So I went back to bed.

The weather is nicer now, clear and sunny, not a lot of wind b ut there is just a little bit there.

More surf checks tomorrow I reckon.

I didn’t check the surf before I jumped in. I was expecting an hour paddle in a swimming pool, but Llandudno produced some nice little, about 2 feet, rights and lefts, with the wedge making things interesting.

The surf at Llandudno this morning officially breaks my one wave session streak I was on and I am happy to say that I surfed really well.

Here are the shots from the surf today. The waves were better when I got in, and deteriorated as the tide came in.

On the way out of the surf I spotted this on the floor. It reads “LOCALS ONLY”. Personally I don’t feel Glenn Beach is Localized at all. To be honest the banks have been pretty bad recently and the people I have talked to are convinced the banks have been bad for about 2 years now. Which would suggest that any local of Glenn Beach would be a little bit coocked, surfing bad waves all the time.