Get the Alumni Involved

With Maties Surf Club entering it's 36th year we're trying to reconnect with all Surf Club Alumni. 

Reconnect with the surf club and reminisce...

Recent times have been a bit tough on the club and membership has waned as the fuel price has forced the membership fees increasingly upward. Gone are the days of R200 membership with a free t-shirt to boot. But that being said the club is still on of the most vibrant on campus, and lets face it a whole lot cooler than most of the others [let's not name names]. We still maintain all the good Maties Surfing traditions like the Stillbay and Enlands weekends. But we'd desperately like to grow the community interaction side of the club. 

Sign-up Now, Apocalypse Later

Join the Surf Club for the great camaraderie

Term’s about to start and with the new version of Jool kicking off who knows when you’ll surface next week? But here’s a heads up: The Surf Club sign-up is on Wednesday in the Neelsie Student Centre. The other sports’ clubs will be there too, but there isn’t much need to pay them any attention.

Windy Day Fun on the Pass

In anticipation of a surf club skate down Old Helshoogete road, here's a video of Ricki and Bjorn cruising down the disused top section. My apologies for the shoddy quality at times, it was shot with a cell phone. (Donations towards a GoPro are welcome!)

Boland Surf Guide

Stellenbosch might well be landlocked, but it is quite centrally located which means if you watch the charts and are willing to put in the kilometres there are plenty of options for the Maties surfers. The secret is knowing your spots and getting the call right, because there are few things are frustrating as driving around looking for waves when it’s onshore and flat.

Strand

Maties Surf Champs at Strand

The nearest but not necessarily the best option is Strand. Strand or St. Rand, is a rather average (at best) beach-break set-up, conveniently only 22 kilometres from Stellenbosch. It works best in wind-still conditions, but it you’re not too fussy it can still be fun in anything from light to moderate winds. The prevailing summer South Easter is onshore to cross onshore and the winter North Wester is more cross-shore than off. The main break at Strand is located on the Western edge of the beach-front and is known as Pipe. Its name is taken from a rather unfortunate waste water pipeline rather than the form of the wave itself. At its best Strand Pipe can be punchy and fun with lefts and rights running across the sand-bars. The Pipe works best when the swell is in the three meter range, but when the swell crests four to four and a half meters the outside banks begin to play havoc with the lines, reducing the spot to a mushy mess.

Moving east along the beach from Pipe you’ll find Ducks which is roughly in front of the life-saving club house. ‘Ducks’ can handle a bit more wind and a little more swell that Pipe and is also generally a little heavier when it’s working. Further down the beach towards the town centre you’ll find Silkies which works in big swell when the outside banks start to break-up the lines too much for the other spots to break decently. It’s generally a last option spot but it can be fun if you’re not expecting too much.


Click for Strand Surf report. This covers the region from Strand to Koelbaai. 

Surf for Life 2011

On Saturday the 22^nd of October, the Strand Pipeline will play host to Natural Energy’s Surf for Life contest a fundraising event for Natural Energy’s Tarryn Pratt who was recently diagnosed with cancer.

All proceeds from the contest will go to assisting Tarryn with the costs of her treatment and to help her start a charity to support other surfers battling cancer.

It’s undoubtedly a worthy cause and with six surfing divisions it promises to be a great day of surfing too. For the competitive surfers entries are open until the 18^th of October and the entry form can be downloaded here.

The contest is divided into an Open men’s division, an over 30’s division, a junior event, an open ladies division and events for both ladies and gents stand-up-paddleboarders.

2012 Committee

With 2011 drawing to an end the Surf Club put the new committee to a vote on the 4^th of October. Current chairman Andrew Mandy is set to graduate come December so his boots needed to be filled.

Leadership positions in the Surf Club tend to be filled more by necessity than a hunger for power, and 2012 will see Peter Thorpe take over the burden of organising the ragged group of nearly 150 university surfers.

Breaking-Up Of The Seli I

Seli I, In One Piece Two Years Ago. Photo: Jaclyn Archer

The massive swell of Friday the 2^nd of September was the death blow for the stranded Seli I. The abandoned vessel had been driven fast by a late winter cape storm nearly two years ago and with the owners, insurers and the City of Cape Town all failing to remove it, the break-up was inevitable.

The Seli I, 4 September 2011