Surfing Supertubes at Jeffrey's Bay

Finding a cool place to stay right next to the beach in front of the world famous surf break, Supertubes, here in Jeffrey's Bay or J-Bay has been amazing. We heard about the Crystal Cove Inn and they have blown us away with their friendly welcome and beautiful room overlooking the beach. Its family run and after the daughter checked us in and answered all of our questions the son hooked me up with a board rental and wetsuit. The wetsuit is perfect, Oneill, medium tall, just like I have at home. The board is a bit clunky, a 7'6" thick fun board but it has worked brilliantly.

I was surprised after seeing no waves in Port Elizabeth to see a few surfers out at supertubes catching some really fun, long rights. I hustled out into the lineup, which only consisted of about 6 guys and caught my first real waves inAfrica. The launch and landing are pretty sketchy here as you have to work your way out thru these sharp, huge rocks as the surf is rolling in. I've got some scratches and cuts to show for it but man have these waves been worth it. I've caught some really long waves and Heidi even caught some pictures from the beach. Luckily the wave breaks pretty close to the beach so its great for pictures.

The session today was a bit more demanding. The wind has been ripping all day and the period, or time between each waves, almost disappeared. But the waves themselves were cranking. A couple of times guys got barreled and the set waves started looking like all the posters where continuous waves all start breaking and peeling behind each other. I finally worked up the nerve to fight my way out and then proceeded to sit way outside for a long time watching these huge waves break and then the wind whip off the tops and spray them sideways into your eyes. It was pretty nerve wracking. But I paddled all the way out so I better catch some.

I finally worked my way close enough to almost catch a few monsters, then nab some medium size rights that made the whole session worthwhile. Towards the end I was the only person still out there which is always an unsettling, but very rare experience.

Its nice to see that J-bay is still a low key, surfing town. I had feared more glitz and glamour for this world renown surfing mecca. I was happy that the pros were surfing somewhere else these couple of days, as I would have hated to have had to snake some waves from them. Next stop is Gans Baii, home of the great white shark cage diving madness!