An American in Africa

Exploring the Southern Tip of the Dark Continent

This American’s adventure to South Africa started in Indonesia. After two months of surfing the FlowBarrel-esque lefts of Bali’s Bukit Peninsula I puddle jumped over to Singapore to check out the IFC at the newest venue in Wave House’s archipelago. After collecting my boards and bags, I hopped on one of Singapore’s awesome public transit trains and headed for Sentosa Island.

This new Wave House is a sight every flowboarder needs to see.  It has such a great open air, new age, "let’s party 24/7" vibe to it and the IFC lived up to the hype. The wave rides very similar to San Diego’s B-Max. While lost at one of the outdoor tiki bars, Wave House San Diego’s wave ambassador Greg Lazarus suggested that I come to South Africa with him. I had had the pleasure of accompanying him back to his homeland a couple of years ago and have been very eager to get back to the Dark Continent. But I had already been away for two months and was going back to Indonesia after Singapore to get tubed some more and surely I had to get back to the USA? Screw it. You only live once and can file for bankruptcy several times.
 

So after sharing waves with Laz in Asia, we were on a 16-hour journey headed for Durban, South Africa. Halfway there we stopped in Dubai and picked up WHSD’s wave operations manager Jeff Ranta. This being Ranta’s first real international travel, he couldn’t have picked a further destination but he handled the joys of flying around the world pretty well. Upon arriving at Durban International Airport we were taken to our flat in Umhlanga, a beach front suburb 10 minutes drive outside of the city. Big thanks to Laz’s mom for that hookup. This place had monkeys chilling on the balcony, looked right onto the shark infested waves of Umhlanga Rocks and was a quick 5 minute drive to the Gateway Mall that houses Wave House Durban. Driving up to the G-Way, we came around the back of WH and checked out the D-Rex from behind. There’s also an awesome view of the Tony Hawk designed skate park. Walking through the mega-mall and entering through the WH doors, we got our first peak at D-Rex’s blue walled double point break flowbarrel. Jeff’s jaw dropped wide open and my heart pounded through my stinky travel shirt.

WH’s marketing man Ryan Watkins and wave ambassador Billy Tennant welcomed us with open arms and gave us free reign to romp around the place. I made a bet with Jeff that he couldn’t ride the right for more than 10 seconds. Knowing that he had only ridden a left and never attempted flowboarding on his backhand, I thought I had the bet locked up. But being the well-rounded rider that he is, he smashed the 10-second bet and I owed him a delicious shooter of his choice. Luckily the rand to the dollar conversion is in favor of the dollar so I wasn’t out too much dough. After getting our fill of thrills and spills on the D-Rex, we went to get deep into the African Bush. Just a two and a half hour drive north is the Phinda Game Reserve. We had the luxury of being treated to our own game farmhouse courtesy of Laz’s dad Alan. Ranger Al took us on drives throughout the reserve and we got too see all of South Africa’s stunning wildlife up close and personal. After a few days in the bush, we headed back to town to find some throat lotion to quench our thirst. The whole of Umhlanga village was rocking and the brand new News Café was a good place to start. We moved down to The George and met up with strapless phenoms Andy Carrie and Clayton Barker. These guys are fiercely pushing the strapless brand of flowboarding to new levels each time they ride.  Watching these guys is extremely motivating and humbling at the same time. 

IFC Wild Card man Paolo Falconer was also on hand to show us around. Making our way out of the village we continued on to Clapham Grand where Billy Tennant was enjoying his night off from running the Flow League. Things quickly kicked into high gear and I wish I had my sunglasses as the African dawn greeted us in the morning. With the sun shining down, we got to tour the new Moses Mabhida soccer stadium that is being built for the 2010 Soccer World Cup. Wow. What a stadium and what a spectacle that event is going to be.

On our last day we met up with Barry Tuck and coordinated a quick photo shoot. I had set out with a personal goal of learning backside airs on the right and I’m proud to say mission accomplished.  With our bags packed and our goodbyes spoken we were out of there. Two weeks passed quickly but I guess what they say is true, “time flies when you’re having fun.”  I highly suggest that all flowboarders make the pilgrimage to the flowboarding Mecca that is Wave House Durban. It just doesn’t get any sweeter than looking into the pits of a left and a right flowbarrel at the same time.

Words by Andy Gold.