February 2009 – Surf Kayaking in Cape Town

This is a collection of the few more surf kayaking sessions that we’ve photographed. This article shows shots of only February this time, on three different occasions at three different locations once again, just like in January:

Big Bay 3 February 2009

Muizenberg 8 February 2009

Derde Steen 17 February 2009

I’ll let the photographs and their accompanying captions tell the story they need to.

 

Dropping into a decent wave at Big Bay but I had to pull out as there was a surfer already on it. I attached my little waterproof Olympus camera to my chest but it didn't work too well. The force of the waves kept ripping it out of it's position. This shot, and the following shots, are stills from video footage I took.

 

Paddling out into some pretty big waves on my own with only a few other people around. It was really good fun, just hard work. A slight onshore wind messed up the waves a lot and reading them became a little trickier. I took several solid beatings, but also some quality rides.

 

Carving up to the lip in my Fluid Element. Good times...

 

The end of a wave. This session was not a success and after a few attempts to film the rides I gave up. The camera kept getting knocked out too quickly. I will try again another day... :-)   Next up, a great session at Derde Steen with Luke Longridge and then later joined by Niell Taylor.

 

Adrian Tregoning at Derde Steen. After all the consecutive photos the camera starts slowing down a little. Pity. The end wasn't that great anyway and initiated way too far down in the flats! Oh well... Photos by Luke Longridge.

 

Adrian into a close out section. Photo by Luke Longridge.

 

Just making it over this one. Photo by Luke Longridge.

 

Woo hoo, another wave... Waves are just so much fun as they're almost always so different. On 20 February 2009 I had a GREAT session at Karmers, another spot nearby. It was so, SO good it was crazy. The wave there allows long and sweeping cutbacks. That is an amazing feel. I felt on these waves I could not really do any cutbacks as they weren't big enough and didn't have a nice shoulder in front of them. They are pretty hollow here at Derde Steen. Photos by Luke Longridge.

 

Adrian Tregoning ending nicely into a close out section. Photos by Luke Longridge. Note that on this Derde Steen session I had the two outer fins attached. They are very small and the ones Celliers designed for the boat. I find that with the fins they help to prevent the tail from slipping out in cutbacks and moves at the top of the wave. In bottom turns the edge holds well, with fins or without.

 

Adrian Tregoning pulling into a tube to get barrelled. Good fun! :-) Photos by Luke Longridge. Then we swopped but Luke used my Fluid Nemesis to get some big air... In the photos above the boat is the Fluid Element. Fluid's surf specific kayak.

 

Luke Longridge getting some sweet air in the Fluid Nemesis.

 

Luke on a wind still, beautiful afternoon at Derde Steen. What a GREAT day to be out on the ocean. It definitely helps to clear ones mind, every time.

 

And....crunch! :-)

 

Luke Longridge with a cool flip turn.

 

Luke Longridge with a helix/felix that he pulled off. Full sequence not shown. Luke was down in Cape Town to do some research work at the university.

 

Luke Longridge with more, and more action!!! Derde Steen breaks on shallow sand banks, watch out... There is the odd rock as well.

 

Luke cruising over a wave to get to the back.

 

Luke Longridge with more freestyle moves.... This time in the shorebreak! :-)

 

Adrian Tregoning back in the Element late in the evening. Photos by Luke Longridge.

 

Starting off really well and then I changed edges really quickly on a section which steepened up and lost the tail. First time I had done that. Oh well... hehehe. Photos by Luke Longridge. Next up, a small session at Muizenberg.

 

Adrian Tregoning heading out at a tiny day at Muizenberg. Jeesh, the waves were terrible that day! Photo by Luke Longridge.

 

Adrian trying his hardest in tough, small conditions. When Muizenberg is small, like it usually is, the waves have no power to them. Such a shame. The Reserve was flat too so we didn't bother driving all that way. I guess not everyday can be a good day. Photos by Luke Longridge.

 

Another 'good' wave! One has to gradually surf these little waves and I actually hate it. At 85kg the Fluid Element doesn't work for me with waves of this nature. They need to be a little steeper and faster, or just bigger. If I was much lighter it would probably be much better. Luckily we don't often have waves this poor. Or maybe more accurately, we don't often go out when it's like this. I had just picked up Luke from the airport so we headed straight down to the beach. Photo by Luke Longridge.

 

Adrian cartwheeling in front of a wave in an attempt to spice up the session. Yeah, right... Photo by Luke Longridge.

 

Adrian on another small Muizenberg wave. Rowan said it was more than double in the morning. Pity we missed that. Photo by Luke Longridge.

 

Adrian Tregoning blinded by the sun and white sand. Oh I just love the Fluid Element. It's SUCH a great boat! As I write this caption (23 Feb) I am heading off to Big Bay with Luke on another surf mission this afternoon. Last week of holiday! By the time I decide to publish this I'll be back at work and yes, I'm really looking forward to it!!!! More good times ahead, no doubt. Once again, a huge thanks to all my friends who have shared in the good times out on the water. Photo by Luke Longridge.

 

Well, there we have it. Another big series of surf kayaking shots. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to get this many again. But hopefully you enjoyed this and the January article. Take care.

 

 

Photography by: Adrian Tregoning. Unless otherwise stated. Thanks to Luke Longridge for taking some cool shots here!

All Words by: Adrian Tregoning.

 

Next article: Day 1 of Deepdale Gorge, Umkomaas River. Chronologically this article of mine (and the January surf kayaking article) jumped the queue but I decided to throw this one in for a change of scenery. The 2008 South African Road Trip series of articles will commence on the next update.