Adrian Tregoning

On 5 September 2009 a special day occurred in Cape Town. We had decent swell and zero wind. What an absolute pleasure. While Cape Town gets some monstrous swell, producing world class waves, we are often plagued by either the powerful south east trade wind in summer, or else the sometimes weaker but shiftier north west wind. But on this fine morning we had nothing, the sea was glassy.

I managed to convince my dad to come with and take a few photos and promised the session wouldn’t be too long. We drove around to check out a few locations. Big Bay was ok but there was a surf competition on, Derde Steen wasn’t too good but Blauberg or Table View was looking quite good. There was also a surf comp on the left side but otherwise there were loads of waves, and also a lot of people. But on the right corner, almost opposite Doodles was a cool wave with fewer crowds. It looked solid from the car park, it was good to go. Stefano Sessa joined me too, we stretched a bit and headed in. Needless to say, it was a lot bigger at water level.

Stretching. Adrian Tregoning (left) and Stefano Sessa on the right.

And off.

Adrian Tregoning heading out.

Stefano Sessa (left) about to catch a wave.

Adrian – Fisher King.

  Adrian heading out, narrowly avoiding a beating :-)

Adrian enjoying the Fluid Element on these glassy waves. Pity they didn’t have more form!

Adrian – going, and pulling off. 

Getting to the backline was hard work and I did take some serious beatings every now and then. The wave itself wasn’t of a great

quality but it was silky smooth and if you picked it right, the drop in was absolutely beautiful with a sometimes decent ride following. The view down onto that still blue water from the top of the wave was the stuff of dreams, almost surreal. At least it was big enough for some good speed, as the wave was not hollow, mostly, as can be seen from the photos.

Stefano Sessa enjoying himself, but finding the Nemesis lacking in speed. He’s one of the first inline for the composite Element!!! I’m getting mine next week it seems. At last! :-)

Ships in the background, a constant site in Cape Town.

Adrian loving it. What a day… Wind still says like this are hard to find in Cape Town!

Adrian peeling out. Sometimes, you might find getting off the foam pile a bit difficult. I find that carving ultra hard, back into the wave and keeping your body low and holding the carve, you can actually get under the wave and away. Try it, you might find this technique quite useful. Works for me.

Stefano Sessa coming in and avoiding some mild shore break. 

Happy days with no wind and good waves.

Stefano, one more time, in some solid white water.

Adrian into a close out section, but making it, somehow.

Over and out – another great day with the Fluid Element. What a boat!

At one stage I noticed Stefano taking beating after beating as I just didn’t see him. In fact a lot of the time you couldn’t see the land. The photos are misleading because they’re taken from higher up. Eventually he hit the beach to rest! Shortly afterwards he joined me again and we finished off with a few more waves. I remember waiting for ages for a decent set. Then when it came, I left the first two or three, but the next wave was so big, it broke in front of me and took me almost back to the beach at super speed, extremely annoying! Otherwise it was a really lekker session! I have not had any wind still days like that again, with such good swell. One needs to appreciate and maximise those days when they do come by. Wherever you are, I hope you’ve also been getting good swell!!!! I have a huge 2 part article coming onto the site next month, it’s a spot guide to more than 30 different surf spots in and around Cape Town, I think you’ll like it.

Photography by: Trevor Tregoning.

All Words by: Adrian Tregoning.

Next article: The next two articles will be a full on guide to many surf spots in Cape Town. Thereafter, you’ll be able to catch the first article from my trip to West Sumatra!