Surfers make clean break from murky lockdown rules

Level 3 legislation is a little murky when it comes to surfing, but Bay wave warriors have shaken off the confusion and are reclaiming their place in the sun.

Meanwhile beach walkers, technically still barred from straying from the beachfront promenade onto the sand, are calling for the authorities to reconsider their stance.

Surfer Gavin Rother, an employee at Surf Centre on the beachfront, said since the start of level 3 on Monday surfers had returned to the water in numbers and he himself had been at Rincon at the bottom of Admirality Way in Summerstrand.

“Some guys like to cycle for their exercise, I prefer to surf.

“On a six-foot board I’m automatically sticking to social distancing.

“As long as surfers don’t gather or loiter in the carparks, I can’t see the problem, and peer pressure will ensure no-one forgets those conditions.”

He said he had emerged from his first surf with some trepidation, anticipating a possible encounter with police.

“I was ducking and diving, and then I thought, why am I doing this. It’s not right.

“But things seem back to normal now.”

Veteran surfer and surfboard shaper Dennis Ellis said on Tuesday that while he himself had not been in the water as he was recovering from the removal of a sunspot, Port Elizabeth surfers had started popping up in beachfront breaks on Friday already.

“Until now they’ve been enjoying some out-of-the-way spots on the wild side west of Cape Recife, but for the last three or four days there have been a dozen or so on our local breaks at any given time.”

The level 3 legislation does not expressly bar surfing but specifically gives the go-ahead to professional surfers. However, this was a moot point, he said.

“There are only a handful of top-level pro surfers in the country. At what level do you have to be competitive? Is someone who competes provincially professional? It’s a grey area.

“And anyway, how does the pro surfer get down to the water if no-one is allowed on the beach except for — according to the new regulations — recreational fishermen? And why them and not us?”

In Jeffreys Bay and St Francis, surfers had in fact been in the water for two weeks with the police turning a blind eye, but the unpleasantness around the issue had even permeated there, he noted.

“In an effort to please the authorities and exaggerate social distancing, locals at a couple of surf spots have erected signs warning outsiders to keep away, and this has sparked heated debate on the surfing social media channels.”

Ellis said that as a small manufacturer he had technically qualified to get a permit to continue operating.

But he had not managed to obtain one as he would have needed to source raw materials and, bizarrely, had not managed to gain permission to do that.

“I opened yesterday for the first time so it has been extremely difficult business-wise.”

Port Elizabeth-based Surfing SA president Johnny Bakker said the organisation believed surfing should qualify to take place under level 3 provisions and it was engaging with the government in an effort to motivate in this regard.

“We assure surfers that every effort is being made to enable recreational surfing to be restored as soon as possible as a first step towards normalising the sport.”

Besides the surfers enjoying the water and the recreational anglers who have now been officially legalised, there were also several people walking on the beach on Tuesday.

Former ANC MP Judy Chalmers, 87, who has recovered from Covid-19, called on the authorities to take a decisive step in this direction and open the beaches to walkers and joggers.

“Surely our wonderful wide beaches are a safer option than a crowded beach-side walkway.

“I also feel the ocean has natural sanitising qualities that have since time began been recognised to promote good health.”