"GOOFYFOOTER'S PARADISE," BY JOHN WHITMORE (1965)

"Goofyfooter's Paradise," by John Whitmore, ran in the October 1965 issue of South African Surfer. This version has been slightly edited.

* * *

As a present-day surfer, have you ever experienced that awful hemmed-in feeling? You know—good waves, pleasant company out there with you, but no place to go ? A hundred boards baulking your right turns and a similar number on the left, leaving you ill-tempered, frustrated and longing for the wide open spaces?

Well! In Spring of 1964, I had just that restless feeling, plus an irresistible urge to seek pastures new and discover for myself just how much greener it was on the other side of that fence. For several years I had traveled the West Coast, exploring the surf potential, and one spot in particular which had always whetted my appetite, but up to that time I had not had the opportunity of sampling, was Elands Bay.

Elands Bay lies approximately 130 miles North of Cape Town, an easy drive and a pleasant one with only about 40-odd miles of dirt road. The Bay itself is fairly large with a rocky promontory on the Cape Town side ending in a flat rocky mussel-clad shelf immediately below an escarpment, and then beyond this vast white beaches and dunes stretch far into the North.

Here the swells off the Cold Benguella Current flowing North surge in and send wave after wave around the reef before striking the beach. During storm seas, mostly the tail end of the Westerley swell moving up from the Roaring 40s many thousands of miles in the South, wave heights range between six and ten feet, but the key word is perfection!

At first glance the wave appears to collapse almost too close to the threatening rocks, a point which at first raised many a query before the spot was attempted—but after an hour or two of careful checking and watching, each and every breaker followed an indentical pattern and not one sectioned off or broke ahead of itself.

Entry to the takeoff spot presented little difficulty as a narrow strip of rip on the far side worked as a natural ski lift and carried surfers out to the back with a minimum of effort. What more could we ask? As a matter of fact that water could be a little warmer—the average temperature here is around 52 degrees.

With its breathlessly fast hollow waves affording the lucky surfer an easy 300-yard locked-in ride, this is a West Coast Goofyfooter's Paradise!

At first utmost secrecy was insisted upon — at last a chosen few had a ’Surfing Paradise’ to themselves — but who could refrain from boasting of this wonderful discovery? And so slowly but surely the crowds started arriving from Cape Town, then the other centers, and finally Australia, and one and all unanimously agreed that here indeed was a unique magnificent surf spot.

Accommodation at the beginning was difficult—wood and water is scarce along the West Coast, which is either desert or semidesert, but during the past year the hotel has been built and we have now learned that there are rondavels for hire less than a half-mile from the surfing area.

And now that Spring 1965 is here, and that restless feeling is growing strong again, I have traveled 100 miles north of Swakopmund and ventured down West Coast tracks and roads, and I just know that someday, somewhere, I will find yet another ELANDS BAY.

[Top photo of Elands Bay by John Reid; bottom photo of John Whitmore at Elands by Gordon Verhoef]