Whale encounter in South Africa

The last few days the wind was gone. So we tried our luck in Elands Bay,where a thermal wind sometimes comes up in the afternoon. While waiting for the wind I went for a Stand up paddle session when I encounter a whale who was at least as interested in us as we were in him. here is a short video.

Stand Up Paddle Whale encounter in South Africa from Bart de Zwart on Vimeo.

Aloha from South Africa

First week in South Africa

The first 10 days we had wind non stop. The first couple of days we spend in Langebaan testing 5.3 and 6.0 sails and 95 liter board on flat water.


The water here is very cold mostly between 10-14 degrees. But on the other hand the sun is mostly shining which makes it all bearable again. Unfortunately I won't be able to tell about the results of the test. This you have to read in the magazine. But I can tell you we have 4.7 sails weighing only 2.8 kilos and wave boards with one, two, three and four fins.

Langebaan Photo shoot Flat water

Platboom, Cape of Good Hope board test and 4.7

Platboom, mast high

We were lucky in Platboom where we had perfect conditions for 4.7 and solid waves for 2 days. But heh, it is not Maui, it is rougher, colder and less clean.

The wind is gone now since 2 days, so we do measurements, board shape discussions and photos and off course we have some spare time to go stand up in Elands bay and Swart riet

So far from South Africa,

Aloha, Bart

Off to SURF test South Africa

Since 16 years now I have been testing for the German SURF magazine. A 5 week stay in South Africa where we test dozens and dozens of new 2011 boards and sails.

This year I had 54 hrs flight with layover in Dubai, which is an very interesting place.

Clean, any littering is a $150 fine

Hot, between 25 in the winter and 50 degrees summer

The latest and the greatest, one building is bigger and taller than the other.

Modern, even the bus stops are air conditioned

Here are a few sights of Dubai.

Burj Khalifa With 818 The tallest building in the world

Cheapest room here only $4000 a night...

Huge Hotels, this one with an oversize aquarium.

A couple of hours later, I was sitting in the next plane again to Cape town.

Aloha, this time from Langebaan. South Africa