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Written By Thato

South African is known for its fantasticly scenic coastlines, so much so that South Africa is often a base camp for surfing champions from around the world. Water currents, direction of winds and water temperature, are all factors that make SA one of the surf meccas of the world. Cape Town has long been known as a coastline destination surfers can shred practically 365 days a year because of its good windy conditions. Other surf spots are known but are predominantly less popular in the grand picture. Take a look at our list of South Arica’s best surf spots.

Bay of Plenty, Durban

Durban is a popular for both holidays and surf trips. You will hardly ever find a day where there no waves over the ocean. Hot weather and warm sea also make the Durban coastline a must visit on any surfing road trip. Local surfers usually gather at Diary or North Beach close to the north most pier.

Long Beach, Cape Town

In Kommetjie, on the Atlantic side of the Southern Cape Peninsula, Long Beach has one of  most consistent shore breaks in the Cape.

 

Jeffery’s Bay, Eastern Cape

Excellent for lovers of supertubes, this spot Is the known for the consistency and quality of its local tube waves. This spot though is known for its surfer discrimination. New surfers on this coast are often treated with hostility so BEWARE.

 

The Hoek, West Coast

Only for experienced wave riders, this spot is known as a prime location for finding 3 metre super waves and barrels.

 

Shark Rock Pier, Eastern Cape

The premier surfing spot in Port Elizabeth host many surfing contests over the competition season. Crowds tend to gather at the end of the nearby pier to watch local surfers thrash the massive, hollow tubes.

 

Remember that Action Gear has a full range of GoPro and Drift cameras plus accessories to capture incredible video out on the open ocean. For more details on  our product range,  visit www.actiongear.co.za, call 011 781 1323 or email sales@actiongear.co.za.

Written By Thato

Local boy, Chris Bertish, has officially set the Guinness World Record for the longest Standing Up Paddle (SUP) ever recorded. On the 17th of December 2013 the Cape Town native set out to crack the record in an attempt to create social awareness for the LunchBox Fund organisation.

The proud record holder started his 121km journey at 7am just off Kommetjie and completed his first 30km leg in just less than 3 hours. The second leg took him 4 hours 8 minutes with 42kms completed. The final leg was completed in 3 hours and covered 49kms. The successful world record journey ended in Sandanha at 7pm.

Bertish is immensely happy with the journey and says the cross ocean challange was a success only because of good preparation, determination and excellent teamwork.

"The research, planning, preparation, logistics and teamwork to be able make this day happen, when you are dealing with the extreme, constantly changing and challenging elements, was the most difficult of obstacles to overcome... but I believed with every fibre of my being that I could do it and if you dream it, can see it and believe it, then you can achieve anything!”

Bertish visted by a curious whale during the first 15 minutes of the journey. 

 

Bertish on the open ocean

 

Chris Bertish heart rate and speed during the journey

 

 

To help Bertish successfully complete the grueling 121km paddle, a backup boat followed his course throughout the journey. The boat included food and emergency items plus a team comprised of an official timer, videographer and photographer.

As well as being a SUP master and big wave surfer, Bertish is also a motivational speaker and regularly conducts workshops and motivational talks at various institutions. Also an action camera fan, he enjoys using his GoPro camera to capture all of his wave splashing adventures.

Related: Benefits of Selecting Action Gear as your Drone Partner

Action Gear SA is dedicated to providing our customers with the best service possible. We will continue to strive to make Action Gear SA your first choice for the best products, lightning fast shipping and superior customer service. We’ve partnered with world leaders in technology and security to provide you with an easy to use, fully interactive and secure on-line shopping experience. Shop with us today and see the Action Gear SA difference.

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*Please note, repairs and replacement product procedures are in accordance to the South African CPA Act and manufactures warranties.

Written By Thato

South Africa is easily one of the most beautiful places in the world. It is fairly easy to navigate with tempting freeways leading out of the big cities packing an insane amount of scenery. From snowy mountains to sandy beaches, Authentic African villages and picturesque settler towns, you'll never get tired of the scenery on these trips. Here are a few snap shots of South Africa’s most fabulous routes.

Cape Town to Oudtshoorn - 850km

This hidden route starts in the mother city and swishes past the cape winelands to the Great Karoo. It passes the vintage town of Matjiesfontein, a 19th century railway village filled with deep history and culture. Passing through Price Albert, the Swartberg mountains and the Meiringspoort Pass can be seen.

Cape Town to Durban - 1700km

This is route is long but worth cruising through. It features a stretch of lagoons and famous beaches and passes through the Wild Coast. Passing though Port Saint John’s is a plus as the area opens up a world of opportunities for surfers, backpackers, artist and even hippies.

 

Visit the village of Mveso, where former president Nelson Mandel was born.

 

Cape Town to Lamberts Bay - 240km

Starting in Cape Town, head north along the west coast, to will find the fishing village of Paternoster just north of Langebaan Lagoon. A section of newly built restaurants, galleries and Cafes make it a good tourist destination.

Bloemfontein to Durban - 670km

This route will lead you through open farmlands and hills. Just off Bloem onto the highway, will lead you through fields of Sunflowers which, combined with a blue sky, count for an amazing scenic view. Sand stone building swill be in view past Ladybrand and snowy mountain peaks past the Lesotho border can also be given the look over.

 

Crooks Corner to Pont Drift - 160km

Catch a view of the Big Five as the route runs passed the Kruger National Park with a specific view of the graving ground populated by elephants, lions and leopards.

Closer to the end of the route, the Mapungubwe National Park is located. The park is home to ancient iron remains and wildlife.

Written By Warrick Kernes

As if it wasn’t daunting enough for a novice to take part in the Iron Man 70.3, the 2014 triathlon took place in Buffalo City - rated one of the most difficult courses in the world! Alongside the athletes starting to arrive in East London days before the race, a mix of nerves came along and slowly evolved into either anxiety, utter fear or unrivalled excitement. Before allowing the nerves to take control we needed to keep reminding ourselves that we had six months of solid training behind us (yes, throughout the holiday season) and were thankfully injury free and feeling great.

It seems that all the athletes had the exact same idea when arriving in Buffalo City: 1) get to registration 2) swing pass the very tiny expo 3) and most importantly - get into the water for a practice swim. As the hordes steadily arrived at the beach it seemed as if we all, once again, were doing the same thing - staring out at the marker buoys trying to convince ourselves that we wouldn't really be swimming this far out on race day. The practice swim ended up being a breeze - flat waters, no currents and it was not too cold, which settled a lot of the nerves. However, we walked away that exact moment fully understanding how far out into the ocean we were going to have to swim on the big day – it’s quite a stretch!


The next few days leading up to race day flew past - we attended the insightful race briefing, hunted for any half decent restaurant with a free table and prepped our race bags (continuously unpacking them and starting over, thinking we might have left something out). The one incredibly noticeable thing about this race compared to others is the meticulous organisation of everything. When we had to drop off our bikes on the Saturday things went like clockwork with dedicated volunteers showing us exactly where our bikes and bags were to be racked. We were in and out of there in no time at all. The organisation of this race contributes a lot to the cost of the athletes' entry fee but it really does make it so worthwhile.

The day finally arrived! On race day we had an early breaky at our B&B before heading down for final touch-ups to the bikes and to mentally prep ourselves for the long day ahead. Before we knew it - the waiting was over and we were on the beach in the starting pen watching the pros swim off in front of us. As we were racing in the 25 - 29 category we were joined by the elite racers from all the other age groups which made for an interesting start - they didn't hold back one bit when the starting gun went off!

The water was crowded with serious athletes willing to push and shove to keep their line so we had to do the same while still trying to stay on course. The first buoy is only 300m off shore before the long haul over 700m out into the ocean to the farthest buoy. Unfortunately, my ability to swim straight once again proved to be non-existent as I zig-zagged my way out to the turn around and then continued to zig-zag back around the final buoys and back towards the beach. The thing with open-water swimming is that you often feel like you're never going to finish and then all of a sudden - you're there. Ocean swimming is great in the way that you start to see the fathoms below you lighten in colour before turning to a light brown as you make out the sandy bed below and THIS is when you know that you're home free. I was glad to exit the water and get across the timing mat in 31:37 minutes and just kept thinking to myself how well I would have done if I only swam straight!

A quick 4min22 transition saw me fly out on the bike feeling good and strong. The first couple of hills while getting out onto the highway went well as I let my body catch up and realise that we're now out of the water and heading out on a 90km cycle. Incredibly I felt stronger than ever before and I was finding it easy to keep up with the athletes around me who were all a lot more professional than me (I must say that it feels great to pass guys on really expensive bikes and aero helmets!) but my elations were short-lived as I failed to pull back fast enough when passed - resulting in a black card which meant I would have to spend 4 minutes in the sin bin at the turn around point. This is the last thing any competitor wants but I decided to use it to my advantage so I pushed even harder than before knowing that I would get a much needed rest at the 45km turn around.

Four minutes in the sin bin weren't as bad as I thought as I had a chance to stretch my sore muscles, top up on my nutrition and cool off my body temp in the shade. Once released back onto the road I suddenly realised the big negative of taking a 4 minute break - my legs had gone cold and it took me a further 10 or 15 minutes of riding before I felt anything like I had before stopping. Regardless of this I knew that I was on the home stretch of the bike leg and the return trip is more downhill than the way out so I kept high spirits and pushed on. As with most endurance races I find it helpful to pick someone who is a little stronger than me and set them as my marker so that I never let them out of my sight. In this case it was one of the international professional ladies who was keeping up a good average speed so I made sure I kept up but I was very sure not to be close enough to even look like I was drafting as a second black card would have seen me DQ'ed from the race!

Riding back into East London and down to the promenade reminded me of what I had been told leading up to the race; that the spectators really do carry you through the final stages. They were everywhere and even a couple of people deep in the crowd in some sections and all screaming and cheering each and every athlete past. This gave me a massive lift as I entered transition 2 after 3hrs07 on the bike and once again had a really nice quick change into my running gear. I came out of transition and was immediately lifted back onto a high from the mass of crowds who were now cheering about the fact that I was smothered white with sun block from the volunteers!


The run route is a hard one but a great course for any run. A double lapper sent us first out onto the peer to circle the light house before coming back past the start beach and running past the red carpeted finish line. As I passed this point the leading man sprinted up and crossed the line in a killer 4hrs05 which didn't make me feel any better but I turned this around by imagining that all the crowds cheering for him were actually cheering for me. The run then continued out along the promenade to the bottom of the dreaded 600m Bunkers Hill and then to the turn around point and then back again for a 2nd lap
I felt strong on the run and I knew that a mate of mine was a few minutes ahead of me so I was pushing harder than I felt was possible and I knew I was catching him slowly but surely.My heart sank though as I saw he had gained a little on me between the 10 and 15k marks which lead me to shamefully give in to the exhaustion and walk and when I started walking I just couldn't get going again. I must have walked a good 400m before the crowds got me going with a mixture of motivating and taunting comments. I felt terrible about giving up and walking - especially as I later found out that my mate had cramped and expected me to pass him easily. On my return trip I quickly did a calculation on the time and worked out that if I thumped the last 3k's then I could have possibly slipped in under 2hrs for the half marathon. And so I opened up the throttle and kept up a solid 4min/km pace along the entire promenade while I had to shout ahead for other athletes to move out of my way as my legs were only carrying me forward and had lost the ability to move left or right. I think other runners thought I was mad as I shouted "out of the way" while in an almost sprint. Luckily my calculation was right and I approached the red carpet with 1hr59mins on the run leg and with a total time of 5hrs45mins since entering into the water that morning.


Running up the ramp and across the line felt absolutely fantastic and stirred up so many incredible emotions! WHAT A RUSH!!!

After the big day it has not been hard to realise why this sport is so addictive as I've found myself wondering so many times what time I could have done if I trained harder, had a better bike, didn't get black -carded! or kept my head stronger in the run. As with so many other ultra-races, I will be back!