01
02
s t n e cont 24.
photo feature Pat Flanagan 42.
WSL Championship Tour Highlights 54.
Protect The West Coast Stage Peaceful Protest 61.
Clean Lines
© DAVE LINDEMANN
t h e t r ac k inside
GANGBU F O E E R H OUND T R O T E NE. WELCOM RFING MAGAZI SU D I G I TA L
Here we are with issue 3. Just like that. Feedback continues to be solid, thanks for all the mails and calls. There have been waves up and down the coast. Durban has been firing, JBay has been good, and our boys Jordy and Matt have been killing it in Australia. Surfing trials are going down across the country as we gear up for SA Champs, and there are a number of Interclub events coming up as well. The big news is that there are going to be events in Ballito this 08
STERS
year. Yep, a whole bunch of events. For everyone. So we’re back in the game, and the future looks bright and shiny. Details to follow.
“Told you so.” – Happy Advertiser.
“WE SHOULD MAKE SOME TEE-SHIRTS.” Tee-shirt Maker.
“Can you cover “Loved it. Well our contest? It’s done bru, let’s go this weekend.” for a beer. Your Contest Official. shout.” “WHAT ABOUT MORE CONTENT FROM THE CAPE?”
Less Happy Capetonian Surfer.
Tight Arsed Beer Drinking Friend.
“WHAT ABOUT SOME MORE FEMALE CONTENT?” Less Happy Parent.
SHANE SYKES © DAVE LINDEMANN
s r e t t l e h e e d i to r
to t h
EDITOR@ O T S R E LETT
Hi I must say I really love your magazine. The most important thing is that it’s free. I just download it and read it later. I really liked the article on Surprise. Greg, 12.
Hi Greg. ry’re just t Thanks. We to re out how i n g t o fi g u sters ome Gangbu s u o y d n e s n hat you ca stickers t t ’ but haven download, out yet. worked it s. Gangbuster
12
f
STERS GANGBU
.CO.ZA
Hi Guys Love the format. Sometimes it goes a bit wonky on my phone, and I need to move the words around a bit. The photos look great though. Simon. Hi Simon. Thanks for the feedback. 83% of readers are reading it on tablet, 5% on mobile and 12% on their laptops/computers. So you’re in the minority, but we will check it out.
Contest Coverage. Great effort guys. Are you going to be covering all the contests in the country? The sponsors and the surfers need more coverage. There’s only so much Facebook and Instagram one can stomach before it all gets too much. You guys offer a solution, so you should run with it, and cover our young potential world champions as they compete in junior events. Everyone loves what you are doing. Mimi, Durban.
Hi Mimi and thanks for the feedback. We hope to cover as much of the upcoming events as we can. We already have a very healthy relationship and dialogue going with Surfing South Africa, the governing body of the sport in South Africa...
KARL STEEN © DAVE LINDEMANN
It’s been really encouraging that they have reached out to us, acknowledged our efforts, and have offered all their support. We hope to work together with the various disciplines as well going forward.
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S W E N SURF All Adverts Are Clickable Portals All adverts in Gangbusters magazine are clickable. Those ads are all portals to a whole new surfing universe. On the other side are company websites, massive sales, surfer profiles, surf stories, surfing videos, bikinis, boardshorts, and other funky stuff. There might even be some giveaways, and we all love a giveaway.By clicking an ad, you are also supporting this magazine. We need to support the brands who trust us to carry their ads and be a voice of surfing in South Africa. If we all 16
support each other, we can work together towards having our sport prosper
Talking about clicks, you can also follow the growing Gangbusters social media presence over here and check out our sister publication, The West Wind, over here.
CONTRIBUTIONS:
If you have anything you want to be published, or you have some ideas, a photo or a gripe, or just want to hit us up with the news of a contest or anything: Editor: craig@truthcollective.co.za Designer: design@oceanpeakdesign.co.za
PARA SURF
The Western Cape Para Surf Championships are coming to Muizenberg on 8 May. The fun waves of Muizenberg will play host to this exciting addition to the local contest scene, and we will report back with results from this even in the next issue.
The WSL are firing away in Australia and it has been absolutely incredible to watch again. Except they’re not going to be able to compete in Brazil. Our
WSL insider told us that apart from the pandemic that is still totally out of control, the CT surfers don’t want anything to do with the joint this year. 17
Matt McGillivray welcomes the juice. JBay surfer Matt McGillivray won his opening heat at Margaret River with a committed display of power surfing. After back-to-back last place finishes, Matty clinched a commanding victory with a two wave total of 17.33, showing his affinity for waves of consequence. All that training at maxing out Boneyards. “I surfed a board that was made for competing in Hawaii and it worked really well out there,” said the always-modest McGillivray. Let’s not forget, he qualified for the CT in thumping Sunset Beach in Hawaii, with a fearless approach and serious rail surfing. At the time of publishing Matt was about to surf in his round of 16 heat after some excellent performances. 18
MCGILLIVRAY © WSL/DUNBAR
Oakley Partners With The World Surf League In March, the World Surf League (WSL) announced a global partnership with industry leader Oakley. This partnership will see Oakley support the global surfing community as the official eyewear of the WSL. The partnership will see Oakley outfit the WSL broadcast team and staff throughout the 2021 Championship Tour. Oakley will provide them with sunglasses and personal protective equipment (PPE), including Clear Collection eyewear and masks. For decades, Oakley has been a pioneer within the surf community,
outfitting athletes in innovative eyewear, focusing on performance inspired by disruptive design. As the WSL’s official PPE partner, Oakley is also an essential part of the WSL’s robust and thorough COVID-19 health and safety plans for each event on the Championship Tour. Several high-calibre surfers from Team Oakley are competing in 2021 on both the men’s and women’s tours, including Italo Ferreira, Julian Wilson, Jordy Smith, Griffin Colapinto, Macy Callaghan, and Sage Erickson.
OAKLEY TEAM RIDER JORDY SMITH. © WSL
Ballito Pro Presented by O’Neill
The Ballito Pro Presented By O’Neill, the world’s longest-running professional surfing event, will become the premier event for South Africa and the African continent on the World Surf League (WSL) and Surfing South Africa (SSA) calendar for 2021. These events will showcase the best Men, Women and Juniors surfing at Willard Beach in KwaDukuza from 7-18 July 2021. There will be four events, including the SA Surfing Champs. The events are:
1. Men - Ballito Pro Presented By O’Neill WSL QS 5,000 event. 2. Women - Ballito Pro Presented By O’Neill WSL QS 5,000 event. 3. Juniors - O’Neill SS Smth Shapes Rookie Rippers Pro Junior (WSL JQS 1,000 Men and Women). 4. The 55th O’Neill Ballito South African Surfing Championships. These events will take place between 7th and 18th July 2021.
DYLAN LIGHTFOOT IN ACTION AT THE 2019 BALLITO PRO PRESENTED BY O’NEILL ©WSL/RYAN JANNSENS
Athletes from all over the African continent are expected to participate in the Qualifying Series (QS) 5,000 rated event, including Morocco, Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire, Namibia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, Covid-19 travel restrictions dependent. The 96-strong entry field provides local WSL Africa members with coveted ranking points, in addition to earning well deserved prize money. This world-class competition will have a notable impact on the QS rankings and presents an opportunity for the top five South Africans to qualify for the Challenger Series campaign in 2022. This year will also welcome the South African Surfing Championships, being hosted on the shores of Ballito for the first time in history. Ninety-six South African men and
women representing eight Districts will compete for the prestigious Men’s and Women’s titles and the historic Presidents Cup at the O’Neill Ballito 55th South African Surfing Championships. The annual competition is the longest-running surfing tournament in South Africa and Africa and one of the longest-running National Championships in the world. Website: www.theballitopro.com
MIKEY FEBRUARY PLACED 3RD IN THE BALLITO PRO PRESENTED BY O’NEILL, WITH THE RESULT SEEING HIM CLIMB ONTO THE CHAMPIONSHIP TOUR. ©WSL/CESTARI
p h o to e r u t a fe
AT Flanagan
has been shooting surf photographs for 45 years. His work has been published in numerous international surf magazines and books. A fifteen-year stint with Surfer Magazine and a forty-five-year association with Zigzag is part of a long list of achievements. “I started in 75 with a Practica SLR, and in a few days, I was hooked on photography,” says Pat, then a surfer who worked on the docks in Durban to save up to do surf travel. By the end of the seventies, he had photos in all the international surfing magazines. In ‘81, with the help of Paul Naude and Paul Maartens, he took on the whole South African 24
portfolio for the now-defunct Surfer Magazine, where he worked as a senior contributing photographer.
“That closed a circle of almost five decades of pictures published by what I still consider the ultimate surf publication.”
In 2015 he had a gallery published by Surfer Magazine.
This gallery is some of his favourite work.
ricky slash
Ricky Basnett dances to his own tune. You’ll see all kinds of rock and roll through Darren Simes’ magic water shots of Ricky/Bobby
at Cave Rock. But occasionally, when its primo, he’ll venture into town to show off his footwork.
BRUCES
Bruces Beauties, St. Francis. The ultimate wet dream since the mid sixties when Bruce Brown, Mike Hynson and Robert August lucked out and switched the
world on to the prime asset of the region. A rare beast that needs a complex set of green lights to get it pumping, I finally lucked out in 2014 after numerous long trips that came up dry.
THE CRACK TRANSKEI The Transkei coast in the 70’s was uncharted territory. Paul Naude filled his Yellow ‘Bolt’
Kombi with boards and frothing stokies and hit the road without much local knowledge.
By pure luck, we found this little break we called the Crack. The waves were so friendly and
that little shack was always part of the conversation around the campfire. 37
Tom Carroll
the Goblin or Gobbo as he was known to his mates, pulling ‘G’s at the Spot.
johnny paarman:
I remember this perfect morning at North Beach in the mid to late seventies. Jack Wilson the main lifeguard at North regarded it as his private break and
who was ever going to argue with the man. Jonny Paarman was up from the Cape and he and Shaun Tomson somehow managed to paddle out or over from the Bay.
Carl Roux The yard stick for stoke worldwide is the Mentawais. For surf pictures its the berries in every way. Perfect light, you
can shoot off a photo boat and be right there and not even get your hair wet. Carl Roux at HT’s.
GOTCHA:
When I started this caper behind the lens, Michael Tomson gave me a big hand up. Entrusting me
with one of the earliest shoots for his then fledgling brand, Gotcha in his back yard in Ridge Road...
Vanessa Wannenberg who later became Miss SA was also new at the game in those days.I owe a lot to Michael. He helped me in so many ways. The rest
of his success is history but underpinning everything was his insane ability in the tube at the Bay, the Rock and Backdoor Pipeline.
DVZ TUBE
Diminutive Davey Van Zyl is an absolute giant when it’s pumping in Town.
THUNDERS
Julian Wilson
at full tilt during the 2011 Balllito Pro.
WS L o n s h i p i p m a C h H i g h l i g h ts To u r
LIA AUSTRA
2021
fter a few stops & starts,
the World Surf League’s Championship Tour got underway down under. Newcastle was the first stop, and North Narrabeen was the second. Matt McGillivray from Jbay had an average start to his rookie year, with a dirty turd (33rd) at the Rip Curl Newcastle Cup, with Jordy Smith placing 9th. The event was won by Italo, who defeated Medina in the final. At the next event, the Rip Curl Narrabeen Classic, Matty
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repeated his performance of a 33rd, as did Jordy of his 9th. The event was won by Medina from Connor Coffin. In the women’s contests Carissa Moore won
the Rip Curl Newcastle Cup from Isabelle Nichols, and Caroline Marks won the Rip Curl North Narrabeen Classic from Tatiana Weston-Webb.
Rookie surfer Morgan Cibilic blew up at the first two events.
CIBILLIC © WSL/DUNBAR
Matt McGillivray from JBay started off badly, but kicked in at Margaret River. 47
MCGILLIVRAY © WSL/DUNBAR
chilled Medina
The new chilled Medina. Relaxed and more deadly.
MEDINA © WSL/DUNBAR
Carissa Moore
is going to be unstoppable this year.
MOORE © WSL/DUNBAR
JORDY
has a heightened small wave game, but was tearing into the big meaty walls of Margaret River as well. SMITH © WSL/DUNBAR
h c a e B u o l i B
R OPEN FO SS BUSINE
Over in the Mentawais, Bilou Beach Villa is trading as usual. They are filling up for 2022, Taking bookings for 2023. There are still some prime slots available... you could be here !!!
They have a steady flow of guests, with quite a few expats doing longer stays and working online as they have really good 4G internet and lots of waves super close. Guests can head out for a quick surf and be back for their Zoom call. Indo only has a 5-night quarantine which, makes a huge difference.
e h T t c e t o r P t s a o C W est TTEESSTT O O R R P P L L U U F E AACCEE F SSTTAAGGEE PP E
S
Surf spots on the west coast are getting fucked up by Australian mining. On 19 April 2021, a group of activists from the environmental group Protect The West Coast (PTWC) conducted a peaceful protest to challenge the mining of beach54
es at the Tormin mine near Brand se Baai on the Cape West Coast. They also handedover a ‘Memorandum of Grievances’ to a representative of the mining company operating the Tormin mine, Australian-owned Mineral Sands Resources (MSR). About a dozen members of the Cape Town based not-for-profit company took part, while others participated in a 102-km trail run through the affected coastal area.
These events aimed to draw attention to environmental and public access concerns relating to these mineral mines.
Apart from the Tormin mine and its controversial ‘10 Beach Extension’ – which was the focus of PTWC’s protest – there have been several further prospecting applications. These have been both onshore and offshore across this area recently. Most of them being done without adequate public participation or knowledge. 55
There are several negative impacts that mining in this environmentally fragile region can have on coastal ecosystems. 56
Other concerns include air pollution and groundwater resources affecting local farmers and issues around public access to the affected coastal areas. Many of these areas are now inaccessible due to restrictions imposed by the miners. PTWC’s Memorandum, which the organisation also intends to deliver to government represen-
tatives, including Minister of Environmental Affairs, Barbara Creecy, covered several topics.
by the Department of Mineral Resources to conduct mining activities in respect of the expanded mining area.
These included a pending judicial review application before the Western Cape High Court. This application seeks to set aside Minister Creecy’s refusal to uphold appeals lodged against the Integrated Environmental Authorisation granted
The Memorandum also lists several activities they allege are taking place at the site without authorisation. It includes a list of demands aimed at MSR. These include requests that, among other requirements, all mining activities in the extended mining area are immediately halted until the legal challenges are finalised. PTWC also requested the immediate removal of signs restricting access for areas where there can be no justification for any re57
stricted access being imposed. PTWC managing director and protest leader Mike Schlebach said,
“Our first protest went well, and we got our point across. PTWC is committed to ensuring that the West Coast
is protected. Any mining activities taking place should be done in a manner that accords with the environmental right enshrined in our Constitution. https://www.protectthewestcoast.org/
s e n i L n a e l C
JOSH REDMAN NEW PIER JAMMING. © DAVE LINDEMANN
durban
MIKE FREW TOOK FULL ADVANTAGE OF THE RECENT DURBAN SWELL.
© DAVE LINDEMANN
CHAD DU TOIT WAS CHASING THE BARRELS IN DURBAN.
© DAVE LINDEMANN
BRYCE BURNESS POWER TORQUE.
© DAVE LINDEMANN
WARWICK WRIGHT BACK WHERE HE BELONGS.
© DAVE LINDEMANN
jbay
REMI PETERSON HAVING FUN AT SUPERS. © MIKE RUTHNUM
MAKAI KABOT FROM CAPE ST FRANCIS FLYING DOWN A SUPERS WALL. © MIKE RUTHNUM IMAGES
CHRISTY GILMORE STYLING DOWN JBAY WAY. © MIKE © DAVE RUTHNUM LINDEMANN IMAGES
THE FIRST FEW LINES OF THE WORKERS DAY SWELL.
© MIKE RUTHNUM IMAGES
E H E R E W. W E G A T H E P T T H E H E AT DISH OU
CAMERA WARS
There have been a few new surfcams popping up here and there, surprising and upsetting locals and causing much bad vibes. While there are always three sides to every such story, it seems that the approach – totally without any consultation with locals – is what is upsetting people the most.
From the north coast and south coast of Durban, the Eastern Cape and the Garden Route, there are people getting bummed out. The threat of lawyer’s letters and calling locals rude names is not helping the situation at all. For what it’s worth, respect the locals means just that, respect the locals.
Pay Parity Wars
Remember when this photo broke the internet, and Zoe Steyn’s poor prize money made the WSL
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acknowledge prize money equality?
the men’s winner was paid $4000.
It seems not everyone got the memo.
Small voiced her disappointment on the podium, and the whole thing went viral.
At a recent longboard event in North Curl Curl, New South Wales, Australia, the winner of the women’s division, Lucy Small, was paid $1500 while
Local Sydney-based surf company Global Surf Industries kindly stepped in to pay the difference. Surf event organisers please take note.
Surf Venue Wars While the WSL were locked down at Main Beach Margaret River, and Jordy and Matt McGillivray were charging the meaty right-handers, North Point was going ballistic. This year the WSL didn’t secure a permit for North Point, and it turned on for the locals. Durban Swell Secrets The recent swell in Durban did some
66
amazing things in town, but there was lots of talk about some guys scoring incredible lefts. The swell angle was just right for a few secret lefts to start going, with some goofy-footers scoring. Prior to the swell hitting, some surfers discovered a new right-hand reef that was throwing barrels wider than higher. Apparently a secret bodyboarding spot, it will be the new Tand. More to follow.
The ISA World Surfing Games are set to run in El Salvador from May 29th to June 6th. In a new ruling, the ISA President Fernando Aguerre has allegedly declared that it is compulsory for all WSL surfers who attend the games need to be there for the opening ceremony, the contest, as well as the closing ceremony. So if you get knocked out, you have to sit around until the end. Surfers in this predicament are apparently furious,
and if the Rottnest Island contest finishes on the final day, the 26th, then these surfers have to travel around the world in like 3 days. It’s a mission to get to El Salvador from anywhere.
It seems Fernando has gone a bit drunk on power and might get a solid PK from one of the surfers to sober him up.
© DAVE LINDEMANN
