From the Fat Black Lip – EP 3

It’s been another fantastic two weeks in the world of surf; the first two events of the City Surf Series are done, Bells ran in all-time massive conditions, Beyrick released a wonderful short film, Matty Mc G dropped a HOT edit and the boys prepare to kick off in Japan for the latest QS 6000, the Ichinomiya Chiba Open. Want the down low of what’s been tickling our fancy in the world of surf? You’ve come to the right place, dive in.

 

Nü Rythmo – Edit of the year thus far.

During the Jbay Open, I had the pleasure of hanging with Mikey and his family after he had been knocked from the competition. As the night continued, the conversation made it’s way to Mikey’s next project. The whole thing was very secret and since I work part-time for the Zag details weren’t spilled in my presence. After a short while which may have been a longer while than expected the penny dropped and I gathered Mikey’s next project would take place in …. that part of Africa. 

Nü Rythmo, directed by Sam Smith, filmed by Wade Carrol and photographed by the legend Alan Van Gysen is an exploration of African Afro Jazz/funk nicely paralleled with Mikey’s exploration of an unknown (it’s known, just not but by many) right-hand sand bottom barrels. Nü Rythmo truly is an amazing work of art, a once in a lifetime edit inspired by Wes Anderson style shots. Mikey rides predominantly retro equipment and the lines he draws are so soulful and smooth coaches could use it to run workshops and how to properly surf retro equipment. Man and the music, from the opening scene of the dude playing a petrol, can guitar to the final Fela Kuti style afro jazz track, it was an absolute treat to the ears. If Nü Rythmo doesn’t win prizes for best edit or something similar come year end, I’d be highly surprised.   

The First Two Events of the City Surf Series are Done & Dusted

The Nelson Mandela Surf Pro and the Royal St Andrews Port Alfred Classic are done and dusted and apart from the weather being particularly horrendous, (I think the entire team fell sick after Port Alfred), we witnessed some exquisite surfing and a real shakeup in the usual order of things. First off, two of the dominant performs in the women’s division from last season were absent from competition this year ie: Kai Woolf and Nicole Pallet. That and the fact that 5 female Japanese Surfers flew over from the Land of the Rising Son to challenge our ladies. And challenge them they did! At the Nelson Mandela Bay Surf Pro, the open women’s division final was an all Japanese affair and the pro junior division was won by Minami Nonaka. By the time Port Alfred rolled around, our girls brought the heat and the powerful waves offered by East Beach suited them far better. Ceara Knight won the pro junior division followed by Zoe Steyn in second place. 

We also had the pleasure of welcoming three new QS 1000 winners. In Port Elizabeth, Joshe Faulkner stepped up his performance; instead of falling off on every wave trying to go too big Joshe turned over a new leaf. The new Joshe is like James Bond; a cool, calm and collected badaas with a deadly backhand whip. In Port Alfred, another Jbay local, Dylan Lightfoot took over where Joshe left off, winning his first City Surf Series event. Unlike Joshe though, who was chaired up the beach by his (male) mates, Dylan was chaired up the beach by three blond babes. Good on ya Dyl! Bet Dyl thought he was John Lennon from the Beatles for a sec. Special mention must be made of Thomas Lindhorst from Slummies who also claimed his first JQS victory. And damn does Thomas shred! The Dark Horse of the event, Thomas took out a field of major sponsored, hyped kids from around the country with a backhand whip destined for greatness. Someone freakin sponsor this kid! His backhand whip is more convincing than an Obama speech! YES WE CAN baby!

The Durban Surf Pro – Up Next

Next up on the Africa QS, the Durban Surf Pro. And we’re frothing on it for three reasons. 

Reason number one; the big boys are back in town. We’re talking Adin Masencamp, Matty Mc G, Jordy Maree and Slade Prestwich, all the boys that have been traversing the globe in search of big boy QS points will be in attendance. 

Reason number two; New Pier’s a high-performance wave. New Pier is arguably one of the most high-performance beachies in the country. Fins free manoeuvres, airs, club sandwiches etc will be the order of the day and we love it! We love it when mense absolutely send it in search of big scores. One manoeuvre waves, that’s all we need. 

Reason number three; Durban’s more of a summer rainfall kinda place. Which is a Brobdingnagian relief. The last two events have drowned us like a bunch of sewer rats, coughing and in search of a pharmacy. Don’t get us wrong, we love that our land is receiving much-needed precipitation, #PrayForRain, it just sucks when it rains, and your socks are wet, and it’s cold and the wind is howling and you’re on the beach all damn day long. Compared to that, Durban’s going to be a semi-tropical paradise!

Matty Mc G Dropped a Dope Edit

If you’re a lover of performance surfing then best you do yourself a favour and click play on Matty Mc G’s latest edit entitled ‘Opening Sequence’. Filmed by Grant Clegg of Surge Point Productions, Matty Mc G shows us what it means to be a power surfer living in Jeffreys Bay. ‘Opening Sequence’ is 170 seconds of high octane performance surfing and Matty does his utmost of laying to rest any lip that shows up in his field of vision. Oh, and that final wave; two brutal lip blasts to a full roat! Insane. Somebody inform the Monster Combo guys, I think we just found a winner for April (that’s just my opinion though, I’m no judge).

Beyrick Just Dropped an Excellent Short Film

Got fifteen minutes on your hands? Filmed by Steven Michelsen, Beyrick’s latest short entitled ‘Higher Light’ features Beyrick and his mates blowing up all over Africa. ‘Higher Light’ goes a long way at highlighting just how comfortable Beyrick is at taking to the skies. If anyone thought Beyrick wasn’t an air guy, not to confine the man to any sort of ‘brackets’, watch his short and you’d certainly conclude otherwise. The guy sets his fins free anytime he gets an opportunity to do so. Also, Beyrick has a highly intimidating scowl when belting waves. A scowl so dirty as if he’s about to beat a wave to hell and burry that rail so deep it won’t ever be dislodged. 

Hells Bells – Jordy’s off to a Good Start

When was the last time Jords had such a fantastic start to the season? Two thirds in a row, just like that, boom, boom, thanks for coming. The last time Jordy made finals day of the Quikie Pro Gold Coast was way back in 2011. Yep it was that long ago. Now Jordy just dropped two thirds in a row. That’s good going. Jordy’s in a superb position; he’s out of the limelight and the pressure and in the perfect position to make a strike at the yellow jersey. It’s a long year and we can’t wait to see what unfolds.

Anyway, that’s it from the Fat Black Lip for this week. Hope you all are getting cranking waves wherever you may reside in this fine ass country. 

Peace. 

The Fat Black Lip

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