My Surfing History

I well remember the day in November 1963 when the Endless Summer film crew arrived at Glen Beach, Camps Bay: Bruce Brown, Robert August, and Mike Hynson. There were a number of local surfers on hand to welcome them, and they all went out to catch a wave. At the time I was a Glen Beach regular, both for the social jol and the body surfing. I decided to give surfing a try and a couple of days before Xmas 1963 I borrowed a board (from David Lemkus) and paddled out at Glen Beach.

My biggest problem at the time, and one I shared with my mate Donald Paarman, was that neither of us could afford our own surfboards and thus had to "borrow" to get a surf. Most of the local Glen Beach surfers (which included Mike Hawse, James Miller, Trevor Paul, Clive Walker, Stuart Karr, and others) were generous, but our main mentor was Donald's uncle Roger Paarman, who at that time was one of the few who owned a Whitmore surfboard.

Another interesting observation, as can be seen in the photo below, is that we were surfing in the icy Atlantic in winter with no wetsuits (well, some of us!) and no leashes; if you wiped out you often had a lengthy swim back to the beach.

A central character in our surfing odyssey was Terry Bullen, he of Endless Summer fame and the grey van with elephants and ostriches painted on the sides. Terry used to hang out at Glen Beach, befriending the local surfers and, when conditions weren't so good, take us all over the peninsula, packing as many as ten boards on the roof and us inside. In summer we would go to Long Beach, The Kom, and Scarborough, and in winter to Muizenberg Corner. Then in the summer holidays (most of us were still at school) he would take us camping to Elands Bay or Scarborough.

In December 1964 the very first Western Province Surfing Champs were held at Long Beach. As I recall, Roger, Donald and I were the only Glen Beach boys to enter. Donald had been given a custom-made Whitmore board by John Whitmore just the day before, but I was obliged to borrow Roger's board. I came nowhere but Donald won the Junior title (at the age of 12!).

As soon as I started work in 1966 I bought a Whitmore board and a second-hand VW Beetle and spent most of the next two years surfing. I was working on the diamond barges in Namibia, two weeks on, one weeks off, so I had plenty of time to cruise the peninsula, although sadly it was mostly during the week and on my own.

In 1968 I began a civil engineering degree at the University of Cape Town and that was the end of my surfing career. It also coincided with the introduction of short boards which I didn't have either the time or money to invest in.

In the mid-nineties I decided to have another go and bought a Whitmore Malibu board. But I wasn't quite as agile or interested as I had thought I would be and soon gave up. The board was eventually stolen off my car roof! A message in there somewhere?