EXPLORING THE SUP PARADISE OF CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA
Hanging off the bottom of the African continent and curling into the southern ocean like a crooked index finger is the Cape Peninsula. It’s a popular myth that here, on the fingertip of Africa, you can see a line where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet.
We’re perched on the granite boulders of Miller’s Point, but there is no line in the sea. The real meeting point for these two oceans is actually a few hundred miles to the east, at Cape Agulhas. Even if there were a line, we wouldn’t be able to see it, thanks to the raging southeast wind that’s blowing crushed whitecaps across False Bay.
“There’s going to be some good runs!” shouts Thomas King, as our small crew strikes out from the lee of the protected bay into the teeth of the wind. We’re headed for a lighthouse that appears then disappears between the swells, marking the halfway point on the Miller’s downwind run. The conditions aren’t conducive to a kook like me, so I’ve come along as support, riding in the rubber duck with photographer Alan Van Gysen and our skipper, Ian. The crew in the water have the right kind of experience to tackle the 30-knot winds and building swell: King is one of the top-ranked SUPers in South Africa; his wife, Tarryn, a multiple SA ladies champ. Then there’s Greg Bertish, a champion lifesaver and founder of the Shark Spotter Program, and Gary Van Rooyen, who is commonly regarded as the godfather of SUP in South Africa.
As we get closer to the lighthouse in the middle of the bay, the swells amplify, creating
