A RISING TIDE

I HEAR HIM HOOTING ALL THE WAY TO BEACH

Surfing in Africa has historically been a white sport on a black continent. Can the power of stoke, driven by a new generation of African surfers, blur those old-school mindsets and distinctions, and give birth to a better surf culture?

We all start surfing for different reasons but we all become surfers for the same reason. Surfing is hard. It takes time and perseverance and opportunity. But the rewards have changed our lives. Surfing is a great privilege. Perhaps the greatest privilege of them all.

That word – privilege – is doubly appropriate when we consider the racial demographics of surfers in Africa today. Surfing has been primarily the pastime of the white minority simply because it requires resources and influences that have been inaccessible to the majority of our continent for so long.

But that is changing. From New Pier to Seal Point, black faces have been appearing in the lineups. At Muizenberg most of the groms pumping