A LETTER FROM CHERON KRAAK: Dear Friends, and friends of JBay, both new and old, I hope this finds you well, healthy and coping with the Covid 19 situation wherever you are. The situation here in JBay has not improved, in fact it has got worse. The global and domestic...

50 Years of Surfing in Durban The exhibition was held at the old pump house building at the New Pier in Durban from 1 July to the end of August. The show was loosely broken down into each of the decades and set out to achieve a vibe of each era using relevant pictures...

I have been asked to write a few words about Paul and his involvement and influence in the surf industry. This is a difficult task to do in 150-200 words as requested, as Paul’s history in the industry starts way back, and is nowhere near done. He is still influencing...

I've know Tony Wright (T-Wright from Oaks Flats) for more than 50 years. Along with John Batcheladore he introduced short boards to South Africa. Through John Whitmore and Max Wettland the origianl South African Surf Legends, almost the entire surfing population were...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5mP6rHgCqY   On Friday December 1, Bruce Jackson organised an evening for old friends to pay tribute to Mike Larmont at the Oyster Box. Tich Paul flew in from Cape Town and Cheron Kraak, Michael Ginsberg and Jonathan Paarman from...

The expectation of parents is a major pressure point on young surfers.    The saddest and most frustrating thing about surfing and sports in general is watching young athletes with talent never reach their potential. Surfing history is littered with these ‘bad boy...

Surfer’s Code is a program that Shaun Tomson has created to empower young athletes around South Africa and in the USA. As the vanguard of South African Surfing Legends, he dedicates time and energy to the HPSA, the group’s coaching program. On Monday while he was in...

  When we decided to get this Legends thing going in 2014 on the North Beach Pier, Graham Cormac made the suggestion that we model the group on South African Rugby Legends. I kinda recalled the organization that celebrates the sport of rugby by honouring retired...

Sisonke roughly translated means ‘together’. On the weekend of 22/23 October 2016, Sisonke Surf Club, a loosely knit group of surfers from Trafalgar, Umzumbe and Durban came ‘together’ to run a highly successful event at Dairy Beach in Durban. Saturday morning a small...

In 2017 Shaun Tomson celebrated the fortieth anniversary of winning the 1977 IPS World Title. The only Saffa ever to do so. This exchange with Adriano De Souza, the 2015 WSL title holder is priceless if you have any aspirations of gold and glory as a competitive...

Matt Warsaw’s Encyclopedia of Surfing post on Frankie Oberholzer goes like this:   “Camera-friendly pro surfer from Warner Beach, South Africa. Oberholzer was born (1972) in Port Elizabeth, raised in Warner Beach, south of Durban, and began riding waves at age...

  The first two things that struck me about ‘The Greek’, George Thomopoulos, when I first met him as a class mate at Glenwood High School in the early sixties were the size of his muscle and the size of his smile. The school had some big heroes like Rocky Ailwood...

          The Max Wetteland Story 29 August, 1938 - 5 July 2015 By Pat Flanagan (published in 40.2 of Zigzag) When the time is ripe and the world needs to take a step ahead and explore new boundaries, someone like Max Wetteland will come along and shine his...

In May 2015 we put on a Gala Diner to raise funds for our ongoing junior surfing program. Tim Williams and I put together this video for the show. Its a year old now, but intrinsicly it states who Legends are and what Legends do. As Shaun Tomson says at the end of the...

Legend's recently inaugurated High Performance Surfing Academy's head coach, BRUCE JACKSON is often ragged about losing the 78 St. Michaels World ISA Title to his best buddy, ANT BRODOWITZ. But let it be said that many at the event had him as clear favourite before it...

https://vimeo.com/100642242 This is one of the most awesome videos that we've ever posted on the Legends pages. This movie on Twiggy gives the viewer a tangible look in to the exploits of a man hell bent of surfing the biggest waves that the planet can throw up. In...

         The exhibition was held at the old pump house building at the New Pier in Durban from 1 July to the end of August. The show was loosely broken down into each of the decades and set out to achieve a vibe of each era using relevant pictures and design....

AN INTERVIEW WITH PAUL NAUDE Back in the early 80s, Paul Naude took a leap of faith from the informalities of the surfboard building industry into the corporate world by joining Gotcha (at the time licensed to SA Clothing), with its well-defined corporate...

      It saddens me greatly to write another goodbye message to another great personality who made an indelible stamp on the South African and International surfscape. Peter Daniels as most of you already know by now passed away in Spain yesterday (6 August 2015). PD,...

Towards the end of the Bay era and at the birth of the New Pier, Durban produced some outstanding performers, emulating the greats who came before. Wade Sharp, Jason Ribbink, Noel Rahme, Carl Roux along with the south coast’s Frankie ‘O’, Mike Roscoe, Greg Haste and...

Today, 5 July, 2015, South Africa’s most influential, innovative and astute surfer left us. Max Wetteland, this country’s first representative surfer, respected surfboard design visionary and great waterman departed this life. In 1968, I was fortunate enough to watch...

We are proud to announce the launch of the South African Surfing Legends Academy - a high performance centre that will primarily focus on the advancement of South African junior surfing. For decades, South Africa was a major surfing force and our aim is to...

The Silver Fox, as Chris Knutsen is well known, holds four ISA World titles. As far back as the late seventies when the amateur and pro ranks split and Chris chose the former, he has been part of team after team that represented this country.                   Oddly,...

The 1966 South African Champion, Robert MacWade won that great event at Ansteys Beach in possibly the biggest waves in the champs history. After going over the falls (clutching his board, way before leashes made their appearance) he went on to totally dominate on that...

With two weeks of almost daily session at the New Pier, the French team were well prepared for this informal South Africa Team vs French Junior under 16 squad that took place on 22 February 2015. On the day before the contest, the SA Team worked intensively with the...

One of the greatest things that the boomers age group have are the memories of growing up when travel was easy, expectations of career were less evident and time seemed endless. Robbie Irlam who I met in Jbay for the first time has had such a life. One filled with...

Early in 2015 Zig Zag produced a Legends Journal, this is an article that was a out take. Sport doesn’t build character it identifies character. I read recently. Well, when most of the Legends started surfing there was still the debate about whether surfing was a...

Take a look at what went down at Trafalgar. Thanks to Gavin Varejes, Avis and Red Bull for a watershed event.

As an impressionable sixteen year old, I wanted to surf and be just like Errol. He was my hero. His surfing, just like his shaping was immaculate, creative and perfectly orchestrated. He was part of the iconic 1966 Springbok team that went to the San Diego World...

Doug Macdonald In the early eighties when Doug and Paul Naude ran Zig Zag, we shared an office/studio in Stanger Street. There would be a knock on the door and a well secured parcel would arrive, addressed to the Editor - Doug. Most days, he would get there late...

Much is said about South African surfing history. But any conversation that did not include the name Tomson or Naude would be incomplete. Long before the world tour started, both Ernie Tomson and Paul Naude where putting down tracks from which surfing would eventually...

Raffles was a full-on disco club on top of the Maharani Hotel that overlooks the Bay of Plenty in the late seventies and early eighties. Even though it was anti-culture for many, the hot babes hung there so it was the epicentre of surf cool at the time. I remember...

International Competitive Surfing Turns 50. On the 7th of June a gala diner was held in Manly Beach in Sydney to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the first official Surfing World Titles that were held at that famous break. This last Saturday morning, Max...

It’s common knowledge that Spider Murphy was Shaun Tomson’s go-to shaper in the seventies when South Africa’s first and only professional World Champion was setting the North Shore alight with his high octane brand of tube riding. Who will ever forget Spider's...

View an awesome video clip of the best event that I ever attended. Wasn’t a CT or a QS, just a shootout between the best surfers in the world at one of the best breaks at its very best. The waves were that good that two man heats were an hour long. Late on the...

How Tony Wright and John Batcheledor changed SA surfing forever in 1968. May 68. Back in Durban after nine months in the Navy in Simonstown, bright eyed and bushy tailed with my 9’10” Mike Hynson model three stringer Gordon & Smith under my arm, looking for a...

The Gunston 500 in 1979 ended a six year Shaun Tomson stranglehold that he had on South Africa’s premier surf event. Dane Kealoha deposed him. But that’s not all that Dane will remember about the South Africa of that era. The proud son of a pure blooded Hawaiian felt...

A place where history was made Long before the New Pier  was even a glint in some City Engineer's eye, the Bay fulfilled every expectation, ticking every box as the premier surfing venue in Durban. Those winding right hand barrels not only provided the arena for the...