Wait, gotta be a catch? No? Well, kinda…
The gorgeous holiday hamlet of Jeffreys Bay on South Africa’s eastern cape, very famous for its “long, fast, exquisitely tapered right-breaking point surf”, has long gripped the hearts of local and visiting surfers.
As Warshaw describes in his lovingly maintained historical showcase, the Encyclopedia of Surfing.
Jeffreys Bay was a showcase wave from the beginning. Gavin Rudolph, Jonathan Paarman, Peers Pittard, and Bunker Spreckels were among the early standouts. Terry Fitzgerald, the 1971 Australian champion and aptly nicknamed “Sultan of Speed,” was magnificent at Jeffreys Bay throughout the ’70s, linking one blistering turn to the next. 1977 world champion Shaun Tomson was for years the standout Jeffreys rider, placing himself deep inside the tube almost at will and driving his board into a wide range of turns. Mark Occhilupo of Australia, during his world tour debut in 1984, was one of the first goofy-foot surfers to match the regularfooters at Jeffreys Bay.
Downside, of course, are the husky Great Whites that patrol the area and, Fanning aside, death by shark attack isn’t an abstract concept, although its been a decade Burgert van der Westhuizen was killed there.
Living in South Africa is real cheap, the consequence of a few things: a fragile currency, a crime scene that has to be experienced to be believed, although J-Bay defs ain’t the worst, low wages and therefore low operating costs, political instability, a lack of foreign investment ’cause the place feels like it can be a bit of a tinderbox and then there’s the lingering hate for Whitey that ain’t going awaydddd.
But, what’s all that matter when you’re living in a mansion a five-minute walk from Super Tubes via a direct track to the beach and you get a hunk of change back from 200k?
The joint ain’t pretty but it’s pretty damn big.
Retire and hone your glide, as the old men call it.
Chris Dixon and Frank: please email [email protected] from the address you'd like your BeachGrit login on.
Commented on Disqus? Log out, tap the Disqus button, and your old name and comments come back. The box is ours.
Your comments are still here. Every one of them.
Twelve years of BeachGrit comments came across from Disqus. Connect and we will show you how many are yours. We get your username, nothing else.
Connect Disqus to reveal.
Check out this video showing how our want to live in cribs like this have destroyed Bruce’s and is busy destroying J Bay and countless points around the world.
Us surfers, were the worst.
“Immigration from South Africa to Australia, particularly by professionals, accelerated in the 1990s. More than half of the South African Australians arrived following the election of Nelson Mandela in 1994.
According to the 2021 Australian census, 189,207 Australian residents were born in South Africa, making up 0.7% of the country’s population”
South Africa haemorrhages talent – particularly to Australia
Joany Badenhorst (Paralympic snowboarder)
Brad Banducci (CEO of Woolworths Group)
Wendy Botha (pro surfer)
Robin Bell (athlete)
Scherri-Lee Biggs (Miss Universe Australia 2011)
Lauren Brant (former Hi-5 member)
Kearyn Baccus (soccer player)
Gavin Buckley (current mayor of Annapolis, Maryland)
J. M. Coetzee (writer, 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate)
Bryce Courtenay (writer)
Michelle Cowan (AFL / AFLW Coach)
Collette Dinnigan (fashion designer)
Ceridwen Dovey (writer)
Anton Enus (SBS newsreader)
Beverly O’Connor (ABC Presenter)
Damian Cupido (Australian rules football player)
Dane Haylett-Petty (rugby union football player)
Dean Geyer (singer, and actor)
David Gonski (chair, Australian Stock Exchange)
Frances Hargreaves (actress)
Cariba Heine (actress)
Robert Holmes à Court (1937-1990) (businessman, Australia’s richest person)
Jason Johannisen (Australian Rules football player)
Craig Johnston (soccer player)
Dena Kaplan (actress)
Gail Kelly (CEO, Westpac)
Marius Kloppers (CEO, BHP)
Marnus Labuschagne (Australian Test cricketer)
Jessica Marais (actress)
Sisonke Msimang (writer)[9]
Kerr Neilson (fund manager)
Paul O’Brien (actor)
Craig Reucassel (comedian)
Lovemore N’dou (boxer)
Clyde Rathbone (rugby player)
Selwyn (R&B singer)
Troye Sivan (actor and singer-songwriter)
Tammin Sursok (actress)
Daniel Vickerman (rugby player)
Margaret Wild (writer)
Nathaniel Willemse (singer)
Young Pluto (boxer)
Morné Morkel (Former South Africa International Cricketer)
There is a reason more than 1 million white, well-educated English-speakers have left South Africa since 1994, and before – the Afrikaans-speakers are not going anywhere.
There are many similar prime properties for sale all over the country at prices that seem hard to believe for people from Australia, the UK or the US.
Spend a month or two in South Africa before you buy, to understand why people leave.
Normally property is the least interesting part of BG but, by crikey, this one is actually quite alluring…
Yeah more cheap properties Dez. Like a shack in the Tuamotus with no water
Would I get robbed living there?
Nothing like 30 hours of flying to get to your vacation home. Anybody want to come? Come on! There is a swell on the way!
I’ll come. You’ll probably have to paddle up the point and block for me so I can get a wave, but I’m a decent cook
Do you put out too?
Don’t forget a lineup full of beefy Dutch Afrikaner’s, barnstorming kneeboarders, stormy flat-spells and a distinct lack of females.
Sounds super gay! Count me in ohlalalalala
Xox
The abundance of Ethan Ewings arse is a real estate story waiting to happen
Wow. I would even sub to his OF account to see it.
Xox
J-gay!
Haha dude fuck
Xox
Can get crowded AF and some angry people, but God what a wave. A work of art. The fastest, raw energy. I would love to return.
There you go derek, here’s your next year’s worth of real estate articles.
https://www.surfersjournal.com/properties/
Yeah, yeah, I know. I like to pick one here, one there, that’s particularly alluring.
I only go there infrequently because dammit It makes me want to chuck it all in and move to the tropics.
So what’s the ‘kinda catch’ to buying it ?
I tried to watch the vid to find out, but after 20secs of listening to those two twits meant I was unable to see it out.
And if it’s that much of a good deal, why don’t you and Chas get it for your cash cow (the BG comments crew) to hang out at…
Don’t like sharks or the cold or getting mugged.
The first trip I had to South Africa I was spooked as hell when I got to my hotel in Durban, too scared to go outside. Until I saw a couple of white-skinned 10 year old girls walking home from school by themselves, then I realised there’s millions of people living here every day without problem.
That’s a bullshit excuse Derek, you could live there easily
The most dangerous aspect of that scene was probably the two 10 year olds. Get too close and suddenly two blokes materialise, both with a very particular set of skills, skills they have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make them a nightmare for people like you.
The catch is it’s in South Africa.