In Honour of the GOAT
A special signed Kelly Slater surfboard will be auctioned for J-Bay charities tomorrow at a fundraising event at Supertubes, which is part of a Wavescape mini-festival at the Corona Open J-Bay.
Artist Marti Lund, whose legendary portrait of David Attenborough raised R115,000 at the Wavescape Artboard Auction in Cape Town in March, has created two one-of-a-kind surf boards of the GOAT Kelly Slater. One depicts a fallow youth in the prime of his life, aged in his late teens, and another as a mature man in the prime of his life, aged early 50s.
In a post on our account: "@kellyslater thank you on behalf of everyone in the South African Surfing community for your remarkable athleticism, energy and above all else joy you have brought to our shores for so many years."
Before coming down to sign the two boards, Kelly responded: "I’m humbled. Thanks for thinking of me."
The boards have been put up on display at the Corona Open J-Bay contest site before the Young Kelly is sold at a gala charity auction on Monday 17 July at the Park Off Festival tent at Supertubes Park, along with a host of valuble items. Proceeds from the auction go back into the community via the J-Bay Surfing Foundation to Wavepoint Surf, J-Bay Surf Alliance, KRAG, J-Bay Recycling Project and other important initiatives.
Please contact Shani Judes if you wish to bid by phone or for more information - 083 509 5106 or shani@shanijudes.co.za.
The GOAT Kelly will be taken to California, where it will be acutioned at a special event. Thanks to artist @_marti.macfly_ for his legendary work, and to shaping legend Anton Butler from @ferral_surfboards for the superb craftsmanship in shaping the boards and glassing the artworks.
@kellyslater @wsl @wavescapesa @martilund @spike_wavescape @_steve_shooter @shanijudes
Other activities included a Spike Swell Course on Friday, a movie screening of Chasing the Unicorn and Sweet Adventure with respective filmmakers Alan van Gysen and Peter Hamblin in attendance, a live podcast studio at African Perfection Guesthouse right at Supertubes, and a special premiere of Birth of the Endless Summer screening on Friday at the St Francis Resort, in partnership with the Slipway Surf Crew. For the pods, Steve Shooter will host athletes, industry personalities and visitors to the JBay festival for a salty dive into surf and ocean subculture.
The film takes place at the Park Off Festival tent 19h00 on Tuesday 18 July after a public signing with some of the WSL athletes. The film is free.
We are also excited to announce a screening of the documentary feature Birth of the Endless Summer in St Francis Bay on Friday 21 July at Chapel and Theatre at Cape St Francis Resort. Special Endless Summer burgers will be created especially for the event by legendary chef JP from Full Stop restaurant.
It has been 58 years since The Endless Summer, which came to be the most watched documentary in human history, premiered to tumultuous applause by curious onlookers at Cape Town’s Labia Theatre in 1965. The evening was hosted by surfing pioneer John Whitmore, or The Oom, who had played a pivotal role in producing the film. He later became known as the founder of the South African surf industry, the person who brought Morey Boogie boards and Hobie Cat to South African shores.
Through archived footage and dog-eared photographs, Emmy nominated director Richard Yelland goes back to where it all started. Grizzled Californian surf bum Dick Metz vagabonded the globe from 1958 to 1961. He lands up in Cape Town around 1960, and meets Whitmore by “happenstance”. Whitmore takes him everywhere, including up the East Coast to Cape St Francis, who suggests to filmmaker Bruce Brown that he visits South Africa.
In 2019, a nostalgic Dick, at the age of 90, returns to meet local surfers and visit places he shared with the Oom and his family. He goes to St Francis, which looks a little different after nearly six decades. The film expands on how vital the South African leg of the Endless Summer journey was, featuring Californians Robert August and Mike Hynson with Bruce Brown.
The sequence of the discovery of St Francis is a highlight, notwithstanding some inside information about how Brown took certain liberties with the way the fabled waves of Bruces Beauties were 'discovered'. A must see if you surf, or even if you just live in St Francis.
