Media Release. Immediate. 27 January 2010. Mossel Bay Tourism

Mossel Bay’s Schools Surf Club Opens For 2010

Mossel Bay Tourism is supporting a Schools Surf Club – and the hope is that the groms* who are just now learning to stand on their sponsored boards will lead the way to surfing glory (and beach tourism) for the town.

British Surfing Association level 3 surf instructor and 2009 South African champion Llewellyn Whittaker, who grew up in Mossel Bay and went on to surf both the World Qualifying Series (the WQS – in which he consistently made the top 100), and the British Tour (in which he took the Triple Crown Championship in 2007), and who returned from training the Junior British Squad in the 2006/7 year to concentrate on surfing and coaching in his home town, is the driving force behind the Waves School Of surfing and its Schools Club.

“School Club is free for anyone of school-going age, and takes place every Thursday at Diaz Beach from 3.30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.,” he said.

Made possible by sponsorship from the Langeberg Mall and Mossel Bay Tourism, the Club’s aim is to make surfing accessible to everyone in Mossel Bay – and thus increase the depth of surfing’s talent pool.

“We had a great summer this year, with awesome waves and some brilliant conditions for learning to surf at Diaz beach,” said Mr. Whittaker.

“To date we’ve done beginners’ lessons for 120 people, which was a great turn out considering the current economic situation.

“The biggest thing I find is trying to convince holiday makers from up-country to try surfing. There is a huge difference in mentality here compared to the U.K., where all the holiday makers from Liverpool and Manchester go to places like Newquay just to learn to surf and to have the experience of riding a wave, no matter whether they ever do it again or not.

“I do believe that we need to change this mentality so that we can get kids into the water at a young age, and increase the depth of junior surfing in South Africa.

“We have world class surfers but only a handful of really good ones come through in each generation.”

Mr. Whittaker, who also runs a surf tour company that hosts visitors to the town, would like to see surfing become one of the “top three things to do in Mossel Bay – alongside shark cage diving and visiting a game farm.

“Mossel Bay gets a lot of attention when people like Shaun Joubert (a local who is now surfing in the worldwide Pro Junior Series) – and me (when I was on the professional tour) go out to surf,” he said.

“The town’s tourism industry can benefit from this in many ways, because Mossel Bay is a place that can accommodate every kind of surfer, from beginners to advanced level chargers. It’s got great waves, and you can surf here throughout the year.

“Surfing is a sport with no boundaries. It can open doors for young people looking for a career, it can provide travel opportunities, and it can be a major tourist attraction, and this is why we want to open it up to more people in the town,” said Mr. Whittaker.

As for the School Club, he said, “If the groups start getting bigger we can start to run it twice a week. But we do need to get people’s cell phone numbers so that we can use our group text messaging service to let everyone know whether the conditions mean we can surf or not.”

He said that the School Club was part of a bigger project that includes inter-club contests with Knysna, Plettenberg Bay, Buffalo Bay, Victoria Bay, and Still Bay, and that he hoped that this would lead to the establishment of a major, Mossel Bay-based professional, international surfing tournament.”

“An event such as Llewellyn has in mind would hugely increase Mossel Bay’s profile, and bring it to the attention of a whole new travelling market,” said Mossel Bay Tourism’s chairman, Neels Zietsman, “and this is why we are happy to support the School Club.

“By setting the building blocks in place one at a time, the Club and the Waves School of Surfing are building a solid foundation for a major step forward in the not too distant future,” he said.

Mr. Whittaker makes short videos of the children he coaches – watch ‘Gromz Go Crazy 5’ at www.wavesschoolofsurfing.com, or on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y29QZO_zB7A.

*Grom: ‘grommet’ or young surfer.

ENDS 748 WORDS