Articles, Inspirational Stories, Travel

Seal Island & Whale Rock

Chris Bertish is unsound, a very sick puppy. Unhinged some might say. One of South Africa’s highest profile big wave surfers has made a name for himself by consistently pushing the envelope.

Not content to take off late, backdoor sections as big as suburban homes and pull into huge gaping close-out maws, Chris also likes to be the first oke to do something. Remember he was the first guy to paddle into Jaws / Peahi in Hawaii and the first to paddle big Ghost Trees in California. He pretty much single-handedly re-established modern big wave surfing in the UK when he paddled out at the Cribber to catch some close-outs, and made the front page news. Then he was the first guy to catch a wave on an SUP at Dungeons.
Chris Bertish – the first guy ever to SUP Whale Rock (next to Robben Island)

He tells me he got into the barrel and tried to touch the roof with his paddle but he couldn’t reach. Then it closed down on him. His pioneering big wave pursuits have led him as far as Easter Island and as close as Whale Rock, off Robben Island. Always looking for something new to ride. Well that’s Mr Bertish.
Chris on a fair size wave SUPing Dungeons. Picture credit : Craig Kolesky

On a resent big swell Chris out did himself again and did his most daring (stupid in his own words) and probably the most dangerous surf ever by any surfer in the world by surfing some waves at Seal Island in False Bay. After surfing some dodgy, lumpy Dungeons bombs in the morning Chris and a couple of nervous mates raced across the Peninsula and went to check out a couple of waves on a particularly dangerous triangle of pinnacles just South of Seal Island.

Home to what local shark expert Chris Fallows believes is the most active Great White breeding ground in the world. It is the home of the biggest great white sharks in the world with sightings of 6m plus sharks being very common in this shark ally. It is also one of the few places in the world were great whites have adapted their hunting skills into the very spectacular and scary breaching. This is where the shark patrols the deep waiting for the seals OR SOME SILLY SURFERS to swim past the top. The shark will then speed to the unsuspecting prey and hitting it with so much force and energy that the shark breaches the surface, flying like a Jonty Rhodes through the sky with its pray in its mouth. The seal or surfer will have virtually no chance of survival after being hit so hard.
Breaching Great White

Anyone who got wind of the idea, tried to talk him out of it. Not because the waves were particularly dangerous. The waves were inconsequential really. It was all about Johnny Longfin. While they were doing a recce of the first spot they saw a “fish” with a 3 feet fin chasing two terrified seal pups right in the channel where the one wave would end. This is were most of us would have developed some serious flu, knee injuries, or even Tuberculoses, but not Mr. Bertish. They gave the spot a break for twenty minutes and went to check another reef breaking close by.This second spot was a left aptly named Bertie’s Landing.
Ledgy left… to die for?

This wave slabs up and bends around a gnarly exposed rock slab and breaks very hard with evil intent before it dissipates in the deep water. Chris was the only one to get towed into this heaving beheathen with none of the crew wanting any part of this evil beast.
Chris pulled in. Notice how short the tow rope is.

Chris got 3 or 4 before calling it quits and they headed back to the other reef with a more realistic A-frame peak. They dubbed this wave Sharkbait. In order to minimise their time in the water, Chris put three big loops in the tow rope and basically launched from the back of the ski.
Staying under the lip might just be the safest place in this hostile environment.

Chris got slung into five or six breasts before trying to convine tow partner Dave Smith it wasn’t that sketchy, with a nervous laugh! After four or five waves heaving over that slab, Dave had had enough…Stop, stop, no more..I think I’m going to have a flatline my heart’s beating so fast..Enough..So we called it quits and called it a day…Any surf out here when you come away with your tow partner and all limbs still attached is a good session!

On hearing the news that people had been surfing out there, Chris Fallows was surpised to say the least. According to him, there’s so much shark activity in that triangle between the two waves and Seal Island that it’s not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’. Basically the water drops off from the pinnacles down to about 30 meters. The big lurkers sit at the bottom until they spot some prey then shoot up the wall and launch vertically into the air with the poor seal in their jaws. No shark shield is going to stop that. That’s why the False Bay is famous for its breaching sharks. No need for medical experts on a trip like this in the future because if one of these top predators get a slice of a surfer he would not have much of a chance of survival. He will definitely lose more than a limb.
Chris checking if all limbs are there and very happy to see all in order.

But why, you may ask, would anyone be silly enough to surf at Seal Island?

“I’ve flown over it a couple of times and seen it break.” Says Chris. When planes come into Cape Town they bank around Seal Island on their final approach, offering the surf obsessed traveller a birds eye view of the wave potential of the lurky island. “I saw these slabs breaking about five years ago, and that got me thinking about surfing it, and now with the help of the PWC’s (jetski’s) we can explore more spots and discover and search for new waves to ride, which was never possible in the past.”

Of course, hindsight is an exact science. And now that it’s been checked off that expanding checklist of Chris Bertish surfing firsts, he’s quite sanguine about it. “It was particularly stupid.” Says Chris of his misadventure. “I don’t think I’ll be doing that again any time soon. I seriously shat myself out there.”” There are some waves out there, but they not fantstic and very exposed to the weather and the wind, but it’s just not worth the risks. You’re toying with your life out there, and it is just not worth the risk.

Watch this space for I am sure we will soon hear of more firsts from this wave warrior.