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WITSANDS, between Kommetjie and Scarborough, was the venue for the first international team surfing event to be staged on the Cape Peninsula in a couple of decades ? since the International Surfabout in 1983 if my memory serves me correctly ? when the ISA Aloha Cup, supported by the National Lottery, was held there at the end of January.

Ideal weather and small half to one metre (1-3 foot) waves enabled the SA u/23 side to eclipse the visiting teams from Great Britain and Namibia, despite WP Open champion Josh Salie from Kommetjie being the only Deep South surfer in the home team.

The event doubled up as the first ever longboard international team event when a 10 strong SA team convincingly defeated their British counterparts. The strength of the local contingent in the national longboard setup (WP have won the SA titles for the past decade or so) was amply demonstrated by the likes of multiple SA champ Simone Robb (Kommetjie) earning her her umpteenth women' crown, Justin Bing (Noordhoek) triumphed in the Juniors, and Michael Grendon (Scarborough) and Thomas Kleynhans (Kom) reached the Open men' final.

Local girls also featured in the third "Girls Get Out There" event in the Billabong Summer Surf Series that was staged in difficult, tiny, windswept and freezing conditions at Melkbos on the weekend. Tarryn "Chuddles" Chudleigh won the u/16 division and finished runner-up in the premier u/20 event, while Holly Armstrong took third place in the u/14's.

Girls are flocking to surfing like at no other time in the history of the sport and notwithstanding the adverse conditions, nearly 70 took up the offer of free "learn to surf" lessons over the weekend.

These were conducted by locally based SSA accredited surf coaches Dene Botha and Liam Wood, who provided the surfboards.

To cater for this burgeoning section of the surfing market, a couple of girls-only surf training facilities operate in the area, such as the Roxy Surf Club and Surfshack, both situated at Muizenberg Corner.

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