LDSR

A new tech startup has raised R 10 Million in seed capital to fund development of listener driven surf reports. After logging podcasts from nearly two decades of material, they determined an algorhythm to assimilate word patterns based on what listeners most wanted to hear. Currently the click throughs have produced the sentence " 2 to 3 foot and a little onshore" - sounding uncannily like the live report.
With royalties from the looped phrase being substantial, it has allowed the surf reporter time off to launch his ' Tutu 3 foot' clothing range and patent the iconic finger pose - set to go head to head with the hashtag.
Deon
Pic - Amanda

Beth Hart

Raw talent doesn't need me to chip in my pithy comments - press play.
Deon

The Sunflower Fund

The run-up to the Epic had a fundraising cycle for various causes, charities and service organisations. Stoked to be part of the group that came out to cycle and be involved with the Sunflower Fund again.  During the Argus Cycle Tour, I spent most of the day going nowhere, so 6 minutes on a spinning bike was easy...and I still didn't get anywhere ;-) Not realising that the pedal inertia increased with the weighted wheel, my feet eventually got blasted out the stirrups at warp speed and I could only watch as it cycled uncontrollably without me. My lack of gym time cruelly exposed in front of the gathered Waterfront crowd - but hey, if it keeps the awareness of the Sunflower Fund out there, I'm back on the bike!

Find out more about them here;

http://www.sunflowerfund.org.za/index.php/2011-10-06-09-50-20/frequently-asked-questions
Deon

Go surf

Theres lots of stuff to deal with, stuff that gets in the way, clouds the day, the past, the future - don't sweat it. Get Wet. Check out Bethany and Nick going surfing - now go grab a board and get perspective...
Deon
Thanks Spike for the heads up on this link!

Stoked Grom

Aaah grab the stoke again! Strapping the boards, choosing the music, anticipating the perfect wave,  the cars too slow, the lights always red, hoping its not too crowded, and the wind doesn't switch. Smell the wax, taste the salt, feel the push under bubbles, straining to stop being dragged back, breaking free for a moment before the next one, catching your breath as you make the back and get your line up. Seeing it coming and letting it go, cos the ballie was out before you, but the next ones better and by some fluke you're in the spot and you've just got to go, and everyones watching and you can"t blow it. Drop in like a cover shot, look at a wall full of options, risk losing it or pump through the section at warp speed and you are the wave until the whitewater closes you out, spitting and smiling...then pull the board back, crawl on and do it again.
Thomas - thanks for sharing the stoke!
Deon
PIC - Steve Symons

Duck Dive

Wet wet wet - flat water, big boards and a Standup Paddleboard tour around the Canals at Crystal Towers. Kfm listeners joined us for a day out.
Cruising past the ducks and birds and the people chilling on the grass at lunch time, you forget that we're in the city - why mission around the world when we've got it right in front of us? Come paddle, surf, climb the mountain, fly a kite, cycle to Tableview...the Cape Town 'to do' list is endless.
Deon

Merry Gondoliers...

Hottest day in a long time - the back story was nearly fainting from heat exhaustion off loading the boards in a 40 degree carpark - but what a jol we had with the Klub VIP listeners. All eager to learn and doing really well. Stoked to have Gary van Rooyen with us, Coach of the SA Team to Peru next month. It's good fun and you don't realise you're having a core workout - until the next day...If you'd like to book a lesson, we're setting up a SUP school at Crystal Towers, so you can contact Justin or myself at www.bingsurf.co.za - be great to have you along.
Deon
Pic-Ziningi
( ...where the behind the scenes rules of venturing into the ocean and surf etiquette will be shared ;-)

Whats in a tweet?

I've been tweeting a beach report for Cape Town over the December season, finding the best places, out of the wind, the traffic - sharing the stoke of being in our beautiful city. Whats been interesting, is that when the folk have returned home to Jozi - or even further - they continue to follow and interact. Why would anyone want to follow a local beach report when they're a thousand km's away? But it's obvious - while preparing for a holiday is an exciting time, the reliving of it through photos and stories is just as much fun. If I'm tweeted the daylight hours for Merzouga, it's remembering the Saharan sunrise over the Algerian blue mountains. The Costa Rican water temperatures or a traffic snarl up in Kuta, a train strike in Paris or a restaurant review in New York - it sparks something and the smells, the sights and the memories are back. Its not a punishment, or wishing I was there -  just a good feeling of having done it, been a part of it, with the hope of returning one day.
Deon
twitter: deon_bing

Madonna on form

Click the Youtube link to watch - about time someone chirped him back!
Deon

The Maple Kind

It's been viewed nearly 110M times - but you gotta luv it. I've learned it off by heart, and my friends just mention "the maple kind..." and it gets us going again - enjoy it for the gazillionth time...
Deon

Loves people and beach walks...

The run of fantastic holiday weather had people flocking to the beaches - this was Muizenberg around lunchtime on January 1st, 2012. Safe swimming, family fun and no serious incidents. Sharkspotters did their thing, Law enforcement took away the booze and lifeguards blew their whistles. And with the queue to the toilet snaking round the block, the water temperature increased to a balmy 25 degrees...
Deon
pic Brenton Geach

Merry Christmas

Not much was ever heard from the 4th Wise Man who went surfing...
Happy Christmas holidays to you, friends and family - and keep the 'gees' going...
Deon

Dancing down the Highway

Heading down the highway with your mates, open road and a good mix of tunes - stuff you haven't heard for a while, where you hit those high notes, but you can't be sure, cos the windows are all open, the exhaust is banging and the speakers are rumbling that cardboard section above the boot.
'Hold me closer Tiny Dancer,
Count the headlights on the highway...'
Elton Johns' Tiny Dancer - resurrected in Almost Famous and finally going platinum this year - 40 years on.
Deon

OK - so I'm a groupie...

Constantly blows my mind with her creativity - I want to be part of that crazy brainstorm session that lights bright ideas with phosphorous and dynamite. Who suggested wearable meat - probably a vegetarian...and now Gaga arrives at the Trevor Live awards in Hollywood dressed like a princess. Game changing on a daily basis - u go gaga!
Deon
pic:pacific coast news online

Klub VIP Surf Lessons

Wax rubs on and experience rubs off... after travelling with the SA Team to ISA World Games in Costa Rica and Panama, having our top coaches and managers as mentors, then following the Longboard Pro Tour to the Maldives, Biarritz and Sri Lanka - Justin is currently joint 5th on the circuit, with the final event in a weeks time in Levanto, Italy. He started http://bingsurf.co.za/ as a means to help fund his costs to the events. Lotto contribute a portion to the SA Team, but personal costs range up as a 'journeyman' hanging in against contestants on full sponsorships. From foreign tourists to school kids, moms and contest surfers - they've all shared the stoke at the surf school - now it's time for a lucky Klub VIP member to get wet - it just might change your life...
Deon

Big wheel keeps on turning

Once a year we get together for the WP Longboard Surfing Champs - a tradition going back decades...to a time when we surfed in the Open Division and looked up at the Legends as an infinite age too far to ever reach. Now we are those older okes, but still hanging in and getting the stoke! Check at the fresh new talent coming through - the future and legacy is secure.
2011 Winners at the weekend Champs.
Deon
Pic - Clive Maasch

Classic

Traditions...every year the guys make a plan to get together at the Sunset Classic. Longboards, beers and the only criteria being switchfoot - goofys surf regular and vice versa. For some, it would probably have been better if we'd surfed that way round all along...with each averaging 35 years of surfing behind us, it's great that the okes are still out there having a jol, sharing the stoke, catching waves. Same crew, same place -see you back again next year.
Deon

Heaven

I'm normally the first to take the back, 'less travelled' road - but had never turned left up into the Hemel and Aarde Valley outside Hermanus.  Mountain bike trails, walks and endless rows of vineyards, the setting is perfect. Try it sometime, taste some wine, stop for breakfast or lunch, stay over - leave the madness far below, back in town.
Deon

Everyday People

So Sly is now living in a van in LA - had the killer set at Woodstock in the 60's, coming on after Janis Joplin and handing the rocking masses over to The Who in the wee hours. Can't even guess the creative forces at work to forge the funk that came from the Family Stone - hey they push both ways...so if you wanna judge the man, check out the music.
Deon
(bit of a slowboat download...get those peace-out fingers ready...)

Splash

You can write your own caption to this photo taken by Agustin Moniz of a cliff diver in the Caribbean, off Jamaica. A perfect day, a perfect dive, crystal clear, warm water and the freedom of momentary flight, captured perfectly.
The skill and the photography set a standard I'm in awe of. I can't stop staring.
Deon