I met Phillip at the beginning of this year in a not so quiet little town up the West Coast. I was on a trip with some buddies and ran into Phillip on the beach one afternoon. He’d seen me with my camera and so we got to chatting. It turned out that Phillip was also usually behind the lens filming his son and was looking to get some footage of himself. A few minutes later Phillip was suited up and I was filming.

I hooked up with Phillip again recently and asked him if he would do an interview. I figured here’s this guy who’s probably been surfing for a while and must have a story or two to share. I got just a little more than I’d bargained for, plus change.

Pieces of the puzzle 

I always find it amazing how little I know about the history of surfing in South Africa. Sure I’ve read about the old single fin boards and heard about people like John Whitmore but it’s not until you hear the stories that you can really appreciate the pieces of the puzzle as whole stories in themselves. Stories like when Phillip and his buddies got word that John Whitmore had his hands on a new movie from California or Hawaii and then had to get all dressed up to go and watch it at a hall in Sea Point that was rented out for the occasion.

And what an occasion it was. Like Phillip said, not even a visit from the Queen of England could’ve had them more stoked. In fact, if you spoke of royalty, you were talking about guys like Jonathan Paarman, Hans Kamhoot and Gavin Rudolph.

Sitting there listening to Phillip I slowly came to realise how much surfing has changed but also how little surfers have changed. There’s a world of difference between where things started and where they are today. Boards, cars, wetsuits and even waves have changed. Surfers however are pretty much the same today as we were twenty, thirty or even forty years ago.

There’s that same passion and love for surfing and the ocean, the spirit of adventure made clear by so many surf trips, the need to be better than the rest by surfing bigger waves or winning more contests and the simple satisfaction of not needing any recognition but just having a wave to yourself. From what Phillip had to say I could see that he has experienced most of these things. Passion for surfing and love of the ocean is evident in the fact that 40 years later he’s still stoked to surf and even goes kite-boarding on a regular basis. The spirit of adventure is definitely another one.

Ever heard of Horse Trails?

Ever heard of Horse Trails just beyond Big Bay? Ever wonder how it got that name? Now, can you guess the name of one of the first guys to mission through bush while dodging horses to get to a new-found surf break? How crazy is that?

The interview progressed and Phillip started chatting about surf trips. 10 days spent in Vic Bay in a kombi with rain the entire time and trips to J-Bay in the days when there wasn’t much more than sand dunes and gravel with the same cooking waves we’ve all come to love and hate. Of course no story of J-Bay is complete without hearing about Cheron Kraak and how she started out.

On one particular trip, Phillip started out in Amsterdam, moved on to Paris and ended up surfing all down the coast of Europe. From there he missioned back down to South Africa where the surfing continued in Durban and moved down the coast spot by spot till he got home.

In the space of three months Phillip managed to surf some of today’s best known breaks. Spots like Mundaka, Biaritz and Hossegor and in South Africa he surfed Durban, East London, Port Alfred and Plettenberg Bay.

What really got me is that the only real bad luck he had was having his watch stolen! As we kept chatting I got to thinking about what could possibly be the low and high points of surfing in Cape Town for such a well traveled guy.

Here’s what Phillip had to say…

“Traveling. That’s the low for me. I’ve just had enough of it, you know. I just cannot drive anymore looking for surf…”

“I’d say the highs would be waking up on a windless morning and smelling that sea air… and knowing that Derde Steen is cooking. Those are for me much more exciting moments and highs than thinking of going on a long surf trip up the coast and getting a repetitive point break. It would be the spontaneity of the moment when those elements are just perfect.”

And what of surfing culture in South Africa and how it’s changed over the years?

“It used to be a culture. It’s now become an obsession. I don’t think it’s become a lifestyle. I don’t think so. What generates the image is your label. It’s what catches your eye. To me, the fact that you see surf shops virtually wherever you go has taken a lot of the adventure out of surfing because now it’s just reached, you could virtually say saturation point.”

My time spent with Phillip has reinforced the understanding that who we are today is connected and very much dependant on yesterday. As much as we look forward to the future, our past, more than anything else, is the largest determining factor when it comes to who we are and what we do. This doesn’t mean that we’re limited by who we were. All it means is that we have to know and understand what was to ensure what is and what will be.

A big thank you to Phillip for taking time out for this interview.

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