It took a world trip for two young Americans to identify the "perfect wave" - and they found it right here in South Africa off the Eastern Cape beaches at St Francis and Jeffreys Bays.

In the early 1960s Californian surfers Robert August and Mike Hyndson left home to search for the world's best surfing destinations. They came eventually to St Francis Bay where they trudged across the sand dunes to the beach and walked into the surf. They emerged hours later, triumphant. They had found what they were looking for.

Accompanying them on their trip was filmmaker Bruce Brown who was to make a movie called Endless Summer with the two surfers. The film achieved cult status internationally, propelling the two little towns into the world spotlight. Thousands who wanted to ride the waves just kept coming. And still they come.

Next month, from July 9 to 19, the annual Billabong Pro takes place, drawing yet another generation of surfers eager to experience that perfect wave.

According to Shaun Anderson, one of the many surfers who never tires of the excitement, the surf at the two coastal towns is an essential experience for all surfers who take their sport seriously. "There's nothing like it anywhere," he says. "It's the ultimate high… Man, you fly along 'Bruce's beauties'. Those waves are the greatest."

'This would make quite a golf course'
In the early days St Francis was little more than a name. It was to get a major growth spurt in the 1970s when South African entrepreneur Leighton Hulett initiated the largest man-made waterway project in South Africa, cutting canals near the river that were to turn the village into one of the country's premier holiday centres.

Almost overnight, one of the prettiest little towns in the country sprung up at St Francis Bay, the houses along the waterways and on the adjacent hills painted white, their roofs either thatched or black slate. Since then, of course, new extensions have been added to the development, including Port St Francis and Cape St Francis where different architectural standards have been applied.

But the excitement of creating a new town out of sand dunes and marshy ground did not stop there. In the late 1990s, legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus trudged across those same sand dunes and thought: "This would make quite a golf course."

So it was that when a golfing project was mooted, Nicklaus offered to design the course. The Links, now listed among the 10 greats, came into existence. And so the perfect golf course has become the perfect partner for the "perfect wave".

It's quite an experience visiting this beautiful little town. Motorboats and yachts are fastened to private landings along the canals, giving the town a waterfront feel unique in South Africa. The hillside properties look out across the ocean, while residents at the little port are perfectly placed to watch the chokka boats come in.

These fishing boats festoon the ocean at night when their lights can be seen far across the water.

'I never try and force an idea on a piece of land'
But, rumour says, they are not bringing in the big catches of yesteryear. As we watched some of the fishing boats come in with their calamari haul, the fishermen were obviously weary from their days at sea. They did not appear to be unduly laden but, then, the size of their catches could well be determined by the time of year or the tides and, hopefully, not the result of overfishing.

It's something of a novelty for upcountry visitors to see fishing vessels unload their cargo, so we watched while the fishermen went about their business, listening to their lively banter. Eventually, we moved to a seafood restaurant for lunch. The thought of fresh fish and chips was appealing.

There was a good selection, with calamari straight from the ocean an obvious choice - and a treat for visitors accustomed to the frozen variety. Delicately prepared in butter, the rings tasted every bit as good as they looked.

The Links, now a major attraction for international golfers, has become so popular that major tournaments are a regular occurrence.

To cope with the accommodation requirements, a housing estate has been developed on the periphery of the course where golfers can literally eat, live and sleep golf. Stands are apparently much in demand with enthusiastic golfers erecting luxury second homes there. When business forces executives off The Links and back to their offices, they let their houses to visiting golfers.

The golf course is an exciting one. Nicklaus knew what he was about when he designed it. Rather than try to change the dunes, he allowed Mother Nature to dictate the direction in which the course should be shaped. "I never try and force an idea on a piece of land," he said at the time. "Golf is a game where man plays against nature."

He is right, of course. The dune fields had only to be shaped and the alien vegetation removed. As a result, the course has a shape distinctly its own, built to accommodate both dune sand and coastal shrub. Some say The Links is as good as any in Scotland. And it has lost none of its appeal, as a range of endemic creatures and birds lingered on the land long after the landscapers left.

Like golf courses at Phalaborwa and Skukuza where the "big five" are known to amble onto the greens, The Links has its share of animals and birds that occasionally interrupt - or even watch - the golfers at play. That's part of the pleasure of golfing in a nature reserve at the seaside.

I was staying at a luxury self-catering lodge at The Links, the guest of friends who had bought weeks there. The couple next door had rented one for the weekend. Both were superbly decorated with emphasis on the "Wow!" factor. As a regular user of self-catering accommodation, I found the R1 000 a night excellent value.

On the drive to our lodge one evening, we encountered rabbits and a couple of small antelope grazing along the roadside. Once a Cape eagle owl flew in front of the car, then swooped down to gather supper in its beak. Our backyard was a nature reserve with the sea on the horizon.

But there were more surprises in store for us. Archeological artefacts have been unearthed at a shell midden at The Links, proving that strandlopers had lived there long before modern man moved in to enjoy an environment that has remained unspoilt through the ages.

Jeffreys Bay, just a few kilometres from St Francis, is more of a residential area but its surf is as appealing for the thousands of youngsters who come to ride the waves. It, too, is a household name among the world's young surfers who come to try their luck at the Billabong Pro.

Those Eastern Cape beaches drew us back to the water's edge again and again. A lighthouse in the distance warns ships at sea of a rocky landfall, but we could walk for kilometres, unimpeded, at the edge of the ocean with no more than fine sea sand and small shells beneath our bare feet.

Out there one wave after another rolled in, each one perfect. Those two surfers certainly knew a good thing when they saw it all those years ago.

But then, so too do those golfers who return again and again to play on the sand dunes.

Source: News24.com - www.news24.com

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