JEFFREYS BAY RESORT GUIDE
By Jason Borte

INTRO
"They" say all kinds of crap, most of which is useless. Nobody knows who "they" are, but at least one thing these mythical prophets say is the truth: every surfer must visit Jeffreys in his/her lifetime. Movie buffs head to Hollywood, rednecks truck to Nashville, but for a surfer this is where the line begins, and on a good day, it can go forever. The area known as "J-Bay" to virtually every surfer on the planet is as complex as its name is simple. Not only has it been a perennial contender for World's-Best-Wave status; it's seen extraordinary social development in recent decades, with massive growth of its tourist industry matched by similar growth in the importance of surfing to the local economy. While the hype surrounding Jeffreys has faded in light of heavier waves with higher shock value, nothing can match the place for sheer soul. Whether you're trekking down from Durban or covering half the globe, Jeffreys' points and relaxed atmosphere provide the ultimate in surf tripping.

THE SURF
If you've never been to Jeffreys, you'll be surprised to know that -- unless a perfectly directed eight-foot-plus swell is pouring into the bay -- it isn't one endlessly peeling pointbreak. Rather, Jeffreys is made up of several distinct spots, each with its own set of nuances. The breaks rely on a long, curving lava reef that begins as a jagged south-facing outcrop and continues for at least a mile down the inside edge of the bay. Gaps in the reef line are supplanted by sand flow from beaches to the west, occasionally altering the character of some of the sections. From the top, J-Bay consists of: Magnatubes, a peaky right and semi-left, more exposed to swell than most of the stretch, yet never linking to the major lineup, instead fizzling into a small sandy bay between it and the next section; Boneyards, a quick hollow right reef that predominates on smaller days and an occasional left, begins to close out toward the start of J-Bay's splendid premier section; Supertubes, an aptly named long, slabby, powerful wall, drawing larger swell energy from the upper reefs and funneling it for around 200 yards, letting the skilled surfer dictate the terms of a ride without ever seeming weak or unchallenging; Impossibles, often also aptly named, a series of shallow lava beds with long deepwater holes interrupting the wave except during times of unusual sand buildup, when the whole 150-yard section can become an extended barrel; Tubes, where the wave begins to slow and ease into the final connected section of wave; the Point, a mellow, playful wall flowing down into a final closeout across weed-softened reef; further across the Bay is another piece of reef featuring a quick right known as Albatross, which some diehard J-Bay surfers claim operates as the end section on extremely rare giant days.

J-Bay's main sections are not open to everyday swells; a strong storm from the southwest, or the unusual southeast, is needed to push waves into the Bay. Such storms are almost always accompanied by offshore southwest winds. Due to the rotation of the low and its accompanying swell, the harder the wind blows, the bigger it gets. When high pressure builds, an onshore flow blows the swell to ribbons and brings with it flatness.

When Jeffreys isn't breaking, there are several places within a short car ride that could have fun, even serious surf. Seal Point sits forty minutes to the southwest, where it picks up swell well before Jeffreys. It's heavily infested by sharks, but if that doesn't bother you, both the point and the surrounding beachbreaks offer heaps of consistent surf. And let's not forget Bruce's Beauties. Made famous by Bruce Brown's Endless Summer, the endlessly-tapered rights of Cape St. Francis once depicted the ultimate wave. Nowadays, it too is overrun by tourists and development, but it still supplies the rare, flawless day. Further toward Capetown, Victoria Bay is two hours' drive from Jeffreys, but its exposure to swells makes it a sure bet for surf even when J-Bay is a lake.

GETTING THERE
Jeffreys Bay lies on the southern South African coastline, overlooking the chilly western Indian Ocean. The township and most of the surf sits on the western tip of the Bay, which stretches off to the east in a massive 15-mile arc of sand and rock and fish-filled ocean -- strangely similar in dimensions and character to Grajagan Bay, its great Indonesian rival.

For the overseas traveler, there's nothing cheap about getting to Jeffreys. Flights from the United States run over one thousand dollars and can easily double that. South African Airways flies directly from Atlanta to Johannesburg, a trip of over 15 hours. From Jo-burg, it's a little over an hour by air to Port Elizabeth, just an hour's drive from the point. From Capetown, you're looking at several hours' drive, and from Durban, around ten. From Port Elizabeth, head west on the N2 Highway until you see the classic sign, the one that reads "Jeffreysbaai."

Once you get to Jeffreys, you can get by without a car, as just about everything in town is within walking distance. If you do "hire" a car -- that's what they say in South Africa -- you'll notice the steering wheel is on the right side. Don't forget to drive on the left, which will take a bit of getting used to if you've never done it.

The cheapest ride from Port Elizabeth to J-Bay is the Sunshine Express (042-293-2221 or 082-956-2687). Make a reservation, and Neels Engelbrecht will be there to pick you up. The cost is a mere ten bucks (80 Rand) per person. If you're going solo, double that. A taxi ride will cost around 250 Rand, or close to 30 bucks.

WHEN TO GO
Winter is prime time. Southern Hemisphere winter, that is. From June through August, winter storms round the Cape of Good Hope and work their way into Jeffreys. During this time of year, the town is vacant except for surfers. But if you prefer your action on land, J-Bay is a happening place in summer, when Jeffreys' many vacation cottages are filled to capacity. On occasion, a surprise lights up the point, but don't count on it. Heaps of South Africans vacation at Jeffreys, and the area turns from sleepy to positively raucous. The only other remotely busy time is in July when the ASP circus hits town.

THE ATTACK
Boards
When it comes to Jeffreys, size isn't the issue. The bigger it gets, the less of a racetrack you're dealing with. Even on sizeable days, you can get away with a smaller board than you might think, since the wave isn't top to bottom but a strange almond shape. There are heaving sections, but in general, added length serves a purpose only for those long return trips to the lineup. Everything is geared down the line, so go with whatever speed-enhancing gizmo serves you best. Channels are popular as the waves are often clean and racy. On smaller days, a fish hybrid works well for linking sections, which tend to break even faster as they move further in on the reef. A fast small-wave board, another a few inches bigger, and a semi-gun in the 6'9"-7'0" range should suffice.

Boards tend to take a beating at Jeffreys, mainly from navigating the rocks on the way in and out. If you aren't too attached, you can unload them at the local shops, or better yet, donate 'em to the penniless groms at Kitchen Windows, a beachbreak just above the point. A handful of quality shapers reside at Jeffreys, including Mike Meyer, Larry Levine, Des Sawyer, Mark Spowart, Jigsaw, Andrew Carter, and Glen D'Arcy.

Technique
To race or not to race, that is the question. The best surfers at Jeffreys realize the wave isn't going anywhere and take time to smell the biltong (or jerky, as it is called in the States). You'll almost never see Occy or Joel Parkinson -- each a pointbreak maestro, one backside and the other on his forehand -- racing down the line. Instead, they play in the hook from start to finish, refusing to leave the power source or look beyond the next 10 yards. First-time J-Bay visitors, unless groomed on a right point, will find this method near impossible. As though painted by a talented artist, the line beckons your attention far, far away, causing you to focus on the shoulder and miss all the action. Simply climbing and dropping on a high-speed chase through Supertubes is immensely gratifying, but if your intention is to go beyond the fastest line from point A to point B, lay off the gas. Soon, you'll realize the bus isn't leaving without you, and you may actually get a few turns in. On the other hand, kicking out after a two-hundred-yard wind sprint can be equally exhilarating.

Dolphins make the cycle a couple times each day, starting atop the point in a pack around thirty strong and surfing right through to the end. They are remarkably courteous of visitors and don't mid if you drop in. They know how to share.

The paddle
The key is in the hole, the keyhole that is. With a good road map and a touch of luck, you can be in the lineup in seconds. Then again, disregard the road signs and mis-time your charge, and you'll be picking dried lava out of your ass for weeks. Each section has its gap in the reef, an easy alley for stroking beyond the dreaded rocks. Watch the locals, and follow them. Booties make things even easier. The paddle back out -- granted you don't ride right up to the rocks -- is more akin to a long walk on the beach than a maddened dash through a haunted house. It isn't dangerous, but laborious. At least there is plenty to look at, with other surfers blazing down the point, dolphins frolicking on the shoulder, and an endless stack of lines backed up to the horizon. If you are accustomed to surfing beachbreaks, a little swim or paddle training will keep you from having to cut a session short from exhaustion.

On the way in, finding the key is infinitely more difficult, and the repercussions of failure more dangerous. If you miss and try to navigate the rocks, you're on your own. You never know if your next step off a dry perch will dump you ten feet underwater. Dings happen.

Other gear
Booties are not mandatory for warmth as the wintertime water temps hover in the upper fifties, which is borderline. They are, however, helpful for traction, and during a four-hour session your feet become numb and you deck rocky slick. You will need a fullsuit (a warm 3/2 is plenty). If possible, bring an extra; chilly dawn patrols are so much nicer in dry rubber. A ding repair kit is a must; you will hit the rocks eventually. Don't forget the Ugg boots. They won't win you any fashion awards, but your tootsies will thank you during those early surf checks. On that note, pack a beanie as well; nighttime air temps can dip into the upper 30's. If you plan on plugging in a laptop, razor, or any other electrical device, you'll need an adapter to fit South African outlets. It's a strange three-pronged configuration.

HISTORY
Nobody's precisely sure when J-Bay was first surfed; the christening is thought to have occurred in 1964 when a crew of surfers, following Bruce Brown's expose of nearby Cape St. Francis in Endless Summer, took a wrong turn at the town of Humansdorp just inland and stumbled on The Point. By then Jeffreys Bay was also a town, but a pretty sleepy little one -- just a hotel, a few stores, and some vacation houses built by wealthy inland farmers who'd come down to the coast for Christmas. Aside from the harsh dusty township on the northern fringes, where apartheid held the black African population in check, it must've looked a bit like some little coastal town north of San Francisco, or maybe Lennox Head in Australia. In other words, a perfect escape zone for South African surf hippies looking for a way out, and as J-Bay's reputation grew, down they came; guys like "Shorty" Bronkhorst, Bruce Gold, Ant Van Den Heuvel, and others who decided that if being a surfer in 1960's South Africa meant going feral, then feral they would go.

The question of "Who was Jeffreys?" is met throughout town with strange stares and replies of "I don't know." Apparently, record keeping wasn't a priority in the early years, as a copy of the local paper, <I>Our Times</I>, can attest. In a special 75th anniversary edition, which chronicles Jeffreys from the time it became a town in 1925, they list five different people from whom the name could have originated. There were residents -- likely farmers -- as far back as the 1700's, and The Beach Hotel in front of Magnatubes signaled the start of tourism in 1903. Still, it was predominantly undeveloped farmland until the 1970's, when massive tracts were sold off to eventually be used for vacation cottages.

In 1978 the Santa Barbara filmmaker Greg Huglin released his great surf movie Fantasea, complete with perhaps the best Jeffreys ever shot: roaring six to ten foot walls being massacred by a classic lineup of the day's champions, who'd raced down from the Gunston 500 event 700 miles north in Durban. The movie cemented J-Bay as one of the must-visits on the steadily growing world good-wave adventure tour, coincidentally just as Grajagan was slowly coming to public light.

J-Bay's remote aspect and lack of development made it a favored escape route for a new kind of surfer: the shady expatriate. Mickey Dora and Mike Tabeling were just two Americans who decided they'd found somewhere with two key attributes -- excellent right-breaking waves, and no US Embassy for thousands of miles. But Jeffreys today is a somewhat far cry from Hippie Central. The point is lined with houses and well-maintained parking lots, and literally thousands of big holiday apartments and summer homes have sprung up all over the place in the past 15 years. Surfers are important citizens in J-Bay; Cheron Kraak -- owner of Country Feeling Clothing and Billabong South Africa, and the only female senior surf industry owner operator in the world -- employs over 200 people, and runs the biggest business in town. If you surf on good days, you'll run into members of the Jeffreys Bay Underground, the heavy locals, who wear white rash vests with their insignia over their full suits. And if you go surfing on smaller days, you'll run into a pack of incredible pint-sized grommets, soon to be leaving arguably the world's best wave in search of validity on the WQS.

DOCTOR'S ORDERS
Jeffreys is highly developed and sanitary. You won't need any vaccinations, except possibly a shark booster. There are doctors right in town and full hospitals in neighboring Humansdorp and Port Elizabeth. The reef isn't particularly infectious, but any cuts should be cleaned thoroughly. Also, you may not want to be bleeding profusely in the lineup; sharks dig that sort of stuff. Despite the abundance of sea life and rumors of Great Whites (called Blue Pointers in South Africa) attacks on surfers are amazingly rare. Nearby Seal Point is a different story, and just keeping your toes in the air isn't going to deter a 2000-pound beast from pouncing. If you are unlucky and are bitten in half, we suggest you seek medical attention immediately.

ROAD RULES
Apartheid is over, at least on paper. The longstanding South African doctrine of forced segregation between blacks and whites has been on the mend since 1990, when the government began its transformation toward representation by the black majority. In 1997, a new nonracial constitution took effect, promoting equality in every sector of life. The republic -- formerly known as the Union of South Africa -- has adopted affirmative action policies to promote workplace equality. Of course, old habits die slowly, and while the separate bathrooms and the like are long gone, the nation is anything but one big happy family.

Jeffreys is practically all white, while many of its blue collar employees come from the neighboring township. You won't find much authoritative presence, as the still relatively sleepy town remains for the most part peaceful. In fact, you'd be hard pressed to find a single policeman anywhere in town.

Visas
As long as you don't plan on getting too comfortable, a passport is all that is needed for entry.

Currency
Do I make you randy? Welcome to the land of the Rand, roughly eight of which can be obtained for a U.S. dollar. The Rand's poor performance is a local's nightmare but a tourist's dream. A middle-class American here can live like a king.

Gifts
There are plenty of needy kids prowling the lineups of J-Bay, and they are pretty specific in what they want. Aside from the South African tradition of giving candy to kids, t-shirts (jerseys), old boards and of course a few Rand go a long way.

Other sights
This area of Africa is home to each of the Big Six -- lions, rhinos, elephants, buffalo, leopards and whales -- and they are all worth viewing. The unique biome supports more animals, birds and insects per square inch than anywhere on earth. And unlike many areas of the world, you can enjoy the wildlife in a malaria-free environment. The Seaview Game and Lion Park (041-378-1702) is the closest spot, where you can wrestle with lion cubs just thirty minutes from Jeffreys for 35 Rand (around four bucks). A handful of playful kitties are on hand. Around an hour away is Addo Elephant National Park, boasting hundreds of Dumbos for your viewing and riding pleasure.

As far as nighttime wildlife, Bay-Watch is the only show in town. And it's a far cry from the feral beachside campfire of years past. The nightclub has the sweatiest dance floor in all of Africa, and of course the bathroom doors are adorned with David Hasslehoff and Pamela Anderson. Don't go expecting to find the real Pamela, or anything remotely close, especially during winter. One check of the talent on a chilly evening makes you understand why men around turned to sheep for love a long time ago.

If you are looking for organized activities, Jeffreys offers several options for tourists of all interests. Surf lessons can be had through the South Coast Surfing School (southcoastsurfschool@yahoo.com; (083) 549-6795; (083) 968-5326). Sandboarding trips, as well as other adventures, are run through Aloe Afrika Adventures (042) 293-3941; aloe@agnet.co.za. Bungee jumping is the thrill of choice at beautiful Storm's River, and hour-and-a-half drive at the end of the famous Garden Route.

Other tidbits
Bottle stores, the only place to buy beer around J-bay, close at 5 p.m., so don't wait until you finish the arvo session to stock up for the night. Castle is South Africa's favorite beer, and like everything else is amazingly inexpensive. Hunter's is another local choice, but unless you're into fruity concoctions, steer clear of Hunter's Gold.

HOTELS
Chances are, you have enough money in your pocket this moment for a cozy night at J-Bay. Lodging is cheap and ample. B&B's, guest houses, backpackers, and countless vacation homes fill every speck of land in town. The best way to find what you're looking for is through the Board of Tourism (042) 293-2588; jbay-tourism@agnet.co.za; www.jeffreysbaytourism.com. Directly in front of Supertubes, you'll find The Beach House (042-293-1522), Surf Packers (042-293-2671) and Supertubes Guesthouse (082-659-2855). Just down the road sits Island Vibe Backpackers (042-293-1625). All are inexpensive, comfortable, and just seconds from the surf. For more privacy, a vacation cottage can be had for just a few dollars more, and a list of realtors can be obtained from the tourism office.