The Legends of Jeffreys Bay
The Legends of Jeffreys Bay (There are 8 editions)
“The first edition of Legends of Jeffreys Bay came out in 1999 and was an instant success. I love interviewing people and writing about their lives and it has also been my passion to find out about the history of our little town, which has now become internationally famous because of our fantastic surf and our beautiful beaches. Time and again people say to me, “Robbie, what was it like in the old days?” and, with fascination, they pore over the old photographs of the hippies in the 1960’s and the donkey carts on the beach and the early hotel scenes of the 1880’s. And so, as the town evolves and new history is created, I keep on interviewing interesting people and I keep on collecting amazing photographs and suddenly it was time for this, the 8th edition of Legends of Jeffreys Bay to be born. I do hope you enjoy it!”
“I first came to Jeffreys Bay in 1969 on a surfing trip and fell in love with the town at once. I have been surfing over 50 years now and I still love to get up at dawn and go hunting for a hollow tube at one of the many spots before the sun comes up.”
SOLD OUT
SOLD OUT
SOLD OUT
Sold Out or For sale?
Some of the editions of legends are sold out. Out of the above three editions, I have one copy left of the 1000 print runs of editions 1 and 3 and 5.
2ND EDITION
FOR SALE
4TH EDITION
FOR SALE
6TH EDITION
FOR SALE
7TH EDITION
FOR SALE
Are the books all the same?
No! Each book is unique. As more history comes to light, so the stories expand. As new people come to town, so we include new stories all the time. The layout and design improves as technology advances. So each book is unique and becomes a collector’s item that stays in peoples’ homes for generations.
The First Day
On the first day that I first arrived in Jeffreys Bay on a surfing trip back in 1969, I fell in love with this little town forever. Da Gama Road was just a dirt road winding through thick, green, virgin bush and we had to go through an old farm gate that lead to Surfers Point Caravan Park. There were just a few rusty caravans parked off on blocks and you could rent one for R20 a month or pitch your tent for ten cents a day. If you saw three cars in one day, that was a lot and you never saw more than five surfers in the water. In places the sanddunes were 60 foot high, tall and majestic in their windswept silence with no houses at all. I shall never forget the first time I paddled a 9foot surfboard out at Surfers Point on a crisp winter’s morning in the bright sunshine with the offshore wind blowing cool along the water’s edge. White seagulls glided down the tide beneath the majestic ring of mountains that sweep across the curve of the bay. Riding that long, long wave was just the beginning of my love affair with J.Bay and it takes my breath away to see how quickly 40 years has passed. It is hard to comprehend that I must have surfed this now famous place over 10,000 times! Even harder to accept that one day it will be time to leave this marvelous planet forever.
One starry night during that very first five-day surfing trip, I remember sitting in the glow of a warm campfire on the beach near our little tent at Surfer’s Point in the peace of the night. There was an incredible orchestra playing- crickets, a nightjar, a kiewiet and the whisper that every wave made as it broke along the shore was awe-inspiring. Tony Van Den Heuvel was playing his harmonica softly for just the three of us and I was looking up at a million stars that filled the night sky. I was speechless in the presence of eternity and my heart was full of wonder that this paradise actually existed on earth. I said quietly to my friends, “One day I shall write a book about this wonderful town.”
Fifty years later, my love for Jeffreys Bay has grown infinitely deeper and stronger and that dream has become an absolute obsession! I have met and interviewed countless amazing people and I have written several hundred stories for newspapers. And this will be the eigth book on Jeffreys Bay that I have published! I am totally fascinated by the town’s history: past, present and future and I thirst to find more classic photographs and to interview new and interesting people.
This book, then, is intended to be a keepsake for everyone who loves this town, and it is intended to be a heritage that will be passed on from one generation to the next for all those who have a vested interest in Jeffreys Bay.
We also offer guided surf trips packages to jeffreys Bay and to Cape Town.
For full details go to our company website: www.africansurftrips.com