If you put skydiving, water skiing, windsurfing and surfing into a giant bowl and mixed, you would get something resembling kite surfing. This is the only water-sport I know where wearing a helmet is (or at least should be) considered good form.

I don’t know how high they jump, but it looks like  it can easily be over 5 meters. Sometimes you can see the beginners practise on Zandvlei (where the wind surfers usually are), and it takes a lot of practise and skill to get as good as this guy.

Buy wow, it looks like fun, maybe I will try it someday.

Firstly, windsurfing on Zandvlei.

When the South-Easter blows, it blows through False bay and straight across Zandvlei, which makes it a bit of a Mecca for windsurfers. In summer you are guaranteed to see a few windsurfers zipping up and down the vlei at high speeds. They surf at spectacular speeds,and of course they crash spectacularly as well.

When the nose dips like that, you know you are going to do down.

When I moved to the area I tried it out for several months, but alas my balance is just not good enough for this sport. So I have to content myself with shooting (with a camera) the windsurfers. They only come out when the wind blows, but at this time of year that is almost all the time.

Weekly top shot

I went from home to the entrance of the Cape Point Nature Reserve, and the roads were surprisingly quiet. This was not the case on the return cycle; by then Cape Town was awake and about a million people were headed off to the beaches along my route.

Anyway, I cycled for 56km so I am ready for tonight’s dinner out :-)

So I missed the Argus Cycle tour this year,  but watching the race has finally inspired me to get back onto my bike! Yesterday I went for a 45km cycle, as I did last weekend as well! I hope that I keep it up, because I plan to be back in the race next year.

You may have noticed me mentioning the howling South-Easter on this blog, but for the next couple of months the wind dies down completely. It is the best time to go cycling. The early mornings are wonderfully cool, and completely wind-free.

Both last year and the year before had absolutely shocking weather, with the wind hitting over 120km/h at some places. Well, bad luck did not come in threes. The weather was warm with a gentle cooling breeze just managing to  take the edge off the heat. Absolutely perfect weather for cycling.

To the person that stopped and chatted to me on the side of the road. No, Boyes Drive is not the second worst hill on the race, in fact it hardly counts as a hill. Smits, Chapman’s Peak and Suikerbossie are far, far worse.  But I couldn’t tell you only 25km out that the worst hills were still to come.

Speeding Union Jack

Pausing on the hill

A cyclist speeding along Boyes Drive

Cyclists at the top of one of the many hills on Boyes Drive

Yesterday it was:

1) a very hot day
2) the last week of holidays for many people
3) a Wednesday

This can only mean one thing: a bumper Wednesday evening cruise at False Bay Yacht Club. I counted over 30 yachts out on the water enjoying the wonderful weather. I was stuck in my car, but how I would have loved to be out there.

I spent that afternoon on Sunday at a Braai with friends in Melkbos, and while I was there I managed to sneak away to the beach for a few minutes. The weather was perfect for body-boarding, and the waves were full of people enjoying the sun and thrill of the sport.

It is a long time since I was last on a body-board, but looking at these folks enjoying the water make me very tempted to find a board and join them.

I saw these guys paragliding yesterday just off Baden Powell Drive. It was fascinating to watch them  launching themselves off a very low cliff just above the beach. The thermals must have been very strong, because as they jumped, they almost shop up vertically into the air.

It looked so graceful and peaceful, a wonderful way to spend a still day in Cape Town.

Here are two photos.

Click on the photo to get some of the detail (but it is really big)

The first is a stitched perspective of the stadium, and the second of the main stand.