Fifth trip to Cape Town, South Africa. It was once again a great mix of memorable windsurfing sessions, breathtaking views, and fascinating encounters with different cultures.

Windsurfing travels: Cape Town, South Africa, 2025

 

Editor's note: This article is dedicated to those who still have an IQ that allows them to go beyond social networks, and of course it is dedicated to the Waterwind Supporters. Video aside, to package it, and to share with you the emotions I experienced, it took about 8 hours of work..... This makes you understand how much effort it takes to produce Waterwind. Feedback for the article in the comments is always welcome.

 

What else can I tell you about my fifth trip to South Africa? Well, if you return to the same place 5 times, it means that it is a place that has "something" to offer. Now that I am here writing, at home, under a grey rainy sky, what I experienced on this trip seems almost unreal.

I admit that, this time, I left with some doubts and with contrasting feelings. I am a person who loves to continually discover new places, and try new stimuli. Therefore, in some ways, the idea of ​​returning to see a place I already knew aroused some uncertainty in me. On the other hand, as the departure date approached, I began to savor the idea of ​​​​enjoying the same pleasant experiences, and the places to which I am somehow now tied.

Getting to the point quickly, I returned from this South Africa 2025 satisfied with some very high-level windsurfing sessions. And then, Cape Town and its surroundings offered me the further discovery of fascinating places, never seen before, and enriching human experiences.

But let's proceed in order.

 

  

 

  

 

Click here, to enjoy the general slidegallery of the trip

Watch the full video of the trip

 

 

 

 

Sunday 26 january 2025 - Yzerfontein

 

After getting familiar with the city, its habits and its climate on Saturday 25th, Sunday 26th, waiting for the wind to come, I decide to go and visit Kirstenbosch Garden, a botanical garden, on the slopes of Table Mountain, and then go windsurfing in Yzerfontein. It turns out to be a perfect day. I love tropical gardens, with that vegetation so overbearing and luxuriant. It's hot, the South African summer is in its central phase (January, here, is like July in Northern Emisphere), and the gardens offer a nice refreshment, in the shade of their avenues. Then, in the early afternoon I pass by home, load the car and head towards Yzerfontein, wisely ignoring the advice of the many alleged experts on South Africa, who suggest other spots.

In Yzerfontein, a spot that I love, I immediately meet Andrea Rosati, and he will be my salvation. In fact, a screw from one of my board side fins disappeared, and Andrea lends me one, allowing me to enjoy my session.

 

 

I go out with the Goya Guru X 4.7, and I immediately feel at ease, going out offshore easily, and taking some nice waves of a couple of meters. Easy Yzer, and apparently banal session, but which I will re-evaluate in the following days.

 

Monday 27 january 2025 - Big Bay and Yzerfontein

 

Really strong Cape doctor expected. Some guys have been excited for days, just thinking about that; I haven't. I've understood that often the sessions with very strong wind are not the most beautiful ones. The sea gets messed up, and the waveriding is bad... For me the right sails for waveriding go from 5.3 to 4.2. We go out at Big Bay in the morning, and we wait event too long. At 11.00, my Ezzy 3.7 is already unmanageable. We jump a lot on some nice waves, but the wind tears the sail while surfing them. I go out quickly from the water, to save energy for Yzerfontein, in the afternoon. Watch the video of the session at Big Bay, that morning.

 

 

 

 

But, when I arrive at Yzer, I find an exaggeratedly violent wind. I get into water around 3:30 pm, hoping for a decrease. Obviously, I go out with the 3.7, but I don't enjoy it. The gusts are really bad and close to 40 knots, and the wind has almost flattened the sea, with choppy waves of about a meter. Yzer disappoints me (and it's the first time, because I love this spot). I will know, later, that the only worthy spot was Paternoster, where they went out with sails just over 4 meters, and nice waves.

 

Tuesday 28 January 2025 - Witsand 

 

Tuesday 28th, theoretically, should be a good day for windsurfing. Typical rotation of the Cape Doctor from ESE, in its last day. So, it's time to go and catch it towards the Cape of Good Hope. Having planned to go to Platboom probably for the next two days, I don't enter the Cape Nature Reserve, and I head to Witsand, and also check conditions at Scarborough. This stretch of coast always enchants me, and makes me think that this natural spectacle, alone, justifies the fact of having come here, once again. Unfortunately, the day will evolve in a way that is truly anomalous for me.

When I arrive, there are smooth waves of about two meters, wonderful, and a fairly strong wind, which induces me and someone else to rig the 4.7. But then it drops immediately ..... The forecast predicts a drop in the central hours and a new rise in the wind after 15.00. In Scarborough the wind is blowing better (this beach is not sheltered by the mountains to ESE), but the swell is unable to arrive.

A grueling wait begins for me, in which I take refuge in the car, to protect myself from the pounding sun, But after 5 hours of useless waiting, I decide that for me it is really unacceptable to spend a whole day like this. I go to cool off the heat and anger, with a refreshing bath in Kommetje. I will later learn that Cape Point worked well between 8 and 10 in the morning; while, in the afternoon the wind blew with intensity that required a 3.3 (so, nothing good for me).

Wednesday 29 january - Platboom

 

Platboom will take care of putting things right, with a wonderful day of windsurfing, Wednesday 29th. NW wind is predicted, which here is like the sirocco in Europe (it brings humidity and heat). But, when I enter the gate of the Cape Reserve, early in the morning, I find a splendid blue sky to welcome me (click here, to enjoy the slide gallery of the day at Platboom). And a couple of ostriches, which wander curiously among the cars: typical South African encounters.

Thomas Ortmann, a German guy transplanted here (and who hosted me at his Guest House in my first South Africa, in 2019), is rigging the 5.3. There are some beautiful bars in the sea, 1-2 meters depending on the sets. And the sea of ​​Platboom is wonderfully turquoise.... I enter with the 4.7. Wind almost completely side off, gusty, which makes it difficult to enter the sea and manage the first waves to overcome. I catch some nice waves, but after 30 minutes, I understand that I already have to change! I switch to the Guru X 4.2, which I will then keep all day long. A really beautiful, full and intense day, with the whole crew of Ben Proffitt and Colin Dixon present on the spot. Click here, to enjoy the video of the session.

I stay at Platboom almost all day, refreshing myself with a healthy home made rice salad, and with three full sessions, also enjoying the show of the other riders in the water. It would also be nice to enjoy a 4th session, but my body does not allow it. I am too tired.

And yet, I gather my energies, to go and visit, with a short trek, the incredible and spectacular Dias Beach before leaving the reserve, justifying even more the payment of the ticket. A memorable day.

 

Thursday 30 january - Platboom

 

Thursday 30th, Platboom does it again. After a quiet morning, since NW wind is predicted also for today, in the afternoon I head towards the Cape peninsula, again. Witsand shows nice waves, but weak wind. It doesn't convince me (and in fact it will only allow a floating session for the rest of the day). With some friends, we decide to try Platboom, and we are rewarded. Having dodged a herd of baboons along the way...., I arrive at Platboom around 16:00. Waves of 1-1.5 meters, and wind almost right for 4.7. But then, it will increase, and will allow us a really fun session until around 18:30 (by 20:00, you have to leave the reserve to avoid the late exit fine). The conditions are so beautiful and relatively easy for down the line, that I start to take waves repeatedly, risking more and more, until I get a serious wipe out, with both feet stuck in the straps, which breaks my back. I will pay for the circumstance, in some way, for the rest of the holiday. I argue a lot with the kiters, and with some windsurfers (as well as the day before, always here at Platboom). Respect for the most basic rights of way on the waves is decidedly, and annoyingly, ignored. We go back home, broken but satisfied.

 

 

Friday 31 january - Hermanus/Walker Bay Natural Reserve/Route 44

 

Luckily, a few days of break finally arrive, without wind, not only useful for resting, but also to take the chance to visit the wonders of South Africa. I use the day to go on my own to visit the Walker Bay Natural Reserve and the Klipgat Caves, east of Hermanus. It had been a goal of mine for a long time. After a lunch break in Hermanus, which looks always nice, I continue towards the reserve along the road that runs between the coastal lagoon of the Reserve, to the South West, and the rocky mountains to the North East, crossing very green hills and vineyards: another wonderful view. The caves and the endless beach of the reserve are also fascinating and worth a visit. This is why I returned to South Africa once again. I return towards home, at sunset, passing once again by Betty's Bay, the Stony Point Reserve, where there is a beautiful and funny penguin colony, and the amazing Route 44.

 

Saturday 1 february - Cape Town

 

Saturday, still a windless day, I return to the city center. I hadn't been there since 2019, except for a quick evening trip (with police assistance....) in 2024.

I visit City Bowl, Bo-Kaap, Company's Garden, and Green Market Square. At Company's Garden I enjoy a wonderful performance by a choir of local singers, really talented, who move me with the power of their voices, and the theatricality of their gestures. They sing with joy.

Cape Town makes a good impression on me during the day: I'm not stopped by beggars all the time, as happened to me in 2019. At every intersection, I see a police officer, which makes me feel relatively safe.

After lunch at the Mesopotamia restaurant, near Green Market Square, I also go to the Waterfront. Nice place, but on Saturday afternoon it's too crowded, so I decide to go home early and relax.

 

Sunday 2 february - Diemersdal 

 

The risk, coming here, is to drive a lot of kms. There are many alternative spots, and some are far away; moreover, you have many tourist destinations to visit. I avoid going windsurfing in Eland's bay, a spot that, moreover, generally offers windswell and bump and jump conditions, except when there's significant swells.

I decide to play the Wine Farm card, and go to visit Diemersdal, in Durbanville. As usual, it turns out to be a nice experience, even if not up to the level of the previous visits to Spier, or Delheim. The tasting of 6 wines is challenging, and after 4, I'm already in bad shape..... Diemersdal's Sauvignon Blanc is memorable. In the afternoon, I go home to sleep, and then to Sunset Beach to jog, so as not to lose my physical shape.

 

Monday 3 february - Paternoster

 

Monday 3, it seems that, finally, Paternoster can offer noteworthy conditions, and I decide that it is worth grinding out the miles in the car. I leave early to dilute the outward and return journeys during the day, and to easily find parking. In fact, during the day windsurfers will arrive here from all over Cape Town, encouraged by the forecast.

In reality, the day, as far as windsurfing is concerned, turns out to be fun, but not an exceptional one. It often happens, in Paternoster, to find less big waves than expected. In this spot, it seems to me that the waves keep its promises only in the case of a swell from the West, or a significant one from the South. When there is a normal swell from the S/SE, generally, here there are not very high waves. However, a strong wind comes in, right for 4.2, unfortunately very gusty even offshore, except in the windward bay, where Profitt and Dixon position themselves to practice maneuvers. I go out with the Guru 4.2 in the downwind bay and go to catch the waves in the center of the bay.

I'm a bit worried about my precarious health conditions: an intestinal disorder has weakened me a lot, and my back still hurts from the wipe out I got at Platboom. But, fortunately, during the session I won't feel my conditions too much. My back only hurts when carrying the equipment along the beach, and not when riding in the water.

I manage to ride a few waves, even if I have to get pretty close to the shore to wait for them to become steep enough. Unfortunately, sailing offshore doesn't allow me to rest, because of the really unstable wind. After two hours, I've given all I had to give, and I calmly prepare to go home.

The return will be an ordeal: I drive, for the 120 km between Paternoster and Table View, with some fever. I'm forced to make a few stops, but I manage to bring me back home. What is not done for our beloved windsurfing?

 

4 february - Greenmarket Square

 

I'll spend February 4th doing some shopping in Greenmarket Square, in the city center, and I'll also give my body a bit of a rest. I love the colorful fabrics they sell around here, and I'll buy some. Some of them will be used to furnish my van that I'm camperizing. In the meantime, I'm starting to worry about the forecast for the swell that should arrive tomorrow: 3 meters and 15 seconds of period are really worrying.

Wednesday 5 february - Epic Sunset Beach

The forecasts are fully confirmed: on Wednesday, in particular, a huge swell was supposed to reach the entire coast around Cape Town, and so it is!

With my friend Adriano, we do a checking at Sunset shortly after 9. The conditions are wonderful, with even mast high waves perfectly clean and regular. I don't remember ever seeing such big waves at Sunset Beach before. Light wind almost good for the 4.7 (and this leaves the waves glassy). Direction obviously side/side off. In the water, Harry, a "local", born in Italy, raised in Holland, and now moved here, enters immediately and alone. And he makes us understand that the conditions are truly exceptional, but challenging. Click here, to enjoy the video of that morning.

Click here, for the slidegallery of the morning at Sunset Beach, on 5th february.

Due to inexperience..., we also go to see Big Bay, to understand if it offers good conditions, but more friendly..... But Big Bay does not have the same wave quality (nor wind, even if I know that it will come).

I go back to Sunset Beach. We need to exploit the conditions now, before the tide rises! I rig the Guru 4.7, and set the JP Magic Wave Pro 89, as quad, with the two soft K4 Scorchers as central fins.

 

 

 

 

 

Along with others, I seize a moment when the sea is flat between two sets of monstrous waves, and I go out without struggling. And this is important. I turn and ride the biggest wave of my life, performing three bottom turns, then fleeing to shore when it finally breaks. Lots of adrenaline. The GoPro catches the moment (the Chinese Insta360 unfortunately has died).

I go back and surf other waves, until the spot gets worse a bit due to the tide that becomes too low. A wave of 2-3 meters suddenly rises 70 meters from the shore, and closes out. I try to go out again, but, when I had already deluded myself into thinking I had gotten a way through it, I get a wipe out, which tears my equipment without discussion. I recover it with a good swim and a few more bombs on the head, and I return to shore, to lick my wounds. I decide that for me it is enough. The wind progressively increases. I go home to rest, with the idea of ​​doing a second session at sunset, in one of the spots near Table View, as usually happens on the classic Cape Doctor days.

Unfortunately, Big Bay in the afternoon (watch the video shot there), with really huge waves, will prove to be too crowded, and I decide to save my energy for the next day (click here, for the slidegallery shot at Big Bay on 5th february).

 

Thursday 6 february - Sunset Beach and Big Bay

 

Finally, on Thursday Cape Town gives us a typical Cape Doctor day, like those that had happened frequently in my first two trips here, in 2019 and 2020. The Swell, however, is still very significant, with 2.5 meters and 13 seconds.... Click here, for the rich slidegallery of the lovely morning at Sunset, on 6 february.

So, in the morning you can't help but enjoy Sunset Beach, with medium tide and just the right amount of wind, that is, by 12.00. But some of the other traveling companions present here manage to skip the appointment......

I enter the water just before 10, with the 4.2 and the JP set as the day before, and I have a lot of fun. The wind is a bit unstable in this first part of the day.

 

 

 

 

Today, the swell is still important, but it doesn't hurt (too much), in case of a wipe out. I take a lot of waves, and I go where I want. It just seems to me that the Scorcher fins have too little lift for these conditions, and I change to the two stiffer K4 Leon; it's better. Click here, to enjoy the video shot at Sunset Beach on 6th of february 

At 12,00, with the tide dropping, the wind increasing, and with the onset of tiredness, I get out of the water and go home to rest.

In the afternoon, unfortunately, I go to the wrong spot, and instead of waiting for the wind to drop a bit at Sunset (where at 5 pm, it's still right for the 3.7), I try an unlikely Big Bay, with poor wind quality, unstable and also weak in the inside. In the meantime, the melancholy for the imminent departure begins to creep into me.

 

Friday 7 february

 

It's departure day. The games are over. Cape Town offers a wonderful summer day without wind, which makes the farewell even more difficult. I would like to go and cool off in the tidal pool in Camps Bay, I discovered one of the previous days, but there is no time. I have the car washed, I say goodbye to my affectionate and friendly Host, Erroldean; I eat something at Mozambik in Big Bay, and I go to the airport.

I did well to come back. A trip to Cape Town is never a wasted one. But I think that my curiosity, in the coming years, will take me to other shores.....

Hang Loose. Fabio

 

 

 

Click here, to enjoy the general slidegallery of the trip 

 

Click here, to enjoy the video shot at Sunset Beach on 5th of february

 

Click here, to enjoy the video of the session at Platboom, on 29 january

 

Click here, to enjoy the video shot at Sunset Beach on 6th of february