Cape Town gears up for Earthwave
15 September 2009
There's been a flood of inquiries from Cape Town surfers looking to help South Africa break the Guinness World Record for "most surfers riding the same wave" at at Muizenberg on 4 October, as part of global Earthwave surfing and sustainable lifestyle festival.
"We've received dozens of enquiries about the Guinness World Record attempt at Earthwave next month," says Paul Botha of Kahuna Promotions, the founders of Earthwave.
"After raising the record from 44 to 73 at Muizenberg in 2006, the Cape Town surfing community is amping to break the current record of 100 surfers on the same wave set at Earthwave Brazil last year."
Highlight
The world record attempt is the highlight of the Earthwave global environmental initiative which has been expanded to a two-day beach festival on the weekend of 3 and 4 October.
The 2009 event includes a longboard surfing event; demonstrations in the fast growing Stand Up Paddleboarding (SUP) discipline that will culminate in the Coreban Expression Session featuring some of the country's top exponents; free surfing lessons provided by the surf schools in the area, with classes specifically for women conducted by the Roxy Surf School; and a host of other fun beach activities for people of all ages.
Tens of thousands of Rands worth of prizes and give-aways have already been donated, including a Natural Curve longboard shaped by Durban-based SA champion Hugh Thompson. Surfing equipment and accessories from famous brands, such as Billabong , Xcel, Palmers, Derevko and New Balance, will be used for Dig for Gold, raffles and other fund-raising competitions.
Business involvment
The business community of the Deep South is heavily involved in promoting their products and services at Earthwave with early adopter David Jones from the Empire Café in Muizenberg challenging all other restaurants in the area to equal or better his donation of R250 cash and a meal voucher for R250.
Environmental initiatives at Earthwave range from providing clearly demarcated bins for the recycling of paper, plastic, glass and other refuse, to reducing paper usage by handling the entries and prize certificates for participating in the GWR digitally.
Negotiations are in progress with Metrorail to allow all train passengers travelling to Muizenberg with surfboards to ride free of charge on the weekend, while carpooling will be encouraged to further reduce the carbon footprint of the event.
Exhibits and presentations
There will also be exhibits and presentations on how to lead a more sustainable lifestyle, including a talk by Augustine Morkel, the Estate Manager at the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, titled 'Climate Change: How can you help'.
Miss Earth South Africa 2009, Chantal Grantham, who will be representing the country in the environmentally-themed Miss Earth pageant in the Philippines at the end of October, will also attend Earthwave to present awards and support and encourage ecologically-sound initiatives.
Environmentally conscious apparel and footwear brand Ocean Minded, whose products utilise recycled materials, will be coordinating beach cleanups with prizes for participants. They will also conduct a presentation in the marquee tent to educate the public on the importance of looking after South Africa's waterways.
2010 Fifa World Cup
Earthwave will also be partnering with Cape Town Tourism's "Live it! Love it! LOUDER!" campaign for the 2010 Fifa World Cup, that will see soccer ambassadors providing tips and tricks on the beach, giving away signed soccer balls and other memorabilia, along with demonstrations of the Diski Dance.
Cape Town Tourism is also sponsoring the participation of a group of youngsters from disadvantaged communities to attend Earthwave and it is entering a corporate team in the world record attempt.
The schedule for the festival sees the longboard contest, SUP demos, exhibits, presentations and free surfing lessons on the Saturday.
The final of the contest, the SUP Expression Session and a Celebrity Surf Off featuring high-profile personalities will take place on Sunday before an expected 400 or more surfers take to the waves at approximately 13:00 for the Guinness World Record attempt.
After-party
The Earthwave festival culminates in an after-party at the Brass Bell in Kalk Bay where the official number of surfers on one wave will be announced after consulting photographic evidence.
The function will include the Cape Town launch of the 200th edition of Zigzag, South Africa's premier surfing magazine, along with videos of the day's action, and plenty of specials available while waiting for the results of the Earthwave Brazil and Argentina attempts which should be known around 21:00.
Comprehensive information, images and videos on Earthwave are being uploaded on Wavescape.co.za, South Africa's biggest and longest established surfing web portal and the official digital partner for the event.
SAinfo reporter
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