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WEBSITE What’s Inside The West Wind Issue 2 The Discovery Of Bruces— 8 Souls Of St Francis— 11 St Francis College — s15 Local Surfer Profile— 20 The Magic of our Nature Reserves— 28 LANGUAGE To Perform At St Francis Brewery — 35 TRAVEL— 36 St Francis Bootcamp— 42 Ike Forsyth and Farmers Cart— 44 Advertising & Editorial: Craig - 082 376 4443 - [email protected] Colin - 082 554 0796 - [email protected] Ok, Boomer. This digital magazine - The West Wind - came about as a result of COVID and the lockdown. As the world retreated into their houses and stayed indoors for weeks and months, so online traffic spiked and online media consumption increased dramatically. Everyone, it seems was on their screens, and always looking for something new. On top of this, up to 70% of the online traffic could be tracked to phones – people were reading everything, watching videos, hanging out on social media, all on their phones. It was time to get with the times. Instead of being told, ‘Ok Boomer’ to our faces, it was time to address needs and deliver what readers and advertisers actually wanted. The ‘Ok, Boomer’ phrase has become a catchall phrase for someone older who is close-minded and resistant to change. We hear it all the time. It’s more of a joke than anything else, almost like the digital equivalent of an eye roll. It happens when a Baby Boomer/old person says something outdated and incorrect, and a Millennial or Gen Z can’t be bothered to explain why it’s so wrong. It would just be too hard to explain, and it is so obvious anyway, so they just brush it off and say ‘Ok, Boomer.’ OK Boomer - Cont .... It rankles, though. If you’re a Boomer, it means that you’re nowhere, pretty much. The West Wind believes in living in the moment and embracing the future. It has an objective of delivering fun and interesting articles about our community as a whole, as well as an array of other topics and interests. Purely digital, the magazine lives online, and the advertisements are all clickable. They hyperlink through to the advertiser’s websites, Facebook pages or online shops. Check it out, try click a few. Our social pages Facebook and Instagram are growing nicely, and we support our advertisers and readers on those platforms. We are proud to be delivering something to the greater St Francis community. It has been well-supported from the get-go, so thanks to all those that have climbed on board. Hope you enjoy the issue. Colin and Craig The Silent Generation: Born 1928-1945 (74-91 years old) Baby Boomers: Born 1946-1964 (55-73 years old) Generation X: Born 1965-1980 (39-54 years old) Millennials: Born 1981-1996 (23-38 years old) Generation Z: Born 1997-2012 (7-22 years old) The Discovery Of Bruces In the mid-1950s a young Durban farmer, Leighton Hulett and his wife Anne threw caution to the wind and purchased a huge farm at St Francis Bay. Leighton was a sibling from the famous Hulett sugar family in KwaZulu Natal, and great-grandson of Sir James Leige Hulett from Yorkshire, England Over much hard work and time, The Farm evolved, and on it Leighton started a fishing camp, to invite keen and wealthy fishermen from the farms around Humansdorp, and from Port Elizabeth. The fishing in the area was quite incredible back then, and setting up a fishing camp was way easier work than trying to crop-farm the sand. The fishing camp flourished over time. While these fishermen were going about their business of catching supper and trophies, they were totally oblivious of the waves that were peeling, perfectly, all over the place. It must have been a wonderful time. Before Hulett developed it, and before the masses arrived, the Farm had one overriding characteristic, and that was the presence of sand. There were three huge sand fields on his land and on surrounding land, feeding the sea whenever the southwester blew, which is 75% of the time, according to historical records. This sand did wonderful things to the sea. It allowed for the perfection of Bruce’s Beauties, it filled in the holes between the rocks further up the point. It brought about the occasional flawless sandbanks at Main Beach and at Anne Avenue in St Francis Bay. There were massive beaches back then, and the Kromme flowed much stronger, without the dams that have slowed it down so much. This generation of the Hulett family, how- ever, was utterly oblivious of the surfing treasure that they had purchased. They knew nothing of the waves around the corner at Seal Point and the beach break, or of the sublimity of Supertubes in JBay just 30 minutes away from them. The Farm had many other interesting facets to it, and there were so many different reasons to fall in love with the area. Endless Summer It was an American surf film producer Bruce Brown who ‘discovered’ the magic of Hulett’s Farm. He also discovered the most famous surf spot on The Farm, Bruce’s Beauties was named after him. He arrived in 1963, looking for great waves to film for his global ‘Endless Summer’ surf documentary. By pure luck, he and his crew walked in on a magical day at Bruce’s. There was a fresh south swell running, the water was warm, there was bright sunshine, and the wind was right. The crew was actually further down the beach. According to history, ‘irritating each other’, when one of the team noticed a little wave peeling in the corner, that was better than what it first looked. That simple discovery initiated many an obsessed surfers’ traipsing around the world on his or her noble surf quest.The truth is that they ran down the beach and simply paddled out. Brown went to film the session, and it was only days later that he filmed the crew ‘cresting a sand dune and discovering one of the best waves in the world.’ That part was pure b-roll fiction. Brown filmed them for a full day on the sand dune, looking for the shot, looking for the moment that would make it look like it was a discovery. He never told anyone, and neither did the featured surfers. It was decades later that the truth got out, and that the drama of the discovery was actually staged. They had simply walked down the beach and paddled out. Still, the humanity of that particular story is also great. Leighton might not have been a surfer, but the area soon became a retreat for surfers to come and hang out and to hunker down. They stayed in the fishing shacks set up on the beach, and tried to score the elusive Bruce’s Beauties. Mostly they would surf the beach and the reef, and hang out on the desolate sand dunes. Bruce’s itself is one of the most fickle waves in the country. When Bruce Brown released Endless Summer in 1966, it was 10 years before there was any sort of television in South Africa. It took a few more years before there was video, and many South African surfers never even saw the movie or knew much about it. Bruce’s Beauties wasn’t even a whispered secret. It was totally unknown to all but the lucky few. Souls Of St Francis By Sandy Coffey and Caroline Morris St Francis is all about helping each other so that we can create a better future for all our children. There are so many drugs and alcohol, and much crime here in Sea Vista, but it has been getting much better. Also, I have a few dogs and they keep us safe here. The rubbish and the water can be a problem as well, but this has also got much better lately, and we have had some help after the recent heavy rains, when some of the lower roads flooded. It was difficult for all of us during Lockdown. We often didn’t know what was happening, but that has all changed, and I hope that things will get better as we approach summer. What would I suggest? Let’s work with the police. Let’s help each other combat the crime. Let’s be kind to the animals, and let’s educate the kids. It all starts with the youth. Who am I? I am a child of God, a deeply committed Christian. I do a lot of work in the church. I am a mother (I had my first child at a very, very young age) and I am a wife. And I work hard. My son is in college, and I work hard to make sure we have enough to pay the fees for his education. Mimi Detshe. Domestic Worker. Sea Vista. https://www.facebook.com/soulsofstfrancis VIEW VIEW VIEW VIEW St Francis College Getting To Know The Teachers: Sports Coach Ralton Fortuin Energetic and well-liked, Coach Fortuin is one of those people who gets the job done. His spirit and attitude on the sports field and off is both passionate and light. Winning is important, but playing the game with enthusiasm and the right attitude is key. We caught up with him… Tell us a little bit about yourself. I’m 41 and from Beaufort West but lived in Mosselbay and then Cape Town before ending up in Jbay. I represented SWD in soccer, tennis and volleyball at school level. You used to work for Element in JBay.