Ticket sales for select events at the “Wavescape Surf & Ocean Festival” have been extended so that fans can enjoy the best online elements of the festival until December 31 at wavescape.co.za.
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, this year’s event was able to forge ahead with a revised lineup of events, including a collaboration with the Galileo Open Air Cinema that saw 400 people enjoy an outdoor evening of films at Kirstenbosch.
The flagship “Slide Night” of talks by ocean gurus like Australian longboard legend Belinda Baggs, top Californian filmmaker Chris Burkard and Mexican ocean conservation pioneer Cristina Mittermeier, will be available for streaming until December 31. The Spike Swell Course (a digital glimpse at wave dynamics and surf forecasting); and the last selection of short to medium surf and ocean films, will also be viewable.
Surf brand guru Paul Naude also took part in “Slide Night” with a talk from Laguna Beach about his collection of more than 500 surfboards, some that were owned by legends of surf history such as Bunker Spreckels, Barry Kanaiaupuni and John Whitmore.
“I thought the edit was really good. Great research and digging up of archival images and content. Really world class, so well done to everyone involved,” said Naude.
Included in the line-up available are films like Doll Rio; “Rise from the Cape Flat; “Miles from Anywhere; Out on Parole; Ebb and Flow; The Armstrongs; Roam and Flow State.
Other aspects of the new-look festival included an online auction of a Brett Murray surfboard, nine Vans sneakers decorated by artists and a seascape painting by Jake Aikman. The auction, conducted on Instagram, raised R40,000 for the “Shark Spotters”, “9 Miles Project”, “Beach Cop”, “Ocean Pledge” and the NSRI.
