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Zig Zag is fifth longest running Surf mag in the world

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 20 October, 2009 : - - KZN is famous for its sugar cane, textile and paper industries, giant coal mines and two of Africa's busiest shipping ports. We're not exactly globally famous for our magazine industry.

But right here in KZN one of South Africa's oldest niche magazines and the fifth longest running surf magazine in the world Zigzag, or "the Zag" as it's colloquially known, is about to celebrate its 200th issue, 33 years after the first black and white mag rolled off the printing press.

The idea to start a dedicated South African surf magazine was hatched in a dusty shaping bay in 1976 by surfing legends Mike Larmont, Paul Naude and Doug Macdonald. With a head full of ideas but no actual magazine experience, the trio roped in experienced surfer and journalist Graham Fiford to complete the team and set a 33 year journey in motion.

That first issue, which sold for 50c, will now set you back a few thousand rand if you're a serious collector. Various other rare issues trade for top money too, and paradoxically the "oldest" aren't necessarily the "rarest".

Only seven people worldwide with complete collections of Zigzag, issue 1 through to 200. There's a few others who are scrambling to complete their collections, so if you've got some dusty old Zag's in your attic, you might be sitting on a pile of money.

200 deadlines down the road, Zigzag (which has seen just six editors over the entire period) has become something of an establishment in South African surfing.

The list of surfers who have graced the cover of the magazine over the years reads like a who's who of South African surfing: Shaun Tomson, Martin Potter, Pierre Tostee, Jonny Paarman, Wendy Botha,  Jason Ribbink, Grant "Twiggy" Baker,  Sean Holmes, Travis Logie,  Davey Weare,  and  Jordy Smith may not be the household names of our country's mainstream sportsmen, but as surfing's influence grows, there's probably a name or two in there that everyone will recognise.

Despite our country's small surfing population, SA has always been a major player in international surfing. About 10% of the "elite" world surfing tour is made up of South African surfers, and we've had world champions on both the men's and women's world tours. Not bad considering only 1 out of every 100 surfers worldwide comes from these shores.

The 200th anniversary issue, which hits the shelves in a fortnight's time, celebrates its history with an article on the 25 greatest South African surfers of all time, a list compiled by SA surfing legends such as the aforementioned co-founders, Graham Hynes, Craig Sims, Spider Murphy, and Paul Botha. Various parts of the 200th issue were written by eminent local

surfers, including David Weare, Greg Emslie, Simon Nicholson,  Travis Logie, Brad Bricknell and Paul Canning, under the editorship of Barry Tuck. To find out who made the controversial list, you'll have to get your hands on the latest issue.

www.zigzag.co.za

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Agnes Matladi

Magazine - Surfersvillage