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Dissecting New Pier: Zigzag takes a closer look pre Quiksilver Pro

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 26 March, 2008 : - - With the wheels firmly in motion for South Africa's biggest WQS event, the Quiksilver Pro Durban Six Star Prime, Zigzag dissects why New Pier is the ultimate beachbreak wave to hold a pro surfing event at:

Yep, there are a lot of good beachbreak waves out there. Good waves that on their day can hold some prime tubes, long smashable walls, wedging bowls for big airs or high lines for solid, carving moves.

But very few of them can claim to roll all of this into one, and sometimes even on the same day. It's this multi-faceted personality that sets the New Pier apart, and makes it the wave de rigeur (itals) if you want to see some of the world's best go at it and pull out their full arsenal. So take a squizz at the diagram above and get the inside scoop as we pick apart one of the world's premiere hi-performance beachbreaks:

1. The Pier
When city engineers removed the Patterson groins and effectively destroyed the legendary Bay of Plenty between 1983 and 1985, they started constructing a new series of piers along the Golden Mile. Surfers called foul on the claim that the waves would be as good. In fact, many scoffed that the waves would be no good at all. The jury will always be out on whether the New Pier lives up completely to the Bay in its prime, but thankfully rumours that the surf would suck were disproved when the new kid on the block started to turn on the juice even before its completion in 1989.

The wave is actually made possible by natural sand flow and longshore drift, combined with sand that gets dredged out the Durban harbour mouth (to the south), which is eventually trapped between the New Pier and North Beach Pier (1B). The net result is a ridiculously consistent sandbank whose quality fluctuates depending on the amount of grains deposited across the bay, but generally hovers between good and excellent.

2. The takeoff peak
Directly in front of the pier, this can often be the shallowest, hollowest part of the ride with the wave rearing up on the apex of the sandbank, formed at the head of the pier. Deepening on the banks, the takeoff can literally run from the end of Wedge, go right in front of the pier and see surfers backdoor the section and get shacked across the bay.

If you blow it here on a solid east swell though, you may get mashed into the pylons. The peak tends to shift a bit as well, with wider ones swinging in further north. One of the most intensely competitive take-off zones when all the boys are in town.

3. Wedge
The wave on the either side of New Pier. Typically a decent left with the occasional right.

4. Inside bowl
The inside bowl comes to life on the higher tides and in smaller swells. Offers the occasional decent right, but more often a better left that runs through the rip and is surprisingly smashable, even in an onshore. At it's best in a SE/E swell.

5. The rip
The notorious rip has the power to melt your arms into jelly and flows with the force of a raging river when the swell's big and the tide is draining. It follows a typical rip pattern flowing straight out and then longshore, but gets it steroid-like strength from the deep channel draining next to the pier. If it's really raging, the rip can destroy the peak and cause waves to double up on themselves and close out.

6. The Jump Off
Straight off the pier and into the rip. One of the easiest paddle-outs up to four-foot. Anything over this, and you're going to want to make sure you time your entry very carefully, or prepare to get mashed on the bank by the sets.

7. The Wall
The prime beef strip of the wave. Usually anything from a super-fun, bowling peak to a screeching wall that opens itself up to pretty much anything you can throw at it (and many do): airs, power carves, hi-speed hacks, floaters, tubes and fin-throws. This is where guys like Travis Logie perfected his rail-based assassination, while freaks like Jordy Smith got his combo of crazy moves wired. The fact that east swells come marching into the Durban basin and are slowed by little until they hit the nicely tapered bank makes sure the wave has plenty of push.

The shape of the bay and the pier also help protect the wave face from predominant sideshore south winds that often kick in after the W/SW offshore, and blow out much of the coast. The lip may get a bit crumbly, but most guys will just use this to smash to their advantage. Works on anything from an E o SW swell, but a clean SE is optimum direction for long walls with plenty of punch.

8. Inside bank
On smaller swells or insiders, the wave will run off the inside bank and still offer up multiple bowl sections. Obviously not with the same grunt you get on the outside during primo days, but still more than enough to go berserk on. A favourite for boosting big airs or going fins-free*.

9. Dairy
The far peak which is actually a wave on its own, or the very end section of New Pier when it's absolutely as good as it gets. Offers a hollow left or right, with a powerful bowl section and really comes to life on east swells.

*[Photo taken on a solid 4-6' + day, rendering the inside bank and bowl one long line of foam, but this is where they'll usually be found.]

What you can expect: The Quiksilver Pro Durban kicks off on 11 April and runs until 20 April. All the local World Tour campaigners – Ricky Basnett, Jordy Smith, Royden Bryson and Travis Logie - are going to be going balls out on their home turf. They will be joined by a host of red-hot locals and some of the other best surfers in the world, many of them looking to secure a coveted slot on the 2009 World Tour.

Combine this with a wave that can dish up some of the most rippable beachbreak walls in the world, and you're guaranteed to witness some phenomenal surfing. Make sure you're there, or log onto quikprodurban.com for live coverage and stay tuned to zogzag.co.za  for our regular behind-the scenes rundown on what's happening.

Check out some video clips of the recent cyclone swell at New Pier and Twiggy Baker's epic tubes 

www.zigzag.co.za
www.quikprodurban.com

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Will Bendix

Environment - Surfersvillage