My Sporting Life
I have had a go at many sports during my time, whenever an opportunity arose. I have lived most of my life by the sea and therefore am a pretty competent watersport enthusiast; but I have never lived near a snowy place and thus have never snow-ski'd or ice-skated. So here I want to list all the sports I have had a go at in order of enthusiasm or enjoyment (and not in chronological order).
First, let's get rid of the sports I have either never tried or worse still, hated. As I mentioned above I have never tried any sport related to snow or ice. I have played one game of cricket in my life and hated it. Similarly, before even trying tennis I knew I wouldn't like it so I never did try it. I did try soccer when I was a kid at junior school and longed to make the team but never once did I crack the nod. Funny enough, I love kicking a ball around and regard my ball control skills as quite good; but soccer? Nah! Well, that already eliminates at least three of the top five sports in the world, so what's left?
It's interesting how sports can be divided into those that offer pure enjoyment, such as windsurfing, and those that offer only a sense of accomplishment but at great mental and physical expense, such as competitive swimming. This correlates with those sports which require no specific training (just a general fitness) and those that seem to require little else but hard training. You may also notice that essentially all of my favourite sports are solo sports, as opposed to team sports. Following is a list of those I have had a decent go at:
I spent the first six years of my life within 200m of Big Beach, Bakoven, so I learned to swim early and, as a matter of interest, get used to the cold Atlantic sea. Soon I enrolled at the Camps Bay Swimming Club and started taking part in club competitions, winning the Junior Club Champs in 1962 (see below), and competing in Western Province and inter-school galas. But the beach was a close second and body-surfing at Glen Beach was high on the agenda. While at school I also tried my hand at water polo but considered it a bit rough for my liking.
Over the years I have taken part in many Masters' swimming galas, including the odd Western Provice Champs and SA Champs. In 2003 I re-joined Camps Bay Swimming Club and started serious training and competing in Masters galas (again), including SA Short Course Champs three years running.
Being swim fit led to me joining a small group of guys who swam across Camps Bay every Sunday morning (today called the Sunday Hot Chocolate Swimming Group) and inevitably to swimming all manner of local open water events, and finally the big daddy of them all Robben Island (three times). I have written my open water escapades up in more detail in the links under the pictures below.
These days (since moving to Strand in 2015) I swim at Strand (in the waves) or to the harbour wall at Gordon's Bay (about 2km). The water is not always as warm as I would like, going as low as 11 degrees; hence the wetsuits! In the photo on the left below you can just see the harbour wall in the top right of the picture (click to enlarge).
I loved windsurfing! I have documented my windsurfing history here
Although I had done a bit of snorkelling in Greece in the seventies it wasn't until I started diving for crayfish whilst on a camping/windsurfing trip to Elands Bay in 1982 that I really got hooked. That started me on an life-long penchant for catching crayfish and perlemoen (abalone). Hermanus in the nineties was a wonderful place to dive, as was Maiden's Cove, on my doorstep in Camps Bay. I admit that even when the Atlantic coast was declared a sanctuary I continued to dive at Bakoven and Maiden's Cove, where the supply of both crayfish and perlemoen never abated. I did, however, stop taking perlemoen when the general poaching got out of hand and of course always legal size crayfish.
I started playing squash in 1973 at the Camps Bay Squash Club and continued playing for another twenty years until my elbow packed up (so-called tennis elbow) and surgery was unable to fix it. I even played regularly when I was living in London in the late seventies, and played 6th league for UCT during the eighties. As low key as it is, I loved playing squash. Whilst living in Holland in 1980 I also played some raquetball, also great fun.
I loved surfing! I have documented my surfing history here
Road cycling: I have documented my road cycling history here
Mountain biking (MTB): I was 68 when I first tried MTB in 2016, and I suspect it was the beautiful trails through the Helderberg vineyards that really got me. The people I rode with were also great, and MTB soon became a real pleasure as well as a serious workout. Alas, 18 months later I contracted encephalitis, leaving my balance severly impaired, and as a result I had a bad accident on my MTB (see here).
After the accident, in January 2020, I plucked up the courage to ride my MTB on Strand beach. I was very wobbly and unconfident, but kept at it on and off until October 2020 when I finally managed to get to the Cell Tower on the Raithby Trails (after a two-and-a-half year lay-off!). Now I am back on the trails (no single track!) every week.
I have documented my triathlon history here
Since I was doing a lot of running for triathlons in the mid-nineties, I decided to have a go at half marathons, especially since two of my best friends were runners. My first was the Gun Run in 1995, followed by the Saldanha Bay half, and then the Knysna Forest half in 1997, 1998, and 1999. My best time was 1:58 at the Knysna in 1997. The Knysna runs were particularly festive because it also meant a weekend away with your mates, and lots of partying!
My surf lifesaving stint at Llandudno Surf Lifesaving Club was short (1974/76) but eventful. I was elected Club Captain and took part in two Western Province Champs and two SA Champs. We won endless events and were both the WP and SA Reel Alarm Champs at one time. In fact, lifesaving duties were restricted to practising for upcoming events and drinking beer. All three of my brothers were also members. We never saved anyone but that wasn't our primary purpose, which was strutting our stuff along the beach.
In 1973 I bought a Honda Elsinore 250cc scrambler and did a lot of dune riding all over the southern Cape. I even started racing off-road at Killarney Race Track and other venues. My brother Paul and my best friend George also had bikes and we rode a lot together: our speciality was Sandy Bay for a bit of skinny dipping! Eventually the engine blew up during a race and I traded it in for a second-hand VW Kombi. The Elsinore was a pretty useless bike, anyway!
Rugby: I actually played quite a lot of rugby in my time, starting at school where it was compulsory and the coach used to hit us in the scrums with a cane, being a good Catholic sadist. In matric I made the school 2nd team playing prop. After school I played social rugby for both Hamiltons and Gardens rugby clubs; the highlight was watching the First Team play after we had finished, with a cool beer in hand. When I went to UCT I played for the Engineers social side, and again, the highlight was beers at The Pig & Whistle after the game. Part of my problem was that I was tall, but light, and couldn't run to save my life - not much to work with!
Water skiing: Well, let's just say I gave it a go once on the Clanwilliam dam in 1975 (below) and nearly wrenched my arm off when I fell but neglected to let go the tow rope. Later, in the 1980's, I did a bit of skiing on a windsurfer behind a speedboat, piloted by my friend Eric, and that's about it.
Paddle skiing: When I was lifesaving at LLandudno in 1976 I did quite a bit of paddle ski surfing at Llandudno.
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