Good morning from sunny Cape Town. It's been relatively relaxing for the last 36 hours as Goup 1 has left to Plettenburg and Group 2 are preparing to fly out. We've been runnning around finalising the Cape Town itinerary and sneaking off for a few waves in between. With a new swell hitting today the guys over in Plet have hit the water already and will hopefully be enjoying the warmer waters of the Indian Ocean. I'm sure there are now more than a few butterflies floating around with the prospect of the world's highest bungee looming in the next day or so. Watch this space for photos and blogs from the guys over the next few days!

As for life in Cape Town - Will and I woke early this morning and set off down the beach to "Dunes". At 5:30am there wasn't another soul in sight. The new swell arrived bang on time and we shared a couple of hours of perfect waves as the sun rose over the pristine white sands of Nordhoek beach. Not a bad start to a monday morning - Cape Townians have it very lucky!

So with Trip 1 now well underway and Trip 2 set to kick off tomorrow it's exciting times out here in SA. The swell is set to last, the sun continues to shine and with some great projects, day trips and tours lined up the guys are in for quite a welcome.

That's about it for now. Till the next blog then.....

Just a quick post from me today to say that everyone on Trip 2 has landed safely and by some miracle, everyone has their luggage.

So here we go with Trip 2...

After a much needed feed at our favorite Kommetjie Cafe 783 and a bit of local orientation, everyone is just taking their time to settle in and prepare for what is now enshrined in TTRide tradition for the first night in South Africa - the welcome Braai.

From a staff point of view it is great for us to finally be able to meet and get to know the Riders on the trip even though we have been talking to them for so long in the run up to the trip.

Tomorrow's Trip 2 itinerary is looking good with a talk from Tim and Nikki first thing in the morning, followed by a morning surf lesson, rounded off with some Fish and Chips in what has to be the finest and freshest fish and chip shop in the world, straight off the boat and into the fryer.

The afternoon wil be fairly relaxed, which gives everyone to settle into to the TTRide routine.

Great to finally have the whole crew out here, however spare a thought for Linley who is boldly manning up the UK office. In fairness he was out here for the whole of November running the Road Trip and I am swapping places with him for the 2nd half of Feb and all of March. Apparently its flooding back there?? Send some rain this way if you like! It will cool us down (Joking?).

For those eagerly following the progress of Trip 1. We are in the process of setting up a new 'Trip Diary' page on the ttride site which will leave this space for more of a general update with each trip being individually updated by the trip leaders.

I have heard from Chris that they had great surf yesterday and everyone's loving surfing in the warmer waters of Plettenberg Bay.

Chris also assures me that all 16 members of Trip 1 are keen to do the bungee especially as we have now included it as part of the overall TTRide Trip. He has also promised to put some kind of a Trip 1 update on todays blog.

Watch this space.....

All for now.

(Apologies for the cheap weather shots)

(Pictures will follow shortly) 30 degrees today and not a cloud in the sky. Should be a great evening for a Braai. (I can't help myself)

TTride trip 2 is now well underway with the guys and girls now back at the hostel nursing aching muscles after a full day's surfing. It's always intereting to see how the groups get on in their first lessons and the level of surfing shown today bodes well for some extremely exciting and succesful months ahead. Everybody was up and riding this morning and there was even space for a bit of show-boating as Oli W decided to have a crack at a few fins first take-offs. With such a strong level being shown early on we are all very excited to see just how far the guys and girls on this trip will go. It was also great to see everyone getting on together with some of the more expereiced surfers helping out the first-timers as well. It's so good to see such a positive attitude amongst the team and it's what surfing is all about - sharing waves with your friends.

It was buisness as usual last night as Paul and Dene Botha put on the now traditional welcoming Braii. Sitting out on the decking, looking out towards Chapman's peak with the sun setting behind, we enjoyed a real South African feast with grilled Fish, Chicken, Lamb and Ostrich. With a couple of beers thrown in to break the ice it was a great evening as eveyone started to get to know one and other. The crew on this trip is a diverse one with riders from the UK, Austria, Iceland and Canada so there's great incentive to make new friends in countries far and wide and get a few more stamps in the passport!

Today we started a little later than usual to allow everyone to catch up on some much needed sleep. We headed over to Muizenburg for 11am and were greeted by some perfect 2-4 ft lines. The wind help off for the afternoon so plans were quickly re-hashed to allow for everyone to take full advantage of the conditons and get some good confidence building waves under their belt.

It was then back to the hostel where Lucinda has knocked up a mean looking veggie lasangne. After 4 hrs in the water today their were some hungry looking stares as we returned!

Tomorrow morning sees more of the same with light winds and a good long-fetch swell. The wind is due to blow in the afternoon but no worries there - the guys are going to get involved with some of the local children on the beach and do some football coaching before a talk in the evening from Karen, our community project organiser.

Lots more to look forward to and the next blogs will update you on the progress. But for now it's off for some food and then some rest before another busy day down here in South Africa.

Till the next time then.......

It’s been a busy two days here in Cape Town as the trip gathers momentum and we all start to slip into the routine of life here in South Africa. The sun has been beating down with daytime temperatures regularly topping 30 degrees making the ocean the ideal place to be and pasty winter complexions a thing of the past.

On the surfing front, the riders have now all got their own surfboards after the presentation at Paul and Dene Botha’s house. From the balcony we could see some lovely little left handers peeling down the point at inner Kom on the fading swell. With a new swell predicted for the beginning of next week there are plans being hatched to move the lessons to the Atlantic Coast and get some of the riders into some slightly more challenging waves. Having the Kahuna Academy on board is a great help as the rider:instructor ratios are excellent with everybody receiving some good coaching. It also frees our time up allowing myself and Nikki to break out the video camera and start getting some footage down for the evening feedback sessions that are planned for next week.

With the swell fading we have focused more on the out of water activities with the riders getting heavily involved with some of our community projects. Following the talk from Karen, our community project facilitator, we introduced the guys and girls to Thomas. Thomas runs Cape Town Juventus, a football team for the young up and coming stars of the Masipumelele township. For the last two days Thomas and 20 of his protégées have come down to Longbeach to humiliate us at the sport we so proudly call our own! Being from the UK they all expect us to be on a par with their heroes in the premiership. With the possible exception of Kit we have all failed miserably to meet their expectations! Apologies to the rest of the group but I include myself here if that comes as any consolation!

Thomas has also taken us on a tour of his township which proved to be a humbling and eye-opening experience for many. The lasting impression was how happy everybody was inspite of the living standards. Thomas told us that the summer was a happy time to be in the township due to the favourable climate however winter was a different matter with the rain and wind causing flooding and disease. The question and answer session held in the township library will live long in the memory as I’m sure will Brandon’s game of chess with the local champ. The girls also took some packages of cuddly toys to the local Creche and will be going back next week to pay another visit and meet the children.

And then came the great fire! Over a few sundowners and pizza at the Red Herring we watched in awe as a very large forest fire ripped through the night and over the mountain ending a bit too close to our accomodation here in Kommetjie. The danger was never too real but we did leave the bar early fearing that we wouldn’t be able to get through. Passing many a fire truck as we left we were thankful that the fire abated over night - though we did have to wipe the ash from the windscreens this morning as we headed off to climb table mountain. The walk was tough in the heat but those that braved it were greeted with epic views down the Cape in the clear conditions. It was then back to the camp, via Chapman’s Peak, for a session of sandcastle building with the kids from the Ocean View township before a Poitjie (traditional stew) tonight.

Thanks for reading and till next time......
Tim

Please excuse the terrible pun but I couldn’t resist, for the last two days we have enjoyed the fruits of a new swell that looks set to hang around for some time yet. It has allowed us to split the group into two classes with those that are keen to push it taking on the slightly more challenging waves of Long Beach and those that are looking to hone their technique heading over to the softer waves of Muizenburg. Everyone is starting to make some good progress on their new boards and all in all the surfing side of things is looking very promising. The new swell has also opened up the opportunity to do a bit of exploration and on Thursday we will be loading the trailer early to head up to Table View where a whole load of new waves await from mellow rollers to reeling barrels – money where your mouth is time! It should be an interesting day.

Elsewhere we have been feeling the fall out from the fire of the other night. Several homes in nearby Scarborough were burnt down as well as a number in Ocean View Township. The community hall where we usually would attend dance classes has been turned into a shelter. Adam, Andrea, Harry and Oli headed up there yesterday to hand out provisions to the unlucky few who so sadly lost their homes. While they were in the township, the rest of the guys took a trip up Kommetjie lighthouse. The view from the top was spectacular, as you would expect from the highest lighthouse in Southern Africa.

Sunday was Steinar’s birthday so we headed to the popular night spot of La Med for a few drinks. Set right on the beach it was a great night – I’m not too sure just how much Steinar will remember of it but he assures us all he had fun!

More surfing to come tomorrow morning before a tour around the famous vines of Klein Constantia in the afternoon. The next blog update will be Friday by which time the group will have been around Cape Point, Picnicked with penguins on Boulders Beach and done their dreaded 1st timed swim. Never a dull moment!

Till Friday then,

Tim