datrip: Did you realize in SA, that we have a El Nino year?

Rik: When I´m not wrong, a side effect of El Nino ist hat the water gets warmer…… this was definitely not the case this winter in Capetown! We were lying in the lineup with bend legs and fingers folded like praying to keep hands and feet at least a little bit warm. But I think the water warms only at the west coast of south America…. Anyhow the water was damn cold here!

datrip: The El Nino effect in the north Atlantic is he absence of the trade winds. I was expecting that the cape doctor might have been weaker this year. But maybe the effect happens later. I just was wondering how you were paddling in that prayer position. You must be very good at yoga. Does that position help during shark attacks?

Rik: Now that you are saying it! In December and January I have been windsurfing only 5 times, ´cause there was no wind. Nowadays I don´t mind if I go windsurfing or surfing, I´m happy as long as I find any waves. That´s the way I started surfing: one day I was fed up with sitting sadly on the beach waiting for wind and seeing these perfect waves in front of me without making anything out of them. Yeah, paddling in that position doesn´t really work, but with these water temperatures one tries to paddle as little as possible and most of all avoid duck diving. I think sharks don´t come during El Nino, dont´they?

datrip: hmmm, as long as the water stays cold there´s enough food for smaller and bigger fishes and there is hope that the big greys are satisfied… Do you think a lot about the landlords when sitting in the lineup? Did you ever meet one?

Rik: Sure, the thought about sharks enters your mind quite often out here in SA, especially when surfing False Bay or Mossel Bay. But up to now I never went to know one personally. At the beginning I sometimes had the theme of “Jaws” playing in my head when surfing remote spots, but I think that stops later on, when the brain realizes that not every shadow in the water is life threatening.

datrip: South Africa has become your regular winter domicile. What do you like about it that much?

Rik: In 2001 and 2002 I made a round the world trip. Back then it was clear to me that I wanted to emigrate to live by the ocean. South Africa was the last stop of the trip and I immediately fell in love with the area and nature around Cape Town. In the same year I founded a surf hostel over there and started to spend the winters in Cape Town. It didn´t take me long to find out, that Cape Town not just had perfect conditions for windsurfing but also for surfing. The city is full of contrasts, what causes a lot of problems but also fascinates me a lot. Different cultures and ways of life meet and everyone gets impressed and inspired by the way of life of the others. The city breathes an incredible joy of living and energy, accompanied by a subtle seriousness, caused by the poverty that confronts the people here.

datrip: As European, how do you get along with the mentality and the still harsh poverty of the people living there? Is it possible to get accustomed to the still omnipresent violence in this country?

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