He imagined sights of English Harbour, and used the thoughts

his job. But how does it work? I asked a clean-cut Bertish recently after he shaved off his pirate beard. “Can’t go on the speaking circuit looking like this,” he said. “Yes you can,” I thought. “I’d pay you double.”

To cope with the rigours of his 4050 mile voyage – which included getting swept overboard, getting buzzed by a shark and dragged backwards by what he and Brown think might have been a giant squid that got entangled in a speed-reducing drogue during a storm – he simply imagined the end ... in a good way.

Bertish envisaged English Harbour and people coming out to see him. He concentrated hard on many aspects of his arrival. He imagined the sights and sounds, and conversations, and used these thoughts as layers. He stacked them up so no giant wave or galeforce wind could destroy them.

Of course 25 years of surfing, sailing and SUPping experience helps you feel that kind of confidence. The World Surf League Championship Tour is into the third event of the year, the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach near Torquay in Australia. Last week Hawaiian John John Florence won the Drug Aware Margaret River Pro in solid 6-8’ surf, while Australian Sally Fitzgibbons won the women’s event. John John defeated Kolohe Andino (USA) in the final after Andino knocked out Jordy Smith in the quarters, relegating the South African to equal fifth. Jordy now sits fourth in the world after a 9th and 5th in the first two events. Changes to this year’s JBU Supertrial powered by Monster Energy allow for a much shorter format at Supertubes for invited surfers vying for a wildcard into the Corona Open JBay. The waiting period for the Supertrial runs between 1 and 11 June. The JBU Supertrial is a precursor to the JBay Winterfest from July 12-23. Kommetjie surfers dominated the inaugural Nelson Mandela Bay Surf Pro presented by Billabong last weekend in mushy surf at Pollock Beach. Mikey February and Jake Elkington won the men’s and junior men’s titles. Crystal Hulett (St Francis Bay) and Kayla Nogueira (Durban) won the women’s and junior women’s titles. A solid groundswell tapers off today. It looks 4-5’ in fresh, straight SE breezes. Good waves along open beaches. Muizenberg is blown out. Tomorrow, light SE winds and clean 2-4’ leftover lines. Muizenberg looks light onshore. Surf 2-3’ and bigger later.