Editor’s Note

Do yourself a favour — have a look at Mikey February’s Instagram page. If you’re dreaming of sand and waves and surfers on the break, followed by sundowners on the beach, Mikey epitomises what the Costa Ricans call “pura vida”, a way of life that locals believe is an attitude, an emotion and a feeling of contentment all rolled into one.

Mikey had his big break in 2017 at the Ballito Pro and US Open of Surfing, where he finished third and fifth respectively. Then he made it into the QS (the Qualifying Series for the World Surf Tour) and became the first black surfer from South Africa on the World Tour in 2018.

His style has been described as dancing on the waves — he has some distinctly jazzy moves — and fellow local surfer Jordy Smith says he brought “steeze” (which in surfing terms is a combination of “style” and “ease”) to the tour.

Born in Woodstock, Cape Town, Mikey’s family moved to Kommetjie when he was a teenager and he became obsessed with surfing. His father, Isaac, was a surfer too, who’d sometimes been forced off the beach because of his race. Once he was circled in the waves by a local crowd who forced him out of the water. Mikey ended up winning a contest at the same beach, which, he says, made his dad incredibly proud.

While reading about surfing for this edition, I came across an article on Mikey February in Stab magazine. It says that in the end, Mikey’s success in surfing is a product of his colour.

“And no, not the colour of his skin. The colour of his surfing. The colours of his mind, and bright personality, and his ability to paint all of that into the world with a surfboard,” it goes on to say.

This week’s pages are full of people who don’t subscribe to the stereotypical notions of what surfing is all about. In South Africa surfing seems to be not only about gnarlyness, sex wax and epic breaks; hot, tanned bodies and barrels and beach babes. Though we’ve only scratched the surface of the surfing scene with our featured stories, I hope they get you dreaming about being in the waves. And please, go and look at Mikey February’s Instagram page.

For comments, criticism or praise, write to nagela@sundaytimes.co.za