In ‘Kelp Town,’ Adin Masencamp explains how to dodge kelp for just long enough to snag a wave at South Africa’s Pipeline. Photo: Now Now Media // YouTube
Kelp Town, a new surf film from Now Now Media starring Adin Masencamp, starts with an ode to algae. A David Attenborough sound-alike fills us in on the various roles kelp plays in our global ecosystem, in a tone familiar to anyone who’s spent hours watching mesmerizing Planet Earth footage. However, then the hushed reverie comes to a screeching halt and the voice over makes the declaration, “but it’s a tricky bugger to surf over.”
That brings us to the real meat of the video: an exploration of one of South Africa’s hidden surfing gems, buried among stalks of seaweed. “As you jump off the rocks, you’re straight into this massive kelp bed,” explains Adin. “You’re almost lifted from the water. You’ve got no control, because the kelp’s just holding you there. You just gotta paddle through it. As the water drains, the kelp shoots up at you. They’re pretty hard and they definitely pack a punch.”
However, the kelp field guards a secret if you’re tenacious enough, a wave that Mesencamp claims is the closest thing South Africa has to Pipeline. “When the wave comes, the kelp sort of disappears, and then you’re in the tube,” he explains. As glorious as that wave may be, though, it’s still only fleeting moment before the kelp field returns to take its due. “You come up and then you hit this dry patch of kelp and you go flying,” he concludes.
Unfortunately, there is somewhat of a darker undertone to Adin’s tale of weaving through kelp fields to snag a brief glimpse of barreling perfection. One of the reasons for the massive amount of kelp is rampant Abalone poaching in the region. Normally, the gastropods feed on seaweed and act as a limiting factor in its growth, but the missing critters, along with changing sea temperatures, have allowed the kelp fields to grow unchecked across South Africa. What sort of ecological ramifications this will have is not yet fully understood.
One thing is for sure, though: If you’re going to try to surf there, you better bring some sturdy fins. Check out the full video below.
