What’s been happening in St Francis over the last 6 months?

A selection of snippets since our Summer Update: some sport, some property news, and some other stuff. It’s in reverse chronological order, ie the latest first.

19 June

The very successful 2023 SA Paddling Champs over the last four days was the third time in St Francis in six years! I suggest we host it every year!

K1 winners were world champ Andy Birkett and young Jade Wilson , K2 winners another world champ Hamish Lovemore with Clinton Cook, and Saskia Hockly and Michelle Burn, and the surfski winners were GOAT Hank McGregor and Kira Bester.

Seems I am skilled at choosing a partner, somehow Gary Atkinson and I finished first in the K2 (65’s and over)!

6 June

Canals: only 28 vacant plots left … and very very few for sale! Pic taken at lunchtime today.

5 June

Our office (lower middle) catching the 10am winter sun this morning

4 June

Cape St Francis boom over? Property sales in Cape St Francis have slowed up a bit after a busy 2021 and 2022, when sales were around R140m per annum. If the first five months are any guide, sales in 2023 will be lower, around the R120m mark. But 2023 still looks set to be much higher than the R85m achieved in 2019 and 2020. There have been an impressive 350 sales in Cape St Francis since January 2018, but only 12 over R5m, of which only three were over R10m, with the highest R11.5m. Plot sales were mostly around R600,000 to R800,000. Alastair Stuart-White is the man for enquiries for Cape St Francis, plus the Industrial Area and the Oyster Bay Road area.

3 June

The new MTB bridge, thanks to the “Balies Beach” party at Billy’s Beach on 2 January, which raised R150k for various causes, including Matt Davis’s soccer, and R20k for this bridge and the new section of MTB track leading up to it. Thanks to the construction team of Greg and Tyrone, and Rotary who has kindly been custodian of the funds. About R500,000 has been spent on our 25km track over the last three years.

2 June

Record price of R21m for a residential property sale in the East Cape : made by Pam Golding St Francis in 2008. This record stood until 2015, when another canal home sold for R23m, which still stands as the record today. Maybe to be broken very soon??

28 May

East Cape Marathon Paddling Champs, St Francis Bay : World Champion Andy Birkett unsurprisingly won the K1 … and the K2 with young Matt Fenn. SA Marathon Champs are on 15 to 18 June … also at SA’s best paddling venue! Thanks for pic Gibbo.

27 May

St Francis Links: Pam Golding Properties has sold a market-leading 223 Links properties since 2012. Saria Blaauw has, over the last five years since she joined us, sold 135 of these Links properties, with a remarkable 46 in one year! Saria has lived with her family on the Links for more than 10 years. She and her husband recently completed a wonderful new Links home.

Saria is based in the clubhouse every day, and she can inform you about every aspect of life on the Links, and she will be your “no pressure” guide to property on the Links.

22 May:

St Francis Bay Village: Property Sales Over R4m boom since Covid: Until 2019, Village properties that sold for more than R4m were almost always right on the beachfront. Since 2020, most have been away from the beachfront, as far as Lyme Road South and Reservoir Road. Also the volume of Village sales over R4m has increased from 1.5 sales per annum for the period 2005 – 2019, to 6 sales per annum since 2020. Both these facts illustrate how property in the Village (and the rest of St Francis Bay, by the way) has been very buoyant since covid …. despite the lack of progress with the beach restoration. The first sale in the Village over R4m was in 2005, and there have been three sales over R10m, the highest being R11.5m, in Ralph Road. Dot Stuart-White is the top selling agent by the proverbial country mile in the Village. (by Village we mean the suburb between the Canals and Santareme).

21 May

Walking down for another 14km Kromme River downwind paddle today, with the stiff westerly and the outgoing tide. Somehow we have done more this year than ever before. I like them because I have to paddle all the way home, whereas on an out-and-back, I am always tempted to turn early!

20 May

Pretty view in Santareme this afternoon, with a yacht enjoying the light wind

19 May

Great surf in May! And the best was today, wonderful waves in front of us at Killers . Billy P, Matt D, Phil S, Rich deB, Jono H, Dustin H, Rob G … and Jordy S .. and many others enjoyed Killers (and Bruces) from early till lunchtime. I enjoyed a few mid-morning at Bruces myself

16 May – 7.10am

Sunrise from Santareme in winter is actually over PE and not over the sea, although it’s tricky to see where land ends because the hills get lower and lower towards PE (which is about east-northeast from here)

13 May

Watch “St Francis Bay – Summer 2022/2023 … with Raffy and Friends” (7min)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypYbdLpksls

12 May

76 houses burnt down on 11 November 2012, ten and a half years ago, sparking a building boom, with an amazing 38 re-build starts within 12 months, and 51 within three years. And now in 2023, 67 houses have been re-built …. only one with thatch. (Five houses survived the fire …. only one with thatch)

12 & 13 May

Kromme River Descent Swim

I paddled from the top of the river to watch the start of the 5.5km day 1. It was surprisingly calm in the drizzle, but the wind soon picked up to a fierce 25knot south-easter. The 5km day 2 was swum in the canals and estuary due to the weather. Well done winner Craig Walland And to Ralph West , Duncan Edwards , Kevin Richards and team for another fine event Locals swimmers were Pete King, Carmel Billson, Neval Ackerman, Brandon & Claudia Harcu , Byron Andrews , Nigel Harvey , Marc May and Paul Hurley

11 May

Otter dung near our house this week. A family of five spend loads of time near us, in the sea, and in the bushes.

10 May

Weekly Wednesday paddling time trial start at 5.30, thanks Dave Louw. Another beautiful evening, but getting quite dark now. I paddled Gary Atkinson’s super tippy KI, closest to the camera. . After having a swim after 9km last week, I was glad to finish without a swim tonight . The plan is to paddle East Cape and SA Marathon Champs over the next six weeks

10 May

“In 2020 We Still Had A Rather Low Regard For Santareme” [LINKSHIELD PROTECTED] stfrancistoday.com/in-2020-we-still-had-a-rather-low-regard-for-santareme-words-by-richard-arderne/

9 May

Walk through Sea Vista Township – Refuse Skips

I had a walk through Sea Vista this morning to see the positions of the eight refuse skips with some municipal officials and the Kromme Trust representative Stella Plantinga . The officials discussed possible additional skip positions, more regular replacement of skips (before they are full), and a possible employee at each skip to manage the process. Also the clean-up of sites where refuse has been dumped due to skips being too far apart. Another problem is narrow streets, with electricity cables needing to be raised for refuse trucks to be able to fit through.

Contrasts in Sea Vista

8 May

St Francis Bay

“Manuel de Perestrelo, a Portuguese explorer weighed anchor in a sheltered bay in 1575. He was struck with the natural beauty of what he saw and named it Bahia de Sao Francisca after the Patron Saint of Sailors, St Francis of Assissi. As legend has it, the landward side reminded him of the beautiful cloisters of the 14th Century Gothic monastery of St Francisca, at his hometown of Santareme. Little did he know that over 400 years later a unique village of great beauty would develop right here.”

Thanks to today’s St Francis Today and St Francis Tourism

PS I’d never heard of Manuel, good to know about him

5 May

There have been 54 St Francis Bay Property Sales of R10m or more : 47 of them residential and 7 commercial/development/industrial (highlighted in yellow on the spreadsheet). The first sale over R10m was in 2005, then there were none from 2008 to 2012, and half of the 54 in the last three years!

Only two homes have ever been sold for more than R20m, one in 2008 and one in 2015.

Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, given the very buoyant property market over the last three years, there have been no sales over R20m since 2015 …. but there have been home investments ie plot plus building costs over R20m. The bulk of the top end sales over the last few years have been in the R10m to R15m range. The canals sales make up 77% of home sales over R10m (highlighted in blue on the spreadsheet)

There have been no transfers over R10m on the Links yet … but one sale over R10 is still to transfer.

5 May

Santareme and the Port Sales over R4m (and Johan Viljoen)

Johan made a very bold promise about what he would do if he sold this house. We toned it down considerably for this shot!

Some background:

After the first sale over R4m in Santareme (in Tom Brown Boulevard) in 2004, there were 24 sales over R4m (but all less than R6m) between then and 2019, with no discernible upward trend. The sales tempo was less than 2 per year .

Since 2019, there have been 29 sales over R4m at a tempo of 6 per year , with a definite and steep upward trend in the record highest price:

2019: R6.5m (Otters Landing)

2021: R8.05m (Port Island)

2021: R11.25m (Tom Brown)

2023: R12.7m (Tom Brown)

A vacant plot in Esmaralda Road recently sold for R4.75m, also a new record high. Buyers have recognised the attractions of Santareme and the Port, and the demand remains strong, and we expect many more sales over R4m, plus many further investments well over R10m.

Johan is the only estate agent in St Francis who only sells property in Santareme and the Port, and over the last three years has played a large role in bringing about the recognition of Santareme for what it is: one of the few north-facing suburbs overlooking the sea in the country. His sales since early 2020 amount to a remarkable almost R200m.

30 April

Joe vd Linde and Albert Frost at the Brewery this evening The Brewery has established itself as the music mecca for St Francis/JBay.

28 April

Pam Golding Emerald Circle

Andrew Golding announced at the Pam Golding Gold Club regional awards function at Kurland in the Craggs this week that Lois Fox and Dot Stuart-White had achieved Pam Golding Emerald Circle status for the year ended 28 February 2023.

This is an extraordinary achievement, the first time in the 28 years of Pam Golding in St Francis Bay. Emerald Circle is for the top 20 Pam Golding agents, out of 2000 agents in Southern Africa. Only one agent in the Eastern Cape has ever previously achieved this. For two agents from our small town to be recognised in this way in our small town is truly remarkable, testimony to the popularity of St Francis and their very hard work.

They have won an all expenses-paid trip to a yet-to-be-announced unique week in Europe (previous trips include the Roland Garros tennis finals, and Bolshoi ballet in Moscow). This is in addition to their upcoming trip to Vic Falls for the Pam Golding Gold Club conference for the top 200 agents.

Lois and Dot sold property to the value of R221m in the 12 month period, out of our office’s total of R358m.

We are so grateful to all our clients who have trusted us with their property transactions.

17 April

Monday evening at the ski canal, watching Dave Louw coaching the Sea Vista u18 paddlers as they prepare for a trip to Germany in July . A few minutes later we watched the over 60’s paddlers also doing sprints, coached by Stephan Vorster

17 April

Watch our five otters foraging in the rock pools this morning Usually we see them on their way in the water along the coast, or coming ashore to spend some time in their hideaway. But yesterday they spent about 30min on the rocks right in front of us

15 & 16 April

Seals Board Riders Club Comp Thanks Jade Dace and Simon Fish and the rest for a fun event. Not my best surfing moment, dropping in on the famous Mark Wright. Also in my heat was the also famous Greg Smith. (Nice to watch them up close).

8 April

Pam Golding Properties King of the Kromme 2023

The Pam Golding Properties Queen and King of the Kromme 2023 are Chloe Bunnett and Jasper Mocke! This is Jasper’s third title (two in a row), in 1hr 41min 12secs. And great to have top paddler Chloe Bunnett here, just a pity defending champion Jade Wilson wasn’t well on the day.

Also great to have Kirstin Scott on the podium for the umpteenth time over the last 15 years. Second man Ricky Talevi has also been on our podiums many times, and third man was Thomas Lovemore, only slightly slower than his world champ brother, with Hein van Rooyen just a few secs behind. Hennie Roos, one of the ten EL paddlers, and unsurprisingly the first over 60 paddler. PS BWCC had 16 paddlers, so they get the prize for the club with the most visitors! Two minutes later Ashley Fulford, Chloe Bunnett, Brendon Thompson, one of SA’s top paddlers 55 to 60, and then young Morgan Tebbutt.

Then amazingly 22 boats within the next five minutes, around the 2hr mark. If I had paddled 5 min faster, I would have finished 12th instead of 28th! Uncharacteristically Rob Welsh in last spot in 2hr 15min, suffering from cramp.

Well done to everyone who braved the harsh conditions, strong westerly on the way up, and very strong incoming tide on the way back! Over 80 paddlers, despite the conditions, and some last minute faders (no names mentioned )

Thanks very much to all the volunteers, I’m scared to list them in case I leave someone out, but here goes, in no particular order: Charlie Jonsson, Jen Vallance, Magda Boshoff, Carol Rothero, Kath Bowren, Anita Dobrowski, Gail Brooker, Dave and Marie Louw, Chantel James for the coffee & rusks, Paul and Chris Middleton .. once again taking their boat up the river, Jaco Prins and Dirk Harding for assisting the paddlers who swam

Another swimmer was Capt Pete King, within the first 100m! But being the stalwart he is, he paddled past most of the field, including irritatingly passing yours truly as well!

So next year do we try again to have paddlers stay between the bouys, the deep channel (partly to make it fairer for surfskis vs k1’s) or let everyone choose their own way?? Trouble is that this can result in paddlers choosing a bad option, and then being forced to portage. Personally I prefer the first option. And I witnessed Gary Atkinson in his k1 open up at least 200m versus Marcus Burri and me (in skis) at the long corner up the Geelhout on the way back, by paddling in the very shallow water! He loved that! So I need to buy a k1!

PS although it was a singles race, doubles and k3’s were very welcome, and quite a few entered, notably the very fast combination of surfers Phil Smith and Dale Staples .. and married couples Brandon & Tracey van der Walt, and Jason & Natalie Goedhals.

Great photo by Gibbo, paddlers putting in max effort at the start, despite still 21km race up the river to go Green Pam Golding logos on the front of all the boats I’m in the blue and white vertical striped surfski, middle top

7 April

Wing foiling: Clifford Coetzer, Ryan Nel, Gumby, Nevil Hulett, Andrew Henwood, Marcel, Tom Figl and Gavin Dace left Grannies around 11am on Friday and landed at JBay

10 April

“Talking Heads”: the 7.30 daily swimming group at grannies this morning with a few surfers at Huletts behind

6 April

On the Canals : such a pretty this evening, lots and lots of boats, especially at the river mouth, enjoying sunset and then full moon rise

Raffy and I were supping again (and Janey paddling) but this was taken on Ski Canal a few days ago, Raffy enjoying his lookout position in front

2 April

St Francis Bay United Football Club: we are proud to have our logo on Matt Davis’s club’s kit …. photographed at their 1st team celebration at the Full Stop of their winning of the Kouga Coastal Premier League Thanks for the photos Sandy Coffey (and for all the fundraising at the StorySlam evenings)

Here is a list of the players and coaches:

Players:

Songezo Mpofu (Player of the season)
Philani Danca (Players player of the season)
Sandile Danca
Lunathi Bunu (Most improved player)
Vuyowethu Mandeka
Ignatius Davids (top goal scorer)
Zusakhe Sawula
Malibongwe Silolo (Committed and discipline Award)
Sinethemba Saki
Bonginkosi Michaels
Michael Nyasulu
Steven Mamgani
Sabo Maqonga
Azaqhame Tuko
Jamie Lindsay
Aryton Terrazas
Sibusiso Mshumpela

Coaches

Matt Davis
Masixole Qekema
Juju Junior Mtongana
Athenkosi Maqolo

31 March

I’m very lucky to work with this wonderful group of people We spent the day near the very top of the Kromme River, about 13km from the mouth Beautiful day, and we swam in warmish water, and had a picnic on the bank. Sadly Raffy and friends weren’t invite

30 March

Resurfacing of Triton Drive: great to see this municipal contract underway. This 2.5km section from the Port to the turnoff from St Francis Drive to Palamos Rd is the last of the 6km from Marina Village to the Port (St Francis Drive, plus the short section to the Port). The other 4.5km had been resurfaced over the last few years, along with Tarragona, Lyme Rd North and South, Geelbek and Steenbras in Sea Vista, and most of da Gama Rd in Cape St Francis. Photo: Johan Viljoen.

How many houses are there in St Francis?? (and how many people live in St Francis Bay??)

The answer is … no one really knows! (until now!)

There are 4078 residential erven in St Francis Bay, including the Links, Cape St Francis, and 336 in Sea Vista, according to property data company, Lightstone, which uses Deeds Office information.

But how many erven have houses on them? No one knows! (until now!)

So we carefully counted them … using Google Earth photos, dated May 2022.

And our answer is 2915 houses

This excludes informal dwellings, and excludes 566 sectional title units .

Subtracting the 2915 houses from the 4078 erven means that there are 1163 vacant plots.

How many informal dwellings are there? We counted on recent aerial photos about 900, split between about 500 older dwellings (not so easy to count), and about 400 dwellings built in the last few years in the new extension and alongside the sports field.

These figures exclude informal dwellings on the 336 Sea Vista formal residential properties, where many seem to have at least one informal dwelling.

How many people live in St Francis Bay?? (now that we know there are 2915 houses)

The answer is … no one knows!

A census was done about ten years ago, and recorded about 5000 residents. Another census was done early last year, but we are yet to hear the results.

As we recently reported, we carefully counted all the houses in St Francis Bay, including the Links, Cape St Francis and Sea Vista, using Google Earth photos (dated May 2022) and our answer was 2915 houses (out of 4078 residential erven). In addition, there are 566 sectional title units, giving a total of about 3500 residential units. See table below.

But how many are permanently occupied? No one knows!

(Let’s say anyone who spends more than half the year here is a permanent resident. Or put another way, its anyone who sleeps in St Francis Bay on a typical low season mid-week night)

Our guess is that about 40% of the residential units (excluding Sea Vista) are permanently occupied, with on average three residents, ie about 1300 residential units x three residents = about 4000 permanent residents. (many permanent residents are retirees with only two residents per home)
Our guess is almost all the Sea Vista houses are permanently occupied, with on average six residents per house (including residents in informal dwellings on the properties), ie 336 x six residents = about 2000 permanent residents (Sea Vista houses were excluded from the first calculation)
As we also recently reported, we counted on recent aerial photos about 900 informal dwellings in Sea Vista. (This figure excludes informal dwellings on Sea Vista formal residential properties). Assuming there are on average four people per informal dwelling, this would mean an additional approximately 3600 permanent residents.

In other words, our guesstimate is that the total permanent resident population is about 10,000 , of which about 6,000 live in Sea Vista.

PS 1 This guesstimate could be way out, but it’s probably safe to say that the permanent population to the nearest 10,000 is 10,000!

PS 2 You might wonder whether we had the answer in mind, and worked the figures to arrive back at the answer!

26 March

Raffy has launched his own clothing range

25 March

Bruce’s Beauties: I can’t remember who took this of me at Bruces, around ten years ago .. I enjoy the memory every time I open my laptop

I enjoyed a few good sized waves at Bruces last Saturday, although my new single fin 9’7” longboard wasn’t ideal

25 March

Our property sales for our financial year recently ended on 28 February 2023, were a new record high of R358m, 14% up on the previous year. This is unsurprising given St Francis Bay’s popularity, especially over the last three years.

This time last year we announced that our sales had grown by 34%, but that kind of exponential growth was unlikely to happen again this year. To put the sales growth in St Francis Bay in perspective, our total sales for the last three years (R906m) is more than double the total sales for the three prior years (R397m)

And our total sales for this year is literally ten times more than ten years ago!

Well done to the amazing sales achieved by our five sales agents (Lois Fox, Dot Stuart-White, Johan Viljoen, Saria Blaauw, and Alastair Stuart-White), not forgetting the valuable member of our team, Krystal Scott who runs our holiday rentals. And our office manager Leandie Terblanche.

23 March

Raffy set a new stick record for the biggest stick he has ever carried yesterday

(It doesn’t look it, but it was very heavy!)

19 March

Englishman Matthew Baldwin (with Jeff Clause and our Links specialist Saria Blaauw) won the inaugural $1.5m SDC Championship at St Francis Links this afternoon We enjoyed watching his last few holes

23 February

Great surf in St Francis over the past few days , unusually good for February

I had two good surfs at Huletts, this wave was yesterday morning. I was a bit slow and missed the best waves, the east breeze had picked up a bit

Nice Ford bakkie parked near the new Sea Vista U-Save shop yesteday

Shows just a bit of the now substantial industrial area, expanding at quite a pace

23 February

Wine on the Water: I dropped in to see the Rotarians busy setting up at Quays this morning for their 2nd Wine on Water, which starts tomorrow

I didn’t see Jo Brown and Craig Northwood, two of the kingpins of the team, but maybe they are sampling the wine

13 February

Coastal Coatings have just finished painting our office. Highly recommended

12 February

Downwind to JBay this morning, 25 to 30 knots, and some big swell in places. Warm day and warm water. Great conditions for catching runs

But my ski rolled down Aston Bay beach at the end .. Andy McP left it for just one sec and away it went! (I was walking up the beach to watch Andrew K come in)

Pete K and Shaun F plus Mark B came in at Walskipper, not without a swim or two!

10 February

Raffy and I are SUPing regularly , struggling to keep up with Janey on her new light fast Carbonology Boost Thanks Ian Watt for the photo . … ” A man and his dog … a familiar sight going past our house Richard Arderne and his dog who loves paddling as Richard maintains his balance”

9 February

Moon and Chokka boats at 10pm

8 February

About 20 dolphin cruising past at 7.30 this morning, quite purposeful (not porpoiseful) but not in a very big rush, just on some mission They turned right towards the mouth near Huletts Reef, then we lost them

7 Laura Road, St Francis Bay, early 1985 , just before our wedding (I planted a Brachylena hedge on the left, now huge) .. with Jaap and Riet Vrolijk (who hosted me in The Hague in 1976 on my Rotary exchange year) Thanks Jaap Vrolijk (junior!) for the pic.

28 January

Nippers : I was taking photos of our son surfing, when masses of parents and kids arrived … for nippers! Lois Fox ran nippers for a few years about 15 years ago, and I helped her, but we couldn’t find someone to take over when our sons got too old for nippers, so its great to see it happening again!

28 January

Cape St Francis beachbreak , Saturday morning: Zoomie Arderne

28 January

This graph shows how sales in the greater St Francis Bay area doubled from about 20 pm pre-covid to about 40 pm post-covid!

27 January

Saria at the St Francis Links Villas under construction

21 January

St Francis United Football Club’s first team at the now upgraded Sea Vista field recently. They are top of their log, well done Matt Davis!

18 January

St Francis Bay median house prices:

R1.6m in 2012, which was worth $200,000 (R8 = 1US$).

R3.2m in 2022, which was worth $200,000 (R16 = 1US$).

Photo: A few Ardernes and friends, Huletts, 2007

17 January

Back in my formal clothes now that the season is over

16 January

The St Francis Christmas season is now just a wonderful memory.

On my daily early morning walk to grannies pool today I wasn’t nearly run over by hoards of energetic cyclists and runners and I didn’t have my usual five or more chats to visitors (some who recognize me, some who just chat) And Bruces Café was closed this morning for a well-earned break, plus an easterly kept the surfers away, so the carpark was virtually empty (most restaurants close for a week in January)

The season seems to have been a great success, with retailers and restaurants all apparently very happy with their turnover

The weather was pretty good over the season, especially this past week, with many calm warm days and some amazing sea visibility .. and warmer water than last Christmas season

And a few easterlies for kiteboarders and windsurfers (I had one session at the Cove, scene of most windsurfing in the 80’s)

And we had some very welcome mid and late December rain, notably on Saturday 17 December, the second day of the Pam Golding Annual Golf, which was abandoned due to rain bucketing down for a few hours. And the Pam Golding Quadrathlon on 29 December had some welcome drizzle on a muggy morning. (But the Pam Golding Doggie Dash on 6 January was held in perfect weather …. see photo )

Thankfully we had water in our taps, and no serious fires nor serious crime, besides the usual petty incidents (eg bicycles which were recovered).

And the usual reckless behavior by some jetski drivers in the river mouth, and usual moans about the late night noise from Billy’s Beach, which is a huge attraction for 16 to 20 (25?) year olds (even we enjoyed an evening at the “Balies Beach” on 2 January, when R150k was raised for local charities by two Cape Town property developers )

Its amazing how quickly St Francis empties! By mid-January, St Francis is nearly as empty as mid-May, which is regarded as the quietest time here. (PS a not so secret tip: May and June have aMayzing weather, and good surf )

Will the property boom of the last 30 months continue? Who knows … but it seems that St Francis’s popularity is not waning, despite the hold-up of the beach groynes, and the lack of upgrading of Sea Vista

Many new residential developments are popping up, and many more planned. Currently under construction are Homestead Views (60 freehold houses and 40 sectional title units), Port View Place (55 sectional title units, with assisted living for elderly), St Francis Links Villas (35 sectional title units) and Grand Comoros Retirement Village (131 sectional title units). Pam Golding is marketing the first three.

And in planning are Oyster Retirement Village (300 sectional units), Quays (32 sectional title units), Rocky Coast Farm (46 erven and a nature reserve), St Francis Drive Apartments (42 sectional title units), another Port Development (36 sectional title units) and Five Elements Retirement Village.

Obviously some in the planning stage might not proceed due to various factors such as objections, insufficient municipal infrastructure, insufficient demand etc. Prices vary but are anticipated being mainly in the R2m to R5m price range.

It is wonderful in many ways to live in a thriving popular town. Builders, architects, electricians etc etc are all busy. Obviously, this growth presents challenges. But the developments will substantially increase the municipal rates base, hopefully assisting the municipality in improving infrastructure.

Towns are either growing or declining. Spare a thought for those in decline. And we have to manage our growth so it takes place in the right way

16 January

Calibre security patrol officer : Our excellent Linde Xaxa with tea (and three sugars)

9 January

Taking a break at the river mouth this afternoon. Any colour surfski as long as it’s blue and white stripes

8 January

7pm on the canals: my sister’s daughters having fun with my old Fenn ski at Brian & Yolanda Codling’s house

8 January

Oscar Chalupsky passed on some (much needed) tips, and signed copies of his recent book, which I literally couldn’t put down

6 January

The first Doggie Dash .. some dogs on craft, some dogs just barking Over R10,000 raised for St Francis Animal Rescue (Sue Rae Fox and Jenny Pike) with Quays and Pam Golding agreeing to match all other donations. We all had fun .. especially Raffy

3 January:

Flash Float: perfect conditions, wonderful vibe, in aid of local charities. Well done Cath Hempel and team!

If you weren’t one of the 3500 floaters, watch this video which features every single person! youtu.be/Duzzb1PjYwY

My favourite pic, Raffy so excited to see Neale Grobler

2 January

Balies Beach this evening: R150k raised mainly for St Francis United Football Club (hello Matt Davis) at a fantastic party, thank you Giancarlo Lanfranchi and Warren Adler

30 December

Beautiful dawn, 4.40am today

29 December

Pam Golding Quadrathlon: yet another fun chaotic morning, with the usual excellent turnout Starting with the swim, and 4x the 3km canal loop cycling worked well Winning team: PE2PLETT (Swimmer- Gian Moolman, Cyclist- Jacques Steenkamp, Runner- Valentino Verwey, Paddler- Andrew Carter). Individuals: Men: 1. Luke Nisbet 2. Paul Ingpen Ladies: 1. Bev Smyth 2. Heidi Coetzee. U/18: Josh Simpkins. The Pam Golding Quadrathlon has been held every year since 2007.

Some background:

On 2 January 2007, Kipper Halbert and I organised the first Pam Golding Quadrathlon, at Main Beach, with a sea swim, cycle to Shark Pt, paddle to the Port and a run to the river mouth We then decided to hold a low season Quadrathlon, for locals, at the canal harbour. This was held annually, sponsored by Pam Golding and Spar, until 2013, when municipal regulations made the administration too much hassle The Christmas Pam Golding Quadrathlon luckily continued, held at the Quays since 2011, run by Esti and Eric Stewart ever since.

28 December

The annual 2km Endless Summer Port to Grannies Swim in perfect conditions I have swum a few but my slow paddle this morning’s Sporty Anderson was enough for one day

28 December

Anne’s beach, around 1970: Janey and her dad and brother, only 100m from their Laura Rd house Note the sand dunes in the background, now Santareme houses

28 December

The 15km Sporty Anderson Surfski Race , perfect weather Jasper Mocke, Brandon van der Walt, and Phil Smith took the honours. I came last, the right position for a sweep Thanks Gibbo for the pic

15 December

Barry’s St Francis Bakery: world class coffee and bread (rye sourdough is my favourite ). There is Barry this morning giving advice with wonderful Ashley and Porsha behind the counter (and an over-dressed young man) Next door is DeNude with my favourite vegan lunches, and then St Francis Butchery with the very best biltong Out of pic are the barristers.