In a record attendance, 48 members of the Kowie Granny Grommets (KGG) arrived at Port Alfred’s East Beach last Friday – for a boogie and to listen to Juan Pretorius give some surf safety tips. While Pretorius is well known as a volunteer with the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI), he emphasised that he was speaking to the group in his personal capacity.
He gave some tips on how to identify a rip current and what to do if you are caught in one.
“The information was very useful and practical,” said KGG founder and coordinator Jenny Hodgskiss.
Of the boogie-boarding session that followed, Hodgskiss said, “The water was cold and dirty. But with the tide turning and the gentle south-westerly wind, the waves were ‘beefy’, and we had some good rides🏄. I’m sorry one or two ladies were dumped 😔, but I’m glad you survived.”
There were just five at the Kowie Granny Grommets’ first boogie-boarding session on April 5, 2024. By the end of six months in the surf, they’d grown to more than 30. The KGG even cracked the nod for an invitation to the SA Bodyboarding Championships at Kelly’s in September 2024.
Modelled on the long-running Nahoon Granny Grommets, KGG meets once a week at East Beach for the time of their lives in the waves, and to enjoy each other’s company.
The Nahoon Granny Grommets, who started in August 2023 with four are now up to 120 regulars. Founder Julie Schroeter said the secret of the group’s success was that rain or shine, they go down to Nahoon Beach. Usually to boogieboard, but if the conditions are too harsh, they go for coffee at a local coffeeshop they’ve ‘adopted’ as their spot.
As their beach hangout for a post-surfing coffee, the Kowie Granny Grommets now have the recently established Ocean Bliss Café, on East Beach.
Both Granny Grommet groups stipulate that membership is for women 50 and above.
Follow them on their Facebook page: @kowie.granny.grommets
Here’s what went down last Friday: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14zTY54Lfx/
For information about rip currents go to: https://www.nsri.org.za/water-safety/all-about-rip-currents/
- This article was first published in Talk of the Town, February 27, 2025. The newspaper serving the communities of Ndlambe and the Sunshine Coast, with a weekly wrap of Makhanda news, is available at stores from early on Thursdays.
