JANUARY 2010

JANUARY 2010

NEW YEARS DAY
RUNNING AND SWIMMING AT THE BEACH.
MERCEDES IS STOLEN
MERCEDES IS RECOVERED BY FLYING SQUAD AND TRACKER.
VEGETARIAN MONTH
TEA TOTALLER MONTH
PURCHASE OF THE CARAVAN AT GAMTOOS RIVER MOUTH
SUMMERSTRAND NIPPERS CARNIVAL AT KINGS BEACH
ACHILLES MARATHON
RESTART MY BIKE RIDING: FRIDAY MORNING RIDES WITH MIKE DEAN


Finally the BIG YEAR for South Africa has arrived.
We have been waiting for this year for so many years that it seems impossible that it is finally upon us. The year that the World Cup Soccer will be played in South Africa.

Friday the First was a little lazy for us. We have been having a drought here for so long that it was really pleasant to see a little rain falling in our garden. I moved the cars just so that the rain would be able to wet the grass. I have this vegetable garden that I am trying to cultivate. Mainly unsuccessfully but recently I bought some Peat and this forms the base for the seedlings to grow. Today I did some transplanting of the Spinach (Swiss Chard). Barbara and I now have a DVD player in our bedroom and we watched some of the Shield Series. And not much else.

Saturday morning I did my morning run at the beach. THe beach is very dirty after all the New Years day revellers have made their mess. But the clean up team was there early. I had my swim after the run. I am going to miss the swimming. The swim is such a pleasant way to end the run and is so incredibly relaxing to swim out to the end of the pier to the swim buoys. The run started off with just Adrienne and myself but we took the route going up second avenue to meet up with Annie and Adrian who we had seen along the route. We ran down Admiralty and back along the promenade. Gerlad and his family had gone off to Jeffries for a 15kay race.

Barbara & I did some shopping and then I went to the office mainly to complete the application for DBA form. I had seen Charles' proposal at his house on 31st night and was energised to make certain that I am in the program for 2010.

This afternoon both Barbara and I seemed to be very sleepy and crashed at alternate times. Ally and I did a little cycling. Back and forth to the DVD shop. First to return a DVD and then home to fetch some cash as Ally wanted to rent a new DVD.

Sunday 3rd: for some reason I was feeling a little feverish and very tired with head aches today. I had to sleep most of Sunday afternoon. THe following day I was feeling awful and later thought the reason may well have been a case of Tick Bite Fever.

As a result of this and also as it is January, I decided to eat carefully: vegetables etc and to give up alcohol for the month. My little vegetable garden consisting of a few spinach and cabbage leaves are now able to be part of my daily diet. I was able to return to work on Tuesday but still felt pretty awful. Wednesday I started feeling stronger again and Thursday I was able to undertake a trip to King for the day. I had planned a trip to East London but had to cancell due to the way I felt.

Evenings this week had been spent playing bridge with Lene and Michael. They have certainly improved and regularly beat us.
Thursday evening I had an Achilles meeting at Old Grey and Friday evening I met with the Nippers Committee including Lee Collier who has agreed to stand in as the Chairman for this season until after the National Champs in April.



Regarding the Merc:

Saturday 9th January 2010;

This week should have had a great week. Tuesday was my Birthday and I had been spoilt with a set of gifts from Mom and Ally: a pair of swim goggles and a set of cycle gloves. Lene had bought me a box of chockies that others ate up, a special lunch box with knife and fork attached and a belt knife set.

But I had come down with what I thought was Tick Bite Fever: From Sunday afternoon I was woozy, Headaches, Fever, Hot and Cold flushes. No flu symptoms. This set me back for the week from running or swimming for the whole week. Even my Saturday morning run was out of the question and this is one of my high lights of the week. I was also not able to carry out my plans to travel to East London.



Saturday evening.

Michael, Lene, Mom and I had been playing bridge in the evening. Michael parked the car and I put the keys on the kitchen table.

I awoke around 6am, saw the kitchen door open and thought that one of the family had been up before me and let the animals out.

I wandered out stretching and noticed that gate was open. I broke out in a sweat. I knew that something was wrong and ran to the gate. Then I saw that the Merc was gone.



I ran to wake Michael and phoned the police. I phoned to get the tracking company number but could not remember the registration number of the car. I phoned people from the office to meet me there and to open up so that I could get all the details. I drove to the office and there met with Godfrey and Earl who opened up. Mom phoned to say the Police were at home.



I went to my office and made copies of my ID and the vehicle documents TND 766 GP. The police arrived. I had phoned the tracking company 086 150 5505 again and given the correct registration number. I began to give a statement and the Constable (Hattingh) phoned the investigating officer: Flying squad and gave him the tracking company details. From there we continued to complete the case documents and phoning to find out that the officers were after suspects. They were able to tell where the car was at any time. Before we had completed the case document the car had been recovered. I told the constable about my wallet, GPS, Drivers Licence etc that was in the car. He offered to go to the scene and to recover as much as possible and to deliver it to our house.



I left the office and went home. At this time it was about 08.00am. The vehicle had been recovered within an hour and a half of me discovering that it had been stolen. A little later the constable Hattingh, arrived at home with my wallet and ID book and some credit cards which I had already cancelled. He also handed me the set of keys that were attached to the car key all except the car key.



Then a fingerprint man arrived and dusted on the door, gate locks and window panes but did not find any usable prints. From here he went to the vehicle pound where he dusted for finger prints on the car.



Today was the first official day for Nippers training and despite the fact that we were all feeling a little shaky, we decided to go to the beach. We had a good turnout of Nippers and were able to do a number of beach and ocean exercises. Varrin, Clint and I were with the U14’s. I was having a great time in the water swimming with the youngsters. We did some In’s and Outs’. This is very good exercise for the Nippers to learn the importance of entering the water and bashing through the waves. The wind had been easterly when we arrived but by the time we left there was a strong west wind picking up. On the way home I stopped off at Spar. Here I met up with a man who we have seen a number of times on the road. He cycles with a flag with the word JESUS on the flag and a second flag flies behind the saddle. This is a star of David flag. It is an interesting combination so I started a conversation in which he told me that Jesus and Israel are intertwined and cannot be separated. He has a strong belief which is interesting to listen to and uses his bicycle to show his message.



This afternoon I received a call to say that we could obtain the full details at Mount Road Police station. Michael and I went to the station and after some searching we were able to find out the case number for Mount Road (208/01/2010) as well as for Kwazakhele (181/01/2010)which was the station nearest to where the car had been recovered.



We also went to Crawford Street Police station (Flying Squad) where we met up with Inspector Joubert who was the man who had chased down and boxed in the car in Koyana street in Kwazakhele. He described how he had been in contact with the tracker company and had followed the instructions that they gave and had finally found the car and had been able to arrest two of the three occupants: the Driver and the rear seat passenger.

The third suspect had fled and there was some shooting. Inspector Joubert thinks that he may have wounded the suspect or the suspect may have cut himself when fleeing. A household had been invaded and this was reported some time later. Blood samples were taken from the house where the suspect is thought to have sought refuge. The two suspects alleged that they had been walking when the third person had asked them to drive as he was drunk. One of the suspects had a prior conviction for armed robbery in Port Alfred.



Monday morning as we were on our morning training run Michael Dean pointed out how South Africans have this game they play called “At Least”.

· We lost about R4 to R5 000 worth of goods but “At least the vehicle was recovered”

· The inside was damaged but “at least there was not serious damage”

· The house was burgled and the key stolen but “at least we were not attacked”

· He goes on to play the game: My wife was attacked but “at least she survived”

· My wife was attacked but “at least the children were unharmed”

Quite scary when you look at it like that: we cannot be completely myopic and say that all is good but we can be realistic and look at the brighter side.



A little later as we ran up Mount Road I saw a Hadida that was hurt on the side of the road. When I got home I told Barbara and the two of us (me in Mom’s Pink Gown) drove down to see if there was anything that we could do for it. Mom picked it up and took it home where she gave it some Sugar Water. Later she took it to the 9th avenue vet where she left it in their care, all the while lamenting the fact that we don’t have a recovery farm area where we can help poor animals to recuperate.

This morning I was planned to be in East London but the car theft had made this an impossibility. For the second week in a row I had to cancel.



Monday morning I was at the Mount road Police station at 08.00am and after I had found the investigating officer: Inspector Debbie Pauls, 041 394 6112 - was out. I then went to the bank to obtain a new cash card. My cash card was in the wallet and I had cancelled it but the robbers had also stolen or destroyed the card. Back at Mount Road I waited for inspector Pauls. She arrived at about 09.15 and soon gave me release papers for the vehicle.



I went home to collect Barbara and the two of us drove to Kwazakhele where we found the police station only to be told that it was not required for us to go there. We then went to the Vehicle Pound in Struandale where we finally completed the last set of forms and were able to collect the Merc. We found the Merc at the back of the warehouse of vehicles. The centre console was damaged.



Stolen from the vehicle: My cash reserves of probably about R500; My GPRS Tom Tom that I so enjoyed (R1900); My Drivers Licence that was on the key ring; My cooler bag that I keep in the boot with some cold drinks and Power Play; My office tog bag with documents and my 2009 diary; my car Cell Phone that I had recently purchased at R600; my tow rope; a pair of spectacles and a pair of Sunglasses and a few other odds and ends. Strangely they left my two office name badges.



Having now received the vehicle back – just 31 hours after discovering its loss – I realized how lucky we all were. No one hurt, only minor expenses incurred, some time but no real problems in that I will still have to register the vehicle with the traffic dept as a recovered vehicle or else I will not be allowed to licence it again. I will have to spend a morning to stand in a queue for a new drivers licence.



And then back to work where I realized that I have the Daewoo Licence disc. Dean Moyes has just finished the repairs and I will be able to collect the car this afternoon after the Nippers Level Test at Hobie Beach. Michael collected the Daewoo and it looks a lot smarter except for the Petrol flap which still has to be replaced and the rear Windscreen wiper which was fitted incorrectly.



Tuesday 12.01.2010

I was at the Traffic Dept at 07.00. I was greeted by a Photo rep: he ushered me to a nearby shop where I had a Photo taken for a Temp Licence R20 for two photo’s. I completed the form and stood in the queue for the next 30 minutes. I was prepared with a water bottle, newspaper and lunch box. I had a little stool that Michael and Lene had given me for Christmas. I parked myself along the fence with everyone else. Finally we were allowed into the building and then began the next wait. This was a line for photo’s, eye test and Finger printing. This took probably an hour. Here I saw Elaine Braatvedt: she was also in the queue for her licence. Once this was done I had to stand for about another hour in the second queue for the cashier. Finally at about 10am I paid the R264 for a renewal and a Temporary licence.



Tuesday afternoon we had an urgent Nippers meeting at Summerstrand. We were putting on a Carnival on Sunday and had to do some urgent planning and set up. We would meet on Saturday afternoon to load the trailer and then take all of our equipment to Kings beach where we would set up for the next morning. This issue of losing the car made my week miserable. Even though we recovered the car I was upset due to the stuff lost and the broken console.



Friday morning I met up with Mike and Susan and the three of us went for a short cycle around the Moffet. This is a great little cycle. Not what a real cyclist would call a training ride but sufficient for us.



Saturday morning I collected Adrienne and we drove to the beach for our run / swim. We met up with Maryna, Susan, Mike, Ben, Suzanne, Chris, Jeff and Annie. We did our normal Strandfontein route and back along Admiralty. I was feeling good and pushed the pace a little harder than I should. The swim was great. Barbara and Ally had given me this pair of goggles which I really enjoy using.



The first part of this morning was at the Home Affairs where I applied for Jacqui’s birth Certificate. Then work and then collected Mark and we went to the beach to load the trailer and to set up as much as possible for the next morning.



Barbara had found a possible Caravan to purchase. We needed an extra room for Mark who would be coming to stay with us later this month. There was one advertised at R8 000 which was a much better price than the around R18 000 to R25 000 that we had seen so far. We drove out to Gamtoos River Mouth where we found Frikkie who runs a construction business and has a whole lot of vehicles, boats and caravans there. It appears that he makes Log Homes that are set up against the caravan as a permanent structure.

The caravan we saw had been dismantled from a kind of park home. It had no papers and would not easily pass a Road Worthy test. It is about 25 years old but the interior appears to be sound so we paid the R8000 and he promised to deliver the caravan to our home on Tuesday the following week.



Sunday morning we met at Summerstrand at 05.30am to set up the arena’s and the kitchen for the tuck shop. The carnival started at 08.00am with sea and beach events running at the same time.



As always, Ally took part in everything. She started off with a Swim, Malibu board, Taplin Relay, beach sprints, beach relay and flags. And in every event she did exceptionally well. Ally is in her first year for U14. Yet she still came in the top 5 for every event. In Flags finals she was placed 4th against all odds. In the beach sprint she got through the heats into the finals and was placed second overall with only Layla from Summies beating her.

Ally did well in the Long Run which was the last event of the day. In every event she earned the Club points. It was a pleasure to see how well she was doing and how she is liked and cheered on by the Nippers of not only Summies but other clubs as well. I had a small team of Mom’s assisting with the recording of results. Barbara did the registration as the Nippers arrived. She does the writing of names on the arms or wrist bands of the Nippers. Barbara also collects the entry fee of R10 per Nipper.



We probably finished the last event at around 13.30 and finally off loaded the last of the equipment at around 5pm. Andrew and I loaded the two gas braai’s and tables & took them back to Summerstrand. Thomas loaded the trailer with all of the boards and he dropped it off at Terry’s house. Terry and Karryn had all of the catering to sort out including the excess food. They also had their runner duck to take back home. It was so hot and sticky that everyone had left the last cleaning up to a few of us. By now Ally was finished and slept in the car as we drove home. I was also exhausted and looked forward to an hour or two of doing nothing. The sun, wind and sea had taken their toll and we were all a little burned.



The final result was that Kings Beach had beaten the Summies team by NINE points overall. One of our problems was the loss of Layla Carelse and Anke Spies who had both left early due to injury and not feeling well. Both of these two U14’s had reached the Final Flags and would have scored points even if they had just laid down on the sand and never moved. But that is Nippers.



Monday morning we did the town run returning up the back of Collegiate and finishing on the Golf Course. This afternoon I phoned Insp. Debbie Pauls and she promised to let me know if I could see the two men who were arrested for the theft of our vehicle.



Hi All

The Summies Carnival ran smoothly yesterday, and the weather behaved itself!

Many thanks to all the nippers who turned up – we know so early in the new year, with so much on, everyone is very busy! Our performance was greatly improved, as the results below show – more about that later!

To the nippers who did not turn up, we missed you. Remember we only have a small number of nippers, compared to the ‘Giant’ clubs, so we rely on the support of EVERYONE!!!! Please diarise the next competition, East Cape Champs, on 21/22 February. We need EVERYONE to participate. This one is in Plett, so it’s a good excuse for a mid-term break!

A very big thanks to all the helpers who were so willing to assist – without you, the carnival would not have run so smoothly! A VERY special thanks to the following:

- All the safety officers

- Clint Meintjes for organising the safety officers and for being an official

- Claire Meintjes for the thankless task of managing the scoring, even though she doesn’t have a nipper anymore – unselfish dedication to the club!!!!

- Charmelle Maree for bravely offering to learn how to score –a very technical job!

- The Hepburn extended family plus helpers for running the tuck shop – a huge task, well done!

- Warren Collier for giving up his weekend to help, even though he doesn’t have a nipper anymore – that’s selfless dedication!

- All the coaches for all the hard work.

To all our nipper families, please encourage your nippers to work with the coaches. There were too many cases of nippers, who were at the carnival, but wouldn’t compete! Again, we NEED THE SUPPORT AND COMMITMENT OF EVERY NIPPER AND PARENT! Please have faith in your coaches, they won’t ask you to do something you are not capable of!

The results were as follows:

U10

3 Plett 133 2 Summies 185 1 King’s Beach 360

Top Competitor Boy Corrik VD Wath

We need to work hard with our U10’s as this is where KB is killing us!

U12

3 Plett 171 2 KB 241 1 Summies 286 – well done!

Top Competitor Girl Jamie Lee Engelke Craig Dagleish was second in the boys section!

Keep up the great work, U12’s

U14

3 Plett 147 2 Summies 290 1 King’s Beach 299 – by a mere 9 points!

Top Competitor Girl Christie Vaughan

Well done, U14’s this was a much better performance. Let’s work hard in all age groups to improve our performance for EC Champs!

Regards

Lee Kemp

This week I went to Queenstown for business. Of the two evenings that I was there I was able to run with the Queenstown Harriers both evenings. The first I only just managed to make it to their time trial and asked one of the men to hold my bag while I ran. It was good for me to run hard for a change. The following evening was the opposite with a really slow group and a lot of fetching. I enjoyed both evenings. Saturday morning was our Beach Run. Another really fun activity which I love to do. Sunday was our normal Nippers training. Lots of swimming and boarding.

The last week in January I spent three days in East London. Peet Booysen (forensic Auditor) travelled with me. I had a good productive week but no running. Peet likes to take out supper so it was a very quite week in EL. We were back on Thursday morning and I was able to make the Cycle that Mike Dean has set up for Friday mornings. This evening we had the first of a set of Friday evening Nippers training. I enjoyed the evening but did not manage to get into the water.

Saturday 30th morning was the Achilles Marathon event that started at Homeleigh Farms. The parking and start area was my responsibility together with the Lucky Draw prize collection. Charles had donated some Eveready torches and some House of York products. I also managed to scrounge some stuff from Morkels. The Five Kay event was over subscribed and was the only real problem of the day. I was working with Chris Darke just as I had the previous year with John Kotze. The dust, cars, children etc is simply more than this venue can take.

The following morning I did a bike ride with Mike Dean. We cycled up Cape Road in to the wind as far as the Greenbushes hotel. Then right and past the Fire station where we expected to meet up with the Achilles Helpers Run. We met them in Butterfield Road. We stopped for a coke and then headed down Kragga Kamma Road with the wind. What a pleasure! It had turned out to be a great cycle. This morning after church we had a wonderful morning at Summerstrand with the Nippers.

The afternoon I was really busy; washing the car and then I spent the rest of the day tuning bicycles. I first put the Knobblies (Track Tyres) on to my mountain bike and then cleaned it up and generally had it going really well. Then I took the old Green Bike that had been lying in the open for some years and with not too much effort: cleaning, Lubing the chain and other parts and then changing the tyres and tubes. The bike seemed to be in great condition and is now ready to ride.

Michael and his family had been staying with us for a few months and they now moved to a house just behind Collegiate. Moving is not fun. Michael had his old friend and how work colleague, David to help him. They used the old bakkie and cars to do everything.

Monday I was able to get back into running: the slow runners did the whole of Dias road and Langenhoven. The next morning I managed to do the whole of the Susan's Route. This evening I met up with Charles and we took out his mountain bike and did the same tuning and cleaning thing that I had done on my bikes. It had a inch thick layer of dust and the chain derailer was out of line. But again with not too much effort we soon had the bike going like a charm. I arranged to meet Charles on Wednesday for an afternoon cycle. We rode down to the beach and back. It was great.

Thursday I flew to Johannesburg where Suzanne collected me from Malibongwe drive. I love this family. Suzanne fed us a Venison (Kudu) supper. We sat chatting and finally I fell into bed exhausted. Friday morning Keith and I went to their school swimming pool complex and he and I did a really healthy swim. He must have done over two kays non stop. I did about 1.3kays but with plenty of stops. I would swim four lengths (25m) and then recover. Mark moved into our house on Friday. I was still in Jhb. In fact my plane was delayed and I only arrived home after 21.30.

Mark and I got stuck into Barbara's bike. First we had to fit knobblies and then make sure the bike was perfectly tuned with no sticky points. We fitted him out with cycling gear. We loaded the bikes into the Corsa Bakkie and were set for our mountain bike ride. Saturday morning we were up at 04.00am and drove to Gerald. He picked Alf Zemkhe up and we drove too fast to Addo.

We arrived with over an hour to the start of our event. There were three races: the 85kay technical and tough event. then the 65kay which was as technical but would have been more manageable for me. But we had decided to tackle the 30kay Family Fun Ride. I was amazed at how many people were doing this event who we know: Pat, Gerald and Ronel; Alf; Bob Howlett and brother Neil; Jonathan Coffey and friend Nico from Nippers; Peter DC; Tracey Brink (Leah was there in support); Rob and Michelle Elfick and Fred Allabone; Darryl and Avril Smith. Nicky's old diving friend Cathy and husband; There were probably more that I cannot remember.

This was both my and Mark's first ever attempt at mountain biking off road. Mark was not fit for this type of exersize and I am reasonably fit for cycling but this was new territory for me. We started off reasonably slowly. I saw Ronelle ahead and tried to stay with her but I had determined that Mark and I would ride together and so let her get ahead. Pat passed us. Gerald and ALf would bring up the rear.

There were no really tough mountain climbs. Merely a gradual hill that would make Brickies look like Mount Everest. We rode through the orchards of oranges and the fruit of the area. Occasionally there was a downhill that allowed us to have some real excitement. I saw Cathy Guard having a huge amount of fun on one of the downs. THere were some speed bumps which she ramped and flew a good few feet into the air.

There were just a few sections where the track narrowed and we would have to watch where we rode. Then there were plenty of soft sand area's that made us watch our way. With Mountain biking you have to watch just ahead of you much more that you do when you are on the road. On the road you should be looking ahead to see where you are going.

This was a Family affair with lots of Dad's, Mom's and children. I would often hear a child talking to the parent and the parent advising of the route to take. It was a healthy atmosphere of people taking care of others more than themselves. I had fitted a bell to Mark's bike and he would ring it every now and again to let me know that he was right behind me.

We were fortunate to be in shade for most of our 90 odd minutes of cycling. We had a cool breeze to add to our comfort. We thought of those doing the bigger events and the heat that they would have to suffer later on this morning. We approached the half way feeding station. There was a menu that would have made a restuarant envious: Banana's; Potato; Powerade; Borrie Rolls and a willingness to help everyone as much as they could. And this was just the 30kay fun event. This made me feel embarressed as how shoddily we had treated our fun runners last weekend at the Achilles event.

We rode on with the smells of fresh manure, dusty fields, Orange trees and the sweat of fellow cyclists. There was a great cameraderie and chatting going on as we came to the end of a great first time off road on the mountain bike. Rob came up to me later and said that I was surely a convert and would not go back to road running. Not quite but certainly I will be looking out for more of these events.

Mark and I loaded up the bikes and headed home. on our way home Samantha phoned. It was her birthday the previous day. She was at a WImpy with Crystal. It appears that their dad had been released from jail and that Crystal had flown Samantha to Jhb for this event. Mark had a short conversation with Mark Snr. I was supposed to drop Mark off at his Grandparents but somehow the lines got crossed and his Grandfather locked him out of the house. I collected him and took him to the office where he met up with Michael who was doing some moving.

This afternoon Mark and I cleaned up the bikes. I had realised how good it was to ride a bike that was in good shape. Not that there was no chance of a puncture or mechanical problem but having the bikes tuned and clean meant that we reduced the chance of being caught on the side of the track fixing punctures or loose chains etc.


I dropped Mark off with a friend in Rowallan Park. And spent the afternoon at home. Barbara had been in Uitenhage the whole day with Ally at a Gala.

SUMMERSTRAND NIPPERS CARNIVAL SUNDAY 25TH JANUARY 2009 AT KINGS BEACH.

SUMMERSTRAND NIPPERS CARNIVAL
25 JANUARY 2009.

I had been away quite a bit before this carnival. I had been at Wildcliff the previous week. And the week of the carnival I had spent three days in Johannesburg. This was quite hectic for me as I like to be able to work on teams and communicate the as much as possible to the Nippers in the week before a Carnival.

Saturday morning I had a wonderful 15kay run with Ben Carver and some other people we met that morning. After the run we swam out to the buoys at Hobie beach. I rushed off home for a shower and change and then back to the beach for the Level Test. Here we had 6 U10's going through their paces with a few U12's and one U14. Many of these youngsters battle with the sea swim and they like the comfort of having an adult with them as they swim. So I also had a few swims as well. A couple of us were stung by Bluebottles.

I had to go into the office to try to catch up with some of my admin work that I had missed out on being away as much as I had. I had planned to collect an army tent for the scorers but on Saturday morning we discovered that it was no longer available.

Saturday afternoon we met at Kings beach to set up the sprint and the flags arena's. Michael was there to lend a hand as were a number of parents (John, Clint, Donald, Warren, Dion, Deon). Sunday morning I was up early as I had agreed to meet Ben for a run again. I took our Scooter as Barbara would use my car and Jacqui used the bakkie. After the run I drove over to Kings beach and we started the set up of the Tent and taking the boards onto the beach.

Before we even start to talk about this carnival it is important that we acknowledge the hard work that organisers and officials put into the event. Everyone is a Volunteer. People who seldom receive recognition are the officials who no longer have a personal interest or a child in Nippers, but still spend a whole day on the beach. Thank you! Also Supporters, Parents and others who assisted in any way however small: your contribution is valuable and this is truly a case of Many Hands Make Light work!

Nippers started to arrive and we soon had a good team of Nippers for the day's activities. The weather looked perfect. It was a stunning PE “Day in Paradise” with a cool westerly flattening out the small swells. The U10's started off with Individual Malibu and I was surprised how well some of the newer Nippers did. We then moved over to the Flags where a set of heats were run. We had a small team of 4 girls and a substantial team of about 10 U10 boys. Each one of them took part in almost all the events. Malibu, Body Board, Long Run, Sprints, Team Sprints, Taplin & Surf swim,.

The day remained sunny throughout. The wind swung from West to South East but this did not affect the events too much except that the last few water events became difficult as sections would be directly into the wind and the Nippers were being pushed to the left as they went out to the buoys. For parents it was a day of drama as we watched our Nippers in some thrilling finishes. Also we witnessed some real bravery as Nippers who would not normally take part in water events went out despite their fears and misgivings.

Last Nipper in the water today was Caitlin Rogers who took part in the Iron Nipper contest. Caitlin has been an example of vasbyt for many years. She does not win races but steadfastly enters the event.

I know that I repeat myself but Nippers is a sport for the brave and those with heart. Flags is an incredible event for building character as those who are eliminated have to return to their team mates with a gracious manner. I watched the U12 girls flags finals and I was delighted to see how well they took defeat. Often with a smile and a spring in their step they would accept that they had been eliminated and as soon as they joined their team mates they would engage in conversation that did not excuse their failure to continue.

If you as a parent or supporter felt tired and frazzeled after this day on the beach, then how much more would the Nippers feel exhausted. And how much did they whinge? I heard very few complaints. And while we have a bit of time to sit and watch, the nippers use up the breaks to swim and surf.

Our team of U10's need to be propped up with some swimming ability. For the next carnival we should have Alexia Vaughn who took part in a few of the water events as a fun exercise as Lexie does not have a Level test yet and did very well in these events. We did not score well in the final tally were beaten by Kings beach and by Plett. The U12's and the U14's did very well today and they pulled us through to an overall win.

A couple of lessons: we should have a pack of black bags and hand to each of the clubs who are there as we tend to generate a huge amount of rubbish and it is not fair to leave this for someone else to clear for us. Also we did not have a table and chairs for the scorers. People like the scorers, starters and catchers have a non stop job moving from one event to another and don’t have time for a meal break. We should have someone to ensure that they are properly catered for.

I received these two notes which indicate that the admin and work that goes into an event like this is worth the effort:

“Thanks for organizing a great day and perfect weather. I am sure most of the kids batteries were pretty flat by this arvi and parents pretty frazzled. Summies has an awesome team spirit and i am wondering why it took me so long to finally get my SLA.
Have a great week and c ya Sunday”.

Thank you for a great day! AGAIN FOR ALL THE SUPPORT TO OUR CHILDREN ! Much appreciated!
Thank you for the life skills you and your team are teaching our children –
Congratulations! WELL DONE!

Thanks Peter. Great day on Sunday. Jaryd thoroughly enjoyed himself. Thanks 4 the encouragement and support. Much appreciated.
Thanks again for these e-mails. And ditto to all those who made everything possible on Sunday!
We’ll see you and yours on Friday for bring and braai starting around 6.30pm.
Lv Debbie


Results
East London 153 Points
Plett 458 points
Kings Beach 813 Points
Summerstrand 899 Points

I am not sure if I have missed it perhaps, but have you informed everybody that EC Champs has been brought forward to 28 Feb/01 March? If not, perhaps you can let everyone know in this week's email?

Well done, coaches!
Regards
Lee

Note from the seniors:
WATER & ELECTRICITY – SAVING PLEASE
We are requesting that all members use the water & electricity wisely as the costs are spiraling out of control. We need each & every member to get involved in this cost saving exercise.
GIRLS NIPPERS….This applies to you. Use those showers sparingly. A quick shower to clean off.

Level tests: If you are interested in taking part in Carnivals and in the East Cape Champs next year then you have to have qualified for the Level Test in your age group.
To qualify for a level test:
You need to swim a 400m in a pool either with a swim coach, a responsible adult or a Nippers Coach. Please phone me if you need help in this regard.
A copy of your Birth Certificate.
A competed indemnity form.
We need you to bring these documents to Nippers urgently if the Nipper is to compete in the next Carnival.
Please contact Liesl or Juan Nel at 0824428784 or sales@intertown.co.za to confirm that your Nipper has been entered for the next level test in two weeks time.

Marking of clothing: Please mark all clothing and kit. Every weekend we find Unmarked clothing lying around on the beach or in the change rooms.

GIDDY FAMILY JANUARY 2007 BIATHLON, EMILY DEDICATION, NIPPERS CARNIVALJANUARY 2007

JANUARY 2007

New Year’s Day, January first 2007. We had had a quiet evening at home with Pat & Gerald and Jacqui, Nicci & Stefan & Mike’s family. This morning I woke up feeling miserable with a cold. Over the next few days this developed into a nasty chest cold, coughing and took the first two days of the week off work to try to recover. Michael went back to Knysna where he was working. Jacqui had her baby, Emily’s Dedication. It was done by Jonathan. His wife was there as well as Jacqui’s friends: Debbie, and another friend, Michelle & Werner, Michael De Koning, Charles & Ingrid, Ron and our family. ON Sunday we visited Charles & Ingrid at their holiday shack in Kabeljous in Jeffries bay. I was still feeling pretty low and the weather was not perfect so we ended up playing Bridge until late in the afternoon. Charles suggested that we come again during the week and we accepted. On Monday after work, Barbara & I drove through to Kabeljous again and we ended up playing bridge until 10.00pm, getting home at 11.00pm. Which is very late for us.

The following Wednesday we drove through to Cape Town. We left at about 03.30am, picked up Jessica in Knysna and took the route through Swellendam, where we stopped for breakfast. It was an interesting little stop on a farmyard with goats, an ostrich, pigs, ducks and some fancy looking bird life. There are also two huge pythons in a glassed off little room. We turned right on the West side of Swellendam to Ashton. The road takes you through a pass where we stopped at Spanspek Plek and bought a few spanspek and a bottle of Lemonade Concentrate. In retrospect we should also have bought some meilies and a few more spanspek. The road turns right again at a T-Junction near to Ashton and then through to Robertson and on to Worster. This is the Robertson Wine Route and time should be taken to visit at least one Wine Farm. We will try to visit Nuy the next time we take this route. Drive all the way through Worster, Turning Right again just as the town ends and then back on to the N1, through the Huguenot Tunnel at Du Toit's Kloof. The Toll is R18.00. The Tunnel is just short of 4kays long and takes three minutes to drive through it. Once through the Tunnel you pass Paarl and are soon at the Exit number 28 where we turn off to Durban road and then up Old Oak Road to Sterrenberg. For us this route is about 20kays shorter and cuts out the stretch between Swellendam and Somerset west which we find quite tiresome.

While we were in CT we really did no activity. I did a great deal of sleeping and was able to recover from the cold that I had picked up at the beginning of the year. We spent time with Nicci and Jacqui. Cathy came to visit; she brought Fudge who was very unhappy in her flat. She also came all the way through the one evening to take Ally and Jessica out to movies. We played bridge two evenings.

On Saturday morning Nicci had Zara’s birthday party. It was two weeks early as she is born on 30th of Jan 2006. She had some of her school friends there: Christina, Lisa Fizmer, Jo-Ann (Josie). Sue Maxton came through. Christina brought a friend, Danielle who she is busy Studying OT with at Stellenbosch University. Other family: Maria & Willie’s two daughters plus children came as well as a friend Michael from London were there. Nicci baked a butterfly cake and had a whole lot of goodies for the children.

After the party we had to say our goodbyes. We would not be seeing Jacqui for some time as she would return to London on Monday. We had grown used to having her and Emily with us and it was a sad parting for us. We took the road through the pass again, Wooster, Robertson, Ashton and Swellendam. We stopped off at Heidelberg for something to eat and drink and then off to Knysna where we dropped Jessica. I had a short nap and was soon ready for the last 250kays of the trip. We got home just after 10.00pm to find that we had a terrible smell in the kitchen. Eventually we found a dead rat under the fridge and had to clean this up. That done we had a good night sleep.

I had battled to get over a cold but was now ready to start training again. I went out on Monday morning and took my backpack that I had bought for the Wild Coast run. It did not work as I could not seem to suck any water out. It was only the following weekend that I discovered that I had the bladder upside down. That afternoon I discovered that the Wild Coast event had been cancelled due to lack of entries. I continued to run the whole week albeit very slowly and taking short cuts.

This week on Thursday we would normally have our Cell Group Meeting. However due to a number of reasons we had decided to Disband the group so we invited Ingrid and Charles over for supper on Friday evening and played a few hands of Bridge. The Brinks will be joining up with Kobus Gerber’s group. Elize will hold off for a while. Charles and ourselves will continue to meet as friends and for prayer. We seem to be meeting in any event for meals and bridge.


Saturday morning I ran the Big Tree. Gerald & I had planned to cut short so we turned at the Thesecombe road. We probably did about 24kays. This being my first week of running this year I had run about 55 to 60kays. On Saturday morning we had a Biathlon. This was the trials for Oudtshoorn in the first week of February. Ally & I made the EP Team. Ally has fierce competition as she has to compete in a higher age group. The age categorisation starts on 1 September and she is born in August. Lara and Meghan were there as well. That afternoon we went to Summerstrand to help set up for the carnival the next morning.

On Sunday morning we were there early to set up the tent and the Arena’s. The wind was blowing a strong Easterly and there were Blue Bottles all over. After attempting to do a Malibu event and a number of Nippers coming out Stung, it was decided to cancel all water events for the day.

The U10’s started off with Sprints. It is a 50 Meter sprint and as the tide was low the sand was fairly firm and the Nippers recorded good times. We then moved over to the Flags events and it became clear that some of the other U10 teams had been practicing this discipline. Sardinia bay, Seagulls and East London all did well.

We then moved over to the Sprint arena again where we held the sprint relays. Summerstrand were able to hold their own but again it was clear that there was strong opposition from our close rivals; Plett, Sardinia Bay, Seagulls and East London. The Bluewater Bay U10 team consisted of one boy.

It was a hot and sticky day. We had been in the wind and sun for a good number of hours without the respite of being able to swim. A number of the nippers did venture into the sea and were stung and needed treatment. The support and encouragement from Parents and friends was good to see.

After the Relays we had a long break before it was the time for U10’s to compete in Semi-Finals and Finals for the Sprints and the Finals of the Relays. Again Summerstrand did well with excellent participation and a great spirit.

The last event was the Long Run. Almost all the U10 Nippers took part despite a lot of Moaning and complaining from some of the reluctant participants. This took us to close to 14.00 and I think that it was with great relief that parents were able to pack up and leave.

It seems that Sardinia Bay had won the overall First Place for the Carnival. However in the U10 section; your team won by 12 points over a strong Sardinia Bay team. While some of you did particularly well I want to commend each one of you for the spirit in which you took part. Nippers is a Team Sport. While individuals win events, it is the participation of a whole team such as yours, that wins the day.

Somehow we will have to generate enough enthusiasm to get parents and Nippers to stay on for a few minutes after the final event has been run. We would like to say a few words of encouragement and provide some indication of results. Perhaps we should have a short break just before the final event. This would allow us to talk about the day and leave just enough time for a team photograph.

NIPPERS CARNIVAL PLETTENBERGBAY NOVEMBER 2005.

NIPPERS CARNIVAL ---- PLETTENBERGBAY 26 & 27TH NOVEMBER 2005.

The Nippers carnival is a provincial tournament with the clubs competing in a variety of events. “Nippers” is a junior version of lifesaving. Although no actual lifesaving is taught, the youngsters are instructed in beach activities and are able to grow in confidence in the surf.

Barbara, Ally & I had been looking forward to this Carnival for over a year as Ally had joined Nippers while she was still seven years old and was therefor unable to be an official competitor in the carnivals in our first year. Ally had had to undergo a competency test called the “Level Test”. I was away that weekend and was not able to watch her but I heard that she had passed with flying colours. Something that really impressed me this weekend was the fact that Ally had received an invitation to attend the annual Finestone Birthday Party from Emma. And although Ally was very keen to attend this important social function, she upheld her commitment to the Nippers weekend.

After that Ally was able to compete in a local Carnival at Kings Beach. That particular carnival was not entirely satisfactory as the surf had been particularly big as a result of the East Winds that Port Elizabeth had experienced. And by the time the events were underway the West Wind was blowing so hard that the conditions had become unpleasant. A number of the events were either scrapped or cut short.

As we left for Plett on the Saturday morning there was a fairly stiff West wind and as we approached the Tsitsikamma area the rain began to fall and we were apprehensive of the conditions for first day. We had Jacqui with us as she was visiting from the UK. Jacqui was pregnant and feeling the effects of morning sickness. We half hoped that the fresh air might make her feel a little better.

As soon as we arrived in Plett we unpacked and got ourselves ready for an afternoon on the beach. Ena (My mother) was able to come down with us. Ena does not see too well but Ally was thrilled that her Granny would be there to watch her compete. We got down to the beach at about 11.30am and registered Ally as a competitor. Anthony Cocks called a “Team Managers” meeting where he announced the order of events. The first event for the U10s was to be the Taplin, which is a team event of Run, Swim, Body Board and Malibu (a long body board). We had 12 children in our U10 team, 6 Boys (Matthew, Matthew, Christian, Connor, Luke and Philip) and 6 girls (Ally, Tanielle, Kim, Tayla, Natalie and Katlin). Varren had the unenviable task of making up the teams for the U10’s. Firstly he had to decide who was in which team and then had to readjust for each event as the youngsters’ availability for the particular event changed and also which of the Nippers had been able to come to Plett.

During the afternoon each one of these brave children took part in a variety of events including beach sprints, beach relay, Flags, Swim, Body Board and Malibu. The waves were by no means small and the children took quite a dumping on many occasions. Fortunately we had a number of parents and others who were safety officers and who helped the children through the surf. There was a strong rip current from West to East and the organisers wisely made the route of the swims in the direction of the rip.

The competition in the U10s was fierce and although we often managed to pass through to the finals, we could see at an early stage that we were being out run and out swum in many of the events. However we also knew that each individual competing was doing it as a personal challenge and that every time we had a finisher we potentially had points for Summerstrand. The afternoon was overcast and it appeared that some of the children were becoming chilled as the afternoon wore on. They were also extremely tired after all the exercise of the afternoon. The final event was a “March Past”. I did not realise that there were potentially 30 points to be won so I happily suggested that our group go and take part which they did with enthusiasm instead of style and precision. Ah well… Live and learn! Today had been overcast but I still found that I had burnt the top of my head. At the end of the day Chris called a team meeting and told us that there were a mere 12 points separating ourselves from the next team, which I think was Sardinia Bay. He urged that children to have a solid sleep and be fresh for a morning which would certainly be full of exercise.

I know that a number of our group were staying at the Castleton and were meeting for supper but our family agreed that we were only too happy to be able to get into bed as early as possible. And most of us were lights out just after dark. The SA Rugby team were playing France at 22.00 and as Ena does not have Mnet I decided that they would be playing with one less supporter this time. I heard later that we lost something like 21 to 26.

I had planned a short run at 06.00am and met Margie and Warren outside of their accommodation. We ran about 8kays and by the time we were finished the sun was already starting to get hot. During the run Warren & I realised that we had common friends going back years. My cousins, the Spence family, were friends of his from his early years of coming to Plett. Today I anticipated a really warm day and we took out the suntan lotion and hats to try to avoid being too burnt at the end of the day. It is actually not possible to avoid the sun as even if you are sitting in the shade as Jacqui did for most of the day; you will still burn from the reflection of the sun off the sand.

Today was going to be a lot of swimming for me as I assured the Nippers, Ally in particular, that I would always be in the water when they were. I had located a pair of flippers and was happy to use them to assist myself to stay with the youngsters as they ploughed through the surf. It seemed that the wind was coming from a South-Westerly direction and this made the water a little choppier than the previous day. Again Anthony insisted that there should be considerable assistance to the U10s whenever they were in the surf. I think that this helped the Nippers’ confidence and I was surprised and proud of our group each time they had to swim and paddle into the pounding waves that seemed to me to rise up to 5 and 6 feet high. The waves at the Central (Old B.I. beach) do not fold gently onto the beach but rather have a nasty way of dumping the swimmer with quite considerable force.

I saw Donald taking photos and videos of most of the tournament and am keen to see the results of his efforts. The U10 Coaches comprise of Varren (head coach) and his assistants, Roger and myself. We spent considerable time in the water and had the ongoing assistance of Tanielle’s Dad, Chris as well as Matthew’s dad Donald, Katlin's dad, Natalie’s dad Patrick and Tayla's dad Andrew. Without the assistance of the dad’s we could never have had as many competitors from our group. I think that this may be a sign of how future coaching should go. Chris made the point, as we finished, that we should not be scared, on a Sunday, to swim past the waves. Nor to use the body boards in big surf, as we would have to do so at the tournaments and that there was never a guarantee of calm seas on the day of the carnival.

The Sunday started with Run swim Run and ended with a long run (U10s 800meters). In between there were the Beach sprint relays where we had two U10 teams, the Flags finals where Luke was our sole U10 survivor to the finals and he finished a credible 5th place There was also Body boards, Malibu boards, swimming and running to keep us all very busy. One of the most amazing things on a beach like this with hundreds of parents, Nippers, and coaches is the communication. We all had to stay focussed on what was going on to know what we should be ready for and then the gathering of the Nippers was no easy task for us Coaches.

After the final event we had a short photo session, a team-talk and Anthony announced the results of the Carnival. Summerstrand had come first in the U14, U12 and third in the U10 events. The overall Carnival winner was also Summerstrand. This is potentially a warning to Summerstrand: The U10 of today is the U12 and U14 of tomorrow and unless we are not concentrating on the coaching of these young nippers we will find the club coming second to Sardinia Bay and Plett in future years.

We assisted with the carrying and packing of boards and packed up and left. Unfortunately Jacqui’s health had not improved and we decided to make our way home as soon as we could. Next Thursday is a Nippers evening at the Summerstrand Clubhouse and I am sure that there will be a great deal of analysis of the weekend success and failures. I personally cannot think of any individual failure. Perhaps there are lessons to be learned. For example the finals of the flags events could be held at one time for all three age-categories as this is a time consuming event. Overall the Plett Nippers Club can be thanked and complimented for the way that the event was held and the spirit of fun that permeated the two days.
]
At the year-end function for the nippers on Thursday 1 December 2005, Donald, Lee and Brian had an awards ceremony for the Nippers who had taken part in the Plett Carnival. We had Jessica’s Nativity Play to attend at Jacqui’s Children’s world pre-school so were a little late. But when we got to the Summerstrand lifesavers club, Donald made a point of calling Ally up to the front to receive her certificate. She had achieved the following places in the events:

Surf Swim 8th
Body Board 9th
Run Swim Run 7th
Body Board Relay 6th
Taplin Relay 3rd
Beach Relay 7th

These were the recognised times but in addition to this she had also taken part in the Beach Sprints & Flags. To put the positions into perspective: there were 6 teams participating: Bluewater Bay, Sardinia Bay, Plettenberg Bay, Mossel Bay and Seagulls and Summerstrand. We had 12 nippers in our U10 team and while some of the teams may have has fewer members, there were others with even more than ourselves. SO these were really impressive results. The other point to note is while some of the events separated the boys from the girls many of them were mixed events.

After the awards, Donald ran through a series of photos that he had taken on the beach. Amoung them were many of Ally where the size of the surf could be seen as well as the effort that she put into the events. He has promised that he will let us have a copy of the disc to forward to the London family. Ally had her friend Laura O with her. The two of them had a Boerewors roll and then spent the rest of the evening on the beach. The spotlights were shining onto the beach and there was this wonderful vibe as the youngsters played on the sand. The adults had steaks and salad as we got to know each a little better. Barbara had been knitting madly to try to get some presents ready for the London family before Jacqui left on the Wednesday and so had not slept well and was feeling tired and sore from dry lips. So at 21.30 we were on our way home.


Peter Giddy
27th November 2005.