On Sunday 19 March, surfing pioneers and legends will be honoured at the Surfers’ Circle Walk of Fame in Muizenberg at Surfers’ Corner.
It’s a Proudly South African – Proudly feminist – Proudly Muizenberg moment to learn that the first South African ever recorded riding a wave standing up on a surfboard was a woman, Heather Price, as far back as 1919, and she did it right here at Muizenberg Beach! According to Surfing Heritage she befriended a couple of US Marines who docked in Cape Town on their way home from World War I – they had wooden surfboards with them and the intrepid Heather decided to learn how… One can only imagine that in such conservative times she would have drawn both admiring glances and a lot of tut-tutting!
The Surfers’ Circle Walk of Fame is the first South African national monument dedicated to the celebration of our surfing heritage, and has been a long time in the making.
The idea for the Walk of Fame grew out of a Surfers’ Corner ‘60’s Reunion held in 2010. Spearheaded by a group of inspired Muizenbergers, among them Peter Wright, one of Muizenberg Improvement District’s long-standing directors at the time – planning, funding, and negotiations with the City went into top gear.
The Muizenberg Improvement District (MID) played a key role in establishing the project by liaising with City Departments, community stakeholders, donors and the public to ensure the infrastructure upgrade and design of the circle would be a success. The traffic circle design and architectural plan was approved by the City’s Roads Department in 2012.
MID and the Ward Councillor partnered in bringing the design to life, and the new circle, as you see it today, was completed by the end of 2014.
Also in 2014, was the launch of the independent Surfers’ Circle Walk of Fame project team to continue the work of celebrating South Africa’s vibrant surfing heritage. The monument already acknowledges 12 of South Africa’s surfing greats, and on Sunday 19 new surfing heroes will be celebrated – each one with a black granite plaque. The public unveiling ceremony will take place at 11h00 at Surfers’ Circle.
Before! Visit the Surfers Circle at Muizenberg Surfers’ Corner to see what it looks like today.