Sandboarding the West Coast in South Africa

If you happen to head out along the curve and swerve of that beautiful strip of tarmac tripping past Gordon’s Bay and Rooi Els, you’ll eventually encounter a turn-off to a small dorpie by the name of Pringle Bay. Hit a hard right here and take a slow cruise along the main drag until the tar road peters out into an eroded strip of red dust and stone.

Right about now you should notice the looming presence of a monster of a mountain, topped with a formidable overhang, skylining away to your left. And rising up from the Cape coastal plains like a scene from the movie Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, you’ll see the trippy colours and low slung buildings of the legendary Hangklip Hotel, haunt of the hardebaarde of the Cape South Coast.

It is within the shade of this monolithic mountain that giant crayfish dwell and gargantuan great whites cruise the big blue. Step beyond the hotel stoep and you might encounter sharks of a different kind - hard-drinking students and perlemoen divers prop up the bar while innocent-looking sylphs circle the pool table in short dresses, waiting to take you for a fast fifty bucks quicker than you can flick a Bic.

Now, if you are planning on getting in a full day of sandboarding, mutter a few Hail Mary’s and drive on past, avoiding this horribly addictive watering hole and instead continuing along the dirt road traversing the coastline towards Betty’s Bay. As you round the mountain, towering dunes of white sand will hove into view below the rugged peak of Hangklip, presenting you with a selection of premium grade sandboarding slopes.

On my first day of play in the dunes, we had never heard of stand-up sandboarding and whatever equipment came to hand had to suffice (in this case, it was a boogie board, although we later twigged that a smooth length of plywood does the job even better). All you need to do is step onto the lower slopes and face up to gravity as you skyline for a killer view across the False Bay coast line.

And trust me on one thing; a dune always seems three times higher when you’re standing at the top than it does before you start the long and winding climb. But once you’ve peaked, it’s a wild ride all the way - get down on your stomach and bite the bullet as you slither and slide your way down the smooth face of the dune before trekking to the top again.