It’s pretty hard to describe yourself but we’ll give it a crack. Put simply, we’re two South African brothers with an insatiable thirst for perfect waves and an undying love for Africa. But that wasn’t always the case.
 
Born and raised on a sugarcane farm ten kilometres from the coast in Durban, we’ve always had an affinity with the ocean — a love for the endless entertainment it provides. Despite this, the allure of school sports kept us from surfing with any real regularity. Boarding school was no help, taking us two hours away from the ocean, and severely limiting our time in the water. While this did nothing to help our progress in the sport, it lit a flame that still burns bright today. Hours spent watching on longingly as youtube clips displayed the most recent swell to hit our hometown, days spent aching for the opportunity to pack a tube, and weeks spent discussing our next session, only worked to fire us up.
 
We left school, making a beeline for one of the few university cities in South Africa that boasts an ocean — Cape Town. Once we landed in the mother city and got a taste of surfing consistently, there was no turning back. Rarely taking a day off, our time in Cape Town was spent exploring the nooks and crannies of the coastline and honing our skills in the barrel. This fostered a love for Africa and the adventure it embodies—we discovered a passion for the unique people, places and waves on offer. We put our time and effort into working out why, how, and when certain waves work in particular conditions. Journeying home several times a year, we put our newfound skills to work, exploring all the waves along the East coast — from Jeffreys Bay to Mozambique.
 
After finishing university, Dave landed a job at Zigzag Magazine, Africa’s premiere surf mag. With that came a whole host of new, African surf adventures and an inside scoop on the best kept secrets up and down the coast. Two years later Murray finished his degree and headed straight for Indonesia. There he worked as a surf guide in the Mentawais, improving his skills in big, powerful surf and achieving a greater understanding of how all the elements work together to create cooking waves. Dave hopped on a plane a month later, unable to resist Indonesia’s allure. This marked the birth of Skunk Aversion and an incredible journey travelling and scoring waves together. Three months in tropical paradise exposed us to some of the best waves we’ve ever surfed, but we always felt that there was something missing. There’s something in the raw, rugged, and resilient nature of Africa and its waves that Indonesian perfection wasn’t quite able to encapsulate and we began to miss home. We returned with a fresh perspective, confident that the waves back home could match it with the best in the world, and enthusiastic about the South African surf experience and all that it embodies.  Since then, we’ve been basking in the glory of that decision, scoring while exploring the continent and its waves at every opportunity. From Northern Mozambique, to the Transkei, to Lamberts Bay, and up into Namibia, we’ve been blessed with magnificent surf and uniquely African experiences. As these adventures have unfolded, our passion for exploration and our love for discovering new and unique waves has grown. Few things excite us more than hitting the road; a far flung location in our sights and firing waves on the forecast. We’re itching to see where we’ll end up next!