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| TODAY IS 10 / 3 / 2010 18:24 |
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Cass Collier and Ian Armstrong are surfers who live in Cape Town, South Africa.
In 1999, they represented South Africa at the World Big Wave Championships at
Todos Santos in Mexico. Surfing the giant waves and competing against the best
that the world has to offer, the two Capetonians won the event for their
country.
TAKING BACK THE WAVES, tells the story of the surfing life of Cass Collier and
his family, people classified `Coloured’ who grew up surfing under apartheid’s
restrictions. It was Cass’s surfer father, Ahmed, who helped Cass become the
only black surfer in the top ranks of the sport in South Africa. Ahmed fought
Apartheid for his son to do what he had not been able to do, to go on the world
pro circuit and make his living from the sport.
Cass and his friend Ian seem to battle for acceptance within the surfing
circles, and Cass' lifestyle and religion (Rastafarianism) have isolated him
even further. Three years on the ASP World Championship Tour as a teenager, got
Cass to number thirty two seed, but he returned home to a muted response from
the South African surfing world. And being a top ranking big wave surfer ten
years later, hasn’t brought in the significant sponsorship that is the lifeblood
of a professional surfer.
Through Cass and his parents, we will see fragments of South Africa’s political
history, within the microcosm of the sport of surfing. Cass’s father Ahmed, and
his mother Fawzia, recount the trials of being a beach-goer in Apartheid days,
and reflect on the ironies of the present era of sport transformation.
Organised surfing remains a chiefly white sport in South Africa. Cass wants to
see this change, and he wants to see more black youth entering the sport, and
making it to a professional level one day. He involves himself with the Cdog
Surfing Academy, which buses children from poor Cape Town communities to the
beach, and teaches them to surf. The film follows the development of these
children, and we watch Cass try and train the youth to take up his mantle as the
lone black surfer in the top ranks of South African surfing.
In this documentary, Apartheid and sport meet head on. Ten years of democracy
and some are still reeling from the effects it had on their lives. Taking back
the waves will also look at Cass' relationship with his father, who fought hard
for him to be a recognised surfer in South Africa. Watch SABC 2 on September
30th @ 21:00
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