Surfer Profile: Mickey Duffus

Highlights:
Just keeping it up and surfing bigger waves as I get older.

Stalwart
Adjective: 1). Strongly built, sturdy. 2). Courageous, resolute, determined.
Noun: A loyal, dependable and uncompromising person.

In 1999 Mickey had the somewhat difficult task of captaining/managing the South African Big Wave Surfing Team, consisting of Ian Armstrong and Cass Collier, to the World Big Wave Surfing Championships at Todos Santos in Mexico. South Africa had been out of the international surfing loop for a few years, and our team consisted of two devout Rastafarian surfers who insisted on wearing hemp blazers.
Mickey led the team to an emphatic victory, opening the eyes of the world to what was happening in big waves in Cape Town. The inaugural Red Bull Big Wave Africa happened the same year, 1999, and Mickey has been a standard fixture in the event since its inception.
The thing that makes Mickey stand out from the big wave surfing crowd is the incredible amount of water time he puts in. every single big wave session, every barrelling sesh down the beach, and every Kom, Factory and Sunset session will have Mickey out there getting his fair share. When it gets serious Dungeons stuff he is at it as much as the rest of the crew.
Mickey is not too full of himself to admit fear as well, as can be attested by a recent machine session he had recently at Dungeons with partner Twiggy.
Twiggy was amped for a big one and I took him straight out to the back. We saw this wave coming through and it was massive and I gunned away from it, but it crumbled at it looked like it was going to catch us. I tried to punch through the whitewater that was cresting at the top of this wave, and I lost control of the ski. There were two more waves coming through and Twiggy was swimming the length of the rope to come and help me roll the ski. It was scary, I was probably the most scared I have ever been out there.”
Twiggy was watching from the end of a tow-rope. “The wave only crumbled on top, but Mickey had no choice but to try and hit it.”
“Sometimes I think I am so lucky to even be near some of the waves that I have had the opportunity to ride, and other times I doubt myself and what I am getting into. Underneath it all, the most motivating factor when it comes to riding these waves, is the fact that as I get older so I have so much fun in the water.”
Yep, it’s not only about surfing big waves. Whenever there’s a bank, or some waves to ride, Mickey is on it. From K-Bay to K-Baai and anywhere else on the peninsula and up the coast.
Anything else? “Yep. I’m scared of big fish.”