Myself with the old team - Graeme White, Suga and Mark Gillman - pic by Greg Chalkley

I popped over to the GHFM studios in Sea Point today, with the station in the hands of some of the 'legends' for a few hours, namely Mark Gillman on 6-9am, Graeme White from 9am to 12pm,  Dimitri Jegels from 12 to 3 pm, Nigel Pierce 3-6 and Bongani Njoli from 6pm. I used to do sport on the Mark Gillman Breakfast Show in the 90's, and it was amazing to pop in and see some of the 'old faces'. A blast from the past to reconnect with a few of my former collegues.

Sliding up to the lip - Image by Jeff Ayliffe

The O'Neill Cold Water Classic rolled into Cape Town over the past weekend, and on Saturday, Misty Cliffs was scoffing as the coldest, wettest, baddest contest on the surfing planet dished up a gently day of blue skies, warm sunshine and mediocre surf. On Sunday, the giant started to awaken, the ocean breathed, and a cold wind swept out of the north..and on sunday, the classic awoke! The sets thundered through, spray from the huge cutbacks blasted back past the surfers, as spectators huddled for warmth. Jordy Smith crused into town from Reunion, and immediately found his form to take both heats. Tuesday was called off, and Wednesday is a potential Kalk Bay day. The swell are growing by the hour, and some of the worlds best are in town, so if you get a break, go and catch the action. See you on the beach. Below- Kelly & Mickey catch some sun, before the weather arrived - Image by Jeff Ayliffe.

The Ultimate Muaythai & MMA fight night played out to a packed venue at Grand West on Saturday night, realising Sifu Kru Quentin Chongs long-time dream, and what a night it was..some great fighting action was enjoyed by the crowd, and it should be the first of many evenings at this venue. The highlite was Jason 'The Bull' Roberts defending his SA Pro Title. The girls get stuck in, image below by Jeff Ayliffe.

On Saturday morning, I recieved a call from Sarah of Dive Action, asking me if I was able to go to Kommetjie and assist with a mass stranding of False-Killer Whales. I was told to keep it quiet, apart from contacting fellow divers who may be able to assist. Enroute to the beach, I heard a radio broadcast requesting a 'front-end loader', and asking that people stay away! Well, in the event that you want to attract people to a beach by the thousand, just get a major radio station to tell the story..and request that people stay clear. It was like bees to a honey pot, as the vehicles and crowds arrived by the thousands.

I'm not going to go into detail here about the day, suffice to say that I was left irritated and at times, just plain furious by blaring sirens, and hysterical 'officials' ranging from security guards to neighbourhood watch, all of whom wanted to exercise their little piece of authority on the beach. 

My heartfelt thanks go to those who tried to do what they could in the water, and what a difficult call it must have been for Mike Meyer and the avaliable team who were tasked with dealing with the situation. Remember that the top minds made the call to kill the animals based on having exhausted all options. I trust in that call, and as I said on air, to those who scream from the sidelines about the shooting, remember that in 3 weeks time, when all is forgotten, Mike and his team will be continuing to work on saving and assisting other marine life and mammals, as they do day in and day out.

To those who cry out about blasts, human interference, etc, remember that in 1928, on this same beach..100 False Killer Whales beached themselves in the SAME WAY! Helpers swam them out, and like this weekend, they RETURNED to the beach. No blasts were factors, no overpopulated human interference, just nature. Unlike Saturday however, those 100 were left to die the natural way, and the reports tell of moaning and cries from dying whales, in agony for for 4 days! Nature caused the beaching, perhaps the sea-state was similar and played a role, but at the end of the day, it happened before..and it WILL happened again. Man does'nt understand. But the calls on saturday were made by those with more understanding, and more compassion than most.

I was very pleased to return to the seat yesterday for my 2nd session in the Walker Brothers Racing / RST 125 kart, and have no problems from the damaged intercostals! I've changed my training programme slightly to increase endurance and fitness required to hang onto these 'nervous' machines at speed, and its paying off, still getting very tired, but improving. I guess I need 'race-time' to get fit.

Kito has changed steering set up on the kart that really improves comfort, also did changes to set-up of the front slicks on the axel. Result is a far better turn-in response, no understeer at all. I struggled with grip though, which makes for interesting moments in the fast corners, but Greg Walker assures me it's a result of a 'tired' set of slicks. More racing news and updates under 'Racing' link.

Twice in the space of 14 hours, autumn in Cape Town produced just the correct cloud-types and conditions in the atmosphere to leave photographers scrambling for their camera's. The image above was shot from the balcony of my apartment in Camps Bay at sunset, and below was the 2010 stadium, bathed in early morning light just under 14 hours later. The image was shot from the balcony of our Primedia offices. Some examples of just how much drama cloud can add to an image!

Tracey Simmonds - above - proffesional Pole dancer from the UK, amazingly strong..she would make a deadly climber! - Image by Jeff Ayliffe.

The 2009 Sexpo has come and gone, and once again, the reactions to the 4 day expo were mixed. I attended as an accredited photographer, and will admit to being a little unsure about exactly what I was going to find, having not been to last years expo. Once there, I was surprised at the variety of people who attended, and was pleasantly surprised by the lack of explicit 'porn'. The organisers claimed a fun, lifestyle expo that was geared towards average couples, and that was certainly the impression I got as young and old enjoyed a wide range of stands. At no stage did I feel in any way uncomfortable or intimidated, and whilst it's obviously not something to take your kids to see, it certainly had an element of fun and education that seemed to be enjoyed by everyone that was there.

The Wesbank Super Series hit Killarney on Saturday, a full programme of great racing action, but my focus was on the superbikes, where local rider Lance Issacs took the overall win for the day.

Superbike racing just lends itself to photography. End of story. It's an intoxicating mix of power, speed, committment, and such beautiful sounding engines. It grabs you, and makes you want to be a part of it, and as in so many things, the mental aspect of the riders leaves me intrigued. Nearing 280KPH - Lance leads the field - image below by Jeff Ayliffe

My parents bought me a book when I was a kid, written by Jeanne Cowden in the 70's, called 'For the Love of an eagle'. It was a true story about how she had befriended a family of Black eagles in the Drakensberg mountains of KZN, and covered her relationship with a young bird called 'Timmerjan' This was the start of my fascination with Black eagles, now called 'Verreaux eagles', and in particular, a beautiful bird called 'Mick'. Mick stays at 'Eagle Encounters' at Spier, cared for by Hank and Tracy Chalmers, and is just one of a variety of beautiful raptors being looked after in this centre for rehabilitation and education. I'm preparing to shoot a doccy on Mick, to document her fascinating life as an 'ambassador' for the Black eagle species. Below - Yellow-billed Kite - Image by Jeff Ayliffe