THE LEGACY
An exploration of the surfers, communities, and defining moments that shaped Cape Town’s big wave culture.
DUNGEONS
Long before Dungeons became a name in global big wave surfing, it was simply known as The Sentinel — a cold, exposed stretch of ocean sitting off Hout Bay, watched over by the mountain above it. The wave was first seriously explored in the mid-1980s, with Pierre de Villiers and Peter Button widely credited as the first surfers to paddle out and ride it around 1984. At the time, there were no jet skis in the channel, no formal safety teams, no live forecasts, and no proven line-up. Just a long hike, a heavy paddle, and a wave that most people still weren’t sure could be surfed.
In those early years, Dungeons was not a destination. It was a mission. Surfers would climb over the mountain, paddle across the channel, and commit themselves to a wave that broke far from shore, in cold water, near seal colonies, kelp beds, reefs, and moving Atlantic weather. Access alone made it serious; the wave made it something else entirely. Dungeons sits offshore from the Sentinel at the mouth of Hout Bay and is still considered one of the most challenging big wave arenas in the world.
As equipment improved and the Cape big wave community grew, Dungeons began to attract a small crew of local chargers who returned to the wave with more regularity. Names like Jonathan Paarman, Justin Strong, Ian Armstrong, Cass Collier, Chris Bertish, and Mickey Duffus became part of the story — surfers who helped turn a remote, intimidating reef into a proving ground for South African big wave surfing.
cape surf
Cape Town’s big wave heritage reaches beyond Dungeons. Across the Peninsula, spots like Sunset Reef, Kommetjie, Hout Bay and the exposed reefs of the Atlantic have shaped a surf culture defined by cold water, shifting weather, heavy swell and deep local knowledge. The Surfer’s Journal describes Sunset Reef as South Africa’s original heavy-water proving ground, sitting within a wider Kommetjie zone that connects Long Beach, Dungeons and Sunset’s open-ocean peak.
This scene was never built by spectacle alone. It grew through small crews, winter forecasts, harbour launches, photographers in the channel, safety teams, and surfers willing to wait for the right day. Dungeons later carried Cape Town onto the global stage through Red Bull Big Wave Africa, an invitation-only event that brought international attention to Hout Bay while confirming what local surfers already knew: the Cape belonged in the world big wave conversation.
Today, that heritage continues through the surfers and communities still committed to heavy water in the Cape. From Dungeons and Sunset Reef to the next generation watching, learning and earning their place, Cape Courage exists to carry this history forward — creating a platform for the rise of a new generation of Cape big wave surfers.
red bull
