Watch: Father & Son Seek Uncut Gems On Africa’s Forgotten Coast

George Bernard Shaw wrote: “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

When Pete Beukes moved from Cape Town to Lambert’s Bay to work as a diamond diver about three decades ago, he opted for the unreasonable: tapping into wild West Coast setups that had likely never been surfed before whenever he had a day off.

Today, his son Eli is not letting waves of great calibre detonate unridden over frigid granite shelves. That is not to say the situation has become any more ‘reasonable’.

“If you had to choose two manoeuvres that Eli will always go to,” Alan van Gysen says, “it’s the barrel and the air. He’ll get a giant barrel and then come out and want to do a huge air off the end section.”

The producer of Rough Diamonds had wanted to make a film about Eli for a while. “I think there’s so much more to him than just surfing.” The unplanned hook in the storyline ended up being Eli’s relationship with his father.

“I spend a lot of time up there, and it’s really special to see that kind of connection,” Alan says. “It’s quite rare for someone to spend that much time with their dad.”

Jordy Smith picked up on it, too, making an unprompted observation during his interview for the film: “He’s filming and capturing some of the best moments of his son’s life.”

“My dad filmed quite a big chunk of the land footage, pretty much most of it,” Eli told me. “He doesn’t surf so much anymore, but I heard that he used to rip back in the day.”

Eli also spoke about the number of waves around Lambert’s Bay, most of them very scary. “Big ups to those guys for surfing there.” Like Pete, Lambert’s Bay, population 6,000ish, played host to a good crew of diamond divers who also surfed.

“That was the time to be there,” Eli said. “A lot less crowded and a lot of waves.”

The West Coast, at least from what’s visible in Rough Diamonds, puts up its own “No Trespassing” signs. Heavy groundswells, freezing, murky water, bull kelp strewn through the lineup, mussel-lined rocks and marine fauna large and diverse enough to keep recreational crowds away for the foreseeable future.

Ahead of testing an entire Stab in the Dark quiver, Taj Burrow said something along the lines of Western Australian waves not allowing much room for turns. Dry, barren and inhospitable, it’s not far-fetched to draw a comparison between South Africa’s coastal disparities from those in Australia. In the east: longer, tamer pointbreaks and generally warmer water. In the west: waves where reef navigation skills and sheer bravado reign paramount.

“On the West Coast,” Alan says, “a lot of those waves can pinch or clamp. They’re very imperfect. You don’t get those beautiful big barrels that stay open where you can just kick out.

“It’s a very rugged and harsh kind of surfing environment,” he continues. “But when you let Eli loose on a wave like J-Bay or somewhere on the East Coast, he’ll also draw these beautiful turns on those long walls.”

The praise continued, with Alan comparing Eli’s approach to surfers like Mikey Wright and Hughie Vaughan.

“Those guys from south of Sydney or the Central Coast will go for giant barrels and then do big airs. Eli is very comfortable with that.”

“Eli’s surfing does a lot of his talking,” Alan says. “All of his edits are mostly just him surfing, and we were hoping this film would share a little bit more of who Eli is with the world.”

When I called Eli, one of the first things he told me was, “This is the most I’ve spoken [in a film] yet.”

His previous edits, like Interzone (must watch), were cooked up at home by himself and released through his YouTube channel. For Rough Diamonds, he initially organised a selection of clips and moments on a timeline before handing the final cut to Will Bendix, the other half of Now Now Media alongside Alan.

“The editing this time was all Will’s work.”

The level and range of Eli’s surfing here had us wondering if this should’ve been categorised under SEOTY, but the father-son story, generously sprinkled with scenes of the country’s nature and wildlife, ultimately sets it apart as a different type of production.

Alan had two main motivations for putting the project into the world. The first was Eli himself.

“Eli doesn’t promote himself. He doesn’t really try to get exposure or publicity. That’s partly why I wanted to support him,” he says. “It’s amazing what a little bit of exposure can do for a surfer, even from a small place like Lambert’s Bay.”

The other was the place he’s so grateful to call home.

“As a filmmaker, one of the things I really try to show in our films — and I want surfers to enjoy — is that it’s not just about the surfing. When I go surfing myself, I take my kids into the ocean here. It’s the wildlife, the seafood, diving, swimming and surfing. There’s just so much to do in the water.”

Ultimately, that aligns with Pete Beukes’ philosophy that “every day is an ocean day.” Sometimes you dive for diamonds. Sometimes you surf. Sometimes you just enjoy looking at the horizon.

Thirty years ago, Pete went to Lambert’s Bay looking for what was beneath its waters. Eli kept coming back for what was on their surface.

Rough diamonds were found by both.