New Pier, Durban: the hollow break that made Jordy Smith

On Durban's Golden Mile, between the city's towers and the Indian Ocean, a concrete jetty carves out a right and a left that pump hollow and fast, with little room for error. International guides rate it world-class, a rare label for such an easily reached, city-centre spot, just minutes on foot from downtown.

Some guides also list New Pier under the name Dairy Beach, the beach that runs right alongside the jetty. The wave starts working at 1 to 1.5 metres and holds all the way past 4 metres, making it one of the most versatile spots on the Golden Mile.

The Pump House, the building beside the jetty, now hosts an exhibition tracing Durban's surfing history back to the early 1960s: proof that this stretch of beach isn't just another spot, but a real piece of South African surf memory.

This is where Jordy Smith, born in Durban in 1988, learned to read a wave before he could really ride one. The son of shaper Graham Smith, he grew up in the punchy beach breaks around town and made New Pier his training ground, the spot he names without hesitation when asked where he feels most at home.

The results followed: ISA Under-16 World Champion in 2003, winner of the World Qualifying Series in 2007, then a world-tour career marked by wins at the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay (2010 and 2011), the Hurley Pro Trestles (2014 and 2016) and the Rio Pro (2013). His style stays instantly recognisable: power, rodeo flips and full-rotation alley-oops, a game forged on the fast walls of his home spot.

Between tour stops, Smith still returns to film a session in Durban, on this same Golden Mile where it all started: proof the jetty keeps turning out the country's best surfers, a generation after Shaun Tomson.

The jetty organises two takeoffs: a long, technical right, and a slightly shorter but equally hollow left. Southwest and northeast swells are the ones that truly fire up the spot, with an ideal wind blowing from northwest to southwest that grooms clean walls on the sand.

The fully sandy bottom works at any tide, but the right holds a clear edge at low tide, when the jetty pins the swell and closes out the sections. In smaller surf you can paddle out from the beach; past two metres, most locals jump straight off the jetty to skip the impact zone.

South African swell holds up year-round thanks to the country's eastern-facing position, but the most reliable window stays the southern winter, May to September, when South Atlantic storms generate long, clean groundswells on this east coast.

New Pier pays the price of its reputation: around 200 local surfers share the peak on small days, with a pecking order that leaves little room for anyone who shows up without knowing the codes. Already busy on weekdays, the lineup turns into a genuine queue on weekends.

Counterintuitively, the best window for a visitor is on bigger days: past two metres, a good share of the less experienced surfers head in, and the peak opens up to those with the level to handle it. That's also when the jetty shows its true face, hollow and fast.

On the practical side, parking runs along Marine Parade; car guards who watch vehicles for a few coins are part of the scene and worth tipping, as vehicle theft remains a real concern along this beachfront.

New Pier is no beginner spot: the current the jetty generates, the shorebreak and the fast-closing swell demand an advanced level to enjoy it without getting worked. The structure itself, submerged concrete blocks and rebar, adds a real hazard if you fall the wrong way near it.

As along the whole KwaZulu-Natal coast, sharks are part of the picture: it was, in fact, a series of fatal attacks in Durban in December 1957 that pushed the province to expand its shark-net programme, now run by the KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board. The New Pier area is netted, which reduces, without eliminating, the risk.

Jellyfish and shorebreak round out the list of everyday concerns. Nothing alarming for an advanced surfer used to busy city breaks, but a reality worth knowing before the first session.