False Bay in the Cape is popular for surfing. On a good day – when the Great Whites are not spotted – surfers and boogie boarders take to the swell in the waters off the many beaches in the bay. This evokes an image of the sun-kissed surfer's blonde locks, tanned bodies and youth. However, this is not what you would find on Friday mornings at a particular beach near Somerset West. A group of women, most of them having seen the wrong side of 50, use this beach every Friday morning to get together for a serious session of boogie boarding. They are part of a new generation of older women who do not believe in the stereotypes of women over 50 being past their sell-by date and ready for the scrap heap. They look different to their mothers; no bouffant, "I don't want my hair to be ruffled" hairstyles or insipid colour clothing. And they act differently. They or should I say we, like to exercise, to look like a slightly older, more put-together and calmer versions of our daughters and many of us decide to take up new careers, re-ignite former careers or mentor the younger generation. We see ourselves as total different versions of our mothers and believe that the boundaries set by society and those that came before us should be broken. And that we have a role to play like the matriarch killer whales described in the piece below by Candace Bushnell in the Wall Street Journal. – Linda van Tilburg

The New Rules of Middle Age, Written by Women

By Ellen Gamerman

Darcey Steinke knew she was going to write a book about menopause when she read that two of the only creatures to go through it are human women and killer whales. Instead of disappearing into the murky depths, she learned, the whales become leaders of their pods.

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