By Jeanne van der Merwe
Soggy weather and high police visibility took some of the fizz out of this year's post-matric parties in Hermanus in the Western Cape.
The seaside town is a legendary venue for matrics celebrating their freedom after their final exams and has become notorious for scenes of drunken teenagers running amok.
But even though cars laden with matric students and booze poured into the area on Friday, police arrested only 15 people for party-related incidents all weekend.
It could have been due to the weather - it rained all Friday and only cleared about 7pm - or the aggressive media campaign by police and traffic authorities last week in which they vowed to show no tolerance to destructive or rowdy behaviour.
On Friday, the road to Hermanus was lined with traffic police. Although the rain meant a roadblock was unnecessary, the Arrive Alive law enforcement co-ordinator, Kenny Africa, said the high visibility of traffic police was equally effective.
"Although we didn't have a roadblock, we kept a close eye on motorists coming in and, on the whole, we were very happy with the way they behaved."
But just because this year's matrics were well-behaved doesn't mean they didn't party. Most were at the nearby Onrus caravan park, some went to Paradise Park outside Onrus, some partied in their parents' holiday homes and there was a fair amount of pub crawling in the town's main road.
By 8pm on Friday, many revellers at Onrus were already loud and wobbly. The air was filled with the smells of braaivleis, cigarette smoke and booze.
Rave techno belted from an assortment of cars - anything from banged-up old Volksies to shiny new BMWs, all with out-of-town registrations.
Anita Olivier from Paradise Park said the weekend was remarkably peaceful. In Hermanus itself, the pubs did good business and police vans parked along the main road discouraged the pub crawlers from trashing traffic signs or shop windows.
On Saturday afternoon, there was a regular trickle of teenagers popping into the three bottle stores to replenish their supplies, but Andre Heyns from Diamond Liquors said matric weekend customers didn't make a big difference to business.
There weren't any big beach parties, presumably because Club Nautilus at Grotto Beach burnt down earlier this year.
Inspector Eben Groenewald, spokesman for the Hermanus police, said he was "very happy" with the low crime statistics for the weekend.
"We had a sharp decline in matric weekend-related crimes - only one case of drunken driving compared to six last year.
Last year, we arrested five people for having drugs on them and this year there was only one. Last year, there were eight collisions ... and this year there were only three minor collisions with no injuries."
The Hermanus police issued 17 spot fines for drinking in public, arrested three people for rowdy behaviour and seven for public drunkenness. Two people were arrested for resisting arrest and assaulting a policeman.
One man was taken to hospital with minor head injuries after being hit with a bottle and the culprit vanished into the Onrus caravan park.