A Saffa's take on the Margaret River Pro

Ex-PE local Jaryd Mason calls Perth home these days. It's a shortish (by Aussie standards) drive down to Margaret River - which hosted the 3rd stop of the WSL. Jaryd was at the event and has done a lekker lil post-comp wrap:

"I’d like to start off by saying “howzit” to everyone back in the Eastern Cape. I really miss surfing with all of you and I hope everyone is doing well! I met up with Craig Potgieter (aka Pottie) down in Margs and we managed to catch up over a few beers and a quick surf. Felt like i was back in PE!

The newly rebranded WSL finally got some swell last week. The West turned on and gave the world of competitive surfing something to froth over. Some were saying that it was gonna be 20ft Mainbreak as the hype grew.

Anyway, I’m not going to harp on anymore about my love affair with The Aussie South-West. Here are five talking points from Stop 3 of the WSL:

1. The Box

The Box, it’s probably one of the most infamous ledge breaks in the world. It’s the wave that we use to measure all other right hand ledges. When we find a ledge back in South Africa we always try compare it to The Box. (“Hey bru, I reckon it looks like The Box when its cooking hey?!”) Growing up in South Africa I used to watch countless surf flicks of surfers taking off over this super shallow reef. I never thought that we’d see the worlds best surf The Box in a tour event, well ....try surf it! Most of the early rounds went down at the Box, with some surfers getting a harder beat down than Liverpool in a title race! It certainly made for some exciting viewing! I’ll surf it…one day.

2. “Stack” of the contest

Most of the worlds best got shown up by a firing Box. When the daily high lights reel has more wipeouts than actual waves surfed, you know it’s been a “fun” day of competitive surfing. Out at Mainbreak, Kelly got sucked over the falls in his heat against Adriano. He snapped his board and was a little reluctant to catch waves after that. I think he only caught one more wave for the rest of the heat.

But I reckon the “stack” of the contest out at The Box went to Adam Melling for his death defying, circus jump over the falls on an absolute freight train of a wave (definitely worth the youtube search).

Rumour also has it that a certain pro surfer twin had a few too many drinks one night and got into a brawl at one the only bars near the contest site. But we will leave it there…. 

3. Wave of the contest

On an 8ft day out at Mainbreak, Kelly rolled back the years and found a barrel at the takeoff zone and then proceeded to lay down the turn of the year so far. He got a 10, backed it up with a 9.5 and sent poor ol Glenn Hall crashing out of the contest.

Although I think Owen Wright scored the wave of the contest when he somehow managed to come flying out of a monster Box Barrel. I can’t describe how crazy it was…possible contender for wave of the year.

4. Free Surfs

The waves were on tap over the contest period. The South-West was showing off it’s stuff. The whole coast from Yallingup to Margs lit up and some crazy free surfs went down at North Point and some other more secret locations up the coast. Everyone’s Instagram accounts lit up with photos of cooking waves and gut wrenching wipeouts. A few of the pros got a little carried away surfing a firing North Point for 6 hours! Jay Davies, surfed North Point for hours the day before he took down Medina. But then again we all surf for the love of it. Unfortunately two potential title contenders, Jordy and Steph got injured in their free surfs. Jordy got a slash to his heal and hurt his knee and Stephy apparently hurt her knee when she jumped feet first into a sandbar down the coast.    

5. The Brazilian Storm

Two out of the three events this year have been won by Brazilians. It looked like The Brazilian storm was going to subside in The West. Most of the Brazilians got shown up at The Box including current World Champ Gabe Medina. Adriano quietly made his way through some tough heats against Kelly, Taj and took down JJF in the final. I think he deservedly claimed this years Margies Pro as well as the yellow jersey! Although I think the best surfer out West this year was JJF. He was a standout in all of the free surfs and in the contest. 

Words like RAW and UNTAMED are used to describe the Margies Region, but I’d like to describe the region as a super hot supermodel that doesn’t really need make up to look good. She also loves showing off whenever she feels like it and has a little bitchy streak! I guess one thing is for certain, Margaret River is beautiful!