Necessity is the mother of invention as the saying goes. So when the JBay ou's found out that there was gonna be no Billabong Pro this year, instead of crying into their coffee they decided to do something about it. And damn, they did a fine job. Well done to the JBU and guys like Koffie Jacobs for creating the JBay Winterfest - that included the JBay Open of Surfing.
A really cool mix of a surfing comp, and plenty other cool stuff like skate comps, fishing comps, trail runs, bike rides, jols, the whole shebang. Something for everyone. Unfortunately the swell didn't really fire, but still some excellent surfing going down, with the finals being won by EL's Greg Emslie. Showing that it isn't only wine that gets better with age. Ballies get better too! Local kids Dylan Lightfoot and Emma Smith did well, hooking 4th spots in the Men's and Ladies finals. Matt McGillivray threw down the Best Air of the event. Everyone was just frothing over how cool it was to have the cream of SA surfing, boh old school and new school, together at an event. Plenty of skate action too, with the Sokkie Jol - a disco inspired skate jam sponsored by Core Surf & Skate - drawing plenty of crowds. Coupla cones, berms, ramps and "tubes" had the guys on their toes in a unique course set up on one of JBay steepest streets. The fastest time for the downhill course was achieved by top longboard rider Kyle Vollaers. Then Arbor put on a rad night skate event called Smoke & Mirrors, which saw skaters kitted out in LED skate suits and smoke machines pumping on all cylinders. Cars lined the street to throw some light on the action. So yah - really great effort by the JBay guys to pull this all together. Shot ou's for hosting a great event!
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In small and testing offshore conditions at Supertubes, Greg Emslie from East London emerged victorious at the inaugural Jeffreys Bay Open Of Surfing presented by Billabong, with some powerful and fast surfing.
The surf pulsed throughout the morning, with slower heats followed by intense action, and the luck factor played a large part in the final day action. Greg had snapped his favourite board in the semi-final, and was surfing in the final on a back-up board that seemed to really light up in the fast and shallow surf, getting some good waves with open faces and racking up the points. “It was tough out there, the waves were pretty scarce and they were quite tricky to ride on the low tide,” said Greg after the final. “The guys in the final heat were really fighting hard, and it was so competitive out there.” Greg has been surfing events at Supertubes all his life, as an amateur and as a pro on the World Championship Tour, and knows the wave very well. “I paddled out for the final, and I was thinking that it’s about time I win an event here at Jeffreys,” said a visibly stoked Greg. “So I put my head down and did it.” Despite putting on an electric performance throughout the contest, Brandon Jackson from Durban was second, with powerhouse surfer Slade Prestwich from Durban in third and local Jeffreys Bay surfer Dylan Lightfoot in fourth. In the ladies division it was a determined and fast-paced Nikita Robb from East London who took the win with some big hits on the smaller waves on her backhand. Nikita surged into the lead earlier on in the final and despite some inspired surfing from Sarah, managed to keep the lead until the final siren. In the end it was Sarah Baum from Durban in second place, with Tanika Hoffman from Kommetjie in third and Emma Smith from JBay in fourth. The Nixon Winner Takes All prize of a R9,000 Nixon Magnacon watch went to Allan Johns for a long and deep tube ride in one of the earlier rounds of the event. The VonZipper Award for the Best Air was awarded to Matt McGillivray for a huge frontside rotation into the flats that had the crowds cheering for the local rider. The DaKine Most Progressive Move Award went to Max Armstrong for a big slob air that he successfully pulled of on the opening day of competition. The Sector 9 Award for the Best Carve At Supers went to Ricky Basnett for a massive carve that he executed down at Impossibles, also on the first day of competition. The Best Wave of the event in the Men’s division went to Dylan Lightfoot, and he received a FireWire Surfboard from Country Feeling Surf Shop. The Best Wave of the event in the Women’s division went to Sarah Baum, and she also received a FireWire Surfboard from Country Feeling Surf Shop. Contest organiser Koffie Jacobs from JBU Surf Club was very happy with the event and the turn-out, and showed his enthusiasm looking ahead to next year. “We are all very stoked with the way things have turned out,” said Koffie. “We are totally committed to next year and are planning on going bigger and better! It was great to see all the support, and thanks to everyone for coming to our event.” Final results: Men
Women
Well done to NMMU for getting a 2nd spot in the SA University Surfing Champs that were held at Vic Bay this week. The guys were placed 3rd, and the girls 2nd - so a 2nd overall. Lekker!
The highest placed finisher was Indi Rooken-Smith who got a 3rd. Josh and Brendon got knocked out in the quarters, same with Jess and Tandy. Probably take Vic a few weeks to recover from having a horde of students invading it!! Such a kiff venue for a surf comp, specially SAU which is a combo surf/jol mission. Thanks to Josh Saunders for the info and pics. Early morning onshore conditions at Supertubes soon cleaned up as the day progressed, and the 3rd and 4th mens quarterfinals were sent out into the highly contestable three to four-foot conditions. The first heat in the water saw the biggest upset of the event take place with former world champion Australian Mark Occhilupo being eliminated along with Simon Fish by an on-form Ricky Basnett and Greg Emslie.
Ricky, the 2006 Mr Price Pro winner and a former World Championship Tour competitor, found the waves to his liking and took to the skies for an inspired and high-scoring performance, throwing up huge airs and big carves for the best scores of the heat. Winning the heat with relative ease, Ricky was looking relaxed throughout. "It's the first contest I've surfed in about two years, and I'm just out there having some fun," said Ricky of his performance. "I'm not taking it too seriously, and I'm totally relaxed in the water, which seems to be working for me. The waves were a little disjointed out there and I couldn't really see any opportunities to link turns and combinations, so I just went for the big punts when I could." Ricky was on a board that really seemed to be working well on the waves of Supertubes. "I'm riding a little 5'9 round-tail board at the moment," said Basnett on his equipment. "I've been riding it all over the place but it really felt good out at Supers." The girls semi-finals were next in the water, and Nikita Robb and Tanika Hoffman advanced through the first semi, with a wave-starved Faye Zoetmulder eliminated from the event. In the second semi-final Sarah Baum and Emma Smith advanced at the expense of Heidi Palmboom. With the increasing northerly wind causing the waves to rapidly deteriorate it was decided to put the event on hold and it was utimately called off for the day. The next call will be tomorrow morning at 07h30. For those people in Jeffreys Bay, tomorrow night sees the Arbor Longboard Exhibition, a night skating event that will be primarily lit by car headlights. There will be LED lighting and other theatrics and it looks to be an exciting visual experience. The demonstration starts on Friday 12 June at 5pm in Sable Street. The Jeffreys Bay Open Of Surfing can be found on Facebook Jeffreys Bay Open Of Surfing Score updates can be found throughout the day on the Jeffreys Bay Open Of Surfing Twitter account @JBayOpen After a slow start at Supertubes this morning, the waves started pulsing and it was decided to send the Girls First Round into the water. It was a good call, and solid waves started pouring down the point for the girls. In heat number 1 it was Faye Zoetmulder, Emma Smith and Tanika Hoffman advancing to the quarters, and in heat two it was Sarah Baum, Nikita Robb and Heidi Palmboom who advanced. Zoetmulder was one of the stand-outs of the round, picking up one of the best waves of the morning and executing some critical moves on her backhand for a 7.75 (out of a possible 10) to help her through to a heat win. The men's quarter-finals were sent out as a slight onshore started puffing, but the waves were still good and there were some excellent waves being scored. In the first quarter Dale Staples emerged victorious with Casey Grant in second place, eliminating Devyn Matteys and Shane Thorne from the event. "It was quite tricky out there," said Staples on the beach afterwards. "There was a bump on the waves with the light onshore, and it was hard to find the right one. I saw that Shane (Thorne) was sitting quite high up the point and seemed to be struggling to find the right ones, so I chose to sit further down. The best waves were the ones that bent out a bit toward the bottom. I was riding my normal equipment out there, my favourite board, and it felt good." Dale is looking forward to the rest of the event. "It's obviously really good to be surfing at Supers. It beats the WQS." The final heat was dogged by rapidly increasing onshore winds, and in the tricky conditions it was Brandon Jackson and Slade Prestwich who won through from Ryan Payne and Dan Redman. At the end of the heat the decision was made to call it off for the day, with the next call to be made at first light tomorrow. There is a R30,000 first prize for the men's division and a R5,000 first prize for the women's division, as well as a number of specialty prize categories in the event. Nixon South Africa have announced that they will be giving away a magnificent Nixon Magnacon watch in their Winner Takes All event to be run during the Jeffreys Bay Open. The WTA is an award that will be going to the Best Tube Ride of the entire event, and the Magnacon is valued at R9000. The Best Tube Ride of the event so far goes to Allan Johns, but there is still plenty of surfing to come. VonZipper South Africa will reward the surfer who pulls off the Best Air of the event with a VonZipper product pack. DaKine have put up a prize for the surfer who performs the Most Progressive Move of the event. Sector9 will be awarding a longboard skateboard and a product pack to the surfer who performs the Best Carve on the walls of Supers in the event. The Best Wave of the event in the men's division will receive a FireWire Surfboard, and the Best Wave of the women's divison will also receive a FireWire Surfboard, both sponsored by Cheron Kraak and Country Feeling Surf Shop. The Jeffreys Bay Open Of Surfing can be found on Facebook Jeffreys Bay Open Of Surfing Score updates can be found throughout the day on the Jeffreys Bay Open Of Surfing Twitter account @JBayOpen Day 1 video highlightsThanks to Stan Blumberg for these rad shots of Day One's surfing at Supers. Perfect three to four-foot Supertubes conditions greeted contestants this morning for the opening day of the Jeffreys Bay Open Of Surfing presented by Billabong, and the contest director sent the first heat into the water wth no hesitation. The perfect waves translated into some high performance surfing throughout the day, including some massive air moves and a few incredible barrels.
Smaller surf combined with the low tide, saw some shifty conditons at times, with a few prominent surfers finding themselves short of waves and out of the competition after the first three rounds. Twiggy Baker was the first upset of the day, getting eliminated from the first heat of the day in good, pulsing conditions, and Gavin Rudolph, the oldest surfer in the event at 60-years-old, was eliminated in heat 3. Regular Jeffreys Bay surfer Dylan Stone from Port Elizabeth was another surprise elimination from the event, despite showing some excellent form on a few waves. Steven Sawyer, Jason Ribink and Craig Els all followed suit and were knocked out of the event. Number one seed Sean Holmes was another one who struggled to find high scoring waves and was eliminated from the contest in his round of 32 heat. One surfer who really impressed the judges during a long day of competition was St Francis Bay local and WQS campaigner Dale Staples, who performed some critical moves on the fast Supertubes wall to win his heat and advance to the quarters. Current SA Champ Casey Grant along with Brandon Jackson were two other surfers who excelled, along with Slade Prestwich, and will also be surfing in the quarter finals when next the contest resumes. Another surfer who advanced through to the quarters was local surfer Dylan Lightfoot, who advanced in second place along with Greg Emslie. "The waves were fast and down-the-line out there, and you really need to find the ones with the tapering walls," said Lightfoot. "I'm stoked to get through to the quarters and there are some big names in the event, but they are going to be under pressure and I'm not feeling any pressure at this stage and am just having some fun out there." Former winner at Jeffreys Bay and 1999 world champion Mark Occhilupo from Australia hit the water in the second last heat of the day, and whipped a few big turns on his backhand as the tide started coming in. He advanced through to the quarters along with Lewellyn Whittaker from Mossel Bay. The leading contender for the Nixon WTA Best Tube Ride Award of a R9000 Nixon Magnacon Watch is Allan Johns for a long barrel across the Car Park section that saw Allan score a 9-point ride. Surfers remaining in the event need to assemble for a possible 07h30 start tomorrow, with a chance that the surfing might begin with the first round of the Girls division. The Jeffreys Bay Open Of Surfing can be found on Facebook Jeffreys Bay Open Of Surfing Score updates can be found throughout the day on the Jeffreys Bay Open Of Surfing Twitter account @JBayOpen Get your diaries out - and pen in this date! Cos darn, the Cobbles Classic is going to be one of the funnest comp's around. What's not to like about an event that is a throwback to the original longboard era - single fins only - and with an emphasis on noserides, style, grace and flow. So leave your high performance board at home, forget about those vertical snaps, and screw out 2 of ya fins. Then you good to go. Start practicing hooking those toes over the nose, the drop-knee turns and the dead cockroach. Dunno what a dead cockroach is? Well, fins out - then try it out! Going to be an epic, feel good event - so diarise it. 14th and 15th of September. Only R200 to enter and you could win a bunch of awesome prizes, including a classic single fin longboard. Here's a lil retro video edit by Jean du Toit with Craig, Dylan and Dean styling at Cobbles in tight shorts, scary mo's and on the nose! |
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