Jordy Wins

Jordy Smith has won the Billabong Pro at J-Bay beating Adam Melling. This is Jordy's first ever win on the WCT and he is now number 1 in the world and one world ratings.

Taj was knocked out in the semis when he made probably his first mistake all contest on his last wave. Needing a mid six with less than 30 seconds to go he caught a wave that would have been good enough for the score and started well but blew it on a big hack towards the end of the ride and was out.

Next event is Chopes in about a month.

Mexican Pipe

The Billabong Pro isn't the only surf contest on at the moment. There is a "star" event at Puerto Escondido in Mexico. Mexican Pipe looks like it was firing for a change as can be seen in the highlight video from day 1.

Finals at J-Bay

The Billabong Pro flows straight into its fourth day and the finals. Jordy Smith is in the water against Adriano De'Souza and with two monster airs has a 9 and a high 7.

Bede Durbridge takes on local wildcard Sean Holmes. Taj has Dane Reynolds is probably the hardest quarter final. Damo Hopgood, the last goofy in the event, then takes on Aussie rookie Adam Melling. 

With Slater out in round three and Mick in round 4 both Taj and Jordy could put themselves in a great position for the world title. They have been the standout surfers of the event so far and a bit a little margin. Both have been able to find the best waves, hunt the barrel and their lip hits are more critical and more fins out than anyone else. The difference between the top guys and the next rung down is the smoothness of their surfing. The next tier seem to always need to double pump their bottom turns where the best surfer hold their rail in one move off the bottom.

It will be an interesting day in waves that aren't great for J-Bay but obviously the forecast for the rest of the waiting period isn't good.

Holmes at Home

Sean Holmes has surfed his second heat for the day and taken his second big scalp. In a really tight heat he just sneaked past Kelly Slater in round three and has just beaten Andy Irons in round four. He will be taking on Bede Durbridge in the quarters.

Taj is in the water at the moment and has just blasted out the doggie door on a long barrel for an 6.8. His second wave had a tube and a series of massive, fins out hacks for a 9.77 leaving Tiago Pires in a combo with half a heat to go.

Jordy Smith destroyed Owen Wright and took advantage of being out at J-Bay with only one other to catch a fistful of waves.

Dane Reynolds, Mick Fanning, Damo Hopgood are amongst those left to surf in this round. Mick v Damo should be a good heat.

J-Bay Hat Trick

Day three of the waiting period and the rest of round three is being run. AI has just snuck past the stink bug style of Luke Stedmman and Slater is in the water against local wildcard Sean Holmes. The winner will take on AI in the next round.  Taj is in the next heat against Frances Joan Duru.

The waves are similar to yesterday although smaller and not quite as clean. Still you would die happy if this was as bad as your local ever got !

J-Bay Day Two

Into the second round at J-Bay after yesterday's non-elimination round one. Most of the seeds got through easily in the classic surf and so far today the heats have been okay but no stars.

Although the surf has dropped to about three foot plus it is still cranking and probably better than anything you've ever surfed !!!! Still that hasn't stopped the first ten of the event being scored by Bottle Thompson. With some big carves, a deep deep tube and a floater it deserved the ten. Check it at the heats on demand on the website.

As the day has progressed the size hasn't really dropped but it has become a little inconsistent with some heats being a little starved for waves. CJ Hopgood is the only significant loss so far, losing to Timmy Reynes, who was Parko's injury replacement. CJ is having a horror start to his year with his second 33rd to go with a 17th and a 5th. This means he will hold the 17th for the rest of the year.

Unfortunately some of the South African spectators have brought along those stupid bugle things from the soccer world cup. Luckily they only seem to blow them when a local is in a heat and only Jordy and Travis Logie (who seems to have learnt how to surf this year) left.

Looks like they will run to round 3 heat 5 today and hope for more swell tomorrow. Watch it live on FuelTV or the net.

Heaven

The Billabong Pro J-Bay has started in classic 4 - 6 foot offshore conditions. These are the waves you dream off, long fast open sweeping sections with a tube ride thrown in for good measure.

The heats are bashing through but the last four have been classics. Jordy Smith just smashed his heat, Slater threw a lazy carving 360 to score 15 Plus for his two waves. This was despite his filght being delayed and him not arriving in J-Bay till this morning, with boards but not clothes as his bags are still travelling. He rode a 5'8" ish round tail with five fin plugs.

Taj was next up and ripped out two big layback snaps and a coverup or two. Mick Fanning then tore the roof off some for the highest heat score so far in round one.

As usual for a Billabong event the webcast is top notch but it is also being broadcast live on Fuel TV for those with Foxtel. If you missed it there are heats on demand on the Billabong Pro site.

J-Bay tomorrow

The ASP world tour finally kicks back into life for event 4, the Billabong Pro at J-Bay. This event always seems to get waves although the wind can be an issue sometimes.

It will be interesting to see how the long lay off has effected the surfers. Kelly always seems to be able to switch it on and off as does Mick. Taj will be the most interesting as he was on a roll prior to the break but J-Bay is a place he generally does well at and really suits his style. Interestingly Taj, Mick, Parko and Slater have basically owned this event in the last few years. Between them they have had 40 starts in 13 events for 9 wins, 3 seconds, 7 thirds and 6 fifths.

Parko wont win this year as his foot injury will keep him out. Below is news footage of the wave that has probably killed any chance of him being world champ this year.



THE TOECUTTER from Joel Parkinson on Vimeo.

Ouch

Parko is out of the Billabong Pro starting at J-Bay next week after cutting his foot. If you think that sounds a bit wimpy check out the photo on his site.