I am still trying to work out whether Chad and myself of the group were more stoked to get the chance to watch the Billabong Pro in J-Bay. We have of course watched it before, but we have been surfing for years and follow these contests closely whereas for the group this is a whole new world. To give another perspective though an e-mail from Will (TTRide co-founder) contained these words ‘I would rather watch that than the world cup final’.
The way the World Tour works can not be explained in just one paragraph so I will try and map out the basics for you. There are 11 elite events each year, which only the top 28 surfers in the world can surf. There are many other events, previously known as the WQS which all surfers can surf and from which you can qualify to make the top 28 if you get enough points. The Billabong Pro in Jeffreys Bay is one of these 11 events and therefore contains only the best surfers in the world.
The first name that springs to mind when thinking of surfing is of course Kelly Slater. He is the 10 times world champ and the biggest name in surfing. He predicted that the contest would only start on Friday and therefore had not yet flown over to South Africa and missed this event. It was a controversial affair but he got the best waves of his life in Fiji and left the playing field wide open for his competitors to get points and the win.
The world number one going into this even was Brazilian Adriano de Souza, and it was just as myself and the Ticket to Ride crew walked down towards the beach that we saw him taking a wave against fellow countryman Alejo Muniz. The rookie (first year on tour) Alejo took down Adriano meaning that someone else would move into the number one spot on tour after this event. Exciting start to our day!
From there we got to see the most amazing surfing that I have seen in my life. Performances from Taj Burrow and Michel Bourrez were only bettered by amazing surfing from the likes of Josh Kerr, Adrian Buchan, Parko, Fanning, Jordy, and Julian Wilson. This is Julian’s first year as well and his surfing really pushed the boundary in terms of aerial and fins-free surfing. He is new-school surfing and with 2-3 metre glassy walls it really favoured the more futuristic surfers. Despite this surfers like Fanning and Parko who did most of their surfing in the pocket or on the lip still amazed and threw down some huge scores. The last heat of the day saw Mick Fanning surfing at his very best and it was then that people started to think a Fanning – Jordy final was on the cards.
And that was our day, now being referred to as one of the most progressive days of surfing the world tour has ever seen and a turning point in world surfing. AND WE WERE THERE.
The next morning we woke up to rain in Plett and decided to keep at home and watch the rest of the contest from the warmth of the fire at our backpackers on a laptop. Looking at the conditions we were more than happy not to have driven up there and realized just how lucky we were that the contest ran on the Saturday, our first morning in Plett. Who know whether a TTRide group will get to watch this again but it was an amazing experience.
Jordy went on to win the event which is of course fantastic for us South Africans. This gives him back to back wins in J-Bay and moves him to no.2 on the world stage and a real shot at the world title this year.
Keep posted for a video blog on what the group got up to in their last few days in CT and since.
Chris and the Ticket to Ride crew.