The Surf Blog Spot

The surfers and contest officials have decided to call off the Tuesday competition.  The predicted swell for Tuesday did not show up and the Jeffreys Bay contest officials only have 5 days left in the competition.  There are smaller and inconsistent waves at J-Bay, but not enough for a professional surfing contest.  Wednesday and Thursday look to be the last days for scoring waves and a new swell is on the horizon. 

There are still 3 South African surfers (Travie Logie, Jordy Smith, and Royden Bryson) left in Round 3 and look for them to work their local surf spot.

Check out the Billabong Pro website for live action and updates.

Round 3 of the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay has been called off for the day. Lack of swell has forced event officials to look into the 11-day waiting period to assess which two days of the eight left will offer the best scoring potential for the remaining ASP Top 45 surfers.

The next best opportunity for swell might come Monday and Tuesday.  The official swell forecaster, Surfline, predicts Tuesday as the best day to re-start the competition.

Visit www.billabongpro.com for more information and live updates.

Round 2 of the 2008 Billabong Pro at Jeffreys Bay is complete.

Swell Forecasts indicate that conditions may be unfavorable for Billabong Pro competition over the weekend. Event officials will meet each morning at 7am, local time, to monitor the waves and make an official call.

Go to the Billabong Pro website to see live action and view heat results www.billabongpro.com

Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay Round 2 Heat Results:

Heat 1: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 16.33 def. Mark Occhilupo (AUS) 9.67
Heat 2: Andy Irons (HAW) 15.17 def. Granger Larsen (HAW) 11.83
Heat 3: Bobby Martinez (USA) 16.33 def. Rudy (jnr) Palmboom (ZAF) 4.33
Heat 4: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 13.07 def. Nic Muscroft (AUS) 11.00
Heat 5: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 15.67 def. Ricky Basnett (ZAF) 11.34
Heat 6: Luke Stedman (AUS) 12.00 def. Daniel Ross (AUS) 7.60
Heat 7: Kai Otton (AUS) 14.27 def. Jihad Khodr (BRA) 13.94
Heat 8: Travis Logie (ZAF) 15.50 def. Timmy Reyes (USA) 12.00
Heat 9: Ben Bourgeois (USA) adv. Pancho Sullivan (HAW) n/s
Heat 10: Dayyan Neve (AUS) 15.66 def. Tiago Pires (PRT) 14.50
Heat 11: Heitor Alves (BRA) 16.66 def. Dane Reynolds (USA) 13.83
Heat 12: Tom Whitaker (AUS) 15.10 def. Rodrigo Dornelles (BRA) 13.70
Heat 13: Mick Campbell (AUS) 15.30 def. Damien Hobgood (USA) 9.50
Heat 14: Luke Munro (AUS) 16.33 def. Ben Dunn (AUS) 12.55
Heat 15: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 18.60 def. Neco Padaratz (BRA) 11.33
Heat 16: Chris Ward (USA) 13.16 def. Mikael Picon (FRA) 12.17

My Round 3 Key Matchups:

Heat 4: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Daniel Wills (AUS)
Heat 5: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Mick Campbell (AUS)
Heat 9: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Ben Bourgeois (USA)
Heat 14: Dean Morrison (AUS) vs. Jordy Smith (ZAF)

My Round 3 Key Matchup Revisited:

Heat 8: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Travis Logie (ZAF)

Look for some payback in this heat.  Travis Logie almost changed the 2005 ASP World Title race by beating Kelly Slater in their heat at the Brazilian Nova Schin Festival.  Then Nathan Hedge stepped-up with a heat win against Andy Irons and ended up sealing the deal for Slater.  That gave Slater his 8th World Title and 2008 looks to be another title year.

Supertubes at Jeffrey’s Bay

The 2008 Billabong Pro surfing contest at Jeffrey’s Bay (J-Bay) is set to start on July 10, 2008.  This surfing contest is stop number 5 of 11 on the ASP World Tour.  Supertubes will be the spot for the 5th surfing event and will include all the top ASP pro-surfers.  Kelly Slater leads the ASP World Tour rankings, has won 3 out of the last 4 ASP tour stop events, and is the only professional surfer to win J-Bay 3 times.  Another notable finish for Slater was his 2007 second place finish behind Taj Burrow.

J-Bay Location:Jeffrey’s Bay, Eastern Cape, South Africa: Jeffrey’s Bay lies on the southern South African coastline, around 45 miles (70 km) west of Port Elizabeth.

The Jeffrey’s Bay surfing contest runs from July 10-20 with an 11 day waiting period.  Mike Parson, the contest director, will decide the best surfing conditions for the 63 heats required to determine the 2008 J-Bay Champion.

Anybody not attending the actual South African surf contest can watch the action LIVE on the ASP World Tour website and on the Billabong Pro webcast.  You can get instant event coverage, contest scores, and live video feeds from either website.

Past Jeffrey’s Bay Champions:

• 2007 – Taj Burrow
• 2006 – Mick Fanning
• 2005 – Kelly Slater
• 2004 – Andy Irons
• 2003 – Kelly Slater
• 1996 – Kelly Slater

My 2008 J-Bay Champion prediction:  Kelly Slater aka Jimmy Slade

Last Friday night there were some exciting 2008 XXL Billabong award winners.  The winners were announced in front of more than 2,000 surfing fans.  The eight annual surfing Oscars were given out 4/11/08 by a panel of 250 surfers, surf media, and big wave riders.

Staying true to my prediction, Shane Dorian claimed The Ride Of The Year Award, making his wallet a little fatter with a $50,000 check.  Dorian’s epic barrel can be seen on the Surf Blog Spot under the XXL Billabong Ride Of The Year.  Dorian was interviewed about his ride at the awards show and here is what he had to say.  “Usually at Teahupoo, you pick your line, set your rail and you normally make it, but that wave was really unique,” said Dorian.  “I nearly fell at the start, I nearly fell in the middle and then it clipped me at the end.  It was difficult because I was almost eating it the whole time.”

The other big winner of the night was San Clemente big wave surfer, Mike Parsons, who surfed his way into the history book (for the time being) for riding the biggest wave judged to be more than 70 ft!  Parsons achieved this new record at the Cortes Bank off the California Coast on January 5, 2008.  The wave was claimed to be only 70 ft, but the wave was cut off at the bottom of photo and the true height of the wave could not be accurately calculated.  Therefore, the wave was only estimated at 70 ft, but in reality the wave was more than 70 ft.  It is the second time this big wave aficionado earned the Biggest Wave Award.  Parsons also won the inaugural title in 2001 for a 66 ft Cortes Bank wave.  Parsons walked off the stage with a little extra $15,000 in travel money.

Another San Clemente surfer, Greg Long, scored big while paddling in at Todos Santos and bringing home the 2008 XXL Monster Paddle Award.  On 12/05/07, Todos Santos pulled in four out of the five 2008 XXL Monster Paddle Award nominees.  Only one went home with the prestigious $15,000 award.  

The 2007/08 Billabong XXL Awards can be seen on ESPN2 on Friday, May 29th at 9:30pm.

Other 2008 XXL Billabong Awards:

Monster Tube Photo Award $5,000

• Manoa Drollet (Tahiti) at Teahupoo, Tahiti on November 1, 2007. 

Best Male Overall Performance Award $5,000

• Greg Long (San Clemente, California)

Billabong Girls Best Performance Award $5,000

• Maya Gabeira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

 Billabong XXL info and video: www.billabongxxl.com

CLICK HERE FOR THE VIDEOS

Here are the crazy 2008 XXL Billabong Monster Paddle Award Nominees. These brave surfers will also be honored at the eight-annual awards ceremony at the Grove Theater in Anaheim, CA. Over 500 entries from around the world and 12 months of swell hunting turned out the top five nominees. The surfers and the photographers had to narrow down the field to only five. That limited decision was a difficult one. Think of all the possible waves that could have won and then only choose five.

Believe it or not, but four of the five paddle-in wave nominees came from the same epic day at Todos Santos. Todos Santos Island is located nine miles off the coast of Ensenada, Mexico. With the odds in favor of a Todos Santos wave, the overall winner will pull in a nice $15,000 payday.

The five nominees include:

• Ben Andrews (San Francisco, California, USA) at Maverick’s, California on February 9, 2008.
• Mark Healey (Sunset Beach, Hawaii, USA) at Todos Santos, Mexico on December 5, 2007.
• Greg Long (San Clemente, California, USA) at Todos Santos, Mexico on December 5, 2007
• Jamie Mitchell (Gold Coast, Australia) at Todos Santos, Mexico on December 5, 2007.
• Rodrigo Resende (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) at Todos Santos, Mexico on December 5, 2007.

Post a comment on who you think will win the Monster Paddle Award this year!