There was only one heat yesterday at J-Bay, and it was terrible. When the horn sounded for quarter final number one, it looked as though the stars aligned. Sets poured through all morning. Then, of course, as is the way with Mother Nature, the whole thing shut down. It was painful to watch.
When Jordy Smith and John John Florence paddled out, spectators were excited. JJF and Jordy, after all, are two of the best at J-Bay. They waited for the sets that they saw all morning, then had a restart because those waves never showed up. After what seemed like an eternity, John John finally stood up on a terrible wave, just because he had to do something to stave off the boredom.
The waves continued to be terrible, and John John and Jordy scratched around the lineup, taking whatever they could. The most notable thing about the heat was the fact that nothing worth noting took place. In the end, John John won with a 3.37, and Jordy Smith was pissed. “Overscored on his last wave… yeah, definitely,” he said. “Unfortunately, these kind of things happen. There’s not much I can do… it’s up to those five guys. I’m super bummed out.”
And so Jordy Smith is out of J-Bay. The local favorite and J-Bay powerhouse, dumped on the street after a heat that in no way showed what he was capable of doing. The event was called off for the day, and everyone went home feeling slightly disappointed–except John John, of course. “That was definitely my favorite 3.37 ever!” he said.
