Predicable, Jordy. So predictable. Photo: ASP/Cestari
Day one of the ASP J-Bay Open kicked off in incredible surf. There was so much good surfing it’s hard to remember it all – it’s just a blur of waves I wish I was surfing right now. After a few average events, this one is giving us the goods we expect from Jeffreys Bay.
Here’s a re-cap of just what happened.
- The biggest surprise of round one was Aritz Aranburu comfortably dispatching Pupo and Nat Young. He produced some clinical surfing and looks to be a threat to whoever he draws in round 3.
- Adam Melling caused the first major upset in taking down Joel Parkinson. Or at least put Parko into round two where he faced Brett Simpson. Parko won it but didn’t look convincing. The surf had deteriorated a lot by this point though – and only a fool would rule Parko out of winning.
- Medina ended up in round 2 against Dylan Lightfoot, where he won. How Medina can surf tricky rights like J-Bay as well as he does is incredible. Pulled a very nice air reverse too. Of course he did.
- Filipe Toeledo went down to Josh Kerr but not before almost landing one of the biggest airs ever. Crazily, on the same wave Kerr cemented the win with one of those insane grab rail upside down turns he does better than anyone else.
- Jordy Smith predictably went mental. Going into this event his name was being thrown around amongst the favorites, after day one he is the favorite. Apparently, this is the first time he surfed J-Bay in three years. It certainly didn’t show.
- JJF turned up to do what he typically does: throw down the best single maneuvers of the competition. This time his ridiculous air reverse, landing on the nose of his board in the flats, was enough to sneak him into round 3. Here’s hoping he finds the consistency he’s been missing this year to get to the business end of competition.
- Juian Wilson found himself in round two against Glenn Hall, who he absolutely smoked. He also landed a beautiful air, which you should check out.
This piece was first posted on thetopturn.com
