Carissa Moore has certainly shined on these walls. Photo: Beatriz Ryder//World Surf League
When the World Surf League released its 2024 Championship Tour schedule a few weeks back, Jeffreys Bay was noticeably absent. The WSL cited date clashes with the Paris 2024 Olympic Games as the reason it was excluded. But still, the announcement was not accompanied with any guarantee or promise that J-Bay would be back in 2025.
There’s no doubt that the 2024 WSL CT season will feel the impacts of losing its stop at J-Bay – the best right hander, not just on tour, but arguably in the entire world. But what about the impact on the community of Jeffreys Bay? Or on the South African surfing community as a whole? With the CT vacating the continent, the impacts will undoubtedly percolate throughout the country.
Cheron Kraak, who started the first surf competition at J-Bay in 1981 (the event that would eventually become the Corona Open J-Bay) and the owner of J-Bay’s Country Feeling surf shop, says the event reportedly has an economic impact of 150 million Rand (USD $7.89 million) on the town and surrounding region. That’s a lot of money that was flowing into the region since the stop was reintroduced to the tour in 2014. Now the tap has been shut off.
So how do the locals think that will impact them? We had a chat with Kraak as well as two J-Bay accommodation owners and an ex-pro surfer who have all called J-Bay home.
“The town of Jeffreys Bay was a sleepy little fishing village back in the ‘60s, until the perfect right-hand break was discovered and exposed to the world,” said Kraak. “Overnight J-Bay became a Mecca for surfers the world over and continues today. Our local community of vendors, shops, and guesthouse owners anxiously await the event every year.”
“The J-Bay town needs an international event in the prime winter surf season, and while we respect and understand the conflict of the dates with the Olympics next year, we remain adamant that an international event should still take place and trust that the WSL will get behind and support the event,” Kraak added.
While local business owners anxiously await news of a possible replacement contest, for the time being, they’ll be forced to swallow the fact that 150 million Rand will be missing from the local economy. Understandably, some are on edge.
“It’s a small town, so you have to hustle to find opportunities to make a living,” said Silvino Teixeira-Porrescas, a surfer who owns a rental apartment in J-Bay. “There are two times of the year where our town kicks into overdrive: Firstly, summer vacation in December, and secondly, and in many aspects more importantly, July when we host the WSL Corona J-Bay Open. Of these two seasons the J-Bay Open truly injects a much-needed boost into the local economy, for everyone from small seaside coffee shops to Airbnb owners such as myself.”
Yes, this place truly embraced the CT event. Photo: Beatriz Ryder//World Surf League
“When the news dropped that the WSL decided to drop the J-Bay Open for 2024, local Facebook community forums and WhatsApp groups were ablaze with locals sharing their disbelief and shock,” added Teixeira. “For J-Bay locals, this represents a significant loss of revenue. Everyone benefits when the WSL comes to town and everyone loses when it doesn’t. The loss of income for me, as well as many others, is an unwelcome and hard pill to swallow. Of course, it’s a massive disappointment for us, but we just hope that 2025 will see the return of J-Bay to the WSL calendar where it belongs.”
Teixeira was not the only accommodation owner who expressed his disappointment.
“It will be a big loss of income as we accommodate spectators, coaches, media, sometimes even some of the surfers,” said a J-Bay guesthouse owner who asked to remain anonymous. “We never tried to get rich out of it, but it was guaranteed income.”
The economic impact of South Africa without a CT will be measurable and immediate, but what about the effect on the South African surfing community as a whole? What will be the less tangible effects throughout the country? Brad Bricknell, a former South African pro surfer, is one of many who are sad to see the event go.
“The event has become somewhat of an annual pilgrimage for South African pro surfing fans,” explained Bricknell, who was born in East London but later relocated to J-Bay. “People, families, groms come from all over the country for their fix of elite-level surfing. I’ve got friends who haven’t missed an event in 30 years and book their annual leave around the event dates. I think everyone benefits from witnessing the world’s best surfers plying their trade on the perfect canvasses of Supertubes. So, from that point of view, the opportunity of witnessing the spectacle will be missed in J-Bay next year.”
“Fortunately for South African surf fans, there is still the Challenger Series event up at Ballito in Durban – one of the longest running pro surfing events in the world that obviously attracts some high caliber surfers,” added Bricknell. “A lot of South Africans get the opportunity to compete (in that event) too, which is great for the growth of the sport in the country.”
While South Africans will certainly miss the CT this season, Bricknell doesn’t think there is reason to panic yet.
“I think the event will be back in 2025,” Bricknell confidently stated. “It’s too much of an iconic location and one of the glistening jewels in the WSL’s crown of global events not to run. It’s a surfer favorite, a fan favorite, and it’s great for South African surfing. If the support is there and the dates are cleared, then I can’t see why it wouldn’t run in 2025.”
“Plus I know there is a group of people in J-Bay who are pulling some ideas together to run some sort of international specialty event during that window,” Bricknell added. “If they pull something off, the impact (of losing the CT) might not be as profound.”
Kraak’s comments seem to give credence to the rumors that Bricknell has heard.
“I definitely think there will be an announcement shortly about the event for 2024,” said Kraak.
If this truly is just a one-year break due to scheduling conflicts and there is a replacement event in the works, then we may quickly forget about this J-Bay-less year in the not-so-distant future. But if J-Bay doesn’t return to the tour, the long term impacts on the town would be undeniable. After all, Jeffreys Bay has grown and developed with surfing as its cornerstone. But one thing’s for sure: the J-Bay locals are impatiently waiting for good news, whether it’s the event’s return in 2025, a high caliber replacement event in 2024, or both.
