Photo: WSL // Aaron Hughes
The Surf City El Salvador Pro has come to a close. It’s been nearly two weeks since the opening of the waiting period for stop number four on the Championship Tour, taking place at Punta Roca, a right-hand point break located on the outskirts of La Libertad, El Salvador. In the end, Jordy Smith and Gabriela Bryan walked home with victories.
Jordy Smith has been a longtime fixture on the CT, but it’s been over seven years since he took home a win (his 2017 victory at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach). His path to the podium was hard fought, with Smith beating out 2019 champ Italo Ferreira in the quarterfinals and recent CT addition Cole Houshmand in the semis. The win came out of an all South African final against fellow Matthew McGillivray. Smith was never in too much trouble throughout the heat, though, with a 7.33 and 6.93 giving him a healthy lead, and lackluster waves leaving McGillivray with no response.
Photo: WSL // Emma Sharon
“I can’t believe it, to be honest” Smith told Strider Wasilewski in the water, immediately after the win. “I have to kind of keep telling myself to stay in the moment.” Once onshore, he added an emotional tribute to his wife, along with all the families of surfers on the tour, as well as for his father, who shaped the board he rode in the event. “I’ve always wanted to ride his board in the final and to win on it,” he said, with tears in his eyes. “And that dream’s come true.”
As far as the rankings go. Despite his elimination in the quarterfinals, Italo Ferreira remains in the top slot. Ethan Ewing and Yago Dora find themselves ranked two and three, respectively, after Barron Mamiya didn’t make it out of the round of 32 and dropped down to fourth place. Of course, Jordy Smith had a meteoric rise off his first place finish, going up seven spots to round out the top five.
Photo: WSL // Emma Sharon
The women’s event came down to Gabriela Bryan and Isabella Nichols. Gabriela’s path to the finals went through Alyssa Spencer, Bella Kenworthy and Caity Simmers (that semi against Simmers was a particularly close one, with a mere half point making the difference). Though wind made for lackluster conditions, the final still wasn’t without drama. Midway through, Bryan’s board buckled, necessitating a mad dash to grab a replacement, after which she caught the highest scoring wave of the heat – which eventually landed her the win.
“I had a little bit of a mishap with my board and I made some mistakes, but I knew that, if I caught the right wave, I wasn’t going to mess up,” she said in a post-heat interview. “So I’m so glad that came through. I had the second in Portugal – it was a good result, but I definitely wasn’t happy, so to back that up with this gives me so much confidence.”
In the women’s rankings, Caity Simmers retains her stranglehold on the top slot. Gabriela Bryan catapulted to number two off her win. Meanwhile, the remaining top five looks about the same as before, with Molly Picklum, Caroline Marks and Tyler Wright following up in the third, fourth and fifth spots.
On to stop number five, where the Tour will land in Australia for the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach. The waiting period starts April 18 and goes to April 28.
