Jordy Smith has a lot of tricks in his bag, but if one had to describe how he rides waves, they’d likely describe him as a power surfer. When the waves are big, fast, and powerful, Jordy Smith’s surfing is big, fast, and powerful. That’s often what makes good surfing such a pleasure to watch: it’s a matching of strengths; a pairing of human and nature. If there ever was a wave made for Jordy Smith’s surfing, it’s J-Bay.
Of course, the South African knows the wave about as well as one can know a wave. He’s surfed it in all its many moods, starting from a young age, and it had a big hand in turning him into the surfer he is today. “I think the place you grow up and the style of waves you grow up surfing definitely molds you into the type of surfer that you become,” he said.
And while he might not have done as well as he wanted at this year J-Bay event — or as well as most expected, for that matter — the tenth episode of O’Neill’s Silver Linings shows that it’s just a matter of time before he wins there again.
