Occy, Steph, Mikey Febs And More Turn Up Heat At Cooking J-Bay

Is it time to rethink our Jeffreys Bay quivers? Probably not, but the way Mikey February, Josh Kerr and Coco Ho have pushed their twinnies in the first-ever J-Bay Classic has me thinking that the extra speed from two skegs could come in handy when matching this point’s brisk pace.

Let’s get right to it: June 21st, the third day of the WSL’s J-Bay Classic, delivered in a big way. Six-to eight-foot Supertubes, light offshores and a stacked field of surfers chomping at the bit of their wax. It was the kind of day where scores didn’t really matter. Everyone got good waves and tapped into the Indian Ocean juice. The day concluded with a Heritage Heat for legends like Mark Occhilupo, Greg Emslie, Grant “Twiggy” Baker, Holmes, Shane Thorne, Warren Dean, Trevor Hansen, Michael Burness and Seth Hulley to get their fill.

For all its hype as a perfect wave, J-Bay can be very difficult to surf well. Anyone can pump down the line, but to time and stall when the section commands is another skill entirely. Few read it like Mikey February, who dropped the highest single-wave score of the day (9.17) against Occy and Josh Kerr by carving and hammering away like a master carpenter. Kerrzy’s surfing was scintillating as well; he even nailed a reverse 360 amid his flurry of carves and tubes. 

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“Today’s absolutely firing J-Bay which is exciting when you’re surfing with just two other people out,” said Mikey, who rode a channel-bottomed twin pin. “I was stoked to get a good score on my first wave. I wasn’t even sure if the heat started, but I saw a green flash from the tower and just started paddling as hard as I could. It was such a fun wave, I think anyone who surfed it would’ve had a good score.”

“Surfing with Occy and Josh Kerr is very special,” he continued. “It’s weird because it doesn’t feel like a serious event but you still get a bit nervous and that contest feeling kicks in. You kind of just want Occy to surf any wave he wants and watch him surf. It’s a really cool experience.”

More stellar surfing followed in the women’s heats. Stephanie Gilmore versus Coco Ho versus Sierra Kerr brought fireworks. Steph looked in vintage form, smoothly tracing arcs all over the face. She and Coco will move on to the finals day tomorrow, but Sierra made a statement with several vicious hacks.

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“There’s really not that many places in the world where you take off on a wave and you see the longest line of water bending all along the coast,” Gilmore said. “The world is your oyster, at that point you can do whatever you want. To get to share it with two girls that I really admire, I love Coco and Sierra. I spent my whole career on Tour with Coco and now Sierra is the future, so it’s a cool moment to share some great waves together.” 

The last day of the event (next call June 22nd, 7:45 a.m. SAST or June 21st, 10:45 p.m. PST) will have semis and finals for the men and women. There’s no live broadcast of the event, but you can catch highlights on Instagram and the WSL’s website.  

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