Photo: Pierre Tostee/ WSL
Rightly or wrongly, the World Surf League takes some heat for sticking to a singular format for its contests. The same number of surfers surfing to the same criteria. This year, however, the WSL has provided a platform for some of surfing’s finest to don a jersey without the typical constraints of contest surfing. Take the world champions’ exhibition heat at Snapper in May, with Kelly Slater, Stephanie Gillmore, Mick Fanning, Joel Parkinson and Mark Occhilupo.
Now, they’ve got the J-Bay Classic, a new invite-only exhibition for 18 surfers at South Africa’s premier pointbreak. The WSL is not hosting a live broadcast of the event, but you can catch highlights on the Instagram page @jbayclassic and on the WSL’s website. The next call is Thursday, June 20 at 07:45 AM GMT+2 (10:45 p.m. PST).
The lineup features a mix of former CT surfers and stellar local standouts. While the waves weren’t pumping, there were long rides on offer. The event’s first round featured a team challenge, whereby three groups of six surfers had 75 minutes to vie for the best combined score. The top ride from each of the six surfers in a team counted towards their total out of a possible 60. The three team captains were all world champs: Adriano De Souza, Stephanie Gilmore and Mark Occhilupo.
De Souza and Josh Kerr got the highest score for their team. But ultimately, the day belonged to Team Gilmore as she and Mikey February did a flurry of snaps and the silky smooth lines you knew they’d bring to J-Bay.
In a unique twist, the judges rewarded party waves if two team members managed to successfully crossover on the same wave. Gilmore and James Ribbink added 7 points to the team’s total for swooping around each other on a small righthand runner. Hear Gilmore’s description below for her account of the event and doing a party wave with someone she’s never met before.
Photo: Pierre Tostee/ WSL
The rest of the day was a sort of throwback to the pre-thruster era. Surfers could only ride on two skegs during the Twin Fin Round. Coco Ho set the tone with poised precision (riding her own XO Coco model built with Matt Parker) for an 8.83.
Local trials winner Sarah Baum (who got a bronze medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics) followed Ho with several strong whips and hitting the end section, getting another excellent score of 8.33.
Photo: Pierre Tostee/WSL
The Kerr family must be on a high right now. Fresh off scoring all-time Indonesia and getting some of the best Nias ever seen in a contest, Josh and Sierra Kerr both got invites to this J-Bay showcase. As usual, Josh looked stellar on his Album. Then Mikey Feb did Mikey Feb things. Riding a Channel Islands Twin Pin he designed with Britt Merrick, Mikey highlined and zig-zagged his way to a 9 with his trademark steez.
Photo: Pierre Tostee/WSL
But scores aren’t really the point of this event. Though there are heats and division winners for the twin fin and thruster round, the whole thing feels more about style and showcasing surfing we don’t often see in a jersey. So kudos to the WSL for highlighting something different. Now if we could only watch it live…
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