Billabong Pro J-Bay Next Stop On The Foster's 2006 ASP Mens World Tour
After a highly succesful Mexican campaign where incredible waves were scored, surfing's "dream tour" will head to the Billabong Pro to be held in South Africa.
To follow are all the facts related to the event...
Location: Jeffreys Bay, Eastern Cape, South Africa: Jeffreys Bay lies on the southern South African coastline, around 45 miles (70 kms) west of Port Elizabeth and several hours' drive east of Cape Town.
The archetypal surf town is regarded as the soul of South African surfing and is known world wide as 'J-Bay'. The bustling tourist destination has grown from a small fishing village and now surf shops, clothing factories and shaping bays occupy every other corner.
Status: The Billabong Pro marks the half way point on the 2006 Foster's Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Men's World Tour - being the sixth of eleven events.
The Foster's ASP Men's World Tour crowns the annual men's professional world surfing champion each year. The Billabong Pro is Africa's most prestigious surfing tournament and Jeffreys Bay is universally acknowledged as one of the planet's top 10 high performance waves.
Event Dates: A total of four full days of competition are required to finalize the event but the tournament has an 11-day waiting period to score the best possible surfing conditions from July 12-22, 2006.
Field: The Billabong Pro will feature the world's top 45 full-time touring professional men surfers and three wildcards taking the field to a total of 48.
Format: 16 x three-man non-elimination round one heats (1st>rnd 3, 2nd & 3rd>rnd 2). Round two onwards feature man-on-man elimination heats
Prize-money: Total prize-money for the Billabong Pro is $US280 000. The winner receives $US30 000 and 1200 ratings points.
Contest Director: Mike Parsons will once again oversee the event's surfing action at J-Bay. The big-wave legend from California is highly respected amongst the world's elite having competed on the elite tour for a total of 12 years.
Defending Billabong Pro Champion: Kelly Slater (Florida, USA) secured a dramatic victory over defending event and three-time world champion Andy Irons (Kauai, HAW) in 2005. Needing a near perfect 9.23 points, the Floridian was awarded 9.5 by the judges for his last ride, 30 seconds before the final siren sounded, to become the first three-time winner at Jeffreys Bay. He then went on to secure an unprecedented seventh world title.
Past Jeffreys Bay Champions:
1981 Shaun Tomson (SA) Beach Hotel Classic
1982 Greg Day (Aus) Lightening Bolt/Country Feeling Surf Classic
1983 David Barr (USA) Country Feeling Surf Classic
1984 Mark Occhilupo (Aus) Country Feeling Surf Classic
1985 No event
1986 No event
1987 Grant Myrdal (SA) Billabong/Country Feeling Surf Classic
1988 Mike Burness (SA) Billabong/Country Feeling Surf Classic
1989 Justin Strong (SA) Billabong/Country Feeling Surf Classic
1990 Marcus Brabant (Aus) Billabong/Country Feeling Surf Classic
1991 Luke Egan (Aus) Dream Sequence
1991 Pierre Tostee (SA) Billabong/Country Feeling Surf Classic
1992 Seth Hulley (SA) Billabong/Country Feeling Surf Classic
1993 Munga Barry (Aus) Billabong/Country Feeling Surf Classic (WQS)
1994 Justin Strong (SA) Billabong/Country Feeling Surf Classic (WQS)
1995 Seth Hulley (SA) Billabong/Country Feeling Surf Classic (WQS)
1995 Kelly Slater (USA) Billabong Challenge
1996 Shane Thorne (SA) Billabong/Country Feeling Surf Classic (WQS)
1996 Kelly Slater (USA) CSI / Billabong Pro (WCT)
1997 Jevon Le Roux (SA) Billabong/Country Feeling Surf Classic (WQS)
1998 Munga Barry (Aus) Billabong /MSF Pro (WCT)
1999 Joel Parkinson (Aus) Billabong /MSF Pro (WCT)
2000 Jake Paterson (Aus) Billabong /MSF Pro (WCT)
2001 Jake Paterson Aus) Billabong Pro (WCT)
2002 Mick Fanning (Aus) Billabong Pro (WCT)
2003 Kelly Slater (USA) Billabong Pro (WCT)
2004 Andy Irons (Haw) Billabong Pro (WCT)
2005 Kelly Slater (USA) Billabong Pro (WCT)
Mark Occhilupo: Twenty-two years ago as an 18-year-old 'Occy' redefined back hand surfing with his victory over Hans Hedeman (Haw) in epic surf at J-Bay in 1984. A world-class field contested that tournament including then world champion Tom Carroll (AUS), Shaun Tomson (ZAF) and Michael Ho (HAW).
'Occy', who threatened to retire last year, turned 40 in June and continues to redefine the career parameters for professional surfing by remaining in the top 20 on the world rankings.
Cheron Kraak: Regarded as the unofficial Mayoress of J-Bay, Cheron is the Billabong South Africa licensee and owner of Country Feeling. The only female senior surf industry owner/operator in the world, Cheron employs more than 200 people and runs the biggest business in town.
Respected and loved by surfers and the surf industry alike, Cheron was voted Eastern Cape Woman of Distinction and also received the ASP International Cultural Award in 2004 in recognition of the contribution the Billabong Pro J-Bay makes to the World Tour.
Cheron started the Surf Classic in the early 1980s and it has gone on to become the most prestigious and longest running event on the South African coastline, with 2006 seeing the 22nd edition and the winner's names representing a Who's Who of international and South African surfing.
South African Competitors: South Africa boasts three top tour-ranked competitors in this year's line-up for the first time since the two-tiered ASP world tour format was adopted in 1992. Seasoned campaigner Greg Emslie, who finished a career-high third in last year's Billabong Pro, and rising star Travis Logie are joined by rookie campaigner David Weare.
Von Zipper Wildcard Trials: Three prestigious Billabong Pro main event wildcards are on offer via the Von Zipper Trials. An international field of 12 trialists will compete in three four-man heats with the winner of each heat earning a main event wildcard where he will come up against one of the top seeds in the first round.
The field comprises six Von Zipper nominated South Africans and six internationals with the locals including giant-killer Sean Holmes, St Francis Bay brothers Ryan and Shaun Payne, former ISA world junior champions Warwick 'Wok' Wright and Jordy Smith and ASP World Qualifying Series campaigner Damien Fahrenfort, last year's top performing wildcard.
They will be up against J-Bay debutants Wade Goodall (AUS), Stirling Spencer (USA), Laurie Towner (AUS) and Pablo Paulino (BRA), along with previous trialists James Woods (AUS) and Tiago Pires (Port) make up the international contingent in the VZ Trials.
Malibu Music Festival: The legendary party atmosphere of J-Bay has been expanded this year to incorporate a three-day live music festival featuring many of South Africa's top bands during the first week of the event. Shows include a minimum of four bands per night starting Thursday 13 July with a Ska/Reggae lineup, followed by the Blunt Stage Punk Rock on Friday and concluding on Saturday evening with a Classic Surf Rock session featuring surfer musicians Steve Walsh, Farryl Purkiss and friends, who will be joined on stage by many of the World Tour surf stars. Saturday also showcases Australia's Beeva Feeva opening the first gig of their SA tour. The Festival bill hosts iconic local groups Fokofpolisiekar, The Rudimentals, Hog Hoggidy Hog, Bed on Bricks and 7th Son, among emerging local stars.
The Wave: For over 40 years J-Bay has lured surfers from across the globe to the legendary break of 'Supertubes' and its ruler-straight hollow cylinders. The multiple sections of the lengthy wave grant its deserved reputation as one of the world's best right hand point breaks.
Despite freezing winds and chilly water when the Bay becomes stacked to the horizon with corduroy-like swell lines the elements become a minor factor to surfers. The break relies on a long, curving lava reef that begins as a jagged south-facing outcrop and continues for at least a mile (1.6 Km) down the inside edge of the bay.
Gaps in the reef line are supplanted by sand flow from beaches to the west, occasionally altering the character of some of the sections.
>From the top, J-Bay consists of Magnatubes, a peaky right and semi-left, more exposed to swell than most of the stretch, yet never linking to the major lineup, instead fizzling into a small sandy bay between it and the next section;
Boneyards, a quick hollow right reef that predominates on smaller days and an occasional left, begins to close out toward the start of J-Bay's splendid premier section; Supertubes, an aptly named long slabby powerful wall, drawing larger swell energy from the upper reefs and funneling it for around 200 yards, letting the skilled surfer dictate the terms of a ride without ever seeming weak or unchallenging;
Impossibles, often also aptly named, a series of shallow lava beds with long deepwater holes interrupting the wave, except during times of unusual sand buildup when the whole 150-yard section can become an extended barrel;
Tubes, where the wave begins to slow and ease into the final connected section of wave; the Point, a mellow, playful wall flowing down into a final closeout across weed-softened reef and Albatross, farther across the bay, which is another piece of reef featuring a quick right. Some diehard J-Bay surfers claim that Albatross operates as the end section on rare giant days.
Source: ASP
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