Big Waves Predicted at the Billabong Pro J-Bay

With a huge swell expected to arrive by the end of this week, organisers of the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay are excited by the fact that the best surfers in the world could be battling it out for one of surfing's most coveted prizes in excellent double overhead-sized waves.

The waiting period for the event - one of the longest running and most prestigious events on the Foster's ASP Men's World Tour - began on tomorrow, Wednesday July 12.

Swell forecasters www.surfline.com are indicating that the swell could even begin to rise by tomorrow and there is every chance that the famed walls of "J-Bay" will be of a sufficient standard to allow a start to the Von Zipper Trials at around 8am local time.

"We're looking at conditions that should be in the chest to head high range tomorrow, with larger head high plus sets possible," said www.surfline.com "At this point, well-overhead waves should be expected by late Friday afternoon/evening."

The Von Zipper Trials consists of three 25-minute heats and will showcase some of South Africa's and the world's best rising stars. The three heat winners will go on to join the sport's elite top 45 in the 48-man total draw and will be placed into the three heats containing the top three seeds including Kelly Slater (USA), Andy Irons (HAW) and Damien Hobgood (USA). 

In an interesting twist, 2000 Foster's ASP Men's World Tour champion Sunny Garcia (HAW) has accepted an invite to return to come out of retirement and return to competition.

Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay Round One:
Heat 1: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs Troy Brooks (AUS) vs Davey Weare (ZAF)
Heat 2: CJ Hobgood (USA) vs Paulo Moura (BRA) vs Jarrad Howse (AUS)
Heat 3: Bruce Irons (HAW) vs Darren O'Rafferty (AUS) vs Toby Martin (AUS)
Heat 4: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs Trent Munro (AUS) vs Pedro Henrique (BRA)
Heat 5: Taylor Knox (USA) vs Greg Emslie (ZAF) vs Roy Powers (HAW)
Heat 6: Bobby Martinez (USA) vs Mark Occhilupo (AUS) vs Yuri Sodre (BRA)
Heat 7: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs Luke Stedman (AUS) vs Sunny Garcia (HAW)
Heat 8: Kelly Slater (USA) vs Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs wildcard
Heat 9: Andy Irons (HAW) vs Danny Wills (AUS) vs wildcard
Heat 10: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs Fred Patacchia (HAW) vs wildcard
Heat 11: Tim Reyes (USA) vs Jake Paterson (AUS) vs Peterson Rosa (BRA)
Heat 12: Dean Morrison (AUS) vs Nathan Hedge (AUS) vs Mikael Picon (FRA)
Heat 13: Cory Lopez (USA) vs Chris Ward (USA) vs Raoni Monteiro (BRA)
Heat 14: Tom Whitaker (AUS) vs Mick Lowe (AUS) vs Marcelo Nunes (BRA)
Heat 15: Phil Macdonald (AUS) vs Pancho Sullivan (HAW) vs Victor Ribas (BRA)
Heat 16: Shaun Cansdell (AUS) vs Travis Logie (ZAF) vs Adriano de Souza (BRA)