COMMUNITY NEWS - Need a break from all the oysters? Why not take a trip to Jeffreys Bay for the Billabong Pro Surfing Contest. The fifth of 11 events on the ASP World Tour, the J-Bay event will be held from Thursday, July 8 to Sunday, July 18, with four full days of surfing required during that period. With a purse of R2.3 million, the event sees the world’s best surfers in action, including South Africans Travis Logie and Jordy Smith from Durban, Royden Bryson from East London and Ricky Basnett from the Bluff, as well as wildcards Sean Holmes from Cape Town and Shaun Joubert of Mossel Bay. A third South African wildcard competitor will be determined via the Von Zipper Super Heat, a one-off four-man heat held on the opening day of the event.

The Billabong Pro J-Bay started out as the Surf Classic in the early 1980’s. It became an Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour rated event in 1984 when four days of unbelievable 2 to 2.5 metre waves resulted in that event still being ranked as one of the top 10 ASP events of all time.
The event was not run in 1985 and 1986 due to an increase in Dollar prize-money requirements and a plummeting exchange rate, returning in 1987 as the Billabong Country Feeling Surf Classic, a founding event on the inaugural SA Surfing Series.

It became part of the regional ASP Africa series in 1989 and a sanctioned ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) event in 1993 before being upgraded to an ASP World Championship Tour (WCT) rated tournament as the CSI / Billabong Pro in 1996.
The Billabong Pro J-Bay received the ASP International Cultural Award in 2004 in recognition of the contribution the event makes to the World Tour.

(Courtesy of Knysna-Plett Herald of Thursday, 1 July. The Knsyna-Plett Herald is one of the George Herald's sister papers.)


Supertubes in Jeffreys Bay is the venue for the 24th Billabong Pro Surfing Contest from July 8 to 18.