J-Bay to host the cream of world surfing
10 June 2008
The eyes of the surfing world will be firmly fixed on Jeffreys Bay in July as the world's best surfers go to work on the famous waves of the Eastern Cape town during the R2.3-million Billabong Pro, the fifth of 11 events on the 2008 ASP World Tour.
Supertubes, the venue for the 24th edition of what has become Africa's most prestigious and lucrative surfing event, is unanimously acknowledged as one of the planet's top-10 high performance surf breaks.
The best
The talent on show will include eight-time world champion and current run-away ratings leader Kelly Slater, reigning world champion Mick Fanning, defending event champion Taj Burrow and former three-time world champion Andy Irons.
Add to that a mixture of the planet's A-list surf journalists, photographers and videographers; national and global distribution of TV footage of each day's action; saturation coverage on websites and webcasts featuring live video images and scoring accompanied by expert commentary in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French.
The result is hundreds of thousands of surf fans worldwide logging millions of page impressions on the Billabong Pro website around the clock between 10 July and 20 July, while following the fortunes of their favourite surfers via live and recorded action from the event site.
Waiting period
The Billabong Pro has an 11-day waiting period but only requires four full days of competition to determine a champion, which gives the organisers the luxury of being able to choose the best possible conditions in which to run the contest, thus ensuring cutting edge performances by the world's best surfers.
Besides the aforementioned big guns, current world number-two and 1999 Billabong Pro champion Joel Parkinson will be back to try for a second crown alongside emerging talents like Australia's Bede Durbidge, Adriano de Souza of Brazil, France's Jeremy Flores and rookie sensation Dane Reynolds of the USA, who will be making his debut at Supertubes.
South Africa's four contenders in the main draw are four-year veteran Travis Logie, Royden Bryson, Ricky Basnett and exciting rookie Jordy Smith, who reached the Billabong Pro semi-finals as a wildcard in his inaugural World Tour event in 2006.
Wildcards
The 45 World Tour campaigners will be joined in the 48-man format by three wildcards who will be determined by the Von Zipper Wildcard Trials.
Staged on the morning of the first day the contest runs, the VZ Trials comprise six top South African surfers versus six rising international stars, with the winners of each of the three four-man heats receiving a wildcard into the Billabong Pro, and the opportunity to test their skills against the world's best at Supertubes.
While the international contenders are yet to be announced, the SA contenders will be Warwick Wright, Chad du Toit, Rudy Palmboom, Klee Strachan, Damien Fahrenfort, and Shaun Payne.
For those attending the Billabong Pro, the 2008 event will also feature plenty of evening entertainment, including live music at The Mexican, revamped spectator-friendly infrastructure, and the world's most technologically advanced control tower.
SAinfo reporter
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