Quarterfinalists decided at J-Bay Open
JEFFREYS BAY, South Africa (Saturday, July 9, 2016) - The J-Bay Open, Stop No. 6 on the 2016 Samsung Galaxy World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT), continued today. Competition ran through the remaining heats of Round 3 followed by Rounds 4 and 5. The WSL Top 34 battled to avoid elimination and earn a place in the Quarterfinals in building three-to-five foot (1 - 1.5 metre) surf at Jeffreys Bay.
John John Florence (HAW) was the first to claim his place in the Quarterfinals after an impressive performance in the opening heat of Round 4. Florence battled two-time J-Bay Open winner Jordy Smith (ZAF) and Josh Kerr (AUS). The Hawaiian opened his account with a big tail-high reverse for an 8.50 and backed it up with a series of snaps and was rewarded with an excellent 8.93 and the win. Despite a solid 15.43 heat total from Smith, he was sent to Round 5 along with Kerr.
“I’ve only surfed one CT here,” Florence said. “I was hurt last year for this event so I’m just really stoked to make it to the quarters. The waves are pretty fun and it’s getting better and better now so I’m excited to see what we have coming and I just want to get as much rest as I can."
Smith went on to battle Alejo Muniz (BRA) in Round 5 to earn a Quarterfinal berth of his own. Smith opened with a near-perfect 9.87 and quickly backed it up with a 7.50, leaving Muniz is a combination situation and sending him home in 9th place. Smith will face Florence in the Quarterfinals.
“I was pretty bummed to lose in Round 4,” said Smith. “I just wanted to make a stamp on the next heat after that and I’m just happy to make it through another day. Definitely just going to put my head down and focus on what I’m doing and hopefully that will be enough. I just want to keep going and I’m really thankful for the crowd to be able to cheer me on like that, it’s awesome.”
11-time WSL Champion Kelly Slater (USA) confirmed his place in the Quarterfinals after bettering Michel Bourez (PYF) and Muniz in Round 4 Heat 2. Slater got to work quickly and posted a 7.67 on his opening ride and went on to find one of the bigger waves of the day and put together a series of critical maneuvers followed by a rare barrel for a 9.00 and first position. Slater, four-time event winner, sealed his victory with a another nine-point ride and an excellent 18.07 heat total.
“I feel comfortable out there,” Slater said. “I made a couple little mistakes in the first heat, like just not being in the right spot. That one I was really about paying attention to where you needed to be. I’m actually riding an evolved version of the board I started riding at Trestles last year. I’m just trying to make Kelly great again.”
Kerr will face Slater in the Quarterfinals after defeating Bourez in Round 5 Heat 2. Kerr took to the air to land a stalefish for 7.73 at the end of the bout and take the win, despite an excellent 8.60 from Bourez, who goes home in 9th place.
“It’s pretty hard at J-Bay to manufacture a score normally,” said Kerr. “In conditions like this where it’s a bit more broken up and has more sections you can actually go for something like a Hail Mary and hopefully make it pay off. When I saw Michel go for that wave I knew I had to do something better. I was lucky I got a clean section and landed it clean. Coming up against Kelly is always awesome because you know you have to bring your A game and leave it all out there. That’s always my game plan against him.”
Bourez previously dispatched World No. 6 Sebastian Zietz (HAW) in the opening heat of the day.
Three-time WSL Champion Mick Fanning (AUS) will also advance to the Quarterfinals after winning through his Round 4 heat against Wiggolly Dantas (BRA) and De Souza. Three-time J-Bay Open winner, Fanning opened strong with a solid eight-point ride and quickly backed it up with an excellent 9.00 to take the lead with a 17.00 heat total.
“My ankle is getting better each and every day,” said Fanning. “The WSL medical staff have been amazing. I’m just stoked to get to paddle out and actually surf. You never know exactly what is going to happen here so I just want to have a lot of fun and enjoy the time. And also I don’t know how much longer I have on this tour so it’s about bringing friends to the places I love.”
Julian Wilson (AUS) clinched his place in the Quarterfinals after defeating 2014 WSL Champion Gabriel Medina (BRA) and Filipe Toledo (BRA) in Round 4 Heat 3. Wilson netted the highest score of the heat, an 8.83, on his opening ride and held the lead from there, sending Medina and Toledo to Round 5.
“I’ve got a lot to draw on from here and I’ve got some good momentum at the moment,” said Wilson. “It was a fun heat to surf with those guys. I don’t get very many opportunities to surf with Gabriel or Filipe so I was pretty amped. I love the waves here. I love having that blow-for-blow sort of heat where everyone gets opportunities and you let the surfing do the talking. I’m just happy to be through to the Quarterfinals and I really want to keep it going and move through to the end.”
Wilson previously eliminated 2012 WSL Champion and two-time J-Bay Open winner Joel Parkinson (AUS) in a thrilling Round 3 match-up, and used his air game to get the advantage over his more experienced competitor with a pair of seven-point rides.
Wilson will match-up against Medina, current No. 2 on the Jeep Leaderboard, in the Quarterfinals. Medina defeated reigning WSL Champion Adriano de Souza (BRA) in Round 5 Heat 3. De Souza held the lead through the opening part of the heat but Medina went to the air and was rewarded with an 8.43 and the win. De Souza goes home in 9th place.
“It feels really good to win that heat,” Medina said. “It’s always tough against Adriano -- he’s a great competitor and a good friend of mine. Another heat here together and I’m stoked with the win. It should be a fun one against Julian in the Quarterfinals who is ripping at this contest, so hopefully we make a good heat.”
Another all-Brazilian match-up in the final heat of the day saw Filipe Toledo (BRA) take on Dantas. Toledo had the edge and defeated Dantas with an 12.50 two-wave heat score. Toledo will meet Fanning in the Quarterfinals.
“That was a really long day and big day,” said Toledo. “You really have to put a lot of energy into each wave. I tried on the first few waves to do an air and eventually I landed one. It wasn’t the best wave but I’m happy to make it through to the Quarterfinals.”
Matt Wilkinson (AUS), current World No.1 on the Jeep Leaderboard, was defeated by Muniz in Round 3 Heat 6 with a 12.20 heat total. Wilkinson, with priority, had a final opportunity to get the score but did not complete the ride and is eliminated from the competition in equal 13th place.
“It was really stressful because every time I surf against Wilkinson he beats me,” said Muniz. “We had a heat in Fiji and he got me on the last wave. I needed that same score, a 2.70, the whole heat and I ended up losing there. So today in the water I was thinking ‘I can’t lose needing two points again.”
“It was tricky out there,” Wilkinson said. “It’s hard to be positive but this place is amazing. I got my one opportunity and I wasn’t nervous or anything when I took off, I just changed my mind halfway through a turn. That’s often the way to fall off and I just slide and fell off. Not too rattled by it. I’m psyched to go get barreled at Teahupo’o. The wave terrifies me but I also like getting barreled. I’ve had one pretty good result there and I’m feeling a lot more confident in big waves this year. I’m going to go practice, get my boards all ready, and hopefully paddle into some big tubes.”
J-Bay Open Round 3 Results:
Heat 1: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 18.20 def. Kolohe Andino (USA) 10.10
Heat 2: John John Florence (HAW) 14.83 def. Dusty Payne (HAW) 13.93
Heat 3: Josh Kerr (AUS) 16.40 def. Italo Ferreira (BRA) 14.20
Heat 4: Kelly Slater (USA) 11.73 def. Adrian Buchan (AUS) 5.20
Heat 5: Michel Bourez (PYF) 14.67 def. Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 11.26
Heat 6: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 12.20 def. Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 10.27
Heat 7: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 16.00 def. Adam Melling (AUS) 15.17
Heat 8: Julian Wilson (AUS) 15.80 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 13.67
Heat 9: Filipe Toledo (BRA) 16.67 def. Miguel Pupo (BRA) 6.04
Heat 10: Mick Fanning (AUS) 18.37 def. Kanoa Igarashi (USA) 14.60
Heat 11: Wiggolly Dantas (BRA) 13.93 def. Caio Ibelli (BRA) 10.66
Heat 12: Adriano De Souza (BRA) 14.73 def. Davey Cathels (AUS) 12.30
J-Bay Open Round 4 Results:
Heat 1:John John Florence (HAW) 17.43, Jordy Smith (ZAF) 15.43, Josh Kerr (AUS) 11.77
Heat 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 18.07, Michel Bourez (PYF), 17.67 Alejo Meniz (BRA) 10.50
Heat 3: Julian Wilson (AUS) 15.43, Gabriel Medina (BRA) 13.83, Filipe Toledo (BRA) 13.77
Heat 4: Mick Fanning (AUS) 17.00, Wiggolly Dantas (BRA) 16.93, Adriano de Souza (BRA) 15.27
J-Bay Open Round 5 Results:
Heat 1: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 17.73 def. Alejo Muniz (BRA) 10.00
Heat 2: Josh Kerr (AUS) 15.30 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 14.93
Heat 3: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 15.03 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 12.40
Heat 4: Filipe Toledo (BRA) 12.50 def. Wiggolly Dantas (BRA) 10.27
Comments
Hope the size is there when it resumes because all these guys are ripping,feel for Wilco and maybe they should have held off for an hour or so but someones gotta lose i suppose.Some of those end section moves onto almost dry rocks is so committed,gutsy stuff.
Julian for the win.
Having said that, all the finalists. Been some great surfing going down.
Anybody except Gabs.
It's a pretty good mix that have got through to the quarters, no body there that doesn't deserve to be.
Definitely one of the best comps on the tour, fairly consistent good quality waves, with good length of ride and variety of sections for new school and power surfing , that seems to favour both naturals and goofys.
perrow and his cronies make the call to go out in that? and Jordy Smith gets beaten by a one move wave at a place he blazes at? geezeuz. 2nd blunder of the comp by the 'bosses' - first was when Slater and Ace Buchan got sent out in Round 3 in slop. Dumb. that's what event windows are for - waiting for better waves. Perrow looked very sheepish then and knew the blunder.
As Kieren Perrow indicated, they would not be running some of the heats if the forecast was better. They have done well. They can only make a decision based on the best available information. As has been shown many times in the past, when the forecast is borderline, erring on the side of 'bird in the hand' has mostly proven to be the best approach.
Pretty much no win situation for KP I guess. Sounded like it was sweet early then crapped out and the forecast is hit and miss. Can't remember there ever being a one heat day before. Jordy must be gutted and I kind of agree with him about JJs last score. It looked under to me.
The ending of that heat is worth watching. There would be differing opinions.
http://www.worldsurfleague.com/posts/214363/florences-buzzer-beater-ends...
I do feel for them having to surf in those conditions just one heat, kinda sucks for both of them as it goes down to to much luck.
The score they gave JJF was fair though it was a 3.37 for two turns that were in a fairly critical area of the wave on a solid one.
His first wave maybe a tad over scored but he did as much as he could on the wave and it was smooth and he flowed into another turn, both waves technically two turns.
Yeah hard call for the judges to make but that second turn of JJs was about as bad as he could ever do just trying to hang on. I just compared it with his 2.83 early in the heat and that looked better. But what a weird heat. Hope they get better waves eventually
Yeah but his 2.83 was only one turn then a fall and on a smaller wave, 3.37 was a bigger wave and although not great it was two turns and both turns were in the critical part of the wave...I think no matter who won the other competitor would feel ripped off though.
Enough of this crap..open the comp window..give them 1month..12 stops 12 months..maybe room to move for hawaii..cloudbreak whateves..j-bay too sick a wave to watch this shit
Yep. It pumped the weekend before the comp and will no doubt pump again the week after its finished...just like the goldy always seems to :(
Fck knows what they're gonna finish in now? Thurs has a small bump in swell but winds don't look great. Sat's swell all but diminishing now....will be reasonably gutless swell period anyway. Winds slightly better than Thurs, but not much.
What was the story with Josh Kerr paddling out for heat 2 and Slater didn't? At what point did it get called off because it didn't get mentioned and it looked like it was all go for upcoming heats during heat 1. Did Kelly pull rank and get it stopped?
The locals would be pretty happy that it's crap for the comp who wants the best waves at their most popular break for 2 people at a time.
ha ha this is worth watching go to 1:50 for Jordys view on the heat http://www.worldsurfleague.com/posts/214356/jordy-john-john-react-to-cra...
The comment section is a good read.
Heres an interesting comment from another article (haven't double checked it though to see if its 100% true)
"Interesting scoring by the 2nd from the bottom judge. On JJF's 1st scoring wave, he was 1.5 pts lower than the highest score, and .83 lower than the avg. On JJF's second scoring wave, he was 1 pt lower than the highest and .57 lower than the avg. Note, he was well below the score needed to win (2.80??? Seriously?). Very biased. For Jordy's scores, he was well within range, and above the avg for the 2nd score. UGLY. Very very ugly."
hey Indo, yeah those comments are classic. At the end of the day judging is subjective and occasionally there will be close results and there will be some who agree and some who dont. I'm perfectly comfortable with the end result as I tend to agree with some who think Jordys first wave was a generous 6.33. This would all have been forgotten by now if the contest had finished but only one heat ran. I still havent found out who called the second heat off as they didnt say it was off until afterwards.
Pretty scathing assessment here from Mike Jennings re: Jordy's attitude
http://www.coastalwatch.com/surfing/19238/tyler-wright-gets-pitted-so-pi...
….maybe he's upset his team mates didn't celebrate his match winning try with him the other night...
Laying the sanctimony on a bit thick. Mike Jennings would make a good school teacher if he applied himself a bit more.
I don't like the seeding where a surfer in the 3 man heat then meets one of the same surfers in the quarters. Seems to be the way that they do things but crossing over would make much more sense. Jordy and JJF in the 3 man, and then when Jordy gets through he meets JJF again. It makes no sense and allows for one side of the draw to be favoured. It's just dumb.
I think it was last year's pipe masters with the world title on the line and Fanning hd to face Slater and JJF a few times, Jamie O'b once and just about every pipe specialist and pipe master still surfing, while the other side of the draw had, well, a serious deficit on quality in comparison.
Figure it out WSL.
Onya Mick, gracious winner. Bad luck JJ, easily one of the form surfers.
Good to see the boys giving each other a couple of Corona golden showers.
That board of Micks looked pretty good. Nice to see him on something a bit different
Funny because it looked like they might struggle to finish this event but one of the best finishes ive seen i think ,started slow , but built with enough waves to make it fair for all competitors and Mick put the demons behind him big time ...awesome finish considering it could have been flat.That swallowtail of Micks looked so good under his feet and good to see something different being ridden....DHD is going to be busy...
I'm amazed that at no time throughout the whole webcast did i hear the word 'shark'.
But I wish i had a dollar for everytime I heard 'the incident'.