A winter to remember

Its been a horribly long time to wait for a South African surfer to win one of our major international contests. We have been hosting contests since the seventies and you have to go back to that time and surfers such as Shaun Thompson and Mike Burness to feel the pride of victory on home soil. Shane Thorn winning the Country Feeling in the nineties, was the last time I can remember a major victory on home soil for a Zaffer - oh wait, there was Ricky Bobby taking the Mr Price Pro. Never mind the wait we have had for an SA surfer to win a WCT event. Though guys like Greg Emsley, Travis Logie and Royden Bryson have certainly flown the flag - it's been frustrating to not see a victory.

The winter of 2010 was to change all of this. Firstly we had the Mr Price Pro, which in reality is still flying the flag for the old Gunston 500. With many internationals not making the event this year due to the Soccer World Cup, the door was wide open for our local surfers to make the charge for victory. It was two surfers from opposite sides of the pro arena who made it count. Firstly we had Casey Grant, the young upstart from the South Coast. This kid has never been short of talent, but for quite some time it looked like he might go the way of plenty of SC surfers before him - plenty of talent, but no big match temperament and no desire for the big lights and rock and roll lifestyle of the world tour. We have seen many of these guys go quietly to a life of fishing or plumbing and perhaps the world was robbed of seeing some of the best surfers from our shores. But, Casey proved this will not be his life. Heat by heat he simply blew the competition out of the water, showing his bag of massive airs mixed with solid power surfing. It was only in the final where he came short - and lets be honest, he lost to the biggest name in the history of our surfing, Jordy Smith. The big lad from the WCT, showed why he is currently number 2 in the world and fighting Kelly Slater off for his first world title. But much more was to come from the kid who would be king.

Jbay welcomed the pros of the World Tour to the Billabong Pro in the best possible way. Four days of cooking waves back to back that saw the contest organisers not even having to use the waiting period. From the moment you stepped on to the holy boardwalk at Supers on the first day, you could feel that something special was about to happen. There was a buzz like a million hearts were vibrating together, perhaps a lag effect from the magical World Cup? The JBU boys had their own deck on the boardwalk and were braaing up a storm and making more noise than the rest of the beach put together. Every time a Zaffer hit the water there was a storm of voices cheering him on. There was also no way they could ever not know a set was on the way as the crew blared on their Vuvuzelas. All the Zaffers put on noteworthy performances, with Shaun Holmes proving once again that he is indeed a giant killer when it comes to competing at Jbay. He took out both Andy Irons and Kelly Slater, making us all wonder what could have been, if he had decided to go on tour and become a WCT surfer. It was Jordy though who had the crowd and his fellow surfers in awe, showing heat by heat that he truly is a possible world champ. Never before has a beach of loyal supporters been so animated and in all our minds we hoped he would win. He did not let us down, winning the contest and taking the number 1 slot on tour in the process. Finally we had a WCT winner, not only at home, but in contention for the overall title.



Unfortunately Jordy could not carry this winning momentum into a 3rd victory at home, at the O"Neill Cold Water Classic, in Cape Town. Luckily for us, the rest of the Zaffer crew would take up the torch. Outstanding performances by Frankie Oberholzer, Dan Redman and Antonio Bortaletto saw them all finish in the top of the competition. But, it was the old campaigner and stalwart of South African surfing, Greg Emslie, that would end up dominating the event. he was on fire the final day of competition and was never looking like not making the finals. His smooth and radically fast surfing at Long Beach saw him take the event and make it a clean sweep for South Africans in the home circuit of the world tour events. A first for South Africa and a truly proud moment for all of us.



So now we move toward summer and our pro surfers leave our shores to compete in the back leg of both tours. Jordy currently sits in 2ND place on the WCT rankings and must be considered a serious contender for the first time. Kelly Slater sits in front of him, trying for his 10TH world title. What a time for a South African to win the tour for the first time, and I know all of our hopes and dreams rest on Jordy's rather large shoulders. We can only hope that the results of this winter transcend onto the rest of the tour and that soon we have more than two surfers competing for the WCT title. Travis made the much talked about cut to the Top 32 and we wish him luck in staying there until we can get more of our talented surfers there to join him.

Its time for South African surfers to realise their potential - its time for us to take charge, not just at home, but around the planet!