A giant swell and strong crosswinds didn’t prevent competitors in the Jordy Smith Cape Town Surf Pro, presented by O’Neill, from producing excellent performances in what can only be described as ‘victory-at-sea’ conditions on the opening day at Melkbosstrand, north of Cape Town, on Thursday.
With whitewater from the beach to the horizon, Tubewave maintained its shape with the waves reforming on the inside and providing those with paddle power and resolve the opportunity to rack up scores in the excellent range – over 8.0 points out of a possible 10.
Japan’s Daiki Tanaka showed the way in the second heat, opening his account with an 8.0, before adding and even better 8.83, and then closing out the 20 minute encounter with an action packed ride that earned a near-perfect 9.33, to deliver the highest heat total of the day with 18.16 out of 20.
Liam O’Brien of Australia, competing in just his second overseas QS event, was another to pack two excellent range scores into his total, coming up with the second highest total of the day, 17.73 that included a 9.23 and an 8.50. That left his three opponents in a combination situation and needing to replace both their counting scores.
‘That heat went really well. I couldn’t hear the scores out there, but I managed to find myself on a couple of fun waves, and it looked like everyone got a few,’ said O’Brien.
‘It was just a good heat, plenty of exchanges and I’m just stoked to come out on top. This has been a really good trip, South Africa is such an amazing place for waves, so diverse. I went up to Durban for the 3,000 and it was fun there, warm water and beach breaks But here it’s colder with plenty of raw ocean power – it’s been good to surf all the different conditions in the first two QS events I’ve done overseas.’
Cristobal de Col of Peru was another who enjoyed the powerful Cape waves and felt really at home in the conditions to advance to the next round.
‘I made it through, so it was a good heat for me,’ said De Col. ‘Conditions are really tricky, it’s very consistent, but a real mess out there. I really love the power of the wave and the shape, it has a big wall. It’s my first time in Cape Town and I’m loving it. I love the vibe of the people and it feels like home – like a real family vibe.
Powerfully-built South African Dale Staples had fun in his heat and was happy to advance to the last 64 in the event as he prepares for the Championship Tour event at Jeffreys Bay, after winning the wildcard in solid surf at Supertubes earlier this month.
‘It’s super fun, there are really nice double-ups coming through, but it’s a helluva lot of paddling because of the bigger swell coming through and the wind,’ said Staples after winning his heat. ‘I’ve been doing really bad in the local series, but I’m looking forward to the J-Bay CT, so it’s good to get a couple of warm-up waves for that. You usually have to get used to the cold water in Cape Town, but it’s really warm today, warmer than the air.’
Organisers completed the 16 heats in Round 1 of the men’s event on Thursday and will continue with Round 2, where the top 32 seeded surfers in the event enter the fray. All eyes will be on local hero and current world No 3, Jordy Smith, who will be coming up in Heat 8 at approximately 11:00.
While he is the event sponsor, along with multi-national surf equipment O’Neill, Smith faces serious competition from the likes of former CT campaigner Alex Ribeiro of Brazil, who won the QS3,000 event in Durban last weekend, and a host of other hungry QS competitors.
The QS1,000 women’s event will get under way on Saturday morning, followed by the JQS1,000 junior men’s and women’s events.
The swell is expected to drop marginally from Thursday’s seven metres to around five metres on Friday, and it’s anticipated that the organisers will get Round 2 under way soon after 8:00.
An outreach programme will be conducted by Surfing South Africa (SSA) on Sunday. Participants from local outreach organisations will be involved in beach activities, water coaching, a tag team contest and beach relays with all participants receiving breakfast, lunch and a commemorative medal.
Picture of De Col courtesy of WSL/Thurtell