New Waves, Same Jordy

Jordan Michael Smith is one of the most well-traveled men in surfing. With more than a decade on the tour, it’s not often we get to see him figure out a lineup for the first time, and even more rare that two such occasions would align back to back.

But that’s exactly what happened immediately following the Championship Tour’s controversial mid-year cut, when Jordy found himself not once but twice in unfamiliar territory at G-land and El Salvador.  

Let’s be real. World No. 13 hasn’t had a good year on tour. And O’Neill’s Silver Linings has captured and shared all of it, albeit a few months after the last horn blows. Jordy bowed out early in those two comps, a last-place 17th followed by a ninth. 

While the waves during those events were shells of their full potential, Jordy still managed to abuse these walls in the freesurfs. His tail wafts in G-land nearly splashed the boats in the channel. When he switched directions in El Salvador, it looked like he was demolishing warm-water J-Bay (no slaps, please Jordy!). 

As Jordy sets the scene in Indonesia: “Straight off the boat, we decided to get out there, get amongst it and start learning the wave. Turns out that was the only swell we had pretty much for the entire waiting period and it came before the contest.”

Silver linings, Jordy.