Watch: Jordy Smith Walks Us Through His First CT Win In 8 Years

Jordy Smith’s win last week at the Surf City El Salvador Pro was significant for him for two main reasons:

(1) It was Jordy’s first CT win in eight years. His last victory was the 2017 Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach.

(2) It’s the first time in 41 years that two South Africans surfed in a CT final together.

“To be a part of that history with Matty [McGillivray] is something I’ll never forget and to make a final — let alone win — on one of my dad’s boards a dream come true,” Jordy said. “It feels like yesterday I was the youngest on Tour, and now, I’m the oldest. Being older comes with its challenges — none harder than leaving my young family at home. I’m so lucky to have an incredible wife holding it down. Words can’t express how grateful I am. You are the real champ.”

Classy words from the elder statesman on Tour.

Jordy is 37, and according to science, a person’s muscle strength begins to decline from 3% – 8% every decade, starting at age 30. Though, if someone is active and does resistance training, those numbers can be lowered and sometimes reversed.

Thanks to Jordy’s gym, surf, and diet regimen, it looks like he’s mined the Fountain of Youth. In the clip above, you’ll see Jordy surfing perhaps the best he’s ever surfed. Sure, it’s hard to surf like “Rodeo” Jordy, or Kai Neville Jordy, or even Stab In The Dark Jordy at three-foot Punta Roca, but all the Jordy we know and love is still there.

And with Jordy at Bells as we speak — sitting at World #5 — at the event he won at eight years ago and suits his surfing well, a long-awaited Jordy Smith world title isn’t out of the question.

If it happens, it’ll be one the best stories in surfing.