Mick Fanning and Jordy Smith, Post-final reggae-karaoke

“‘I just want to see everyone get fucked up,'” South African Jordy Smith told Ryan Miller at his post-victory party in Jeffreys Bay. “How good of an attitude is that?” asks Ryan. “Exclusivity is dead, let’s bring on some inclusivity. Everyone is invited and everyone is getting fucked up on Jordy’s credit card.”

Long after dark on the eve of the final, in the depths of South African winter’s night, the ASP top 34 found itself at a Mexican restaurant with live reggae music. “I so despise the stories I hear about guys winning events and then skipping out on their own parties or, even worse, being too cheap to even go out that night,” said Ryan. “Jordy Smith is quite the opposite and not scared to open up the bar to everyone in the event, plus every lurker hanging around as well. Sounds like a recipe for disaster, huh?” Ryan hasn’t taken a camera to a contest after-party since Sunset in 2008 when CJ Hobgood won. With Ceej on the handlebars of his bike during a drunken cycle, Ryan dropped a $7k camera. Luckily for us, he broke his golden rule for the Billabong Pro, J-Bay after-party:

“All of the tour guys showed up and the best thing I saw all night was Mick walk straight in the door, head directly for Jordy and give him a massive hug. After a close heat like that, I couldn’t believe this shit was happening. What a good sport that guy is! A lesser man wouldn’t have even bothered to make it out, opting to sulk and punch walls instead. Mick and Jordy both ended up on stage singing Bob Marley covers. Last night could have been a train wreck but because of all the positivity it was fucking all-time. Maybe it was just all the Bob Marley covers that got everyone so chipper, but I doubt it.”

For more of Ryan’s awesome photography work, jump over to his site, here.