Excitement Decreases Slightly At J-Bay On Day Two!

To be realistic, nothing wildly remarkable occurred during the 11 heats run at the J-Bay Open today. How could it, given the playful swell size (three-ish feet on sets)? But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t good viewing.

While Dusty Payne dropped a 9.77 against Stu Kennedy in round two, clocking a 17.47 combined total, it soon became apparent that he’d done it a heat early: He couldn’t match John John Florence’s combos in round three.

There was a time when the frontside air reverse, performed in a heat, really thrilled – and while familiarity hasn’t made ’em any less impressive… that time has passed. John John stamps the end section of most his waves with one, front foot impossibly far up the nose, spun to the flats and whip-cracked into revert.

Having looked at the heat draw on pixels you’ll be surprised to learn that Wiggolly Dantas vs Jadson Andre was the highest-scoring affair of the day, an all-goofy, all-Brazilian showdown that saw each man drop rides in the eight and nine point ranges (Wiggolly’s decimals were better).

There are two other must-replay in Heats On Demand performances from today. The first is Josh Kerr. In round two, Kerrzy matched up with Jack Freestone in heat 11, dropping an 8.83 and 9.23 against his fellow fellow Gold Coast native, for an unapologetic barrage of combos on the dreamy green walls. Then in round three, he doubled down on eights against Italo Ferreira with an even bigger bag of tricks. Oh, Mr Kerr.

Then there was Jordy Smith. Jordy nearly missing his heat against Kolohe Andino after going for a three-hour session down the beach, having assumed Kieren Perrow wouldn’t green-light the third round. He didn’t look fatigued at all, however, clocking an 8.70 and a 9.50 against the Californian for the day’s second-highest combined score (18.20) via some shockingly good combo surfing. Jordy, comfortable, confident, at J-Bay, is some kinda thing.

See you tomorrow!