The Corona Open J-Bay World S|urfing League event has startedat Jeffreys Bay in the Eastern Cape, this morning , 15 July.
Today’s event will see a two South African surfers face each other in Heat 5 – Jordy Smith (3rd on leaderboard) vs Michael February (wildcard) while in heat 6 St Francis Bay’s Dale Staples (wildcard) goes up against John John Florence.
Clean 2 metre plus waves, fanned by a light Westerly offshore breeze, are peeling down the rock-lined point at Supertubes under cloudless skies, providing the ideal canvas for the world’s best surfers to produce their best performances during their 35 minute heats.
The forecast is for the swell to increase in size during the day and for the wind to swing into the perfect South West offshore direction.
Two-time event winner and 2012 WSL Champion Joel Parkinson (AUS) will be first to compete alongside Brazilians Wiggolly Dantas (BRA) and Miguel Pupo (BRA) in Round 1 Heat 1.
Two-time event winner and the sole South African on the CT Jordy Smith (Durban) will battle compatriot and wildcard Michael February (Kommetjie) and Conner Coffin (USA) and in Heat 5 of Round 1.
Dale Staples (St Francis Bay), the other South African wildcard, will be up against reigning WSL Champion John John Florence (HAW) and Ian Gouveia (BRA) in heat 6.
Last night’s report from Surfline, official forecaster for the Corona Open J-Bay, is calling for:
Overlapping SW to SSW swells through the weekend will provide fun to mid size surf. Light offshore flow Saturday will become strong/breezy offshore flow Sunday. Monday will see a decreasing trend for the first half of the day as offshore flow likely continues. A new, and potentially strong, SW to SSW swell looks likely to build in through Tuesday before easing Wednesday. Favorable wind looks likely. There is potential for more SW swell for the end of next week.
WSL Commissioner, Kieren Perrow pullied the trigger at 8.30 am for the start of Stop No. 6 of 11 on the 2017 World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT). T he event will be broadcast LIVE via WorldSurfLeague.com, the WSL app and on Facebook LIVE via the WSL’s Facebook page.
For more information, check out WorldSurfLeague.com.
Corona Open J-Bay Round 1 Match-Ups:
Heat 1: Joel Parkinson (AUS), Wiggolly Dantas (BRA), Miguel Pupo (BRA)
Heat 2: Owen Wright (AUS), Bede Durbidge (AUS), Josh Kerr (AUS)
Heat 3: Adriano de Souza (BRA), Frederico Morais (PRT), Jadson Andre (BRA)
Heat 4: Matt Wilkinson (AUS), Jeremy Flores (FRA), Ethan Ewing (AUS)
Heat 5: Jordy Smith (ZAF), Conner Coffin (USA), Michael February (ZAF)
Heat 6: John John Florence (HAW), Ian Gouveia (BRA), Dale Staples (ZAF)
Heat 7: Kolohe Andino (USA), Italo Ferreira (BRA), Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA)
Heat 8: Julian Wilson (AUS), Kelly Slater (USA), Kanoa Igarashi (USA)
Heat 9: Connor O’Leary (AUS), Adrian Buchan (AUS), Jack Freestone (AUS)
Heat 10: Gabriel Medina (BRA), Caio Ibelli (BRA), Stuart Kennedy (AUS)
Heat 11: Sebastian Zietz (HAW), Mick Fanning (AUS), Joan Duru (FRA)
Heat 12: Michel Bourez (PYF), Filipe Toledo (BRA), Ezekiel Lau (HAW)
The Corona Open J-Bay is the showcase event at the J-Bay Winterfest, a multi-sport and cultural festival in Jeffreys Bay from July 12-23. More details at http://www.jbaywinterfest.com. .
St Francis Chronicle 