J-Bay delivers at last

Round 3

Highlights of Round 3 include the first high score of the day when Bede Durbidge (AUS) snapped his board in third heat on a 7.93 point opening ride, leaving Dusty Payne (HAW) sitting all by himself in the lineup. Durbidge made for the keyhole to paddle out again, and somehow managed to get out there without missing a wave. Some heavy sets came through as soon as Durbidge got back in the lineup, but with 17 minutes left on the clock, Payne still failed to catch a wave. In the last couple of minutes things lit up, but in the end, Durbidge narrowly defeat Payne with a mere 0.42 point difference.

Heat 5 saw Julian Wilson (AUS) score a perfect 10 point ride when he did three powerful hacks and found a long double barrel that opened up, and closed again, resulting Wilson to eventually pop out of the wave causing hoots and roars from the beach. Kieren Perrow (AUS) found himself in a combo situation at the end of the heat and never recovered.

The much anticipated and dreaded Heat 6 between South Africans Travis Logie and Jordy Smith started with both surfers looking a little nervous and not much waves around. Smith and Logie both hailing from Durban and good friends, no doubt experienced some conflicting emotions. Waves were few and scores were low in the beginning with a situation change that occurred several times. Logie gave Smith no gap, making use of priority but in the end Smith managed to post a solid score despite snapping his board on the final wave, stopping Logie´s campaign in it´s tracks.

Another close call was Heat 8 between Joel Parkinson (AUS) and Matt Wilkinson (AUS) with Parko managing to beat a visibly upset and frustrated Wilkinson with a mere 0.31 of a point.

Heat 10 caused a major upset where rookie Alejo Muniz (BRA) eliminated the current ratings leader, Adriano de Souza (BRA). With 17 mins remaining, a 6.5 point ride put Muniz into the lead leaving de Souza in need of 6.07 who indeed answered back with a 6.77. The Munzi did not let grass grow under his feet and in return posted a 7.43 leaving de Souza in need of a 7.17 when the heat concluded. Muniz remarked in an interview that he had to post a good score to help his ratings, and he had mixed emotions and was bummed that he beat his hero, and that he does want to see a Brazilian take the World Title.

With two aerial specialists in the final heat of Round 3, Josh Kerr (AUS) caused the second major upset of the day when he eliminated past event winner, Taj Burrow (AUS). Kerr pulled both jokers from his deck of cards, sporting two grab-rail reverse aerials dubbed a "Club Sandwich" by the commentators, resulting in two 8+ point rides. Burrow found himself in a need of a 9.33 which never happened. Burrow tried hard to squeeze out a smile when he signed posters for some youngsters after the heat, but the dissapointment on his face was evident.

Round 4

Round 4 was run in six three men heats of 25 minutes each with the winners going direct to the quarter finals and the losers pitching up against each other in Round 5.

The highlight of Round 4 was caused by Kerr that once again blew up in front of a packed audience and pulled radical moves nicknamed "Kerr-azy airs". Kerr mentioned that he got too tired of paddling so much, and decided he is just going to attempt as much crazy moves as possible with conditions that went slightly onshore proving to be faverouble, which saw him winning the heat easily.

Smith was surfing a new board, after snapping his board in the morning in in Heat 2 of Round 4 and seemed very much out of rhythem, falling on several waves. The crowd was not pleased at all, with lots of question marks on the faces of Smith´s fans. Somebody remarked that it almost seemed like Smith was falling on purpose and that they could not believe what they witnessed.

Round 5

With Round 4 done and dusted, it was Smith who made a serious comeback in the first heat of Round 5 where he faced Bede Durbidge (AUS). Smith was evidently back in form with a better board under his feet and opened his account posting a 7.50 on his second ride. Durbidge did post a 7.00 and a 7.93, but Smith went ballistic posting an 8.83 and a 9.47 utilizing various moves like roundhouse 360´s, huge air reverses and powerful carves, leaving Durbidge behind in the foam ball.

Smith also posted the highest total heat score of 18.30 so far, putting him in the lead for the Nixon WTA watch. Smith will face Damien Hobgood (USA) in the first quarter final.

Heat 2 of Round 5 was taken out by Julian Wilson (AUS) eliminating Kieren Perrow (AUS). Wilson remarked that he was feeling pretty drained during the heat due to making himself so tired during round 4, but said that he had to make a quality decision to not relax but turn his performance up a notch, which evidently paid off. Wilson faces Adrian Buchan (AUS) in Heat 3 of the quarter finals.

The Heat 3 face off between Alejo Muniz (BRA) and Adam Melling (AUS) had a slow start, with scores not getting over 4 points, until Melling eventually posted a 6.33 ride just over the halfway mark. In the last 5 minutes, Muniz lit up and rode two waves posting enough points to rip the carpet from under Melling´s feet. Muniz will be facing 1999 and 2009 event winner, Joal Parkinson (AUS) in the third quarter final tomorrow.

The final heat of the day and of Round 5 was a standoff between previous event winner Mick Fanning (AUS) and Michel Bourez (PYF) with Bourez opening up strongly with a 7.50 ride. Fanning answered with a 7.83 and a 7.43.  Fanning left the lineup early, with Bourez only having a 7.50 and no proper backup score.

The next call is Sunday morning at 06:45 and due to pending bad weather, the Quarter Finals will start as soon as possible to ensure all heats and the event is completed before conditions deteriorate too much.

BILLABONG PRO JEFFREYS BAY ROUND 3 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Daniel Ross (AUS) 11.60 def. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 10.17
Heat 2: Damien Hobgood (USA) 10.63 def. Jadson Andre (BRA) 9.67
Heat 3: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 11.76 def.  Dusty Payne (HAW) 11.34
Heat 4: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 13.70 def. Heitor Alves (BRA) 8.77
Heat 5: Julian Wilson (AUS) 17.00 def. Kieren Perrow (AUS) 11.00
Heat 6: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 16.53 def. Travis Logie (ZAF) 12.20
Heat 7: Mick Fanning (AUS) 16.10 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 9.80
Heat 8: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 12.64 def. Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 12.33
Heat 9: Adam Melling (AUS) 13.43 def. Owen Wright (AUS) 12.44
Heat 10: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 13.93 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 12.04
Heat 11: Michel Bourez (PYF) 15.30 def. Tiago Pires (PRT) 10.60
Heat 12: Josh Kerr (AUS) 16.60 def. Taj Burrow (AUS) 14.20

BILLABONG PRO JEFFREYS BAY ROUND 4 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Damien Hobgood (USA) 14.50, Bede Durbidge (AUS) 13.17, Daniel Ross (AUS) 11.70
Heat 2: Adrian Buchan (AUS)17.54 , Julian Wilson (AUS) 16.60, Jordy Smith (ZAF) 9.17
Heat 3: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 16.57, Adam Melling (AUS) 16.43, Mick Fanning (AUS) 11.27
Heat 4: Josh Kerr (AUS)16.40, Michel Bourez (PYF) 14.33, Alejo Muniz (BRA) 13.37

BILLABONG PRO JEFFREYS BAY ROUND 5 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 18.30 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 14.93
Heat 2: Julian Wilson (AUS) 15.26 def. Dan Ross (AUS) 11.33
Heat 3: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 10.26 def. Adam Melling (AUS) 10.16
Heat 4: Mick Fanning (AUS) 15.96 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 10.40

BILLABONG PRO JEFFREYS BAY QUARTERFINAL MATCH-UPS:
QF 1: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Jordy Smith (ZAF)
QF 2: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. Julian Wilson (AUS)
QF 3: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Alejo Muniz (BRA)
QF 4: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Mick Fanning (AUS)