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Twiggy and Jordy are absolutely committed, at every opportunity, to claim South Africa and to drape a flag whenever they are on a podium or winning a surfing event. It’s feel-good stuff, making the relatively small percentage of South African citizens watching the webcast feel warm and fuzzy and proud. We claim our country, and we live a vicariously patriotic life through people like Jordy and Twiggy, and there is nothing wrong with it.

Through our unbridled patriotism, we are controlled in our perspectives and we are sometimes, through no fault of our own except emotion, forced into a tunnel vision of nationalism that blinkers us somewhat from truth and reality. Or so the theory goes.

We see Jordy surf and our point of view shows him beating his opponent, we see Twiggy charging down a monster and our standpoint sees him outpoint his nearest opponent by a clear margin.

Add to the mix the very subjectivism of surfing as well as the act of judging surfing, and we have a murky field of possibilities to wade through.  

The rage and the gnashing of teeth that permeated the ether after Julian Wilson eliminated Jordy in round 5 of the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach in the early hours of yesterday morning our time. He needed a 9.97, and he got the wave of the heat, the wave of the day, the wave of the contest, and totally smashed it, starting off with the biggest and most savage combo yet seen in the event.

The rage and the gnashing of teeth that permeated the ether after Julian Wilson eliminated Jordy in round 5 of the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach in the early hours of yesterday morning our time. He needed a 9.97, and he got the wave of the heat, the wave of the day, the wave of the contest, and totally smashed it, starting off with the biggest and most savage combo yet seen in the event.

There were superlatives dropping on every platform, there were 10s being called, there were 10s being mention on the webcast, and there was a general feeling that Jordy had nailed it. Some sighs of relief from his camp, and a few big smiles were evident on the webcast. It looked like a pretty sure thing. He needed a 9.97, a big score but not unattainable for the big guy.   

The ten vibe continued, as the first three scores to drop were all 10s.

Then the bubble burst as a 9.8 and a 9.7 dropped, to much disbelief, getting him a 9.93 for the ride and an exit from the event.

Jordy was walking up the stairs to the athlete area when the result was announced, and his look of resignation, the slight shake of the head, followed by a slight, knowing grin was all the emotion he showed. In his head he got the score.  

“It could have gone either way, you know,” said a diplomatic Jarrad Howse from Jordy’s camp afterwards. “Jordy went up after the heat and spoke to the judges. He carried himself professionally and politely, but it obviously makes no difference after the scores have been announced. I think the judges might have had a difficult task in that heat after the bar was set quite high in the beginning of the heat, but that’s how it goes.”

“It could have gone either way, you know,” said a diplomatic Jarrad Howse from Jordy’s camp afterwards. “Jordy went up after the heat and spoke to the judges. He carried himself professionally and politely, but it obviously makes no difference after the scores have been announced. I think the judges might have had a difficult task in that heat after the bar was set quite high in the beginning of the heat, but that’s how it goes.”

Still, Jarrad felt that the man was on fire. “Jordy has made a lot of sacrifices and has been doing incredible amounts of preparation for this event and for the Australian leg as a whole,” reckoned Howse. “He was pretty much the on-form surfer of the event and it’s a shame he didn’t get to the final.”

Did he get the score? Well, I’m a patriot, and the judging criteria are subjective, but on my scale and with my knowledge pool, I would say yes. He did.

Not to be fazed, Jordy is the defending champion of the Billabong Pro Rio, which is next up on the world tour, and will no doubt want to get an emphatic win down at this stage of the tour year. We can but hope for it to happen, and wave that South Africa flag in our hearts along with Jordy when it does.