Typhoon Heads for Tokyo!

OLYMPIC SPECIAL: This tropical storm is due off Japan. This is 5pm on Sunday! Windy.com

Well I'll be darned. Two storms have reared their heads for the Olympics. The first is Typhoon In-Fa that gets to 938mb and is something fierce, but due to track south of Japan over Taiwan and into China tomorrow and Saturday. But the second twirly, which is still to form SE of Japan, looks set to spew the coast of Tsurigasaki (just east of Tokyo) with decent swell early next week, although latest model updates suggest that the focus of the generating winds are the islands to the north.

The first heats for the Olympics on Sunday could just coincide with the first stirrings of swell from the storm, although the bulk of it slides part to the north on Monday, bringing moderate cross-shore NE breezes and potential 4-5ft surf. Rain comes on Tuesday by which the wind has died, and with leftover swell and glassy landbreeze condition, the surf could actually be fun 3-4ft. The finals on Wednesday look set to run in cross offshore SW winds and 2-3ft leftovers.

Bianca, who is large of frame, will relish a bit of juice. She has been South Africa’s No 1-ranked professional surfer for as long as she can remember, and is ready to apply an exclamation mark to her career at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics – and then get on with the next part of her life story.

“How do you top making history and being part of the first surfing competition in Olympic history?” she asks, rhetorically. “I’m now 27 and surfing has been my life. It’s been a wonderful journey and has shaped me as a person. I’ve given everything I’ve got to the sport and no regrets. How many people get to travel the world doing what they love?”

LADY OF THE RINGS: Bianca is the only Saffa in Tokyo after Jordy Smith pulled out. Photo supplied

Buitendag, like so many others, spent her longest time at home since turning professional during the Covid-19 lockdown and spreading of the global pandemic in 2020. It focused her mind and made her think of what happens next. The obvious answer was to pull on the national colours of the country in which she was born and bred, South Africa and do the country proud at Tokyo, with the surfing heats starting this Saturday 24 July through to Wednesday 28 for the finals.

Even though the 2020 Games became the 2021 Games, her desire to become part of history where the sport debuts at the Olympics, was overwhelming.

And given the nature of surfing, it’s impossible to predict what her medal prospects might be when the competition starts on Sunday, but with her talent, experience and familiarity of the conditions it would be foolish to dismiss her chances.

Wave conditions were expected to produce small swells, but Japan being Japan you can expect the unexpected, and it is the beginning of typhoon season. “This time of year the conditions are mild, but Wave conditions were expected to produce small swells, but Japan being Japan you can expect the unexpected, and it is the beginning of typhoon season.we have to be ready for changes in the weather, however unlikely. A small typhoon is predicted for next week, so that could increase wave size.”

Stop. Right. There. A “small typhoon”? She laughs. “We call it a frontal system that will be coming through, here the reference is just a little different. Nothing major to worry about!”

Not like the time then in 2018 when she was competing in Japan in challenging weather and rewatching video footage a while later that a friend shot from a beachfront apartment. “The video shows the beach, the waves and then pans to the bath. The bath water was ‘shaking’, in fact the entire building was shaking.”

After these Games it will be back home and then … well, on to the next life chapter.

“This will be my last event as a professional. I’ve had a great ride and it’s the perfect way to finish off my career. I’m 27 and right in the middle of the age spectrum. There are 13 girls on the world tour and only three of them are over the age of 30. I’ve had plenty of travelling through airports and living out of suitcases so that it’s time now to put the roots down.

“Covid’s lockdown also made me realise how important home is and I’m ready to do that.”

Home is Victoria Bay, on South Africa’s Garden Route. “It’s a beautiful part of the world and one that you never get tired of. I am looking forward to my next career where I’m getting involved in property development. There are such beautiful spots and I just love the area between Wilderness and Mossel Bay.”

First, though, is the small matter of making more history and this time it’s etching in her name as a pioneer for the sport in the Olympics.