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Jeffreys Bay - Australia’s Mick Fanning on Saturday won the JBay Open on the Samsung Galaxy WCT tour in perfect eight-foot surf that pumped throughout the whole day.
It took a little time for the best ASP surfers in the world to adjust to the solid, stiff offshore conditions, and the first couple of heats were low scoring affairs, as people found their feet.
Before the semi-finals there was a heritage series heat, between former world champions Tom Curren and Mark Occhilupo. Pulling into a perfect set wave barrel, Curren was awarded a 10-point ride and victory.
The first semi-final saw Parko take victory after a 10-point ride despite a very strong performance by Matt Wilkinson. Both surfers were surfing to the best of their abilities, and it was Parko who got the nod in the highest scoring heat of the day.
In the second semi-final it was Fanning who got the nod over Owen Wright. It was an explosive encounter, with Owen fighting tooth and nail to the finish, but he didn’t do enough to wrestle the win from Fanning.
The final between Fanning and Joel was an incredible affair as Jeffreys Bay produced the best waves of the year. Fanning opened up with a 9-point ride in the beginning of the final, and Joel was chasing from that moment onwards. While both surfers got barrelled and performed high speed carves and rail turns, it was Fanning who came out on top with a 9-point ride and an 8-point ride to claim his first ASP victory of the year.
“It was an incredible day of surfing,” said an elated Fanning afterwards. “The waves were amazing and we were so lucky to get it this good. It’s great to have JBay back and I’m just happy to be part of it all.”
