JEFFREYS BAY, South Africa (Tuesday, July 14, 2009) – High drama and excellent scores were the order of the day as rifling six-to-eight foot (2 – 2.5 metre) surf poured through South Africa’s most iconic lineup for Rounds 2 and 3 of the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay.

Event No. 5 of 10 on the 2009 ASP World Tour, the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay witnessed the ASP’s top seeds hit the water today, posting the highest scores of the event mixed in with some of the biggest upsets, all going down in what some are calling, “the best Jeffreys Bay ever.”

Kelly Slater (USA), 37, reigning nine-time ASP World Champion and four-time past winner of the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay (’96, ’03, ’05, ’08), put in an historic performance, netting four nine-point-plus rides in his Round 2 heat to collect the highest heat total of the event, an 18.84 out of a possible 20 (throwing away a 9.23 and a 9.00).

“It was just unbelievable,” Slater said. “The waves were just pumping. I couldn’t get back out there fast enough. It just kept barreling. I went all the way down through tubes and doggy-doored to the end, must’ve gotten like 4 or 5 barrels on that thing. It was a pretty sick wave. I don’t know what else I could’ve done on it. I surfed it as hard as I could. I’m pretty happy. I had a really good heat – that’s the best heat I’ve had this year by a mile.”

Currently ranked 9th on the ASP World Tour ratings, Slater rebounded from three, consecutive 17ths to start the year with a win in Brazil last week before setting the bar today at the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay.

“I feel like the current leg we’re competing on is a strong one for me,” Slater said. “I went to Brazil without much motivation, but it turned out to be a good event for me. Now we’re here in Jeffreys where I feel really comfortable and the next events are ones I usually do well at. A lot of guys are surfing good though – Sean (Holmes), Joel (Parkinson), so we’ll take it one heat at a time.”

Michel Bourez (PYF), 23, 2009 ASP Dream Tour rookie, caused the upset of the event today, eliminating former ASP World Champion (2007) and two-time past winner of the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay (’02, ’06), Mick Fanning (AUS), 28, from competition in their Round 2 bout. The heat would prove one of the highest-scoring affairs of the event (18.27 – 17.17), with Bourez sealing the win with the event’s first Perfect 10-point ride.

“I was just feeling really good in the water,” Bourez said. “To surf that wave – perfect barrels, long rights – I was definitely ready for that. On my 10, I had just come back from my first wave and was so tired, but I saw that one coming and said that’s the one. It was breaking on the sand, and I got three barrels on it. I was so stoked that I claimed it. I had to!”

Dane Reynolds (USA), 23, 2008 ASP World Tour Rookie of the Year and current ASP World No. 34, put in a sensational Round 2 performance, collecting the event’s second Perfect 10-point ride with some committed forehand hacks before a mind-blowing barrel, en route to eliminating current ASP World No. 8 Jordy Smith (ZAF), 21.

“I kind of started off the heat sitting pretty far up the point,” Reynolds said. “Jordy (Smith) came out and paddled straight by me way up to the top of the point so I was like alright, I’ll just try and get scraps off him. I think that no matter where I surf, anywhere, I like to stay wide I like to see waves coming to me. Even when I’m free surfing, I never sit out the back and wait for sets. I’m always hunting insiders and a lot of the times it messes me up in heats. On that 10, I wasn’t even sure if that was going to be a good wave. I had priority and got to the bottom and you could see it lining up for days – I knew it was going to be good from there.”

REMAINING BILLABONG PRO JEFFREYS BAY ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 3: Dean Morrison (AUS) 13.83 def. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 13.33
Heat 4: Nathaniel Curran (USA) 11.50 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 8.43
Heat 5: Bobby Martinez (USA) 15.83 def. Roy Powers (HAW) 7.50
Heat 6: Ben Dunn (AUS) 15.73 def. Tom Whitaker (AUS) 5.20
Heat 7: Kieren Perrow (AUS) 13.10 def. Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) 10.87
Heat 8: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 16.90 def. Heath Joske (AUS) 7.83
Heat 9: Sean Holmes (ZAF) 18.60 def. Taj Burrow (AUS) 9.33
Heat 10: Mick Campbell (AUS) 13.50 def. Tim Reyes (USA) 11.17
Heat 11: Michel Bourez (PYF) 18.27 def. Mick Fanning (AUS) 17.17
Heat 12: Dane Reynolds (USA) 17.83 def. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 13.90
Heat 13: Kelly Slater (USA) 18.84 def. Nic Muscroft (AUS) 9.34
Heat 14: Taylor Knox (USA) 16.43 def. Chris Ward (USA) 12.66
Heat 15: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 17.50 def. Greg Emslie (ZAF) 16.00
Heat 16: Damien Hobgood (USA) 11.83 def. Chris Davidson (AUS) 11.00

BILLABONG PRO JEFFREYS BAY ROUND 3 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Kai Otton (AUS) 14.60 def. C.J. Hobgood (USA) 10.17
Heat 2: Dean Morrison (AUS) 17.63 def. Nathaniel Curran (USA) 11.57
Heat 3: Bobby Martinez (USA) 15.00 def. Ben Dunn (AUS) 12.50
Heat 4: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 18.50 def. Kieren Perrow (AUS) 12.33
Heat 5: Sean Holmes (ZAF) 15.50. Michael Campbell (AUS) 13.57

REMAINING BILLABONG PRO JEFFREYS BAY ROUND 3 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 6: Michel Bourez (PYF) vs. Dane Reynolds (USA)
Heat 7: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Taylor Knox (USA)
Heat 8: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Damien Hobgood (USA)

full story at ASP

Tom Curren (USA) claimed victory in the first round of the highly anticipated Clash of the Icons against fellow surfing legend Mark Occhilupo (AUS) at the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay this morning.

Sent out into clean one metre waves at Supertubes at 7.15 am, Curren started with two short rides before Occhilupo posted the first meaningful ride of the encounter – 6.50 out of 10 – for a series of trademark backhand carves. Curren waited patiently for the best waves and was rewarded with one that peeled the entire length of the point  enabling the renowned stylist to rack up a 7.0.

Occy continued to be the busier of the two as they moved down the point to the cleaner faces at the Carpark section and the Australian held the lead going into the last five minutes. Curren’s patience paid off in the dying minutes as, needing just 4.51 points, he found the best wave of the heat and extracted everything from it, riding almost onto the rocks at Impossibles, to be awarded 7.50 by the judges and first blood in the clash.

There will be a second round between two of surfing’s best known ambassadors between the semifinals and the final of the Billabong Pro when Occhilupo will have the chance to restore parity to their 26 year rivalry that now stands at 9 wins to 8 wins in Curren’s favour.

read more at surfertoday

Highlights from today’s Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay will be available via www.billabongpro.com

JEFFREYS BAY, South Africa (Monday, July 13, 2009) – Round 1 and the opening two heats of Round 2 of the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay were completed today in clean three-to-five foot (1.5 metre) waves at the legendary South African pointbreak, with the world’s best surfers reveling in the opening day of competition.

Event No. 5 of 10 on the 2009 ASP World Tour, the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay opted to make the most of the conditions on offer today, opting to run the new competition format of man-on-man elimination matches from the outset, completing 18 heats of competition, highlighted with some incendiary performances.

Sean Holmes (ZAF), 31, wildcard at the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay, has a storied history at the event, competing seven times prior, finishing as high as 5th (2002) and as low as 33rd (2005). Although Holmes, once considered the Jeffreys Bay nemesis of former-three-time ASP World Champion Andy Irons (HAW), 30, hasn’t competed for the past two years, the powerful natural-footer posted an emphatic win this morning in front of an ecstatic hometown crowd.

“I was so nervous out there for the first ten minutes of my heat that I felt like I had stones for legs,” Holmes said. “About halfway through the heat, I loosened up and was able to collect some pretty good scores. For a natural-footer, the wave here at J-Bay is such a pleasure to ride. Although I haven’t competed in this event for a couple of years, I feel comfortable out here and I’ll look to get through a few more rounds before I’m done here.”

Holmes not only announced his return to the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay this morning, but collected the highest heat total of the day, a 15.93 out of a possible 20, in his Round 1 win over 2009 ASP Dream Tour rookie Dustin Barca (HAW), 27. The South African’s navigation of the Jeffreys Bay lineup, uting everything from fully-committed forehand hacks to deftly-maneuvered barrels, went unmatched by the world’s best surfers throughout the remainder of the day.

BILLABONG PRO JEFFREYS BAY ROUND 1 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Michael Picon (FRA) 11.83 def. Tim Boal (FRA) 10.83
Heat 2: Nathaniel Curran (USA) 12.84 def. Jay Thompson (AUS) 9.33
Heat 3: Nic Muscroft (AUS) 15.17 def. Josh Kerr (AUS) 9.37
Heat 4: Kai Otton (AUS) 10.40 def. Phillip MacDonald (AUS) 8.33
Heat 5: Dean Morrison (AUS) 10.83 def. Marlon Lipke (DEU) 8.67
Heat 6: Chris Ward (USA) 12.67 def. Torrey Meister (HAW) 10.16
Heat 7: Sean Holmes (ZAF) 15.93 def. Dustin Barca (HAW) 14.50
Heat 8: Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) 15.83 def. Ryan Payne (ZAF) 11.00
Heat 9: Tim Reyes (USA) 14.33 def. Devyn Mattheys (ZAF) 4.73
Heat 10: Heath Joske (AUS) 8.87 def. Dayyan Neve (AUS) 8.03
Heat 11: Greg Emslie (ZAF) 13.34 def. Heitor Alves (BRA) 9.50
Heat 12: Chris Davidson (AUS) 11.00 def. David Weare (ZAF) 8.83
Heat 13: Michel Bourez (PYF) 14.33 def. Aritz Aranburu (EUK) 13.83
Heat 14: Roy Powers (HAW) 8.16 def. Jihad Khodr (BRA) 5.46
Heat 15: Ben Dunn (AUS) 8.50 def. Tiago Pires (PRT) 5.80
Heat 16: Dane Reynolds (USA) 12.00 def. Drew Courtney (AUS) 5.77

BILLABONG PRO JEFFREYS BAY ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 1: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 13.17 def. Michael Picon (FRA) 13.10
Heat 2: Kai Otton (AUS) 12.90 def. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 11.23

REMAINING BILLABONG PRO JEFFREYS BAY ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 3: Jeremy Flores (FRA) vs. Dean Morrison (AUS)
Heat 4: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Nathaniel Curran (USA)
Heat 5: Bobby Martinez (USA) vs. Roy Powers (HAW)
Heat 6: Tom Whitaker (AUS) vs. Ben Dunn (AUS)
Heat 7: Kieren Perrow (AUS) vs. Kekoa Bacalso (HAW)
Heat 8: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Heath Joske (AUS)
Heat 9: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Sean Holmes (ZAF)
Heat 10: Mick Campbell (AUS) vs. Tim Reyes (USA)
Heat 11: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Michel Bourez (PYF)
Heat 12: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. Dane Reynolds (USA)
Heat 13: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Nic Muscroft (AUS)
Heat 14: Taylor Knox (USA) vs. Chris Ward (USA)
Heat 15: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Greg Emslie (ZAF)
Heat 16: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Chris Davidson (AUS)

read more at ASP