World’s best returns to surf circuit

Zolan Kanno-Youngs

THE Samsung Galaxy World Championship Tour is coming to Jeffreys Bay for the first time in three years.

“For the world’s top 34 surfers who are on the world championship tour, to be coming back to South Africa to be competing in the Jeffreys Bay Open of Surfing is fantastic,” said Paul Botha, a former media representative of the tour when it was in Jeffreys Bay from 1987 to 2011.

The waiting period for the tour will be between July 10 and July 20.

The days displaying the best waves will be chosen as the five to seven days of competition in the venue Botha called “a universally acknow-ledged top 10 surfing place on the planet”.

The event was dropped from Jeffreys Bay after the 2011 competition because Billabong could no longer sponsor the event.

Botha added that the event would prove to be very profitable for the community.

“It brings loads of people to the bay in the middle of winter which is great for tourism,” he said. “The publicity from the event itself is broadcast worldwide, so consequently there’s a huge return for the local area.”

The competition will feature the world’s best surfers, including local legends such as Cape Town’s Jordy Smith and Durban’s Travis Logie.

“It’s by far the best stop on the tour for quality of high performance surfing. It’s arguably the best right-hand point in the world,” Smith said.

“I’m proud to be a South African and have one of the (World Championship Tour) spots… in our backyard.”

zolan.youngs@inl.co.za