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Event Information:
Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay is an
event on the ASP World Surfing Tour.
The event is held every year at
Jeffreys Bay in Eastern Cape, South
Africa. Inaugural winner Kelly
Slater has the most victories with
4. The Association of Surfing
Professionals (ASP) is the governing
body for professional surfers and is
dedicated to showcasing the world’s
best talent in a variety of
progressive formats. The ASP World
Tour is the men's elite competition
consisting of the best 36
professional surfers competing in 11
events.
Jeffreys Bay (Afrikaans:
Jeffreysbaai, also known as J-bay)
is a town located in the Eastern
Cape province of South Africa. The
town is situated just off the N2
Highway, about an hour's drive
southwest of Port Elizabeth.
Jeffreys Bay is named after the
senior partner of the firm Jeffrey &
Glendinnings that opened a store in
1849 on the location where the town
is today. Jeffrey is believed to be
the first person to have settled
there. In the late 1960s and early
1970s, Jeffreys Bay was known as a
hippie hangout, where the
now-burgeoning surf community
originated. Jeffreys Bay has grown
from a sleepy little fishing town
over the past few years and is one
of the fastest expanding urban areas
in the country.
Jeffreys Bay is one of the five most
famous surfing destinations in the
world and hosts the annual Billabong
Pro ASP World Tour surfing event at
Supertubes during July. Spectators
and surfers from all over the world
flock to this event, which can be
viewed live over the internet and
various television channels. A very
long, fast, tubing right hand point
break breaks along the west side of
the bay. The break is regarded as
one of the best right hand point
breaks in the entire world, in both
consistency and quality, in season.
It has been divided up into several
sections, including, from the top of
the point, Kitchen Windows, Magna
tubes, Boneyards, Supertubes,
Impossibles, Tubes, the Point, and
Albatross. "Supertubes",
which itself breaks for about 300m
or more, is regarded as the best
part of the wave. On rare occasions
(large wave sizes, wide-breaking
waves, and even swells), Boneyards
can link up all the way to the Point
for a ride over one kilometer long.
Optimal size is considered to be
from about 4 to 10 feet (Hawaiian
scale), or about 8 to 20 feet wave
faces. The most consistent waves
occur between about May to mid
September, also often coinciding
with offshore winds, although good
waves can occasionally occur at
other times of the year.
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