Storms, Fire and the Supertrial
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The night before the JBU Supertrial, powered by Monster, Jeffrey’s Bay was in the eye of the storm. Residents were unsure of what they would be waking up to after seeing crazy footage of the storm surf in Cape Town and the devastating fires ravaging Knysna and the Gamtoos mountains just across the bay. The storm announced its arrival with galeforce winds in the early hours of the morning – and with the wind… WAVES! Spectators claimed their spots on the boardwalk while surfers headed out for a few sneaky bombs before the 9am start. When Round 1 kicked off it was like looking through an Instagram filter as the sun shone through a veil of smoke, prolonging the sunrise and adding a beautiful, yet eerie, sepia effect. After assessing the conditions in Round 1, a building swell bordering on rogue, Round 2 was promptly canned as the surf was deemed to big and taxing for the competitors. And so Round 1 became automatic elimination with first and second advancing straight to the semi finals. The first heat match up saw reigning champ Steven Sawyer go against fellow locals Matthew McGillivray and Joshe Faulkner as well as KZN’s golden boy, Davey Van Zyl. Steven […]