SPOT ON SPOT:
A Revisionist Glance at Historic Surfing Locales: J Bay

Andy Irons, speed blur, Jeffrey's Bay

In the 90s, the J Bay neighborhood got a little interesting when both Miki Dora and Derek Hynd moved into town. Dora was probably trying to find the paradise he lost in the 1950s at Malibu, while Derek built a bizarre pyramid house along the point, which became a hangout for top surfers when they were in town.

The annual J Bay contest is upgraded to the CSI / Billabong Pro in 1996. Kelly Slater morphs the Tomson attack with the Curren attack and wins the only WCT event in Africa.

J Bay is becoming a victim of its own popularity, and by 1999, the J-Bay Underground (JBU) is formed by a band of staunch local surfers to remind visitors (sometimes not so politely) to mind their manners and respect the hierarchy in the water.

Kelly Slater wins the Billabong Pro Jeffrey’s Bay in 2003, stopping the charge by surfer Sean Holmes who has been a local giant killer over the years, claiming the scalps of Occy and Andy Irons twice. In 2005, one of the best heats in pro surfing history goes down between arch rivals Andy Irons and Kelly Slater. With Slater desperately needing a near perfect score of 9.3 to win over Irons, in the last eight seconds of the heat he takes off on a wave that scores him a 9.5 and the victory. The crowd goes berserk, while Shaun Tomson, who is commentating at the time, rates the heat as the ultimate culmination of what pro surfing is about. Slater goes on to win his seventh world title.

Most recently, a lot of the Jay Bay history – from Max Wetteland to Shaun Tomson to that 2005 heat between Kelly Slater and Andy Irons, was featured in Wes Brown and TJ Barrack’s Chasing Dora, which featured Mickey Munoz, Wingnut and Mark Andreini in a Dora-inspired quest to get back to the soul of surfing.

The Dirt:

If you luck into an off-season or shoulder season swell, you'll definitely pick up a few waves. But for about four months during the peak season, it gets pretty ridiculous in the water with crowds, and the vibe can be strained, unfortunately even hostile.

Shaun Tomson rips the place – check out the movie Chasing Dora – but Tomson’s mini-me (aka Kelly Slater) was born to surf J Bay as God intended. The wave is astounding, and Slater astounds with his speed and tube prestidigitation.