J-Bay

Growing up with a dad constantly watching surf movies and documentaries and who subscribed to Surfers Journal and Longboarding magazines, I quickly became familiar with surfers, surf styles, and most importantly- surf spots. My love for traveling started as a child and grew with age. As a kid I’d start packing months before our annual outer island trip to Oahu to visit family. I’d look forward to boarding the plane, sitting by a window and getting that delicious POG juice served on Aloha Airlines. In the 9th grade I was fortunate enough to go on a surf trip to Indo and my love for exploring exotic places sprung. I was hooked. But it wasn’t until college where I studied abroad twice that I realized travelling is easy and affordable, if done right. While studying abroad in Spain, some friends and I made it out to the Billabong Pro Mundaka 08’. The day before we got there Kelly Slater won his 10th world title. As upsetting as it was to miss him surf, we were able to catch CJ Hobgood win the tournament. It was a memorable trip and the following semester back in L.A., I found myself buying Surfer magazines, National Geographics, and travel magazines to plan out my next adventure, which to be sure always involved surfing.

So, coming to Africa I knew I had to go down to the famous world class waves that I’ve seen time and time again featured in documentaries and magazines; the ever inspiring Jeffrey’s Bay . Thus in my first 3 months at site I began planning my trip to watch the Billabong Pro J-Bay 11’. The competition was planned from July 16-26 and I decided to go down for the first week. But, as fate would have it, I got incredibly sick 3 days before my trip. I couldn’t keep anything in my system and my body was in shock. I stayed in the hospital until the day I left for S.A. Though I really was in no condition to be traveling, I couldn’t bear to lose money on the pre-purchased tickets. So on July 15th my friend and I went to Jo’burg then to Port Elizabeth and ended in J-bay. It was exactly what I needed and within the first day of arriving there, I started feeling better. The ocean was my remedy. It was absolutely amazing. We stayed at Island Vibe Backpackers located right on the ocean front. The hostel and staff was everything I could’ve asked for and more. The waves were small but I got in almost every day and we ate sushi daily! Unfortunately, the first night there my friend was mugged. Luckily they just stole her stuff and didn’t harm her. On our return to Swaziland, our Safety and Security Officer (nicknamed the Ninja) had been following the criminal activity at J-bay following our incident. He notified us that a business man was murdered there a couple weeks after we returned. This is just another realization and lesson to us all that even in the” safest places” we deem perfectly fine, we always need to stay cautious and take precautions in everything. In the words of the ninja, “Stay Vigilent!”

Kelly Slater, who was supposed to be the main event and attraction at the Quiksilver signing, was a NO SHOW to the competition. This makes the 4th-5th competition that I have missed him at. Maybe one day I will be lucky enough to witness him surf? Ha! Yeah right. I have the worst luck. Regardless, I will be at the tournament next year ready to cheer them on, and ready to brave the cold water without a wetsuit. Here’s to the Billabong Pro J-bay 2012!