Travis Logie and Taj Burrow survive Round 2 of Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay
After a couple of lay days, the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour action resumed with Round 2 of Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay on Monday, July 18th, at the coastline of Jeffreys Bay in South Africa,
The first heat of the day pitted South Africa’s Travis Logie, replacement for America’s Kelly Slater who had failed to show up for the heat yet again, against his compatriot Shaun Payne. Logie justified his admission in the World Tour event by coming up
with an impressive performance to down the wildcard entry Payne and advance to the third round, consequently bringing his countryman’s competition to a premature end.
Australia’s Taj Burrow prevailed over South Africa’s Sean Holmes in the second heat to go through to Round 3 and oust his rival from the event.
As per the new rule introduced by ASP board, if a surfer is unable to show up within the first five minutes of his Round 2 heat, he would be replaced by another surfer. Slater’s absence from the event site came as a blessing for the local surfer, Logie,
who got to take the American’s place in the Round 2 battle against another local surfer, Payne.
The waves were low and inconsistent, making the day quite tough for the surfers. Despite the difficult conditions, the 32-year-old Logie surfed intelligently and collected a 5.33 off his first wave to take the lead. He immediately followed it up with a really
impressive 7.00-point wave to reach a heat-total of 12.33 points, which eventually carried him off to victory.
Ecstatic over the perfect start to the competition, Logie said in his post-heat interview, “It’s been the weirdest week of my life. I’ve been hanging around and wondering if I’m getting into the event and dealing with the rumour mill. I guess it was all
worth it though. That was a huge heat for me and my campaign to get back on tour full time.”
While chasing his rival’s score, the 22-year-old Payne failed to find his rhythm, quite evidently struggling to adjust to the conditions. He ended up finishing with a heat-total of 7.30 point, which comprised of a 3.83 and 3.47-point wave. The disappointing
effort got him eliminated from the event.
The next heat turned out to be a one-man show, with Australia’s Burrow successfully redeeming himself after becoming a victim to Brazil’s Jadson Andre in the first round.
Currently No.4 on the ASP World Title rankings, Burrow was never going to be an easy opponent for Holmes. The difference between the experience and skills of the two surfers became evident quite early in the battle.
The 33-year-old Australian set things in motion by locking a wave to pull off a combination of amazing manoeuvres and collecting 7.83 for the effort. Soon, he added another 6.50 points to his account to reach a heat-total of 14.33 points. Such an impressive
two-wave total under tough surfing conditions allowed him to clinch the win quite comfortably and advance to the third round.
Talking to a reporter after the heat, he said, “It’s tricky out there today. It’s really clean, but a bit inconsistent. Sean (Holmes) is so dangerous out there. He knows the wave better than anyone and I wasn’t taking him lightly. Stoked to get through and
hopefully we are able to take advantage of some swell later in the week.”
Holmes was unable to withstand his Australian rival’s onslaught and ended up succumbing to the challenging task. He collected a 4.17 and 1.87 off his two best waves to finish with a heat-total of 6.04 points. Consequently, his pursuit of the event title
at Jeffreys Bay came to a premature end.
For more details on Round 2 of Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay, stay tuned to bettor.com
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