Corona J-Bay Open put on hold after Great White gatecrashes
THE Corona J-Bay Open surfing competition was placed on hold yesterday when event organisers and safety teams began tracking a three-metre Great White shark swimming into the competition lineup.
The drama erupted during the quarterfinal heat between Gabriel Medina (Brazil) and Mick Fanning (Australia).
Fanning, a three-time WSL champion, famously encountered an aggressive Great White in the opening minutes of the 2015 final at Jeffreys Bay.
Response and safety teams placed the surfers on boats and monitored the shark as it exited the lineup.
After discussion with the commissioner’s office and the surfers, competition resumed, with Medina besting Fanning and advancing to the semifinals.
“I’m really glad they got us out of the water, but I felt really safe out there with the skis, the drones and the plane, so it was an easy decision to paddle out,” Fanning said.
“We had a slow start to the heat and I made a few mistakes, but Gabe [Medina] is just surfing so well at the moment so it was a tough heat.
“It’s been such an incredible contest though.
“I think we’ve seen some of the best surfing, seeing how many 10-point rides have gone down.”
Frederico Morais (Portugal) upset reigning WSL champion John John Florence (Hawaii) again in the quarterfinals and eliminated him in equal 5th place.
Morais will advance to the semifinals for the first time this season and will face Medina.
“The waves are so much fun out there,” Morais said.
“We had a little adventure out there with the shark at the beginning, but everything was great and we’re safe and taken care of.
“Every time I surf against John (Florence) we have some really close heats and some really tough match-ups.
“Honestly, I hate sharks. We don’t worry about that in Portugal so I’m not used to it, but we were safe so we surfed and it was fine.
“When you’re focused on the heat you forget all about that.”
Earlier in the day, Fanning delivered a near-perfect 9.80 in Round 5 for a series of carves before he pulled into a wideopen barrel on a beautiful set wave to end the run of 2017 WSL rookie Joan Duru (France). Florence previously dispatched current Jeep leaderboard No 3 Owen Wright (Australia), who was eliminated in ninth place, with another solid performance.
An in-form Jordy Smith (South Africa) opened the resurf of his Round 5 heat against Conner Coffin (USA) with an excellent 9.37 and quickly backed it up with his third perfect 10 of the event.
The two-time event winner will move through to the quarterfinals, where he will face Filipe Toledo (Brazil).