Jordy Smith Biography

Despite his stellar amateur and junior record, Jordy Smith only really stood to worldwide attention at the Billabong Pro Jeffrey’s Bay in 2006. Starting out in the event as a wildcard, Jordy soon had the patriotic local crowds cheering and whistling for him whenever he even so much as looked at a wave. It was justified support though; Jordy looked like he was a sure thing to win the event. He had the form and the moves, and he had the top surfers in the world running scared. It was a simple mistake in the semi-finals that saw Jordy bow out with a very credible third place finish. It was round about this time that the Jordy tide turned and his spree began.

His J-Bay performance was accentuated with the 2006 ASP Junior Championships title, as well as a blistering second place finish at the ASP WQS Six Star at Sunset Beach, which also netted him the 2006 Van’s Triple Crown of Surfing ‘Rookie of the Year’ award. This combination of results in wildly diverse conditions ranging from perfect Supers to small North Narrabeen to giant and perfect Sunset Beach in Hawaii forced the surfing public and media to take note of the lanky Durban kid.

A very long history of titles in South Africa is the backbone of Jordy’s career, with 10 National Titles under his belt and numerous other titles, cup, wins and victories. A contest machine as well as an absolute free-surfing phenomenon, Jordy took his act onto the 2007 World Qualifying Series, and his only challenge throughout the year was to earn more points on this series than any other surfer had done in the past. He went on to do this and secure 14575 points, the most ever scored on the World Qualifying Series, and easily win the 2007 series. He thus joined a handful of surfers who have qualified for the World Tour in their first year.

In 2008 Jordy had mixed results on the World Tour, with three 9th places, five 17th places, two 33rds and an injury keeping him out of the last event at Pipeline. Despite the injury, and not being able to surf the final event, Jordy successfully reclaimed his place on the 2009 World Tour, where he will once again be gunning for his quietly stated goal of a world title (“I surf contests to win them”).

Jordy Smith is the surfer who is going to lead the next charge of South African surfers as they compete against and beat the best surfers in the world, much like Shaun Tomson did all those years ago. Shaun himself has stated in many articles that Jordy is the real deal and that it is only a matter of time before the kid gouges, punts, carves and tube-rides his way to a world title.

Jordy’s lightning- fast style and inimitable aerial surfing technique was nurtured on one of the best waves in the world, the New Pier in Durban. With its almost machine-like uniformity, combined with a contrary ability to produce many different types and sizes of waves, the New Pier is the perfect launching pad for all aspects of modern surfing. In his founding years in the lineup, the barrels, speed runs, lip sections and big open faces on most days of the year saw Jordy quickly understand the dynamics of his boards, the feeling of the wave, and other forces like gravity and motion and put them all together in one dynamic, lightning-fast package. Jordy was always destined for surfing greatness and when it became clear to the world that he had a Big Match Temperament as well as an affinity for the large and powerful waves of Hawaii, then the surfing universe had no choice but to simply acknowledge the absolute potential of a World Title.