TOP women surfers are set to take to the waves at Supertubes in Jeffreys Bay during the 2018 Corona Open JBay from July 2 to 16 – a first since 2000.
Although no South African made the cut, the wildcard entrant, still to be chosen, just might be from home ground.
The last event on the Championship Tour was the Uluwatu Pro – the extension of the cancelled Margaret River Pro, and the women had a blistering event, with the Jeep leaderboard changing dramatically after the contest had wrapped.
The event was won by Johanne Defay from France, who beat Tatiana Weston-Webb from Brazil in excellent conditions on the left-hand reef break of Uluwatu in Bali, Indonesia. Defay, on her backhand, was somewhat of a dark-horse against the sprightly goofy-footed Weston-Webb but rose to the occasion on the day to win with some superior surfing, progressive moves and power surfing through to the Racetrack. Her style and performance was an excellent route to the final, and Defay, as well as Weston-Webb, surfed out of their comfort zones to achieve their great results.
Coming into Jeffreys Bay, it is American surfer Lakey Peterson who is on top of the Jeep Leaderboard, with a strong lead over multiple world-champion Stephanie Gilmore from Australia.
Both natural-footers, they will both be dangerous surfers at Supertubes, and will be looking to consolidate their leading positions on the leader board.
In third place, goofy-footed Tatiana Weston-Webb could easily be the most exciting surfer on the women’s Championship Tour with her explosive backhand surfing, and just underneath her is the world champion Tyler Wright from Australia.
Wright has a family situation going at the moment on the Championship Tour, with brother Owen Wright currently ranked 9th on the Men’s Championship Tour, while younger brother Mikey, competing primarily as a wildcard thus far this year, was bizarrely placed 7th on the same tour. She has solid family support, and spent a long time in JBay last year, practising and training at Supertubes in order to understand the wave and figure out the lineup prior to this upcoming event.
Other surfers who will be competing at the event are surfers of the ilk of Carissa Moore from Hawaii, Caroline Marks from USA, Sally Fitzgibbons from Australia and perennial competitor Silvana Lima from Brazil.
For information about the Corona Open JBay, visit www.jbaywinterfest.com.
