There’s no doubt that the last two events on the world tour, the Quiksilver Pro NYC and the Hurley Pro Trestles, were held in conditions that would have suited Jordy Smith. Small and punchy beachbreaks are the waves that Jordy learned to surf on in Durban and at his home break of New Pier. Waves suited to his new-school high performance surfing style. There would have been a result coming his way amongst the two events, possibly even two results. As chance would have it though, Jordy was sitting and watching the events on the live webcast.
To understand why Jordy was sitting on the sidelines we need to go back to the last event he surfed in, the Billabong Pro Teahupo’o. Coming off his victory, the second year in a row, at the Billabong Pro Jeffrey’s Bay, Jordy went onto the Tahiti event brimming with confidence. Everyone at the event, surfer or spectator, were somewhat blown away when the biggest swell in many years arrived mid-way through the event and totally redefine big wave surfing and Teahupo’o surfing, as non competition surfers recklessly charged the biggest and most dangerous waves in the world with nary a care in the world for their health and well-being. By the time the surf had settled down to a more manageable 12-foot and bigger death sets on the reef, the contest went back on.
Jordy came up against his homeboy friend Travis Logie, the sets were pouring through, and both surfers charged every set wave that came their way. Travis went straight over on one particularly big wave, but emerged unscathed from the hiding. Jordy, not to be outdone, paddled hard for one particular monster that looked like it was going to barrel and spit. Jordy launched courageously into the pit and disappeared behind the lip, to be devoured by the foamball. When he surfaced he was obviously in serious pain. The diagnosis: a dislocated rib, as well as associated muscle and cartilage damage. Anyone who has injured a rib or more knows what the injury is like: really painful.
The thing about a rib injury is that there’s not that much that can be done about it. As mentioned, it’s very sore, and it takes a while to heal. So Jordy has been sitting around and waiting patiently for the injury to heal.
The news is that Jordy will be ready to surf the Quiksilver France, set to run Oct 4 – 13 on the South West coast of France. This is not confirmed. Stay tuned for updates.
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