Joe Turpel, Martin Potter and Rosy Hodge look at the performances of the 2015 rookies and a shakeup in the World Title race.
Another lay day has been called at the J-Bay Open, Stop No. 6 on the 2015 Samsung Galaxy World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT), with more promising conditions predicted for the weekend.
When the contest gets back into action, crucial and highly anticipated heats will unfold in Round 4. An all-Aussie battle featuring Adrian Buchan, Kai Otton and Julian Wilson will kick things off in Heat 1. Heat 3, meanwhile, is a superheat featuring Kelly Slater (USA), Mick Fanning (AUS) and Gabriel Medina (BRA). The three men have 15 World Titles among them.
Kelly Slater, Mick Fanning and Gabriel Medina will face off in Round 4, Heat 3 of the J-Bay Open, who will take the glory?
Event organizers will be back Friday morning to assess conditions and make the next call. Surfline, official forecaster for the WSL, reports the following:
The storm that will set this swell up will develop over the next couple days and push toward South Africa. If it behaves according to model guidance we would see building surf all day on Saturday with overhead waves by the afternoon and potentially well overhead by sundown. Sunday early morning (or overnight) looks like the peak of the swell with overhead to double overhead waves very possible. Sunday afternoon would see a gradual decreasing trend, although we currently expect to see strong surf all day. (See full forecast.)
The world's best have already put up some huge numbers, tallying 18 rides in the nine-point range so far. Check out the recaps for Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3 of competition and catch up with each scoring wave in the heat cutdown gallery.
When competition resumes, Julian Wilson will hit the water with fellow Aussies Kai Otton and Adrian Buchan. Wilson has been putting up big numbers throughout competition with his progressive maneuvers, including this 9.17 in Round 3.
The J-Bay Open will air LIVE here and on the WSL app. Watch Dawn Patrol at 7:30 a.m. local time for the next call.
The world's best surfing will also be broadcast LIVE on Fox Sports in Australia, MCS Extreme in France, EDGE Sports in China, South Korea, Malaysia and other territories and on Globo TV in Brazil.
Lay Day at J-Bay: Heavyweight Heats on Deck
WSL
Another lay day has been called at the J-Bay Open, Stop No. 6 on the 2015 Samsung Galaxy World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT), with more promising conditions predicted for the weekend.
When the contest gets back into action, crucial and highly anticipated heats will unfold in Round 4. An all-Aussie battle featuring Adrian Buchan, Kai Otton and Julian Wilson will kick things off in Heat 1. Heat 3, meanwhile, is a superheat featuring Kelly Slater (USA), Mick Fanning (AUS) and Gabriel Medina (BRA). The three men have 15 World Titles among them.
Event organizers will be back Friday morning to assess conditions and make the next call. Surfline, official forecaster for the WSL, reports the following:
The storm that will set this swell up will develop over the next couple days and push toward South Africa. If it behaves according to model guidance we would see building surf all day on Saturday with overhead waves by the afternoon and potentially well overhead by sundown. Sunday early morning (or overnight) looks like the peak of the swell with overhead to double overhead waves very possible. Sunday afternoon would see a gradual decreasing trend, although we currently expect to see strong surf all day. (See full forecast.)
The world's best have already put up some huge numbers, tallying 18 rides in the nine-point range so far. Check out the recaps for Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3 of competition and catch up with each scoring wave in the heat cutdown gallery.
The J-Bay Open will air LIVE here and on the WSL app. Watch Dawn Patrol at 7:30 a.m. local time for the next call.
The world's best surfing will also be broadcast LIVE on Fox Sports in Australia, MCS Extreme in France, EDGE Sports in China, South Korea, Malaysia and other territories and on Globo TV in Brazil.
J-Bay Open
Ronnie Blakey, Peter Mel and Ross Williams discuss the rough starts of Kelly Slater and Gabriel Medina in 2015.
After his encounter with a shark during the J-Bay Open, Mick Fanning spoke to a number of media outlets clamoring for information.
After an abrupt end at J-Bay, see who's up -- and who's down -- heading into Tahiti.
The contest with a harrowing finale had music behind the maneuvers.
US fans can catch all the action and terrifying finale of the 2015 J-Bay Open on ABC's World of X Games at 3 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT.
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