When East Londoner Greg “The Foot” Emslie emerged as the winner of the O’Neill Cold Water Classic South Africa in Cape Town yesterday, he became the first South African to do so in home surf in the entire history of the event.

With Emslie beating Australian Dion Atkinson at Kommetjie’s Long Beach, it means that the recent South African surfing winning streak continues.

“Jordy (Smith) won the other two local events and now I’ve won the third,” Emslie said after the event. “I was thinking to myself, ‘I beat Jordy in this event, now I can’t let the guy down and lose the final’. We’ve got to keep all the trophies at home, so I’m stoked I managed to do that.”

It was close though. As the Mercury reports, Emslie’s victory over Atkinson came down to a final wave in the dying minutes of the contest.

By accomplishing this amazing feat, during which he defeated Australia’s Adam Melling in the last round, the 22-year old also managed to secure the top spot on the ASP World Title Race Rankings, knocking the legendary Kelly Slater from his perch as the world’s number one surfer.

“This is the best day of my life,” Jordy said from the podium. “The crowd on the beach has been supporting me the last few days and hearing the cheers and the vuvuzelas just get me fired up to perform. It feels like they’re pushing me along. I couldn’t have done it without them.

“I knew the swell was dying and I had to take advantage of every wave that came through.” Referring to Adam Melling, he said: “[He] is such a dangerous surfer. He’s been in form all day and I knew that if he got the waves, he would get the scores. I went out there knowing I had to open up strong.”

Adam said: “The ocean didn’t cooperate with me in the Final so that’s a shame but I couldn’t be happier. We had amazing waves and to get the best result of my career is huge. I came into Jeffreys with a long road ahead if I were to make the mid-year cut-off, and now that I’m 19th, I feel like I have a bit of a buffer heading into Tahiti. I worked really hard to get here and I want to stay here.”

The next stop on the 2010 ASP World Tour is the Billabong Pro Tahiti from August 23 through September 3, 2010.

Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay Final Results:

1 – Jordy Smith (ZAF) 17.93
2 – Adam Melling (AUS) 10.00

Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay Semi-final Results:

SF 1: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 14.83 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 14.40
SF 2: Adam Melling (AUS) 14.00 def. Taj Burrow (AUS) 10.67

Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay Quarter-final Results:

QF 1: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 16.43 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 9.20
QF 2: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 12.17 def. Sean Holmes (ZAF) 11.83
QF 3: Taj Burrow (AUS) 11.00 def. Dane Reynolds (USA) 3.66
QF 4: Adam Melling (AUS) 16.43 def. Damien Hobgood (USA) 5.67

Current ASP World Title Race Top 5 (after South Africa):

1. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 28500 pts
2. Taj Burrow (AUS) 24750 pts
3. Kelly Slater (USA) 23500 pts
4. Dane Reynolds (USA) 20000 pts
5. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 19500 pts
6. Mick Fanning (AUS) 19250 pts
7. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 18750 pts
8. Bobby Martinez (USA) 16500 pts
9. Jadson Andre (BRA) 16000 pts
10. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 14750 pts

The 25th Billabong Pro kicked off in pristine conditions in this Mecca of South African surfing yesterday, Thursday 15 July 2010. Smith, Slater, 2007 Billabong Pro winner and Aussie Taj Burrow and and reigning ASP World Champ Mick Fanning, also from Australia, all proceeded to qualify for the third round yesterday.

Fanning, who was the top scorer of the day, posting rides of 8.83 and 7.87 (out of 10) to amass a total of 16.70 (out of 20), said it was important to take every heat seriously this year. “There are so many threats and even the rookies can do damage. I feel like I’ve been surfing well all year and I’m just focusing on every heat, and hopefully that takes me to a solid result.”

The Billabong Pro will continue until 25 July 2010. For more information, visit the event’s official website.

If he doesn’t let up, this entire blog runs the risk of becoming all about him – but we won’t mind all that much. Just last week, we told you how the 22-year old South African professional surfer, who is ranked number two in the world after legendary Kelly Slater,  is nominated for Men’s Health Magazine’s “Best Men of 2010″ awards and how he is using his name and fame to get involved in environmental issues.

On Sunday night, Jordy received the highest honour at the 2010 South African Surfing Awards when he was crowned South Africa’s Surfer of the Year. As Sports24 reports, the rapturous applause this announcement was greeted with solidifies “his growing reputation as one of the world’s most exciting surfers, as well as South Africa’s reputation as one of the leaders in world surfing.”

Another of the night’s honorees was Cape Town’s big wave rider Chris Bertish, who received the ‘Pushing the Boundaries’ title.

Three more surfers were inducted into the Surfing Hall of Fame. They are Peers Pittard, Christine Petrucci (1942-2009) and Hugh Roe. The late Christine’s children were there to accept the award on her behalf.

The Surf Photographer of the Year award was given to Durban’s Greg Ewing, whose prolific and skillfully executed body of work has established him as one of the country’s leading surfing photographers.

Umhlanga’s Beyrick de Vries received The Blowing Up Performer Award, given to the country’s most exciting up and coming junior surfer under the age of 20.

Cecil Solomon from Cape Town received the Agent of Change award for “spreading the stoke of surfing among all communities and at all levels”  – which is a fitting description for the man who founded South Africa’s first non-racial surf club.

For a full list of the evening’s award recipients and honorees, read Sport24′s coverage of the event.

That is just one of the many reasons why the O’Neill surf rider is up for Men’s Health Magazine’s “Best Men 2010” awards.  The surfer is nominated in the category “The Game Changer”, who the magazine defines as “… the man who is turning an industry on its head by inventing new and creative ways of working… and playing.”

Men’s Health also acknowledges Jordy for his invention of his ground-breaking “Rodeo Flip” aerial surfing manoeuvre. But apart from his undeniable skill on the board, he also gets our vote for revealing and breaking out his inner musician during a song writing and performance collaboration with local group Goldfish, in which he proved that he’s not even a fish out of water in the recording studio. The result of Jordy’s combined efforts with Goldfish is the track “Flying Stealth – Jordy Smith vs. Goldfish”, which can be heard and downloaded over here.

We also think Jordy deserves the title for his do-gooder side, which he displayed when he recently lent his support to the Surfrider Foundation’s “Oil and Water don’t Mix” t-shirt campaign to stop oil companies from drilling in the world’s oceans. The campaign was launched in order to prevent another catastrophic environmental disaster, such as the current BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, from happening ever again.

“From growing up in South Africa and travelling on the Tour, I’ve been given the opportunity to surf some of the nicest beaches around the world. So when I see what’s happening in the Gulf Coast, it’s a sad reminder how badly offshore oil drilling can damage our oceans and marine life. Hopefully this t-shirt will help bring more awareness to the issue and keep oil companies away from the waters we love,” Jordy said.

The limited edition t-shirt is available for US$20 from O’Neill. Funds will be contributed towards the clean-up efforts in the Gulf.

To join us in lending your support to Jordy, you can vote for him here. Go on! We honestly can’t think of a more deserving dude.

Border beat last year’s President’s Cup winners, Central KwaZulu-Natal, who this year came second overall. Southern KwaZulu-Natal, who hosted the event, came third, followed by Eastern Province, Western Province, Zululand, Boland and Southern Cape. This has only been the third time in 45 years that Border have managed to win the President’s Cup – which is awarded to the team with the highest total scores – but it was the fourth year in a row that they have won the SA Master’s Cup.

In the SA Cup, Central KwaZulu-Natal also took second place, with Western Province in third followed by Eastern Province, Boland, Zululand and Southern Cape.

The Master’s Cup second place went to Southern KwaZulu-Natal, who beat Central KwaZulu-Natal by one point. Eastern Province came fourth, followed by Zululand, Western Province, Southern Cape and Boland.

Greg Emslie won the SA Open Men’s title and also received his national team blazer as the first member of the SA team that will compete in the ISA World Surfing Games in Peru later this year.

The SA Masters selectors will use the results of the Over 35, Over 40, Over 45 and Over 50 age groups to select trialists for the SA Masters Team that will compete in the ISA World Masters Championships in Panama in September. South Africa is the two time defending World Masters Champions.

Other individual winners include legendary five time SA Men’s champion, ISA World Over 50 champion and multiple national champion in other divisions, Chris Knutsen of Central KwaZulu-Natal; Leonard Giles from Southern Cape who won gold in the Over 55 age group; and 2001 SA Champion Shane Thorne of Central KwaZulu-Natal, who won the Over 35 division.

The younger surfers also held their own with Beyrick de Vries, the SA Junior team captain, coming third in the Men’s Final and SA Junior team member Tanika Hoffman also coming in third in the Women’s Final.

For complete results, visit surfingsouthafrica.co.za

Winter in the gorgeous KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa means… well… sun, surf and the world’s top surfers battling it out at the Mr Price Pro Ballito from 1 – 11 July 2010.

The province of almost eternal summer is home to one of this week-long, 5-star rated surfing event, which forms part of the Association of Surfing Professionals’ (ASP) World Tour and the ASP Africa circuits is also widely regarded to be one of the longest running professional surfing events in the world.

But the top surfers are lured by more than just the historical significance of the event or the ASP ratings points that can be racked up. The R1 million prize money definitely holds an allure as well.

Among the local surfers who will be vying for that significant loot includes Durbanite and former ASP World Tour competitor Ricky Basnett, Greg Emslie from East London, Capetonian Royden Bryson, Durbanites Antonio Bortoletto, Brandon Jackson, Rudy Palmboom and Shane Thorne. Other Natallers competing in the event will include Frankie Obherholzer, Gary Van Wieringen and Gavin Roberts. One of the undisputed star attractions at this year’s event will be Jordy Smith, who is currently ranked number 3 in the world.

This year the Mr Price Pro Women’s event will be added, with the likes of Stacy Guy from Melkbosstrand, Sarah Baum from Athlone Park, Bianca Buitendag from George, and Tanika Hoffman from Kommetjie taking part. In the Pro Junior division, Beyrick De Vries from Umhlanga will battle it out against Davey Brand from Kommetjie, Matthew Bromley from Cape Town and Jaco Steyn from Melkbosstrand.

Apart from the sun and surf, some of South Africa’s greatest musical acts, like Prime Circle and Farryl Purkiss, will also be performing on the nights of the 9^th and 10^th of July. For more information, visit www.mrpricepro.com

The ten young female surfers who have been invited to take part in the 2010 Roxy Invitational to take place in Ponto d’Oura in Mozambique later this month, have been announced.

The event, presented by Saltwater GIRL Magazine, will feature a mix of novices, title holders and experienced professionals. An invitation to the event is not only an incredible honour, but since competitors vie for an impressive amount of prize money (the first-place winner gets a cool R10 000), invites are therefore quite sought-after. Another enticement is that the competitors will be staying at the Turtle Cove Resort in Tofo. So when they’re not battling it out in the surf, they will be able to unwind with yoga, skin diving and horse riding.

The invited surfers from South Africa are Kirsty Delport, Chantelle Rautenbach, Sarah Baum, Heidi Palmboom, Tarryn Chudleigh, Alice McGregor, Holly Armstrong and Faye Zoetmulder. They will be surfing against internationals such as Philippa Anderson and Paige Haggerston, both from Australia.

The event will be taking place from 23 May to 1 June 2010.

After taking a bit of a hiatus and undergoing a revamp, the Havealooksurf.com website has relaunched.

The innovative website now features a South African Video Surf Report service as well as a Surf Video Webzine.

As the name suggests, the Video Surf Report/Weather Forecast service uses live streaming web cams to allow surfers and ocean lovers alike to check out up-to-date weather and wave conditions along many of the major surf breaks along South Africa’s coastline from the comfort of their own home computers and cell phones.

The Surf Video Webzine is a fusion of a traditional online surfing mag and a surfing video show, featuring interviews with famous local and international surfers, information about events, surfer profiles, pictures and video of the Have a Look Babe sexy beach babe and much more.

All features and services offered on the site remain free and require no sign-up or registration, but right now the site is hosting a cool competition in which people who sign up for the newsletter stand a chance to win great prizes, including a Baron surfboard and free accommodation in the Transkei with Swell Tours.

New a host of new features are still being developed for the site, so check it out frequently.

In the mean time, we say, welcome back to the web, Havealooksurf!

The 22-year old East London native has qualified for her fourth consecutive season on the ASP Women’s World Tour after finishing in the top ten (she’s ranked at No. 9) at the end of 2009. Hodge also got to rub shoulders with surfing’s elite.

Other honorees at the event, which took place at the Gold Coast Convention Centre in Queensland, Australia, last Thursday evening, were Gold Coast natives duo Mick Fanning (28) and Stephanie Gilmore (22) who were officially crowned ASP World Champion and ASP Women’s World Champion respectively.

Another Australian, 28-year old Joel Parkinson and Brazilian Silvana Lima (25), received the 2009 ASP World Runner-Up and ASP Women’s World Runner-Up respectively.

Former nine-time ASP World Champion and current ASP World No 6, 38-year old Kelly Slater also attended the event and was on hand to give Fanning the ASP World Title trophy.