Jordy Smith in title contention after Hawaii win

Oahu, Hawaii - Durban’s Jordy Smith moved up to third on the World Surf League Championship Tour (CT) rankings after picking up his second victory of the year in Hawaii.

The 28-year-old won the Vans World Cup of Surfing at Sunset Beach on Sunday to claim his first ever victory in the international surfing capital.

Smith had made the final of the same event twice in the past, with the title eluding him on both occasions. On Sunday he triumphed in a stacked final round, which included Frederico Morais, Torrey Meister and Tanner Gudauskas.

“Unbelievable, can't believe it. I feel like this event has eluded me in the past. I didn't have any expectations coming in this year; I think that was the difference,” Smith said of the victory.

“I just kind of went out there with an open mind. Thanks to everyone who supported me.

“Early in my career I made a couple finals out here, I really had something going with the place. I don't know; it’s been like six or seven years where I just couldn't do a thing right. And then, everything just came together this year so I'm just really happy.”

The final Qualifying Series (QS) event of the year and one of only five 10 000 rated events in 2016, the Vans World Cup marks Smith’s second competitive victory this year. His first was a Championship Tour win at the Hurley Pro at Trestles in September.

The latest victory also moves Smith to third on the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing rankings. Second only to the CT in terms of prestige, the Triple Crown is made up of three Hawaii-based events; namely the Hawaiian Pro, Sunday’s World Cup and the Pipe Masters, which starts at Banzai Pipeline on Thursday.

The South African is 5 900 points behind second-placed Morais and just 200 points behind recently crowned 2016 WSL Champion John John Florence, who won the Hawaiian Pro in November.

Smith, who was named the Triple Crown Rookie of the Year in back in 2009, says he has been “camping out” at Pipeline this year in a determined effort to improve on his mediocre previous results in the season-ending event.

He is bidding to become the first South African man to clinch the Triple Crown. Port Shepstone’s Heather Clark is the only previous South African winner, clinching the women’s title in 2000.

Gudauskas opened the final at Sunset with two waves before Smith answered back with a super smooth 6.33 on an open face and demonstrated his tactful rail game and signature carves.

Morais dropped the first score of significance to take the lead, an 8.23 for a searing carve and a layback snap on the inside section. Meister, the most inform Hawaiian in the event, went vertical on his first wave for a 4.77, but drama unfolded after Jody secured an 8.73 - the highest single ride score of the 35 minute encounter - to take a lead that his opponents ultimately could not match.

“He always fits this wave really well,” Meister said of Smith after the awards ceremony.

“He’s one of the best guys out here. Just his hacks, he’s got probably the best hack in the business. He really suits this wave and he’s really powerful.”

With a place among the world’s top 34 ranked surfers on the 2017 Championship Tour on the line, along with the several of the current top 34 in action, there was drama in virtually every heat on the final day.

Jadson Andre and Jack Freestone secured eighth and 10th positions on the year-end QS rankings, and re-qualified for another season the CT when they reached the semi-finals. Morais paced himself throughout the event, made few mistakes and jumped up to the number three slot after his runner-up finish.

Mikey February, the only other South African in the Vans World Cup, posted his first heat win at Sunset Beach in the early rounds of the tournament last Wednesday.

The lanky Capetonian advanced to round three after taking the runner-up spot in his next heat and finished 33rd overall. He earned 1 100 points, his second best haul of the season, to end the year ranked 53rd and guaranteed of a slot in all the major 6 000 and 10 000 rated QS events next year.

The eyes of the surfing world will now be firmly fixed on Pipeline, a mile to the West of Sunset Beach on the North Shore of Oahu, where the Billabong Pipe Masters in Memory of Andy Irons - the final event of the Samsung Galaxy Championship Tour and last gem of the Vans Triple Crown takes place from December 8 - 20.