I have quite a heavy development schedule going, and will be uploading photos ASAP, but here is some breaking news on the opening function of the Billabong PRO 2009.

After a day of medium waves, the surf started to pick up a little, and by late afternoon the waves were glassy and 3 to 4 foot, setting the mood for the Billabong PRO 2009.

As the sun set and the moon rose over the sea above the Chokka boats (they catch calemari btw.), people from all over the world gathered at the function tent in front of Supertubes.

The who's who of the surfing industry was there, including the main peanuts in the proverbial packet from Bong and the ASP. (With respect....) There were also a couple of locals, the media and then the competitors.

I think it was a great idea that the opening function was held in the evening. There were a couple of speeches, including the mayor, Mr. Robbie Dennis, who welcomed everybody. (Let me not go into details about his speech.) Billabong also welcomed everybody officially, and this year the Billabong Crew went to great lengths to go green and they deliberated a little about that. We're talking sun heated showers, categorized waist bins, solar panels and the works. Well done Bong!

Okay. Lined up behind an assortment of microphones, on a table, were the following guys: Joel Parkinson (Parko) who is currently ranked at ASP number 1, Mick Fanning who was the 2006 winner, King Kelly who just won the previous ASP event in Brazil and then Taj Burrow who was the winner in 2007. (Taj came a little late, but more on latecomers just now.) A very interesting face to see  in there was Shaun Holms (Holmsie as he is known) who needs no introduction and has the reputation as one of the most dangerous wildcards in the Billabong PRO. Then two legends, well into their fourties, Mark Occupulco (Occy) and Tom Curren were also there as they will feature in an epic showdown called the Occy vs. Curren Clash of the Icons.

What they had to say:

Parko, the all round friendly guy of the evening was first and I would also smile like that if I was at the top of the ASP rankings half way through the year. No doubt, he had a great season so far and who knows what will go down for him in the following 6 events. Parko said that he is obviously there to do well and his aim is to win like all competitive surfers. (I must say, Parko's smile makes me wanna go and shake his hand. Shot Parko)

Next up was Kelly Slater, who explained that he almost bailed out on Brazil and J-Bay this year, but was stoked to make it to the events after all. There has been much talk about his quiver this year, and he just had a custom quiver that arrived earlier in the day. If you are a nine times world champ, that probably qualifies you to shape your own boards and surf them, I guess. 

If you track back a little to the 2007 Billabong PRO final, I recall that Kelly had a real bad heat. Actually, what went down was that Taj was nowhere to be found when the final was supposed to start. I am not sure what his reasons were, but it got so critical since he did not pitch up on time, that I think they would have given the heat to Kelly if he didn't at the last minute. The whole crowd and Kelly waited for well over 20 minutes. Suddenly from nowhere, Taj appeared walking casually down the boardwalk, paddled out and proceeded to win the heat and claim the final. Kelly was out there already long before the heat was supposed to start, and waited for ages because Taj did not pitch. In Kelly's shoes, I would have been pretty bummed when the heat started. Maybe Kelly wasn't bummed, but I am sure there was a decent dose of self control and psychology going down that day. Kelly made a couple of mistakes. It was visible in his body language that he was not enjoying it. I can only speculate if it had anything to do with Taj being late... Taj did surf well in that heat and he got better waves and that's how 2007 went down in history. It was ironic that Taj was also quite late for the press conference tonight, but nuf said about that...

Mick Lightning Fanning said that he loves J-Bay and the people of the area. He also spoke about the speed of the wave, and drew a parallel between surfing and dancing as he pointed out that you sometimes have to improvise when you are on a wave at Supers, since it all happens so fast. 

The interview with the long blond haired Sean Holmes, affectionately known as Holmsie, had a couple of questions of the comparison between big wave surfing and regular surfing. Sean stated that doing big wave surfing is way different from small wave contests. Just like Twiggy, Andy Marr and those guys, he does have Supes wired. I've sat around car park section a couple of times witnessing him getting barreled wave after wave when Supers was almost out of control.

After the "now and here legends", it was Occy and Tom's turns. They answered a couple of questions and made jokes about how they cannot even remember when which one of them won what heats against each other due to their age. For the record, they both have 8 wins against each other and most of those heats went down in history as epic heats that defined competition surfing. It is probable that their event will run before the finals. I am definitely going to make sure that I don't miss it, because it is going to be HUGE. It would not be out of line to say that most of the guys that are currently on the ASP, WQS and just about any competition surfer look up to them and wished at some point they could surf like them. Sean Holmes also stated that he used to watch these guys surf when he was a grom and that he is so stoked to actually be with them at the press release and at the same event.

The wave forecast for tomorrow does not look that great at all, but we see that some swell may be due for next week Monday. Let's hope J-Bay delivers the goods next week the same way it did for the Xcel Supertubes Showdown two weeks ago. 

What's a Billabong PRO opening function without the traditional dancers?! Those guys really went uber creative this year. Let it be known that this is definitely the first Zulu Dance that I have seen that incorporated surfboards! The crowd was also very pleased with their dance and as a grand finale, they grabbed random members of the crowd to join who glaldly played along.

I have to make mention of the fact that food and drinks were on the house, and the guys from Surf Masters as well as Infoods did a great job to make sure that we were looked after in that sense.

Looking forward to a great event and see you on the beach!