Explained: Why Jordy Smith Threw his Heat at the Ballito Pro!

"A tough one for Jordy!"

Are you watching the Ballito Pro, the big qualifying event that serves as a sort of warm-up event to J-Bay?

Last night, my electronic mailbox was hit by surf fans whose curiosity had been pricked by defending champion Jordy Smith’s horror round two heat score.

“Hiya baby. I’m just speculating,” wrote one, “but the dude was landing sick airs and then seemingly jumping off for a flailing fall. Was like watching the world cup. Could be a gammy ankle, is the only other plausible explanation I could give.”

In a heat with Seth Moniz (Hawaiia), Sammy Pupo (Brazil) and Costa Rican Noe Mar McGonagle, Jordy finished a distant last, his 5.63 total (his scoring waves were a 2.70 and a 2.93) the fourth lowest of the day.

What happened? Do heats actually get thrown? And why?

In this Facebook stream, the commentators explain (go to 2:49):

Commentator 1: “Of course, we have lost both finalists in Willian Cardoso and Jordy Smith. Scott (commentator 2)  you weren’t in the booth for that one, you were down on the beach. What do you think of the disinterest of Jordy Smith there?” 

Commentator 2: “Well, I’ve just got some information on that, and it was a really tough one for Jordy. He does love this event, he’s won it twice, he loves coming here, but his actual focus is on J-Bay. It’s the first time we’ve had such a close back-to-back window with the two events and that really was his focus. He didn’t want to keep progressing here. He wants to get down to J-Bay. I think you guys might’ve mentioned that and suggested that was the case. It’s a tough one for him. He loves the event, he sees the importance of it, but, actually, what he did, apparently, he was out there coaching all the other boys, trying to fire them up, encourage them to go the better waves. We saw that air he did. He was just having a bit of fun. It was a really tough one for Jordy. These CT surfers, I’m not sure if the viewers out there know but they need to surf one big QS event within their region. A tough one for Jordy.”

Tough!

Is making tour surfers hit a QS event silly?

Conversely, do you think the kindness of Jordy in the heat, encouraging others and so forth, was a lovely example to children whose parents might’ve dumped ’em in front of the Facebook Live stream as some sort of inhuman punishment?