ASP World tour off to a flyer

The 2012 ASP World Tour has got off to a flyer with some amazing surfing on display at the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast. With really fun waves on offer, the usual suspects have been impressive with Kelly Slater leading the pack with some freakish performances.
South African Jordy Smith is looking sharper than ever and if he keeps his head down, can win the event. Taj Burrow, Joel Parkinson, Josh Kerr Adriano de Souza, Owen Wright and Adrian Buchan complete the Quarterfinal and the final day is set to be a cracker.
 
News of the week is the Billabong Pro being downgraded from World Tour event to a (tentative) six star event due to financial reasons. This means we will most probably not see many of our favorite surfers at Jbay this year, and the crowds will thin as well.
On the plus side, this gives local South African surfers an opportunity to compete in home waters at their favorite wave JBAY. With this news, the local tour is not looking all that bad, Surfing South Africa have stepped up their game with four 4 A events and a possible 5 A, along with a 6 Star Prime and a Six star to round off a pretty solid local tour, one that we have not seen in local waters for a while!
 
When people ask, what builds Pro Surfing in a country, it’s a no brainer, plenty of contests. Look at Brazil, the last 10 to 15 years they have powered so many pro events in that country, and now they are reaping the rewards with more talent coming out of Brazil than you can shake a stick at!
 
Greg Emslie