For more than four decades, the best surfers in the world have come to Jeffreys Bay every winter to test themselves on one of the most perfect waves on earth. The J-Bay Open, as the contest has been known since 2014, grew from a local event with almost no prize money into a fixture of the world tour, and it has delivered some of professional surfing's most famous moments, including the day a shark interrupted a world-tour final on live television. This is the history of the J-Bay Open, from the 1981 Beach Hotel Classic to the empty winter of 2026.
Before the contest: how J-Bay became a surf town
Surfers arrived in the Eastern Cape in the 1960s, many of them drawn by The Endless Summer, the 1966 film that made the point at Cape St Francis famous. Those who drove a little further found something even better at Jeffreys Bay: a right-hand point that was faster, more powerful, hollower and far more consistent. Word spread, and by the 1970s J-Bay had become a place of pilgrimage. It was only a matter of time before someone organised a contest on the wave everyone was talking about.
1981 to 1995: from the Beach Hotel Classic to the Country Feeling
The first contest at Supertubes was the Beach Hotel Classic in 1981, and Durban's Shaun Tomson, already a world champion, won it. The following year Country Feeling, the surfwear label run in Jeffreys Bay by Cheron Kraak, took over as sponsor, and the Country Feeling Classic was born.
In July 1984 the contest joined the professional world tour, and Supertubes turned on four days of solid surf. The winner was an 18-year-old Australian named Mark Occhilupo, whose powerful backhand at J-Bay announced him as one of the most exciting surfers of his generation. The event took a break in 1985 and 1986, returned in 1987 and kept growing through the early 1990s, with Billabong joining Country Feeling as a backer.
The Billabong Pro years: J-Bay joins the elite tour
Between 1996 and 2011, the Billabong Pro at Jeffreys Bay was a regular stop on the elite Championship Tour, and the honour roll from that era reads like a who's who of the sport:
- Kelly Slater won four times, in 1996, 2003, 2005 and 2008.
- Joel Parkinson won in 1999 as a teenage wildcard and again in 2009.
- Jake Paterson won back-to-back in 2000 and 2001.
- Mick Fanning won in 2002 and 2006.
- Andy Irons won in 2004 and Taj Burrow in 2007.
- Jordy Smith won in 2010 and 2011, the first South African to win the event in the Championship Tour era, in front of a delirious home crowd.
Jordy's back-to-back wins remain one of the proudest moments in South African surfing; our feature on South Africa's surfing legends tells more of his story.
Off the tour and back again: 2012 to 2014
In February 2012, Billabong downgraded the J-Bay event from the Championship Tour to a lower-rated qualifying event, citing cost savings across the business. The tour went elsewhere for 2012 and 2013, and Jeffreys Bay's businesses felt the loss.
In February 2014 the tour announced J-Bay's return with a three-year deal and a new name: the J-Bay Open. The comeback could not have gone better. Supertubes produced big, clean surf, thousands of spectators lined the point, and on 19 July 2014 Mick Fanning beat Joel Parkinson in the final, 17.00 to 13.60, for his third J-Bay title. The event also staged a heritage heat between two legends of the 1980s, Tom Curren and Mark Occhilupo.
19 July 2015: the final that never finished
A year later, Fanning was back in the final as defending champion, facing fellow Australian Julian Wilson. Early in the heat, as he waited for a wave, a shark struck at him and tangled in his leash, knocking him off his board in front of a live global audience. Fanning fought it off, Wilson paddled towards him, and the water-safety crews had both surfers out of the water within moments. Remarkably, Fanning was unhurt.
The World Surf League called off the rest of the final. Both surfers were awarded second place, sharing the points and the prize money, so the 2015 event has no winner. The encounter made headlines around the world and put a spotlight on shark safety at contests. If you want the practical side of the topic, read our guide to shark safety for surfers in South Africa.
The story had a fitting ending. In July 2016, a year after the encounter, Fanning returned to Supertubes and won the event, beating Hawaii's John John Florence in the final for his fourth J-Bay title.
The Corona era: Toledo's reign and the women's return
From 2017 the event ran as the Corona Open J-Bay, and one surfer made it his own. Brazil's Filipe Toledo won in 2017, beating Frederico Morais by just 0.27 of a point, then won again in 2018 and a third time in 2023. In between, Gabriel Medina beat Italo Ferreira in an all-goofy-foot final in 2019, and Australia's Ethan Ewing claimed his first Championship Tour win at J-Bay in 2022.
The women's tour returned to Supertubes in 2018 for the first time in nearly two decades, and Stephanie Gilmore won that first event. Carissa Moore, Tatiana Weston-Webb and Lakey Peterson followed. The COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the 2020 and 2021 events.
J-Bay Open winners since 2014
| Year | Event | Men's winner | Women's winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | J-Bay Open | Mick Fanning (Australia) | No women's event |
| 2015 | J-Bay Open | No winner: final abandoned after shark encounter | No women's event |
| 2016 | J-Bay Open | Mick Fanning (Australia) | No women's event |
| 2017 | Corona Open J-Bay | Filipe Toledo (Brazil) | No women's event |
| 2018 | Corona Open J-Bay | Filipe Toledo (Brazil) | Stephanie Gilmore (Australia) |
| 2019 | Corona Open J-Bay | Gabriel Medina (Brazil) | Carissa Moore (Hawaii) |
| 2020–2021 | Cancelled (COVID-19) | None | None |
| 2022 | Corona Open J-Bay | Ethan Ewing (Australia) | Tatiana Weston-Webb (Brazil) |
| 2023 | Corona Open J-Bay | Filipe Toledo (Brazil) | Lakey Peterson (USA) |
| 2024 | WSL J-Bay Classic (specialty event) | Frederico Morais (Portugal) | Sarah Baum (South Africa) |
| 2025 | Corona Cero Open J-Bay | Connor O'Leary (Japan) | Gabriela Bryan (Hawaii) |
| 2026 | Not on the Championship Tour | None | None |
2024 to 2026: a Classic, a comeback and an empty July
In the Olympic year of 2024, J-Bay was left off the Championship Tour schedule, and the WSL ran the J-Bay Classic in June instead: a specialty event mixing invited pros, local trials winners and alternative boards. Portugal's Frederico Morais, in his first contest on a twin-fin, beat South Africa's Mikey February in the final. Sarah Baum, who earned her place through the trials, beat Sally Fitzgibbons to become the first South African woman to win an event at J-Bay since Shavonne Hill in 1987.
The Championship Tour returned in July 2025 as the Corona Cero Open J-Bay. Connor O'Leary, surfing for Japan, earned the only perfect 10 of the event in his semi-final against three-time winner Filipe Toledo, then beat Yago Dora in the final for his first Championship Tour victory. Hawaii's Gabriela Bryan beat Molly Picklum by a fraction of a point to win the women's event, her third win of the season.
Then came the blow. In August 2025 the WSL had pencilled J-Bay in for July 2026, but in January 2026 it confirmed that Jeffreys Bay would not be on the 2026 Championship Tour, saying the financial support needed to make the event viable was not in place. Raglan in New Zealand took the slot. The League said it would continue to explore ways to return, so for now the J-Bay Open's story is paused rather than over.
Visiting J-Bay in contest season
Whether or not the tour is in town, July is the heart of the J-Bay season, and the same swells that made the contest famous keep rolling in. If you plan a winter trip:
- Book early. The winter school holidays and the peak swell weeks fill up accommodation quickly.
- Bring rubber. A 4/3 steamer and thin booties for the rocks are the usual winter kit.
- Watch from the viewing deck. The boardwalk at Supertubes looks straight over the take-off and is one of the best free shows in surfing.
- Follow the swell. Check the Supertubes surf report and our guide to the best time to surf Jeffreys Bay before you book.
For the full lay of the point, from Kitchen Windows to Albatross, download our free J-Bay Surf Guide, and read how the wave itself works in Supertubes explained.
From Tomson and Occy to Slater, Fanning, Jordy, Toledo and Baum, the names on the J-Bay honour roll tell the story of modern surfing. We are hoping the next chapter starts soon. Until then, the waves are still here, the deck is still the best seat in the house, and the town that lives by the tide is still waiting for the next big swell. Grab a Live By The Tide tee and come and see it for yourself.
