When ASP International started building hype for the 2010 Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay, they took the easiest route possible — “Slater Eyes World Title No. 10 At Upcoming Billabong Pro.” Who wouldn’t want to tune in and see the greatest competitive surfer of all time shred yet another record to pieces? And who can downplay the uncanny coincidence of Slater gunning for his 10th title in 2010 of all years? Forget Sl8ter and K9 — 10 in ’10 is an irresistible tag line that sends surf fans into giddy spasms and marketing suits into fits of joy.

There was only one problem with the ASP’s angle for its annual journey to South Africa: it forgot to take into account home country surfers like Jordy Smith and Sean Holmes, along with the wild sporting fever that has gripped the country since the World Cup blew through Johannesburg earlier this summer. In that sense, the storyline couldn’t be better: mega-hyped young superstar wins maiden World Tour victory only days after winning the hometown Mr. Price Pro Ballito near Durban, taking the World Title and combined World Rankings lead in front of thousands of vuvuzela-blaring fans, while local boy wildcard wipes 12 world titles off the table by beating Kelly Slater and Andy Irons in back-to-back heats. Did we mention that Jordy is the first South African to win a World Tour event since Martin Potter, the first bru to ever make a final at J-Bay, and the first Saffa to lead the ratings since the creation of the present World Tour system? And that all of this went down on South African hero Nelson Mandela’s birthday?

Of course, from an East Coast perspective, J-Bay was a tough go all around. Slater’s extensive experience at the premier righthand pointbreak — he’s won the Billabong Pro four times in the past — actually hurt him, as he waited until the last minute to leave his new riverfront home in Cocoa Beach, FL, and travel to South Africa. Slater’s journey ended up taking 40 hours one way, and although he arrived with only minutes to spare for his Round One heat, The Champ still schooled fellow Eastsider Damien Hobgood and second wildcard Shaun Joubert with a 15.93 barrel-riding clinic in the firing four- to six-foot surf of Day One.

“Everything that could have gone wrong on my trip over here did,” Slater told the ASP. “My flight got delayed on the East Coast because of storms, and then there were mechanical failures and more delays. I had to overnight in Johannesburg and then my bags didn’t show up. I think it took me 40 hours door-to-door… That said, sometimes all that happens for a reason and I ended up having a fun surf and getting through Round One.” Unfortunately for Kelly, Sean Holmes schooled him in Round Three with local knowledge, giving Slater the first wave off his priority as time ran out before getting just the score he needed from the bigger wave out the back. “I never felt in sync here this year,” Slater said. “I’ve been tired ever since I arrived. I’ve been going to bed at 8:00 p.m. and waking up at 1:00 a.m. I’ve been up today for eight hours already. [But] Sean is always in sync out here at Jeffreys. He knows the spot really well and is always on the best waves.”

Our third Right Coast representative, CJ Hobgood uncharacteristically lost both his Round One and Round Two heats to bag his second 33rd of the year, dropping him to #22 in the ratings, precariously close to the mid-season cutoff that will happen after the next event in Tahiti. Luckily, twin brother Damien carried the Hobgood name and trademark backside approach all the way to an equal-5th finish, downing Marco Polo, Dean Morrison, and reigning World Champ Mick Fanning before losing to eventual event runner-up Adam Melling in the quarterfinals. “I thought there were going to be a lot of waves in [my heat with Mick] but it ended up being fairly slow,” Hobgood said. “The waves we had were actually pretty tough to surf on your backhand. I made a mistake early on, but was able to put together two okay scores and Mick didn’t really find a rhythm until later on. That last wave he got didn’t look good, but he turned it into something and came close to getting the score.”

After Damo bowed out in the quarters, it was all Jordy Smith all the time, as the hulking South African overcame a seemingly impossible combo situation in his semifinal with Bede Durbidge. With four minutes remaining in the heat, Durbidge had a 14.40 while Smith possessed a 4.30. But Jordy caught two waves right before the buzzer, punting a superman air on the first one and unleashing a devastating barrage of forehand wraps on the second to earn 14.83 points in less than one minute. After that, the final with Melling was an afterthought, as Jordy downed him 17.93 – 10.00 before paddling in to mobs of multicultural South Africans waiting on the beach to tie flags around their new national hero and chair him up the beach. Smith’s mother Luellen even got in on the celebration, hugging and sharing a few tears with her son, who’s gone from freakish prodigy to World Champion material in less than five years.