JBay Surf Fest 11-20 July 2025

Not just about the Surfing

The World Surf League holds surfing events all round the world attended by the world’s best surfers. This year is the penultimate showdown, held in Jeffrey’s (Jbay) before the Final 5 in Fiji. Attended on the opening day by some 20 000 spectators, sponsored by Corona, the weather was sublime and the swell, beautifully curving from right to left at between 3-4 meters made for perfect conditions.

I spent the day watching the extraordinary skill of the world’s top male and female surfers. BUT it wasn’t just the surfing that impressed me, it was the South Africaness of the whole event that really struck home.

Buckets of Corona Zero and 4.5% Corona did a royal trade amongst the spectators with a % of each sale donated to the which focuses on:

• Empowering at risk youth to Ride Waves of Change and Protect our Ocean, an after school care programme that fuses the rush of surfing with mind-body therapy for children and young people who are at risk and vulnerable. The Jbay Surf Alliance Academy offers a safe environment where the kids learn to develop meaningful social connections, experience time away from difficult situations and adopt healthy behaviours to cope with stress. They foster self-esteem, trust and a sense of self within ever changing environments. They learn how important their environment is and that protecting it is key to their own healthy future.
• Actively engaging with local authorities and retailers to promote plastic rehabilitation, encourage the sale of sustainable bags and raise awareness about the harmful effects of a single use plastics in the retail industry
• Protecting our precious marine ecosystems. In line with the international mandate of 30 x 30, which aims to save 30% of the planet by 2030, JBay has embarked on a groundbreaking initiative – the creation of temporary rock reserves, or nurseries, known as Marine Protected Areas. Imagine a stretch of beach transformed into a NO TAKE ZONE, where all living creatures are given a respite from human interference for a designated period of time. It’s called 2 FOR 2 – 200 km for two years.
• Consistent with Blue Standard Ethics, the event only employed and sourced from locals. Everything that was on display, consumed, sold, and catered for was recycled with single use items disallowed.

If you have a chance, make the best of the few days that remain. It’s a good South African story, a real commitment to the so-called triple bottom-line: Profit, People, Planet, and of course the friendliness of those present over-whelming.

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