Mixed feelings on downgrade

THE announcement that the Billabong Pro is to be downgraded was met with mixed feelings all over the world.
Although the consensus in Jeffreys Bay is that all is not lost and that some good could possibly be coming from this, all and sundry took every aspect of the announcement apart on especially the social networking sites.
One such site actually ran a poll where people could vote on whether this could be compared to tennis losing Wimbledon. On and on it raged with every Tom, Dick and Harry adding, mostly his opinion, to the debate.
It was even reported that Kelly Slater is considering retirement because of this.
How ridiculous this statement is. Slater didn't even attend last year's contest because he was having fun, free surfing elsewhere.
Most of the almost 10000 networkers on this particular site threatened that they will never ever be visiting Jeffreys Bay again. How sad. Some made very derogatory remarks about several issues including Billabong, the worst was by one gentleman who really let rip into our town.
He claims the town has become a dirty backwater with massive potholes, and a CBD that developers have racked and ruined. Apparently even the surf spots have become places to be avoided as one is not sure what lurks there.
Now this is all well and fine but how dare this upstart trash our town and especially our surf this way? Despite the many challenges we have with the municipality – bankruptcy, lack of service delivery and businesses closing down – there certainly is nothing wrong with our pristine beaches. Our surf spots, and particularly Supertubes can still compare with the best in the world, and will always attract the surfing fraternity.
The downgrading of one contest cannot detract from the fact that our surf is world -renowned. Supers is iconic and remains the best right hand break in the world. Real honest-to-God surfers will still be coming to surf here. Granted we might not enjoy such a big worldwide audience for a couple of days in July, but believe me people will now definitely be keeping an eye on the new contest to see how it develops. And who knows, once the economy has turned, which surely it will, we could again be playing host to the Billabong Pro J-Bay.
Besides, the local economy will be getting a massive boost because in spite of the loss of 40 high-profile professional surfers and their backup, the town is now set to be invaded by 120 surfers and their followers. As these surfers are mostly youngsters and many will be from South Africa it is more than likely their entourages will include many more people.
What a great opportunity this presents for the younger generation of surfers, many of whom live in the Kouga.
– Cindy Liebenberg