The wait is nearly over. The anticipation met with satisfaction. Finally the unveiling of Joe G and Globe's newest creation, 0000 (Year Zero).

I have been making sexual references about this film for a while now. Months that seemed like years.

Now we have a new trailer and a premiere date. Aug 3 during the US open, which is also the same venue as Kai Neville's Lost Atlas premiere.

With such films as Secret Machine and New Emissions of Light and Sound under their belts, you can bet this film is going to be the opposite of crappy.

The event started out with a bang and ended with a whimper. The massive swell that snapped boards and egos over the last 2 days of competition tapered off on the final day. Surf was very clean, but by the final heat, surfers were struggling to get to their feet.

Local boy Yadin Nicol had the best result of his career, making the final against Damien Hobgood. Yadin came about as close to making the tour as you could possibly get, missing out by one placing in the final heat of the season at Sunset last year. Now with this result in a 6-Star Prime, he is looking very good to try to get on tour after the New York event.

The final saw the last gasps of the swell lapping against the reef at Margaret's. Damien was able to get 2 mid range scores by employing some Floridian groveling techniques. Yadin waited for the sets that never came, and was never really in the heat.

Granger Larsen and Willian Cardoso finished equal third, huge results for the 2 WQS warriors.

Damien walked away $40,000 richer and now sits at number 10 in the World Rankings after this win.

Jordy Smith's Billabong Pro victory on Sunday vaulted him past Kelly Slater into the top spot in the ASP ratings. The third-year pro broke into tears after his hard fought win.

It's been a long road for Smith. After some white-knuckle moments during his rookie season that fed a ruthless press, he's managed to shake the critics, locate a few toeholds and start climbing his way up the ratings wall.

The evidence will show Jordy surfing strongly throughout the event. His most impressive victory was without question his last minute heroics versus Bede Durbidge. Contrast Jordy's amazing comeback to Dane Reynolds complete meltdown against Taj Burrow and you have a very telling picture.

Smith is likely to take more heat now that he's, once again, the world's biggest target. But from his elevated position it's much easier for him to fire back...and silence them.

Here's the tale of the tape from the historic final day at J-Bay.

Quarterfinal number 1: Jordy Smith takes down the always dangerous Adriano de Souza of Brazil.


Quarterfinal number 2: Bede Durbidge ends the amazing run of South African wild card Sean Holmes.


Quarterfinal number 3: Dane Reynolds cracks under the pressure of a Taj Burrow assault.


Quarterfinal number 4: Aussie Adam Melling knocks out the last remaining goofyfooter, Damien Hobgood.


Semifinal number 1: Jordy Smith makes his amazing last-minute charge to get past Bede Durbidge.


Semifinal number 2: Adam Melling upsets Taj Burrow to make is first-ever ASP final and solidify Jordy's new lead.


THE FINAL: Jordy Smith beats Adam Melling to take his first-ever ASP victory on a historic day in South Africa.


The final day highlight package from an incredible day of surfing in J-Bay.

Day three of the Billabong Pro at J-Bay was another beauty, and a storybook one for the country of South Africa with Jordy Smith taking over the ASP ratings lead thanks to his buddy Sean Holmes, who is officially the most lethal wild card in ASP history now. On Saturday Holmes knocked out Kelly Slater and Andy Irons, clearing the path for Smith to take over.

All the highlights below starting with a quick wrap up package here. Followed by each of the Round Four heats.


The first big upset of the day was Sean Holmes beating 9-time world champion and current tour leader Kelly Slater. It was a wave starved heat, and Holmes, the ultimate J-Bay chess player, played his board just right to slip away with the win.


Damien Hobgood beat Mick Fanning, proving once again that he's one of the best backsiders around at Jeffreys. It couldn't have come at a better time for Hobgood, who's been struggling a bit of late. He entered J-Bay sitting in the 23 slot, dangerously close to the cutoff. Meanwhile, Mick has yet to find his world champion form.


Dane Reynolds beats Brett Simpson, ending Brett's best run so far this season. Brett looked like he was going to put up a fight early, but Dane motivated and turned in a solid performance.


Taj Burrow beats Tiago Pires, looking incredibly sharp on his equipment. Taj seems to be accelerating from 0 to 60 faster than anyone, and it's paying off for him. Taj is now nipping right at Jordy's heels.


Sean Holmes beat Andy Irons for the fourth time at J-Bay, just a few hours after sending Kelly Slater packing. Andy was livid after a water photographer got a little too close. If he can bottle the anger his comeback will get even more traction.


Bede Durbidge beat Matt Wilkinson, ending Wilko's best run so far in 2010. Wilko looked solid in his earlier rounds but the unshakable Durbidge was all business.


Jordy Smith beat Owen Wright in what was arguably one of the best fought heats of the round. Both surfers were in top form entering the heat, making it one of the most anticipated match ups of the event. They didn't disappoint either.


Adriano de Souza beat Ace Buchan in a slow moving heat that was a bit wave starved.

The ASP World Tour as you've known it is no more.

The full impact of the changes announced last fall during the European leg are now being realized, and they're much more significant than first thought. Apparently Slater's threats weren't in vain.

The reason for the surprise? Well, the ASP didn't actually implement their new "world ranking" system until the beginning of this year. Word on the street is the process was a much more painful to figure out than anticipated (which explains why they unveiled it with very little fanfare).

The major sticking point was deciding how to properly format the new "world ranking" that will ultimately control a surfers destiny in the years ahead. Valuing the ASP's various tiers: World Tour, Prime, and Star events, was no easy feat, as each level's results had to be merged into the larger ranking picture.

When their homework was finally completed the ruling was to punish losers and reward winners more significantly at every level. Going forward, this means there will be a much higher turnover at the top ranks, and job security for surfers like Jay Thompson (above) will be non-existent as ranking volatility increases.

Ultimately, the best part of these changes is surfers can rise faster than ever before to the world championship level. The scariest part (for them) is they can fall just as fast.

Most fans are already aware this season has been essentially cut in half. Indeed, after stop number five in Tahiti, the 12 lowest ranked surfers on the current World Tour will be sent back to the minors as the field is reduced to 32. Only the top 22 of the remaining 32 will qualify for the 2011 World Tour based on their World Title ranking. The remaining 10 slots will be filled by using the all-inclusive "world ranking."

All points earned -- regardless of tier level -- count toward a surfers World Ranking.

While things out on the World Tour just got a lot tougher, with the new world ranking the Prime and Star rated events play a much more significant -- and immediate -- role in the larger picture as well.

In fact, the payoffs available in Prime and 6 Star events are now impossible for World Tour surfers to ignore, which is why 33 of the Top 45 showed up at Margaret River for the recent Prime event there. The Nike Pro at Trestles, Hurley U.S. Open in Huntington and Cold Water Classic in Santa Cruz is slated to be stacked as well.

Why are the big guns showing up? Well, the breakdown on the right will help explain it. Note how even a 37th place finish in a Prime event (the second tier in blue) will net him 368 more points than yet another 33rd in a World Tour event (in black). Frankly, this is as it should be, since a 33rd on the World Tour is a last place finish, and a 37th place finish in a Prime event means that surfer made it through a couple tough rounds.

A surfer that actually goes on to win a PRIME event will net as many points as if he finished in 3rd place in a World Tour event, which will play a huge factor in boosting his world ranking, whether he's already on the tour or not.

The greater meaning of all this is the minor leagues aren't so minor any more. That's a good thing for surfing fans.

What's most encouraging about this new rating system is it takes solid results to survive at every tier. Mediocrity is being punished, while winning pays more than before. In fact, this year the point spread between a last place finish (33rd) and World Tour win is 9500 points -- a 73% jump from 2009. The spread between a win and 17th place is 50% larger; 9th place by 26%; 5th by 15%; 3rd by 11%, and 2nd place by 7%.

In other words, the thrill of victory is growing...but so too is the agony of defeat.

Come 2011, those factors will be magnified as the ASP says it will be constantly refreshing it's World Tour events using the up to date world ranking. It has yet to be decided how often they'll be hitting the reset button, but the fact is one no longer has to wait until the year's end to climb to the top (or fall out of it).

A surfers world ranking will be based on the best 8 results of the last 12 months, regardless of where we are in the current season. So while the year-end ranking will matter if you're shooting for a world title, the process of moving up and down the ranks will be much more fluid throughout the year.

With events at every level weighing much heavier in the big picture, things are sure to get a lot more interesting.