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JBay Winterfest 2018 – All The Facts

Jordy Smith winning his Round 1 heat scoring a Perfect 10 JBay Winterfest. Smith will trying again at this years JBay Winterfest 2018

JBay Winterfest 2018 Quick Facts

Matt Wilkinson © WSL/Cestari

JBay – The JBay Winterfest 2018 promises to be an action-packed two weeks of sports and cultural events, with an amazing line-up of competitions and happenings. The town of JBay will light up for this festival, with foreign competitors and media flocking into town for the festival, along with local competitors, media, spectators and fans, as all the various tournaments unfold.

Corona Open JBay Men and Women

Now entering its sixth year, the JBay Winterfest is anchored by the Corona Open JBay Men’s and Women’s Championship Tour (CT) surfing event at Supertubes, presented by the World Surf League. World champions, former event champions and everyone else on the CT will be present, including John John Florence, Kelly Slater, Jordy Smith, Filipe Toledo and tour rookie Mikey February. On the Women’s side we can expect Steph Gilmore, Carissa Moore, Lakey Peterson and Tatiana Weston-Web amongst others. The waiting period for the events are from 2-16 July.

Carissa Moore © WSL/Cestari

Other events include:

The Oakley X-Over.

This celebrity cross-over event comprises golf, mountain biking and surfing, and confirmed entries include Jean De Villiers, Butch James, Tonderai Chavhanga, Garreth McClellan, Ruan De Smidt and John Smit, to name a few. It will take place on 5-6 July.


Tom Whitaker © Kolesky/Nikon/Lexar

The Funduro.

Slake Adventures will be hosting their fifth JBay Winterfest Funduro this year. The main loop consists of 15 km single track and is measured as easy-medium in difficulty. The terrain will consist of both flat and technical riding. The new unridden terrain will be super fun with some surprises on the way. The event will take place on Saturday 7 July.

Funduro action © Kody McGregor

The JBay Windfarm MTB Classic.

Established as one of the top events on the Eastern Cape off-road calendar, the JBay Wind Farm MTB Classic promises to once again be a highlight of the JBay Winterfest.

Over the past five years, organisers of the JBay Wind Farm MTB Classic have worked each year to innovate and improve both the routes and rider experience. The event will take place 14 July


Photo © Jazz Kuschke

Endurade JBay X Trail Run

The Endurade JBayX is unique in concept, entailing 3 individual 20Km trail runs, all starting 12-hours apart, showcasing the best of the Jeffreys Bay area. The total distance covered will be just over 60km.

A 10km trail run and 5km fun beach run / walk will be presented on Sunday 15 July, starting at 9:00am and 10:00am respectively. Both these events will be suitable for families, friends, supporters and first time trail runners. This takes place from 13-15 July.

Coldwater Classic

Now in its 6th year, the Coldwater Classic forms part of the JBay Winterfest being held from 2nd – 17th July 2018 in Jeffreys Bay.

Swimmers can experience the thrill and challenge of swimming a triple mile in sub 15 degree water where swimmers wear one Speedo type costume, goggles and a standard silicone swim cap (English Channel swimming rules apply). This takes place on 8 July.

Skins Fishing Competition

The 6th Winterfest Skins Fishing Competition will be taking place during this year’s JBay Winterfest. This event has seen massive growth over the past five years and is now one of the biggest and most unique shore angling competitions in South Africa!

It is literately divided into six mini comps or ‘skins’ each lasting one hour. The person who catches the highest-scoring fish for that hour will win the R3000 cash ‘skin’ and any other prizes allocated to that skin. If it happens that no fish are recorded for any skin, the cash (and other prizes) will carry over to the next skin (this will then be worth R6000) etc. This takes place on 14 July.

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More information on the JBay Winterfest can be found at www.jbaywinterfest.com

Co-sponsors include Oakley and the Kouga Municipality.

The event hash tag is #jbaywinterfest

The JBay Winterfest social media channels:

Website: www.jbaywinterfest.com/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/jbaywinterfest????

Instagram: @jbaywinterfest

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BCSS Underwater Observatory Project: predator kill behavior

BCSS, WildBlue Expeditions, and MYDO fishing are collaborating on fish attack behaviour studies.

BCSS Underwater Observatory Project: predator kill behavior

BCSS Underwater Obervatory Project: The first ‘croc couta comes in for a real close look but turns away right the last second. There are two of the +-20kg class fish circling the live bait with piqued interest. In a flash the hapless bonito has its tail sliced off. Blood streams out. Another fish circles and bang! The couta comes from in from below and chomps into the bait. Vas! But somehow he misses the hooks and another guy comes in and finishes off.

This action is all part of the Bazaruto Centre for Scientific Studies’ (BCSS) Dr. Mario Lebrato’s long-term ocean observatory project. One of only a handful worldwide, Dr. Lebrato is set to deploy a multifaceted underwater monitoring system. Cameras, sensors and a myriad of other sampling equipment will be installed all over the Bazaruto Archipelago. For long-term data recording and analysis.

Luckily, part of these underwater observations includes predator fish kill behavior. Trolling tow cams on marlin dredges and teasers, and right in front of live baits, is opening a huge new three dimensional perspective of a mostly viewed in 2D wake and prop wash. What goes on down there is gob-smacking. So many fish come in interested, but then shy away at the last minute, and move on. In fact, the plentiful and ever-present Zambezi shark is far more careful than the aggressive king mackerel. Tuna seem to be the most suspicious so far. Cobia are also wily characters. Talang queenfish get super excited about a live bait, but will not touch it! Then it grabs a lure! Amazing revelations about fish learning and behaviour.

Wait ’til you see the Zambies following the boat!!!

The hours and hours of material recorded will go back to Europe for careful analysis and processing into data.

Watch this space!

For more action from deep down off Bazaruto and surrounding waters, by BCSS, WildBlue Expeditions and MYDO Fishing, stay tuned!

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Spearfishing Natal by Jason Heyne

Spearfishing Natal by Jason Heyne
Jason Heyne keeping us up to date from deep down under the water.

The diving conditions have been abysmal this week. Dirty water inshore from flooded rivers and some swell have kept us out of the sea. Good news is that weather and swell are playing the game this weekend. Saturday a light northeast blows all day with a 1.3m swell running. Sunday a light offshore in the morning switching to a light onshore later in the day with minimal swell. So Saturday and Sunday are looking great for a dive. Fish of the week goes to Tyler with a 10kg plus GT on a shoredive. As always dive safe and straight spears.

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48kg Amberjack by Tyler Botha of Shelley Beach

48kg Amberjack by Tyler Botha of Shelley Beach

The Botha family down the south coast of Natal, led by Dad PJ, have a phenomenal record of catching outsized Amberjack. Sons Tyler and Greg make up the formidable team on the good ship Watt4.

Check this out!

A 48kg Amberjack by Tyler Botha aboard his Dad's boat Watt4. The fish was taken deep off Shelley Beach somewhere.
A 48kg Amberjack by Tyler Botha aboard his Dad’s boat Watt4. The fish was taken deep off Shelley Beach somewhere.

Tyler breaks the magical 100lb mark with this monster Amberjack taken last week.

And the very next day, his Dad PJ and brother Greg back it up with a brace of fish weighing in at 30kgs and 26kgs respectively.

30kgs and 26kgs Amberjack by PJ Botha and youngest son Greg. Aboard Watt4 and somewhere off Shelley Beach, Natal, South Africa
30kgs and 26kgs Amberjack by PJ Botha and youngest son Greg. Aboard Watt4 and somewhere off Shelley Beach, Natal, South Africa

Along with the huge yellowfin tuna taken the week before, way out off Shelley Beach, these fish mark some of the most noteworthy fish ever taken off Shelley Beach. And the fact that these fish mark the advent of two new sport fishing opportunities bodes really well for the fishing off Shelley Beach. Not only do you have the gamey yellowfin and other pelagics on Protea Reef (and sharks),  and the super exciting backline fishing for couta and snoek, the vaste variety of bottom feeders…(and many more) but now you can also go super deep and take on these denizens.

To get out there, get in touch at umzimkulu@gmail.com and lets put a package together for you. In a week on the coast we can get you out deep chasing monsters, catching shad for live baiting garrick and kob from the side, and patrolling estuaries for rock salmon and kingfish.

http://umzimkulu.co.za tells more…

For more fishing adventure options, check out our Trips and Travel section.

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March/April ‘Cuda report plus spearfishing

March/April ‘Cuda report plus spearfishing

The ‘Cuda have made their annual pilgrimage to down south and some great catches are filtering through.

The first real action was by Happy Hooker who got two proper fish, nice and early on. Way down off Seaprk somewhere. Then the Niteshift got one in the same place the following weekend. Story and video here.

Matt Wainwright then got a live mackerel down the gullet of a nice fish. His fish came in at 15kgs.

But Dave Phillips off Durban has been having the most fun. On his ski. On his first submission he flashed us his first ‘Cuda of the season. A really nice fish seen below. Then a few fays later, Dave banged it out there for another ‘Cuda and three Natal Snoek! The Snoekies couldn’t resist Dave’s little Mydo SS Shad spoon.

Hopefully this weather will improve and we can expect some more ‘cuda action this April.

Dave Phillips in the morning before work!Matt Wainwright and his 15kg 'couta caught with a live mackeralDave Phillips and his first 'Cuda of the 2018 season

And then over to the spearos, who have also been seeing a few.

‘Couta in the news underwater too…report by Jason Heyne

The diving conditions have average this week with one or two day’s being excellent. Wahoo, ‘couta and snoek are the main fish on the menu this week and rumours have it that the garrick are off the kei.  Well done Wickus on getting fish of the week a new HUC club record Queen Fish at 10.47kg. As always dive safe and straight spears

Send your catch photos and stories to The Sardine News and contribute to the collection of goings on fishing, surfing and diving wise up and down our coast. Click here to submit online, or email umzimkulu@gmail.com anytime.

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More about the Mydo SS Spoon that Dave Phillips has been using at https://thesardine.co.za/mydo/

For your online marketing requirements, we have space for a few more content partners…see our marketing stories at https://thesardine.co.za/the-sardine-news-app-store/

 

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