‘Just such a surf dog at heart’ — veteran SA surfer Jordy Smith embraces new perspectives as he eyes world title

Jordy Smith is closing in on a first world title at the age of 37.

It says something about the respect that peers hold for the South African that the greatest of all time was happy to see him win again earlier this year.

Kelly Slater, 11-time world champion, undoubtedly the best man ever to ride a board, expressed surprise about the long wait between wins for Smith when he won his first World Surf League (WSL) event in seven years in El Salvador earlier this year.

Slater, despite all his success, also went through a lean period and was also the oldest man on tour for many seasons. He, more than anyone, understands what Smith, now the oldest competitor in the WSL, has been through.

“He hadn’t won in seven years, I read, which is surprising to me,” Slater told Daily Maverick in Madrid in April.

“I’ve not really had a conversation with Jordy about what his long-term goals are, but maybe he saw what I did and thought, ‘Yeah, maybe I can extend this thing a little longer’,” he said.

“Jordy is 37 now – I think he’s 17 years younger than me – which is funny to me because I still see him as a young kid.

“It was great to see him win because after that amount of time, it becomes harder and harder to win. Doubt starts to creep in even if your surfing level is there.

“I didn’t win an event for four or five years or something like that, and then I won again at Teahupo’o in 2017 and had a 20-point heat score along the way.

“I had a lot of thirds or whatever, but I didn’t win, and then when you do win again, it suddenly opens that Pandora’s box, and it all comes back. You suddenly realise, ‘Shit, I can do this’,” Slater added.

And that’s precisely what happened for Smith. A few months after success in El Salvador, he won again in round eight of the WSL season at Margaret River in Perth.

He has a great chance to become the first South African men’s surfing world champion since the legendary Shaun Tomson, who took the 1977 title. Wendy Botha won the women’s title in 1988.

Smith, unsurprisingly, admitted to looking up to Slater as an inspiration. “Kelly is absolutely an inspiration for me. But not only for me – I think he’s an inspiration for the human race,” he told Daily Maverick.

New perspective

Smith remains a fierce competitor out on the water, but he has a new perspective as a father and a husband, as well as someone who has been chasing his dream for more than 20 years.

Surfing is important, winning and competing are vital traits that fuel him as a person, but he’s struck a balance to manage all these aspects, which has given him clarity and freedom.

“Yeah, I think these wins this season have come from having more perspective,” Smith said. “Having a family really puts a different sort of perspective on life, on things that really matter. I think that’s really taken the edge off a lot of things for me.

“I’m just such a surf dog at heart. We’ve had a lot of good waves this year, too. For the past three or four years we’ve had some pretty bad waves.

“I’ve obviously excelled when the waves are a bit better and bigger.

“I think just having a light-hearted approach to this year really has been the main goal. I’ve not taken things too seriously.

“At the end of the day, we’re just standing on some polystyrene going surfing. I suppose that’s perspective,” Smith said.

And part of that change in perspective has been recognising that his body is changing with age.

“When I first got on tour, I was eating hot dogs and burgers. I was like 100kg for the first few years,” Smith said.

“I’m probably 8kg to 10kg lighter now. As you get older, you get wiser. You learn what works for you… I’m 37, and at some point you’re going to have to start looking after your body.

“I’ve already put a big focus on that. It’s really about how can I surf at the highest level for the longest period of my life? The goal is to surf for the rest of my life.”

Confidence

Breaking the drought and winning again has led to an upward spiral for Smith. Winning breeds confidence, and confidence leads to more success. It can be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Those years in the ocean and thousands of hours in the break, coupled with a new outlook, brilliant fitness and growing confidence have Smith at the top of the 2025 WSL standings with two of the 11 rounds of the year to go.

He now heads home to Jeffreys Bay in the Eastern Cape for the return of the Corona Cero J-Bay Open, on the world-famous right-hander where he has enjoyed much success in the past. It is round 10 of the campaign, and Smith holds a slender advantage over Brazilian Yago Dora as the season reaches the business end.

Although ending the 11-round regular season on top of the standings would be an advantage, unlike in the past, it doesn’t make you world champion. The top five on the standings after round 11 head to Cloudbreak in Fiji for a one-day shootout to become 2025 world champion.

But the No 1-ranked surfer in the regular season, who at this stage is Smith, gets a bye into the final heat in Fiji, where he will face the surfer who has come through a series of clashes against the other four for the chance to be world champion.

It’s tight at the top of the standings and there is a mathematical chance that Smith could miss out on the top five altogether if he has two really poor events in J-Bay and at the regular season finale at Teahupo’o in Tahiti.

But even then it would require a lot of good results from surfers outside the top five to remove the South African from his place in the Finals series in Fiji.

The WSL is set to change the Finals format in 2026 after unhappiness with the one-day, winner-takes-all format. It doesn’t reward consistency over the season and a surfer who came fifth on the standings could get a bit lucky and be crowned world champion.

Smith, though, is philosophical about it.

“It’s a difficult one because one hot day doesn’t make the summer,” he said about the format. “But it is the same playing field for everybody at this point.

“At the end of the day, somebody’s going to win. You better stick your hand in the hat and give it a go.”

It’s that phlegmatic approach, controlling what he can and not fretting about what he can’t, that seems to be bringing out the best in Smith this year. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.