Kelly Slater does not make it to Jbay on time. Travis Logie takes his place.

If the waves had been like this, perhaps Kelly would have arrived earlier. ASP

“Where’s Kelly?” “Is Kelly coming?” “Is Kelly going to make it?” It’s these questions that have circulated around Jbay for days now. As those of us in South Africa stared into lifeless ocean, Kelly and a host of other pro surfers made a bee-line for the warm waters of Fiji and surfed what was probably the swell of the decade. Each day as everyone logged onto their emails, facebook and twitter, our retinas have melted over the massive perfection of the Fiji swell. It was almost as though huey wanted to give Kelly an extra week to tune his instrument on the other side of the world before coming to contest Jbay, and with a swell on the horizon it looked as though he had timed it perfectly to meet six-foot African perfection too. Well as fate would have it, this morning we awoke to waves. It may not be perfect six-foot Jbay but the menacing high pressure heat wave has moved on and Jeffrey’s Bay is again resembling it’s famed self. Kelly isn’t here and after waiting in the wings all week, Local lad, Travis Logie will run with the torch in his place.

The locals are partly bummed that Kelly is out, but stoked their local boy Travis is getting a run. ASP

The loss of Kelly from the event not only affects the world title standings, but there is also a sizable commercial loss. He is a draw card so big that his presence in an event is a guaranteed bums on seats. And the more bums they can get on seats, the more successful the event becomes and the local economy boosts that little bit more.

Travis knows Jbay like the back of his back hand. ASP

Kelly however has nothing further to prove to us as surfing fans, or his fellow surfers. He can do what he wants and after having won 10 world titles, perhaps surfing the swell of the decade in a tropical paradise will always take precedent over two-foot Jbay.

Travis is stoked, the event goes on and there will still be some amazing surfing on display. Maybe Kelly’s absence is something that we should all get used to.