Joel Parkinson has taken the win and $40,000 prize money following a classic contest at the Billabong Pro Jeffrey’s Bay. With a number of 10 point rides going down over the three days of competition, Parkinson remained dominant throughout on the near perfect Jeffrey’s Bay waves. With many predicting a Parkinson win before the surfers had even entered the water, the current world number one did not disappoint, nailing a 9.47 ride on his very first wave of the final. This immediately put Damien Hobgood on the back foot, and as the heat rolled on, the American struggled to find a wave on which to challenge Parko.

Following his third win in five World Tour stops, Parkinson said, “It’s been ten years since I’ve been coming so it’s a special day. I just have a good relationship with the wave here, it reminds me of the wave I grew up on as a kid, and that was some of the best JBay I’ve ever seen. It is definitely one of those sweet victories. That [first] wave was definitely the key.There was a bit of cat and mouse and I hate hastling, but that wave definitely came down to a paddle battle.” Parkinson now sits over 1400 points clear at the top of the World Tour standings, with CJ Hobgood moving into second.

Parkinson nailed two 10 point rides at JBay, although he had trouble recalling them following the contest, “Getting those (10 point) waves at JBay is unreal. You get to the end and you go, wooaah what happened. I can’t really remember this morning’s ten pointer.”

Fellow finalist Damien Hobgood struggled to challenge Parko’s early wave score, saying, “This place is magical, and you can get lost of the beauty of it. I just tried to focus on surfing the heat rather than admiring the beauty. I went deep in the beginning, Parko loves to sit deep and get that first one, he has this nack of sitting in Boneyards and getting that first wave. But he got underneath me and made it happen.” Damien now moves up into fifth place in the overall standings.

Special mention has to go to Dane Reynolds who came close to a perfect heat total, finishing his quarter final on 19.20 points out of 20. He won the $10,000 Nixon WTA watch.

Check out the highlights: