Fredrick Patacchia makes amends after disappointing start at Quiksilver Pro France
The 2012 season of Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour was not turning out to be a memorable one for Fredrick Patacchia, with the Hawaiian surfer struggling to survive long enough to make it into the later stages of the event.
Arriving at La Graviere in Hossegor, France, for the seventh of ten stops on the 2012 ASP World Championship Tour, Patacchia knew that there was a great opportunity for him to finally break free of the shackles and register a good result for the first time
in the season.
The conditions on offer at the latest elite tour event were quite similar to what were on offer at Hawaii.
Despite all the determination, the lack of confidence because of having an ordinary season so far resulted in Patacchia faltering in his Round 1 heat, that had been competing with Brazilian young gun Gabriel Medina and elite tour veteran from America CJ
Hobgood.
The Round 1 disappointment must have taken its toll on the Hawaiian’s confidence, putting him under even greater pressure as he was going to have to face Hobgood in the elimination round to earn his place in the third round.
With three-to-five foot waves on offer at La Graviere at the time of his battle against the American surfer, Patacchia was going to have to put on a special show to take the win.
As the battle got underway, the Hawaiian surfer wasted no time in getting down to business, hoping to make a solid start to try putting his rival under pressure and gain a psychological edge.
Locking his first business-wave in the opening minutes of the man-on-man bout, Patacchia put a series of stylish tricks on display cleanly, thus earning a 6.50 for the effort to move into the lead.
As the heat continued, he moved into a perfect position to catch yet another juicy wave and this time unloaded a series of powerful turns, posting a 7.17 on the score-board to reach a heat-total of 13.67 points.
The excellent effort by the Hawaiian surfer served its purpose of putting Hobgood under pressure.
The American surfer got off to a slow start, apparently lacking rhythm as he desperately tried to find an opportunity to cut loose a little.
Unfortunately for him, the sea was not being too generous to him and thus kept pushing him in a tighter corner.
Despite a long and determined search, he was only able to score a 3.43 and 6.50 off his best-two waves to finish with a heat-total of 9.93 points.
The performance was not good enough to threaten his Hawaiian rival’s score and thus ended up eliminating him from the competition while sending the latter into the next round.
Patacchia may not have looked in great touch over the last few months and things may not have started off great for him in France, but he was finally able to taste success for a long wait and successfully make his way into the third round to keep the hope
of getting a desirable result and even clinching the Quiksilver Pro France title alive.
The best surfers from around the globe were in contention for top honours at La Graviere, but the confidence of getting a victory of Hobgood in a pressure situation was definitely going to help Patacchia put on a better show against the heavy-weights that
were waiting for him in the later rounds of the event.
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