Kai Otton eliminates Damien Hobgood to advance to Saquarema Surf Pro International quarter-finals
Australia’s Kai Otton secured a place in the quarter-finals of the Saquarema Surf Pro International after besting America’s Damien Hobgood in the third heat of round of 12 that went down at the beach-break of Itauna in Rio de Janeiro, on Monday, May 30th.
Neither of the two contestants looked comfortable in the sea for even a minute throughout the heat. The surfing conditions were getting worse with every passing minute. The day had started off with stormy 8-10 foot waves and was getting even more challenging
as the day progressed. Overcast weather conditions prevailed at the event site, with strong offshore winds making it extremely challenging to surf the waves.
Both Otton and Hobgood kept on struggling to catch waves throughout the heat. The stormy waves were not easy to ride and the strong winds made it even more difficult to stay in control. Unfortunately, the surfers had no option but to try to adjust to the
conditions in order to outperform each other.
Australia’s Otton took his time to make an impact in the showdown against Hobgood. He eventually locked a good wave almost halfway through the heat to execute his tricks. Even though the manoeuvres were not executed as cleanly as he would have liked, he
still got a 5.00 off the wave to end up in the lead. He earned 4.67 off his second wave in the final moments of the heat to finish with a heat total of 9.67 points.
If anyone thought the Australian surfer’s performance was disappointing, they were in for a surprise. Hobgood, the American surfer who had been performing so well over the last few days, performed terribly. He was completely lost in the sea, managing to
only surf three waves. Neither of his waves could be considered even close to decent. He got 1.53 off his first wave and 4.10 off his second to finish with a final score of 5.63, allowing Otton to walk away a winner from the heat.
However, it just wouldn’t be fair to put the entire blame on Hobgood for the poor performance. There was hardly anything he could do in the sort of surfing conditions that prevailed at the event site.
Otton’s victory over Hobgood confirmed his place in the quarter-finals of the Saquarema Surf Pro International, the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime event presented by Coca Cola and Oakley.
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