Globe WCT Fiji goes to Damien Hobgood

Activity Vacations Guide Surfing Report.
Floridian Damien Hobgood (USA) has won the Globe WCT Fiji in Cloudbreak's near perfect, two metre (six foot) waves. Hobgood outpointed ASP Men's World Tour rookie Shaun Cansdell who hails from New South Wales, Australia and had earlier taken out Damian's twin brother in the semi-final. Several of the Activity Vacations Guide team watched the hotly contested 30-minute final and saw Hobgood grab the upper-hand early on, when luck gave him the better of two waves and from then on he worked to stay in front, securing a well-deserved victory.
With the Foster's ASP Men's World Tour now moving to Mexico for the Rip Curl Search WCT, June 20 through July 1, the race for the 2006 title is really beginning to intensify. Winning in Fiji puts Damien Hobgood into third place on the ratings behind second placed Bobby Martinez (USA) and world number one Kelly Slater (USA). Martinez, who was defeated by CJ Hobgood in the quarterfinals, is still on track to claim the world crown in his first year on the tour; since Kelly Slater didn't compete in Fiji due to injury, only 100 points now separate them.

Foster's ASP Men's World Tour Ratings after four events:

• 1. Kelly Slater (USA) 3501 points
  
• 2. Bobby Martinez (USA) 3408 points


• 3. Damien Hobgood (USA) 2942 points


• 4. Andy Irons (HAW) 2940 points

Globe WCT Fiji 2006

The men's 2006 Globe WCT Fiji is well under way, with round three enjoying incredible conditions at Cloudbreak. There are flawless 2 metre ( 6 foot) plus waves, encouraging awesome surfing.

This is the fourth event on the Foster's ASP Men's World Tour, and 14-year tour veteran Taylor Knox, posted yesterday's top score of round 2, a 17.33 out of 20, after he weaved his way into and out of some seemingly endless pits. The Californian naturalfooter, regarded by his peers as one of the greatest surfers ever on tour, has struggled with consistency going from event to event but this year seems to have found a winning formula.



His new approach which, Taylor states, is about being more relaxed and having fun, idefinitelyly working for the 34-year-old, who sits at number three on the tour ratings and is looking at the prospect of his best season for many years.

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Bobby Martinez wins Billabong Pro Tahiti

In his first year on the tour, Bobby Martinez (USA) has turned the surfing world on its head by beating a host of established pro tourers to claim his first-ever major ASP event, winning the 2006 Billabong Pro Tahiti.
The win propels Martinez into second place on the ASP ratings and places him well within striking distance for a full on assault at the 2006 crown. Incumbent Kelly Slater, who suffered a massive wipeout in his quarterfinal and broke his ribs, said, "I probably won't go to Fiji if I feel this way a week or five days from now. That would give me a break until Mexico comes at the end of June so I'll just see how we go. Fiji can get pretty big waves, you get some serious thrashings at Cloudbreak, so I wouldn't want to be feeling like this and do more internal damage." Full report at Beyond Boarders.

Tavarua/Namotu-Fiji Globe is May 21-June 2, 2006.

Redman-Carr wins again.

In a sensational final against fellow Australian Chelsea Georgeson, Melanie Redman-Carr has just won the women’s Billabong Pro Tahiti to make it an incredible three out of three on the 2006 ASP Women's World Tour.

Chelsea had previously made an unbelievable semifinal showing in which she earned the only perfect 10 of the whole event but just couldn't find the waves to beat a stoked Mel in the final.

Billabong Pro 2006

Billabong Pro Tahiti is still waiting to get underway with the infamous Teahupoo or 'Chopes' only coming up with 0.5 metre (one foot) waves. The guys have been forced to amuse themselves with a little swimming, snorkeling, sight seeing, touch football; let's face it life's a holiday for pro surfers.

However, it looks like it's back to work tomorrow with a decent swell on the way tomorrow (Sunday), although forecasters say it will probably remain small at Teahupoo up until lunchtime.

A call on competition status will be made tomorrow morning at 7am local time. Two live streaming video feeds are being made available one for the girls' event and the other for the men's event.