A MUCH APPRECIATED FIJIAN LAY DAY

News provided by ASP World Tour on 22 May 2005

A MUCH APPRECIATED FIJIAN LAY DAY

ALLELULIA! It’s with great relief on day one of the Globe WCT Fiji that we announce that Mother Ocean has delayed flicking the switch for the start of this, the fourth event of the 2005 Foster’s Men’s World Tour. To the uninitiated, that may sound to be portraying apathy, but facts be known, after the exhausting experience of last week’s event in Tahiti, and the hectic travel of the past few days, both the Top 45 and ASP staff are in desperate need of a day off. Thankfully we’ve got one.

Globe Contest Director Steve Robertson, Head Judge Perry Hatchett and a sizeable cross-section of the Foster’s Top 45, were dutifully out checking the Cloudbreak reef at first light. At first they presumed it to be totally devoid of swell, but an extended wait eventually delivered a two-foot (0.7m) set. We’re not here to play in knee splashes, and all readily agreed to declaring a lay day.

Since the completion of the last Foster’s Men’s World Tour fixture in Tahiti last Tuesday afternoon (Wednesday in most of the rest of the world), the Top 45 have been flying in all directions, covering logistics to get to beautiful Fiji in time for today’s beginning of the 11-day waiting period.

Booking airfares for every event on tour is not as straightforward as one might imagine. Most of the American and Hawaiian crew booked themselves out of Los Angeles for last week’s event, mainly because Air Tahiti Nui have daily flights to and from there, and the boys could therefore bolt home after being eliminated. Florida’s CJ Hobgood was one of them.

“Yeah, I went back to Los Angeles; I don’t really know why. I basically just slept a night, and got back on a plane,” said CJ, obviously not meaning to overlook the fact that his wife Rachel is very pregnant, due on July 10th.

The Aussies had a choice of catching the preferred Flying Kangaroo who fly three times a week, or the Kiwis’ preference of Air New Zealand, who fly to Tahiti six times a week. As it turned out, those that chose the Air NZ option got hood-winked anyway, the night the event finished being the only one when the airline didn’t fly back to New Zealand and onwards to Australia or Fiji.

Florida’s Cory Lopez went all the way back home to Indian Rocks in the Gulf of Mexico. He had a beer or three at his favourite fishing haunt of The Blue Marlin Bar, before spending the following day hanging out around the pool with Jen, his girlfriend of seven years.

“I wasn’t going to be sitting in LA, when home is just four hours away!” said Lopez.

Our reigning world champ’ Andy Irons, his younger brother Bruce, and the entire Brazilian contingent flew here via Rarotonga and Auckland. The majority of the Aussies and ASP staff flew back to the Lucky Country for 10 to 24 hours.

One of the gnarliest runs was that done by ASP Tour Manager Renato Hickel, Head Judge Hatchett, and ASP’s Computer Operations Manager Robson Machado. They flew from Papette to Auckland for a four-hour layover, then on to Melbourne for a further six hour pit stop, before flying directly up to Fiji’s Nadi. They got to Australia, but never even got to their home bases.

Anyway, here we are – most of us anyway. Some crew are still on their way, but we’ll cover that subject tomorrow. Two of the Foster’s Top 45 regretfully had to withdraw from the Globe WCT Fiji. Defending event champion here Damien Hobgood (USA), will be unable to defend his title after dislocating his shoulder in the final of last week’s event at Teahupoo. Toby Martin (AUS) tore a medial ligament over there, and he is out of the competitive scene for six weeks or so. We’ll have a chat with Damo and Tobes tomorrow.

In the interim, their withdrawal is a double barrelled opportunity for Brazil, their young charger Bernado Pigmeu already here and replacing Hobgood, whilst veteran goofy barrel-master Guilherme Herdy is in the air headed for Nadi to replace Toby Martin.

Though the ocean is looking relatively becalmed for the next day or three, official event surf forecasters www.surfline.com have put smiles on everybody’s face here on Namotu and Tavarua with the news that we’re looking good for solid swell at the end of this week.

Again, as always, Mother Ocean is in charge, but in the short-term it’s looking like the boys will be relaxing for a change, throwing a line or hooking a tennis ball on the Tavarua court. Either way, Steve Robertson and his Globe team are ready to throw the switch whenever the ocean blesses us with some action. In the meantime, we’re settling back here in paradise. The ‘Dream Event’ is ready to go…