Goofyfoot Guillotine

Kelly, Jon-Jon and Julian all fell in what can only be described as Round Three carnage - the worst in years. The big story of the day was crowd favourite and defending event champion Jordy Smith going down to goofyfooter CJ Hobgood.

“I’m kind of humbled by the situation,” said an awestruck Hobgood post heat as the crowd flooded off the beach in scenes not unlike that of being at the losing end of a Curry Cup final or stumbling Brazilians after a 7-1 scoreline.

“I’m just blessed to surf against the best surfers at their particular spots and that gets me excited. So win or lose I just get stoked about that,” Hobgood said.

Hobgood played it cool and surfed a consummately smart heat – not doing anything spectacular but getting the job done. Perhaps it was more that Smith lost the heat rather than Hobgood winning it.

“I don’t want to take anything away from Jordy, what he does for me and for surfing and this country is just amazing,” said Hobgood. “I was just in disbelief out there. The whole place goes crazy and you just expect an eight.” Smith never gave up though and did give the vocal locals something to shout about when he overtook the lead with an excellent 8.00 with 10 minutes to go.

“Every time you get these situations it’s just an opportunity to surf your best. I mean I had nothing to lose. I had to grind it out, which is what I did.”

Another surfer continuing to fly the flag for the screwfooters was Hawaiian Freddy P. Surfing with a bandage on his forehead from a free surfing accident (he’s not sure if it was reef or fin) Patacchia went upside down and took down Nat Young.

“I think experience played a part in that,” he said after. “I know the tide was getting lower and we were sitting a little deeper than I like so I just thought I would let him (Nat) give up priority and then go sit where I wanted to. Sometimes the waves can just go flat out here at JBay so to kind of just stay busy and catch waves and make it happen.”

Patacchia explained how he had been inspired by Matt Wilkinson’s performance when he took down 11-time World Champ Kelly Slater. At one stage Wilko had Slater in combo land and he won with the 18.36, the highest heat total of round three.

“I’m feeling good,” said Patacchia. “This year has kind of been an up-and-down battle for me, but for the most part I feel that I’ve been producing good scores. Aside from the hole in my heat, I’m happy! I’m so stoked I made my heat. I needed that one.”

Shew, after that round four was kind of an anticlimax – after all they all live to fight another day (which looks to be way toward the end of the week). What other replays should you watch? Kolohe beating Wilson and Medina being smooth.

J-Bay Open Round 3 Results:

Heat 1: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 14.83 def. Adam Melling (AUS) 8.50
Heat 2: Josh Kerr (AUS) 11.73 def. Miguel Pupo (BRA) 10.77
Heat 3: Taj Burrow (AUS) 12.74 def. Adrian Buchan (AUS) 12.33
Heat 4: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 15.04 def. Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 14.37
Heat 5: Kolohe Andino (USA) 13.30 def. Julian Wilson (AUS) 11.10
Heat 6: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 18.36 def. Kelly Slater (USA) 15.37
Heat 7: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 15.46 def. Aritz Aranburu (ESP) 15.17
Heat 8: Owen Wright (AUS) 13.40 def. John John Florence (HAW) 8.00
Heat 9: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 11.60 def. Nat Young (USA) 5.44
Heat 10: Mick Fanning (AUS) 16.33 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 10.27
Heat 11: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 14.00 def. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 13.87
Heat 12: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 11.50 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 10.60

J-Bay Open Round 4 Results:

Heat 1: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 16.44, Josh Kerr (AUS) 8.47, Taj Burrow (AUS) 8.40
Heat 2: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 14.34, Kolohe Andino (USA) 12.17, Adriano de Souza (BRA) 10.37
Heat 3: Owen Wright (AUS) 15.60, Gabriel Medina (BRA) 13.76, Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 13.70
Heat 4: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 12.57, Mick Fanning (AUS) 12.40, C.J. Hobgood (USA) 10.50
J-Bay Open Round 5 Match-Ups:

Heat 1: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Adriano de Souza (BRA)
Heat 2: Kolohe Andino (USA) vs. Taj Burrow (AUS)
Heat 3: Gabriel Medina (BRA) vs. C.J. Hobgood (USA)
Heat 4: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW)