THE 2003 QUIKSILVER PRO FIJI: DAY EIGHT

Troy Brooks: over and out in Round Three. PHOTO: ASPWORLDTOUR.COM/TOSTEE

The true hero in all of this remains the wave itself. Cloudbreak has repeatedly rewarded the massive efforts undertaken to make an event like this possible. A more remote venue doesn't exist, at least not one with a perfect lefthander that magically turns on for the competitors every year. A dream tour, this is, with the old complaint of blaming failure on substandard long forgotten. Even the typical grumblings over the judging are absent here, a product of point of view rather than flawlessness from the tower. Some scores are still met with raised eyebrows, but they are usually chalked up to, as Luke Egan declared from the ferry bobbing in the channel, "You can't tell from here. They're seeing something totally different from straight on."

After a full eight-hour docket today, an hour of sunlight remained. Still, within minutes of the final Round Three heat (a doozy, by the way, won by Cory Lopez with a near-perfect screamer at the end), the entire contest cavalcade had disappeared. The lineup was empty. C.J. Hobgood stroked into position and inserted himself into several Cloudbreak fantasies. "This is the best it's been the whole time we've been here, and it's the least crowded," said the forever surf-stoked Floridian. "I've been waiting for this swell all week, so I'm gonna enjoy it."-- Jason Borte

RESULTS
QUIKSILVER PRO FIJI ROUND THREE
Heat 1: Kieren Perrow 14.50; Lee Winkler 14.40
Heat 2: Damien Hobgood 15.17; Guilherme Herdy 5.17
Heat 3: Daniel Wills 17.34; Paulo Moura 13.20
Heat 4: Mick Fanning 14.93; Victor Ribas 13.73
Heat 5: Luke Egan 15.90; Trent Munro 10.67
Heat 6: Shane Powell 18.00; Kalani Robb 13.33
Heat 7: Taylor Knox 13.10; Jake Paterson 11.67
Heat 8: Andy Irons 16.83; Troy Brooks 16.00
Heat 9: Beau Emerton 15.67; Joel Parkinson 14.33
Heat 10: Michael Lowe 17.54; Peterson Rosa 15.67
Heat 11: Michael Campbell 18.27; Dean Morrison 8.87
Heat 12: Shea Lopez 15.67; Flavio Padaratz 7.60
Heat 13: Chris Davidson 12.40; Taj Burrow 12.16
Heat 14: Nathan Hedge 16.17; Pat O'Connell 11.86
Heat 15: C.J. Hobgood 16.33; Darren O'Rafferty 7.90
Heat 16: Cory Lopez 17.30; Richard Lovett 17.23

 

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