Through the wormhole with Cj Hobgood

Words by Morgan Williamson 

Another Dimension, Another Dimension, Another Dimension. In round three of the recent Billabong Pro Tahiti Cj found himself backdooring the only perfect score of the event. It simply didn’t make sense and left us with the quandary of where the fuck did he go? Another dimension, we’re certain. Via the vessel of an aquatic black hole. And according to a recent revelation by the esteemed Steven Hawking; a black hole is a warp zone to another dimension. Which is contrary to Einstien’s theory of relativity which assumes any object entering a black hole would face imminent destruction. But regardless of what’s true or false; literal definitions of either is up to interpretation. So, we interpret the transportation to another dimension. When we lost Cj on that ten, he must’ve momentarily found himself somewhere unearthly.

“I was just bracing for impact,” Cj tells Stab. “I was kinda out of body on two different occasions. It’s wild, when you’ve been in that situation so many times before because of those experiences your brain tells you what’s going to happen. But a couple times in that barrel what I thought was gonna happen was something different. That made it out of body. Keep in mind I couldn’t see for most of the time so it was all feel, instinct and mind.” Now we’re getting somewhere; out of Cj’s body and not the Burning Man kind. But in the midst of this black hole, time must be irrelevant. “Time almost stopped…” Mr Hobgood laughs, “then I saw the light.” Where Cj traveled during his out of body revelation through darkness, foam, salt and back into the light is a certainty uncertain. We’ll give it a rest…

Dear Cj will be sending his jersey to the rafters at the end of this year. At Chopes we were pulling for him, few ride that wave with the prowess possessed by Mr Hobgood. Which showed through during the event; earning him the AI award. “Winning the AI is a lot of things,” he says. “First it’s remembering a great man who pioneered Chopes. I’m so grateful I could be there when Andy did great things at Chopes. It was a great honor to celebrate his life, all he’s given to surfing, and giving me a high five in spirit as I hang up my competitive surfing at the end of the road. I can’t even begin to tell you the impact it had on me. I wanted to start balling on camera the other day but held it back.”

“I’m probably the only surfer on tour that’s not surfing for points or a title,” Cj continues. “I’m enjoying everything, smelling the roses and enjoying all my friends to the fullest. For the future, we started Salty Crew a few years back because we wanted to encourage the industry to get back to the beach. I want to continue to do that. We’ve been blessed beyond our wildest dreams so far. Just as people sacrificed so I could live my dreams, my dreams now are to work hard so I can provide that for others. That’s the way life works right?”

Our discussion turns to where our doses of Cj will come from, to which he replies “just be thankful the doses are smaller. The tide waits for no man.”