Well it was back to work for both Dayyan and Kai and really you have to be a little jealous as work for those two consists of travelling to some of the world best surfing spots, sounds fun yes but its not all roses as both are fighting it out for the 2008 WCT world crown.
The pressure was one for the world’s elite as Fiji is the 4th spot on the dream tour in 2008 and it’s a place where everyone wants to make an impression. Perfect left hand barrels at Cloudbreak brings an added incentive and going into the event a lot of talk was on Otto who love of barrels made him well suited to the place. Yes it is a goofy-footers heaven but not everything always goes to plan, as Otto found out.
It started with some suspect judging during his round 1 heat, most including myself thought he won the heat but the judges gave the win to Ben Dunn. As one of the top seeds Otto scored a wildcard for round 2 , guess who , Occy ,yes not the best draw but very dangerous as most knew the power of the Occ out their. It was tight but the retired ex world champion got the nod and just like that Kai was on a plane back to OZ.
His commented on return
‘’Mate it just didn’t happen for me, it could have gone either way but they gave it to Occy, Ill forget it and focus on the next event at J-Bay ‘’. Short but sweet and even though you could see the disappointment you knew he would move on as really he has had a great start to 2008, three 9th’s is the perfect start and Fiji will be a throw away.
Onto Dayyan, well he started slow but in round two really got things going ,surfing with the power that’s has seen him impress everyone in 2008. Making up the numbers he isn’t in fact he is one of the most improved surfers on the tour this year.
In round three he was a rank outsider in fact against South African hotshot Jordy Smith, if you wanted a bet Doofa was paying 2.85 to win, good money if you wanted to get on him.
In that heat he was on fire, he was ready to rumble and his first big score netted a near perfect ride,, It was unbelievable big turns out the back into a deep barrel on the inside. I was so pumped I jumped so high my head hit the roof of our lounge room. It was great to see, last year I was saddened that Dayyan did not succeed in the WCT, he made rookie mistakes, they all do but what was more tragic was he really didn’t blow up in heats as we all know he can. This year is different he looks like he could pull a 10 point ride at any time and for me that’s what we all want to see a confident Dayyan .
He shut down Smith like a seasoned pro and before you could blink it was all over, it was impressive to watch.
The swell than went on hold for what seemed an eternity, in fact for those paying 300 US a night to stay there (Dayyan) it would have felt like it. After five days it was back on and Dayyan took on Mick Fanning.
Plenty of hype but really the lack of waves made it hard and the world champion was just too good on the day. No excuses but Doofa will be feeling good with another 9th under his belt. He wanted consistency and already he is showing that skill.
So after four events our boys are sitting pretty 14th Otton , 15th Neve , has a good ring to it but there is a long way to go and both will need to keep getting through heats to advance next year ,,
Keep and eye on the www.aspworldtour.com
Website and log on and support both of our boys ,,