|
“If you can win there, you prove yourself in all aspects of
the sport in competition, and you know you are at the top of
the field.”
In the final heat, Hubbard, originally from Kauai and a ’93
graduate of Hawaii Preparatory Academy on the Big Island, racked
up 149.4 points to squeak by South Africa’s Andre Botha, who
finished with 146.8 points. Australia’s Ben Player garnered
143.3 points for third while Hawai‘i’s Alistair Taylor rounded
out the final with 139 points.
Hubbard said he used his local knowledge in the final heat
to pick a great first wave that would catapult him to victory.
“I just waited for the set and a perfect wave came. I’d been
waiting for a while, just making sure, I wanted to catch the
right wave and I got a really good wave to start off with—probably
the best wave of the heat— a big Pipeline barrel, a classic
spit out, punch through the foam, probably a solid six-foot
pit,” said Hubbard. “When you start out on a good note, it helps,
and I got a lot of good barrels all day and good rides.” Good
conditions earlier in the day gave Hubbard even better rides
than the ones he had in the final. “In the morning, it was just
perfect, solid eight-foot, the best Pipeline all year,” said
Hubbard. “In the early rounds, we were just getting spit out
of so many barrels, it was pretty big.”
The final required a little more patience. “You had to wait
a little bit longer for the waves,” said Hubbard. “Toward the
last heat it finally dropped off a bit, so the sets were only
like six foot, and they had a little bump, so you had to know
what to look for. Since I have the local knowledge, I just waited
and made sure I took the right wave.”
Getting over the flu Hubbard, exhausted and hungry after the
final heat, did not find out he won the contest until a few
minutes after he got out of the water. “The results were really
close, so I was just trying to see how I did and I was just
excited to make it to the final. I surfed more than anybody
that day,” said Hubbard. “When they called my name, I just couldn’t
believe that I won, so I was blown away, because that’s something
you always dream about.
“I always tried to picture what I’d do if I were in that situation.
You know, you dream of ‘what am I going to do if I win the contest?
What is going to happen?
So-it was pretty cool, actually, living it out.” So what was
the first thing he did? “
After it sunk in, I called my wife (who was working) and let
her know how I did,” said Hubbard. “Then I did all my interviews
and stuff and drove home and was just kind of tripping out that
it had happened, and I was still just in cloud nine. I was just
pretty emotional and really excited the whole night and went
out with my family and friends to Hard Rock, and had a good
night—it was fun.”
Hubbard, who won $6,000 for his win at Pipeline, finished fourth
in the GOB World Super Tour, comprised of the top 24 bodyboarders
in the world, which culminated at Pipeline. Hubbard started
the season slowly, with a ninth place finish at The Box in Western
Australia. The tour then went to Sydney, where Hubbard finished
fourth. In Indonesia, in his final event before the start of
the fall semester at HPU and the Pipeline Pro, Hubbard took
fourth.
Hubbard’s previous best finish at Pipeline was fifth. He is
not unfamiliar to high finishes. He placed third in Japan and
has won the U.S. tour and other big events. His best finish
in the U.S. Open is second place. “Pipeline is the biggest event
I’ve ever won,” he said. After graduating from high school and
before turning pro, Hubbard attended the University of Hawai‘i-Manoa
but when his bodyboarding career took off he decided to drop
school and focus on bodyboarding.
After marrying Heather last year, Jeff returned to college.
“I got close to HPU. She was taking some classes, and I got
really interested. I met a lot of the faculty and met a lot
of the people, and everyone was nice and supportive, so I figured
‘I’m going to be able to take some classes here’,” said Hubbard.
“You can take classes at night, really good night classes, so
I can bodyboard all day and travel because if you communicate
with your teachers you can miss a class or two, as long as you
do all the work, because it’s your job.”
Heather and Jeff met in Virginia Beach in 1998, where Heather
lived and Jeff was visiting as he traveled doing promotions
for his then two-year-old company, “No Friends Productions”,
which produces videos and clothing. “Ever since then, we’ve
been together.”
Despite his business and academics success, Hubbard’s passion
is still in bodyboarding. He stays in shape through cardiovascular
exercise, light weights, and surfing big and heavy spots as
much as possible.
He attributes his success in bodyboarding to where he grew
up. “There are many people on Kauai who bodyboar d really well.
It was good watching them, and that’s how I got involved in
it, and I just stared getting really good at it and progressing
and loving it, loving the sport,” Hubbard said.
He added: “I always had more fun bodyboarding with friends—all
my friends bodyboarded—and it was just more fun to go out and
bodyboard, because there’s all kinds of heavier waves, big beach
breaks and big barreling waves and real shallow waves on Kauai,
and some really good, crazy spots that you can’t really surf
(stand up), but you can bodyboard.” Hubbard believes bodyboarding
would still have drawn him even if he had grown up somewhere
else, such as on Oahu’s north shore. “I probably would have
ended up bodyboarding regardless, just because it looks so extreme
and it just seems a little more fun to me, a little more care-free
and relaxed.”
Hubbard added: “And every-time I go to the beach, everyone,
all the tourists on the beach, always give more hoots to all
the bodyboarders because you can do a lot more things like hit
the lip and just go flying 20 feet in the air, and do back-flips
and stuff, and it looks pretty amazing.”
|
