Maui Pro: ODB Report
posted by Brandon Foster on 8th January 2005
The Maui Pro is over and good times for all:
Well it was the end of the Rockstar Games Maui Pro yesterday and what a fun filled day it was. After seeing some incredible prone bodyboarding by the top international pros, the DK riders hit the water and managed to get some sick turns and floaters under their belts. Leroy Kaiwi got a huge backside DK pit ending the wave with a sick backside snap off the top, earning from the hoots and car hooters applause the best wave of the comp. With Legend dropkneers as David Hubbard and Keith Sasaki being knocked out in the semis, only showed how hard the level of contest was. In the end it came down to local knowledge and powerful riding that got local boys, Jimmy Hutaff, Leroy Kaiwi and Cody Kauhaaha into the final with me scraping in as the only South African in the DK event. Well the final was thought to be a full throw down of DK talent but we were cursed with the worst heat of the day with not one set coming through the whole heat. The local knowledge of the waves helped determine the winners with Jimmy Hutaff getting some powering backside waves and Leroy Kaiwi managing to get a big backside turn to switch foot floater (this guy rips). In the end the best rider won and everyone was amped on the results, which went as follows:
1st Jimmy Hutaff
2nd Leroy Kaiwi
3rd Brandon Foster
4th Cody Kauhaaha
Straight after our final we were able to watch the pro final with some of the most explosive riding I have ever seen. Bodyboarding is just incredible at this level. With unbelievable rides from both Toby Player and Jeff Hubbard the heat was away. Then came Mitch Rawlins with his ability to hit everything a wave throws at him and just boosted his way into a lead that he held for most of the heat. Then this wave came through and Damian King went all out (you could just sense his drive for the contest win to enable him to bet the points to be crowned world champ for a second year in a row). He took off and hit the sickest air reverse and as the crowd was still on their feet just screaming he hit another on the end bowl. The crowd just went wild you just had to be there to experience it. With that wave under his belt he still needed another sick one to make it to the 1st spot. The waves went dead and about 10 seconds before the final buzzer he cause the wave that crowned him as the 2005 Rockstar Maui Pro Champ as well as the Bodyboarding 2005 World Champ. He pulled a combination of reverses off the top and inverts to make it through to the inside section where he did a roll. It was incredible a well earned world title, if I say so myself. In the end the results were as follows:
1st Damian King
2nd Mitch Rawlins
3rd Jeff Hubbard
4th Toby Player
For winning the World Champ title Damian King also walked away with a sick pocket motorbike given by Jimmy Hutaff and Rocket Boyz. Check them out on Nimitz Drive in Oahu…
Well all the boys have head off from Maui, some home, so back to the North Shore of Oahu. Yet the Maui bodyboarding community has never seen an event of this caliber and hopes that next year they will be back.
I have stayed on Maui in hope of the next sick North swell that is heading our way; so stay tuned for more shots from that surf….
CHEERS
GOD BLESS
BRANDON “ODB” FOSTER
1909 views
Comments
 | Kelly Footit
19th March 2005 02:53 |
| good times |
|
