When we last left Damien Hobgood, he had pulled out of the last few contests on the 2004 WCT tour due to a shoulder injury. His requalification easily secured, he took the time off to have surgery and recover. Fresh off a trip to Panama, SURFING recently sat down with Damien before he caught a plane over to Australia for the opening event of the 2005 WCT tour.
SURFING: So, how was Panama?
DAMIEN HOBGOOD: It was fun. It was kinda like a “friends” trip. It was with a few guys that I like to travel with, but I don’t get to travel with that much.
SURFING: Did you guys score good waves while you were there?
DAMIEN HOBGOOD: Yeah, it was fun. Real fun. It wasn’t like best ever, but we had a great group of guys so it didn’t even really matter. I don’t even think we really cared as long as we were surfing some fun stuff.
SURFING: So I noticed that you are looking at the latest GLOBE ad in SURFING Magazine. How’s life treating you and your brother now that you are both with the same sponsor again? (FYI – Damien and his brother CJ Hobgood just recently signed on with Globe as their main clothing sponsor)
DAMIEN HOBGOOD: It’s rad! My brother and I are back on the same team again. We kinda talked about it for a while, and we didn’t really know if it was going to be able to happen. The opportunity came up with such a good company like Globe and it just fit perfectly. We’re super stoked.
SURFING: You guys already had a pretty good working relationship with Globe previously, right?
DAMIEN HOBGOOD: Yeah, we already rode for them for over 6 years. It was just shoes at the time and we were able to take it to a whole new level with what they (Globe) wanted to do.
SURFING: Are you stoked about the Tavarua WCT event that Globe is now the title sponsor of?
DAMIEN HOBGOOD: YEAH! I thought that was kind of ironic because they happened to pick up our favorite event. But a lot of the guys on tour don’t even call that an event. It’s more like fun time.
SURFING: You now have extra incentive to defend your title as the reining event winner, huh?
DAMIEN HOBGOOD: Yeah, even more irony there.