Sacre bleu, it was the Mexicans!
CJ Hobgood was in a remarkably cordial mood when Stab contacted him minutes after he’d discovered his entire quiver had been stolen from his French residence. “Honestly, if you can just get it out there that my boards were stolen and I’ll pay to get ’em back, I’ll be grateful,” the world number four told us.
CJ arrived in the beachside suburb of Seignosse at 4.30pm yesterday. He retired to bed around midnight, waking at 4.30am to find his boards stolen. The thieves had entered through the back sliding door, which had been left open by someone in his travelling party. While he, his brother and trainer Chris Gallagher had slept, the crims lifted all nine of the Floridian’s boards for the European leg. Amazingly, none the sleds were in a board bag, meaning the thieves – assuming there was less than four of them – would have had to make more than one trip through the house. Not to mention a conspicuous get away with CJ’s beaming neon-railed sleds under their arms.
CJ says he didn’t notice any meth-heads or crack fiends sniffing around the premises before he went to bed, and has no clue who took the boards. He also says, as long he gets them back, he doesn’t want to know. “1500 euros for their return, no questions.”
French surfer Miky Picon was very surprised to find out CJ’s boards had been stolen, saying it is rare for anyone from the local community to steal boards. If anything gets stolen in Seignosse, it’s TVs and “stuff in the house.” Miky says that if the local kids racked the sleds, there is a chance CJ will get them back quickly, should someone spot one in the lineup. Given how many boards were stolen, and the precision with which it was done, Miky believes this was the work of more mature thieves.
“It would have to be at least three or four guys to steal nine boards. Some Spanish guys come up here and steal a lot [around Quik Pro time]. It’s happened before. They come here, they steal and they go back there.”
If that’s the case, Miky believes there is no chance CJ will get his rafts back in time. It’s unclear at this point whether the ASP has implemented a misadventure appeals process or any sort of safeguard against this sort of buggery. It would seem unlikely. With the contest due to start Wednesday or Thursday at the latest, CJ is effectively up crud creek without epoxies.
But the thieving rats didn’t take everything, says CJ: “You can’t take my heart, kid.” – Jed Smith
The stolen boards include:
4 x yellow rail CGD 5'10" pin 5'10"pin 5'11"squash 6'1" pin
1 x yellow rail Tokoro 5'10" swallow
1 x yellow rail Merrick 5'9" swallow
1 x clear TL2 Timmy Reyes Model 5'10" pin
1 x blue rail CGD 6'0" squash
1 x clear Merrick 5'7" wing swallow twin fin
CJ is offering a €1500 reward for their return. Anyone with information can contact: jed@rollingyouth.com (anonymity guaranteed).
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Reply #56 on : Sat September 26, 2009, 09:27:14