Somehow, he was the only guy either involved in the contest or watching the broadcast who didn’t see it coming. When CJ Hobgood was awarded the Andy Irons Award just before the final of the 2015 Billabong Pro Tahiti, he went from a mix of flustered and stoked to humbled and a tad emotional. Not only did Ceej put on the best show of this year’s event by scoring a perfect ten in round 3, but he proved he’s still got it by taking down Julian Wilson and eventually marching into the semifinal. If that wasn’t the perfect way for Hobgood to say goodbye to Chopes, then winning the AI Award–given to the most determined, most committed surfer in the event–was the cherry on top of it all.

CJ Hobgood is the last person to surf in a final against Andy Irons. He was the only surfer in the water when AI tasted victory for the last time. CJ knew in that moment how big it was for the 3-time world champ to be back on top one more time, and he got the first chance to congratulate him. And even though we didn’t know Andy would be gone just a few months later, we did know that win brought his return to competing full circle. Seeing Andy on that boat after the final, so stoked not just to be competing again, but to be winning, was priceless. Just like CJ says, it’s not so much the waves that make these competitions so memorable when the people surfing in them give us moments like this. And I think the same can be said for Hobgood taking the Andy Irons Award home in his last trip to Teahupo’o as a ‘CT competitor. Nobody gave him the award out of sentiment. He wasn’t just handed that really big and somewhat awkward trophy just to say, “hey thanks for being so cool the last decade and a half.” The man surfed his ass off in a way that was reminiscent of the guy the award is named after. So just like Andy’s final victory brought everything full circle in 2010, so too did these last twelve days in Tahiti with CJ Hobgood.