Wet ‘N’ Wild with Rockin’ Fig:

Already the new 2010 surf season is underway.

Last weekend in Brazil, there was some pretty fun surf in the Assn. of Surfing Professionals’ six-star World Qualifying Series, Hang Loose Pro.

The U.S.’s 30-year-old former world champ, C.J. Hobgood, got off to a big start with the win in South America.

Hobgood was getting some long barreling lefts.

Also, Huntington Beach’s finest, Brett Simpson, was ripping too, pulling a fifth-place result, which is great to have early in the year. Simpson is getting ready to go to the land Down Under at the end of the month.

The first event on the world championship tour, the Quiksilver Pro, is slated for the Gold Coast in Australia at the Superbank from Feb. 27 to March 10.

There was a big, deep spot, so they started pumping sand in to fill the bottom up.

That set up a perfect right-hand barrel on the last swell, so it’s looking good.

Already practicing was last year’s world champ, Mick Fanning, who was tearing up those hollow rights. Some of the other pros and locals were going off, too.

It looks like former world tour head judge Perry Hatchett has been let go after 12 years of service just before the new season was to start.

Hatchett was at the helm of judging longer than any other head judge in history, seeing many changes in the last 10 years, like scoring two waves instead of three, which came about to let the surfers concentrate on getting better waves.

The interference rule of cutting a wave score in half instead of taking a whole wave away was a big step, too, not to mention the awarding of more points to futuristic surfing.

Surfers must meet criteria set by ASP judges to maximize their scoring potential.

The judges are looking for commitment and degree of difficulty in one’s surfing, innovative and combination of progressive maneuvers, and speed, power and flow.

The scores will vary; 0.0 to 1.9 is poor, 2.0 to 3.9 is fair, 4.0 to 5.9 is average, 6.0 to 7.9 is good and 8.0 to 10.0 is excellent.

Score the top two, and if it’s good enough to beat your opponent, you’re moving on.

The local mountains have been scoring, with 8 to 10 inches of new snow last weekend, and most resorts are reporting 3- to 6-foot base depths with powder and packed powder conditions. Shralp it, it’s steep and deep.

Over and out.

RICK FIGNETTI is a 10-time West Coast champion and a longtime KROQ-FM surfologist. He owns a surf shop on Main Street. You can reach him at (714) 536-1058.