"I'd like to thank El Nio," a cheerful Grant Baker said while accepting his Ride-of-the-Year honor during Friday night's 10th Annual Billabong XXL Big-Wave Award Show in Anaheim, Calif. The renowned big-wave surfer from South Africa won $50,000 for making an incredible drop on a 50-foot wave.
The show is the Oscars of big-wave surfing. Friday's ceremony recognized the biggest and heaviest waves ridden and documented over the past 12 months. Thanks mostly to the aforementioned
El Nio the Pacific Ocean churned out one massive swell after another.
In front of a rowdy crowd of 2,400 people, Baker acknowledged a historic year filled with big wave milestones by giving credit where itwas due. "And how about a round of applause for Mother Nature for the season we just had!"
Baker caught his winning wave back in February at Maverick's, near Half Moon Bay, Calif. Yet his persistent wave chasing from Cape Town to California earned him nominations in multiple categories, including the Best Overall Performance, Monster Paddle and the Worst Wipeout.
California's Shawn Dollar broke the paddlie-in world record by catching a 55-foot beast totally unassisted. Paddling into a moving mountain (let alone riding it) requires a more sophisticated skill set compared to being towed in behind a personal watercraft, a method that has enabled surfers to ride waves previously deemed too large and fast to catch. While the biggest waves are towed into, the paddle-in category is the most hallowed among the big-wave brass.
That each of the five nominees broke the previous paddle-in world record is a testament to just how bountiful a season it was for big-wave surf, not to mention how many more surfers are stepping up to meet the challenge.
Another milestone reached was the need for event organizers to add an entire category for the flood of entries from women, who are now entering the big-wave arena in droves. Maya Gabeira of Brazil took the top spot over seven-time world champion Layne Beachley.
In what proved to be one of the best years in big-wave surfing history, more than 1000 images and videos were submitted for judging. The awards are decided by a panel of 400 surfers, selected surf media and big wave aficionados.
Winners of the Billabong XXL Big-Wave Awards
Ride of the Year
Grant "Twiggy" Baker, South Africa
Biggest Wave of the Year
Sebastian Steudtner, Germany
Monster Paddle Award
Shawn Dollar, California
Monster Tube Award
Raimana Van Bastolaer, Tahiti
Best Male Overall Performance
Shane Dorian, Hawaii
Billabong Girls Best Performance
Maya Gabeira, Brazil
Verizon Wireless Wipeout
Brooke Phillips, Australia
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Sunday, April 25, 2010 11:00am PDT
Surfers celebrate a historic year of big-wave riding achievements
By: Chris Mauro, GrindTV.com
Channels: Surf
Tags: billabong xxl big wave awards, Grant Baker, Shawn Dollar, maya gabeira
FEATURED NEWS
"Record" for Largest Wave Ever Ridden Trivializes Big-Wave Surfing
A return to old-school measuring techniques is in order
Consider two representations of two very big waves, below. The first is a photograph of Mike Parsons at Cortes Bank. The second is a video of Garrett McNamara near Nazare, Portugal. Now take out some measuring tape and make the distance of one foot between your hands. That's the amount, according to the Billabong XXL committee, that McNamara's wave is bigger than Parsons's wave.
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Posted by wes_mantooth April 25, 2010 07:24pm PDTReply | Report Abuse
Congrats to the non-tow in, non strapped in(wakeboarding) big wave men and women- you epitomize the beauty and true grit of big wave surfing.
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