O'Neill Cold Water Classic 2011 - California

O'Neill Cold Water Classic 2011 - California - Highlights of Day 4

As the O'Neill Cold Water Classic 2011 moved towards its closing stages, four quarterfinalists were decided as contest organizers once again took full advantage of the event's mobile format. Willian Cardoso, local boy Nat Young, Nic Muscroft and Josh Kerr all made it through the non-elimination heat straight into the quarterfinals at Waddell Creek before the event was called off for the day as the swell died off. But it was Josh Kerr who made sure that all eyes we be firmly fixed on him for the rest of this competition. The Australian posted both the highest heat and wave scores of the day in a high-pressure heat against both Jordy Smith and Tiago Pires in the non-elimination round to advance into the quarterfinals.

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"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.