O'Neill Cold Water Classic California 2010

O'Neill Cold Water Classic California 2010 - Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz is the birthplace of cold water surfing and home of the inventor of the wetsuit Jack O'Neill making this an appropriate destination for the final stop of the O'Neill Cold Water Classic series. This well documented city has long since been a hot spot for skateboarders, surfers and hippies alike.... Long before 'Dogtown And Z-Boys', Santa Cruz was the place to skate and Kevin Reed was doing huge frontside airs at Soquel skatepark before anyone was doing airs. There are a lot of legendary skaters around there who took the surfing and skating thing and took it to the next level. Ratboy's air known around the world in 1994 at the Coldwater Classic was unbelievable. He did what he usually did - every day surfing and when he landed that thing perfectly, Ratboy was born! And now there's Nat Young, he's recognized on an international level and judging his performance level, you know, he's destined to make the tour.

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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.