SWATCH GIRLS PRO China 2011 - Highlights of Day 1

CHINA GETS ITS FIRST TASTE OF PROFESSIONAL SURFING The SWATCH GIRLS PRO China hosted by Wanning launched professional surfing in China today with the world's best female longboarders putting on a spectacular show at Riyuewan Bay, Hainan Island. The 3-4 foot (1.5 meter) waves were ideal for surfers to unleash their full bags of tricks, much to the delight of Chinese spectators, many of whom were watching the sport for the time. Hainan Island is home to more than 7,000,000 Chinese, with an area of 13,500 square miles. It's year-round tropical climate and miles of white sandy coastline have earned it the moniker "China's Hawaii". The SWATCH Girls Pro China is the second of two events on the ASP Women's World Longboard Tour and will decide the 2011 ASP Women's World Longboard Champion.

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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.