Saturday, January 14, 2012

Giant Jaws Paddle Session - with Grant "Twiggy" Baker


The recent paddle session at Jaws, Maui, has the whole world fascinated. The videos have been doing the rounds and the youtube views multiplying. Our very own Twig and Kate were there for the action and while Kate filmed from the safety of the cliffs - no doubt holding her breath anyway, every time Twig got hammered - Twig was out there with the boys charging.

I caught up with him online and got his feedback on this historic session...

Cpt Kai: How big was it out there?
Twig: Pretty dam big to be paddling, but what made it worse was how strong the offshore was and this is the most difficult wind to deal with in big waves.

Cpt Kai: It looked pretty crowded - is this common in surf this size?
Twig: It's becoming more and more common and that's why it's been a mission of mine to move out from the more popular big wave spots trying to find something new and less crowded. Saying that only, 10 real waves where ridden that day and only 3-5 of them where completed so the crowd wasn't the issue, the wave was!!

Cpt Kai: How bad were the beatings?
Very bad, I saw so many guys tombstoning for what seemed like an eternity, but because it was my first time out there paddling I was pretty conservative and didn't get beaten to badly.

Cpt Kai: How were your waves?
Twig: I had three waves in 6 hours, one I shared with another surfer, one I wiped out on the takeoff and one I took off behind the bowl and made it so all in all it was a good day.

Cpt Kai: Is this a sign of things to come, less tow on the really big days, as more guys start paddling?
Twig: Yes, tow surfing is a dying sport and from here on out there will be guys paddling every big swell at the known spots. We had a day at Dungeons this year that we should have paddled but ended up towing and I can't see that happening again.

Cpt Kai: What was the biggest wave made that day?

Twig: Dave Wassel had the biggest wave and will probably be the new world record holder, but he just went straight and Dorian had a huge one that he made around the corner.

Cpt Kai: Where to next Twig?
Twig:  Just traveling the world surfing and trying to find new uncrowded areas to hang out and get some waves with a few close friends...

We hope you find those waves my man and good luck on your travels (Lucky Bastard, hehe).


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