Rebel Sessions 2011

There were some good sessions! (Photo: Rebel Sessions)

Rebel TV came to the party in 2011 for the Cape Town big wave scene, after the departure of the Red Bull left a large gap in the calendar. Though it was not the best big wave winter Cape Town has ever seen, there was one huge tow day and a couple of pretty hefty paddle days. More importantly some of the Cape's big wave chargers have got some well deserved travel budget for the Northern Hemisphere season. Well done to all involved, we look forward to next year's edition.

The inaugural Rebel Sessions 2011 awards winners were announced at a packed invite only ceremony held at La Cabane restaurant in Hout Bay on Friday night. The four award wining big wave surfers each pocketed a share of R110 000 in prize money for waves ridden at the Capes premier big wave venues this winter.
The Rebel Sessions is a unique big wave surfing awards event that ran for the first time this year from 15th July to the 22nd October. Over 100 days of winter the Rebel Session cameras filmed six sessions surfed with waves over 15 foot, the photographs and footage taken were used to judge the waves surfed and award prizes in four different categories.
The main award for the best-surfed paddle wave went to popular Kommetjie local Michael Schlebach who pocketed R50 000 for a long walling wailer he skillfully surfed at Dungeons. Michael has been charging big waves off the Cape peninsular for many years and was a standout surfer in every session he surfed through the winter. Accepting the check, trophy and framed photograph from the head of Rebel Media, Christian Herles, the broadly grinning surfer said that he was planning on spending the money on new surfboards.
Kommetjie surfer Andy Marr received R30 000 for the biggest tow wave of the season while Jeremy Johnson from Hout Bay got R20 000 for the biggest wave paddled into, and James Taylor received R10000 for the worst wipe out. The winning waves were all surfed at world-renowned Dungeons reef off Hout bay when the biggest swell of the winter hit the Cape of storms on the 21st and 22nd August.
Christian Herles also awarded a surprise "Surfer of the Sessions" award with R5000 going to young Durbanite Josh Redman for the commitment and skill he displayed in the water. Josh based himself in Cape Town for much of the winter and his fearless assault on the Capes big waves showed that he's a big wave talent to look out for in the future.
Awarding the prizes Christian said that Rebel Media would be back with the event next year because Cape Town is "one of the few places in the world that has a real big wave community and thats why (Cape Town) deserves the event and thats why Rebel Media bought the event here.".
The footage filmed will be edited into a documentary that will be distributed and aired worldwide by Rebel Media through their Rebel TV sports channel.


Rebel Sessions 2011 Big Wave awards winners (L-R) Best surfed paddle in wave Mike Schlebach (R50000), Sessions Surfers award, Josh Redman (R5000), Biggest Tow Surfed wave (R30000), Andy Marr (R30000) and Biggest paddle in wave, Jeremy Johnson (R20000) receive their awards at the prize giving in Hout Bay, South Africa 04 November 2011.

Worst wipeout ever? - James Mckean at Shipsterns Bluff

This wipeout simply sends shivers down my spine!!! Watch the slo motion as he hits the 3rd step and then gets swallowed by the biggest, ugliest tube ever!

XXL Awards - all the winners of the years biggest waves

The XXL Awards have come and gone this past weekend and there was no victory for the South African big wave contingent this year. Jeremy Johnson, of Hout Bay in Cape Town, had a serious Wave of the Year contender from late last year in Ireland, but unfortunately did not win. Oh, well, always next year!

NEWPORT BEACH, CA – (April 30, 2011) – The eleventh annual Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards fueled by Monster Energy climaxed in Anaheim, California last night as Brazilian Danilo Couto scooped top honors for Ride of the Year.  Couto earned $50,000 and the keys to a new Toyota Tacoma truck for a paddle-in wave conquered at Jaws, Maui, Hawaii during one of the biggest swells of the year.
Couto, who has been living in Hawaii for many years in his personal quest to ride bigger and bigger waves, was ecstatic as he accepted his award from skateboard legend Tony Hawk.
“I’ve been feeling really good for two months, ever since I caught that wave,” said Couto. “I couldn’t sleep for days, knowing I had done something so special. To be a part of surf history, to have an impact … it’s special.”
Prior to this winter’s paddle-in assault, the Jaws break had long been regarded as a spot so difficult to ride a jet-ski tow in assist was required.
Couto's winning wave -

Hawaiian Shane Dorian officially surfed into the record books for paddling into his own outrageous wave at Jaws, Maui (judged to be 57 ft on the face), easily winning the Monster Paddle Award. Dorian also captured the Monster Tube Award for his heroics later on the same wave, as he pulled into one of the greatest barrels of all time.
“It was an epic swell, a real late season swell,” recalled Dorian. “I didn’t really catch a lot of big waves throughout the whole year…I was just stoked the swell came my way, near my house in Maui, and we scored. The Monster Tube award is pretty special –I mean every surfer wants to get tubed, right?”

Benjamin Sanchis, flying all the way from France to attend the festivities, took top honors for the Billabong XXL Biggest Wave Award with a wave measured at 67 feet on the face.

“I’m not only happy for myself, but I’m stoked for Europe”, said a beaming Sanchis. “This is a big win and I’m really proud, I’m really happy. The wave, Belharra, is about 30 minutes from my house. It wasn’t even a big day for that spot, it gets bigger for sure.”

Rides at Belharra Reef (in the Basque Country near the French/Spanish border) have been nominated numerous times in XXL history, but this was the first victory for the famed European break.



Kauai surfer Sion Milosky — who tragically drowned last month at Maverick’s in Northern California — posthumously won the Surfline Best Men’s Performance Award for a string of outstanding high surf sessions. Milosky was the first top-level big wave surfer to die while surfing big waves since the XXL awards were established in 2000.

Milosky’s wife, children and father accepted the award on Sion’s behalf following an emotional tribute by friend and previous Ride of the Year winner Ken “Skindog” Collins of Santa Cruz. Several winners donated their prize money to the Milosky Family Fund, including Shane Dorian and Australian Mark Mathews, who captured the Verizon Wipeout Award.



2011 Billabong XXL Big Wave Awards Results:

BILLABONG XXL RIDE OF THE YEAR AWARD

WINNER: Danilo Couto (Bahia, Brazil) at Jaws, Maui, Hawaii on February 8, 2011. ($50,000 plus a year lease on a 2011 Toyota Tacoma truck)

Video by Elliot Leboe ($5,000)

SECOND PLACE: David Scard (Caloundra, Queensland, Australia) at Cloudbreak, Fiji on September 20, 2010. ($5,000)

THIRD PLACE: Mark Healey (Sunset Beach, Hawaii, USA) at Outer Reef, Oahu, Hawaii on January 20, 2011. ($1,500)

FOURTH PLACE: Michael Brennan (Hobart, Tasmania, Australia) at Shipstern Bluff, Tasmania on April 10, 2010. ($1,500)

FIFTH PLACE: Benjamin Sanchis (Hossegor, France) at Mullaghmore Head, Ireland on February 13, 2011. ($1,500)

MONSTER PADDLE AWARD

WINNER: Shane Dorian (Kona, Hawaii, USA) at Jaws, Hawaii, on March 15, 2011. ($15,000)

Photo by Batel Shimi. ($4,000)

BILLABONG XXL BIGGEST WAVE AWARD

WINNER: Benjamin Sanchis (Hossegor, France) at Belharra, France on February 16, 2011. ($15,000)

Photo by Bastien Bonnarme. ($4,000)

MONSTER TUBE AWARD

WINNER: Shane Dorian (Kona, Hawaii, USA) at Jaws, Maui, Hawaii, on March 15, 2011. ($5,000)

Photo by Bruno Lemos. ($2,000)

SURFLINE BEST OVERALL PERFORMANCE AWARD

Sion Milosky (Lawai, Kauai, USA) – $5,000

FIVE BILLABONG GIRLS BEST PERFORMANCE AWARD

Keala Kennelly (Honolulu, Hawaii, USA) – $5,000

VERIZON WIPEOUT AWARD

Mark Mathews (Maroubra, New South Wales, Australia) at Shipstern Bluff, Tasmania on April 6, 2010. ($2,000 and a Samsung Tab by Verizon)

Video by Andrew Chisholm. ($1,000)