Red Bull presents Jaws Paddle Competition

Welcome to the next limit in Big Wave Surfing. Red Bull, together with team rider, Ian Walsh, present the Jaws Paddle Contest. This contest will help to significantly push the boundaries in paddling giant waves. Thus far only a few invites have been released, among them our very own, Grant "Twig" Baker. A big uproar started brewing in South Africa as Chris Bertish has not, as yet, been invited, but he was the first person to paddle into waves at Jaws and is a winner at Mavericks. We cant speculate, but perhaps his invite is in the mail.

The event will run a waiting period over the whole Hawaiian Winter and will require clean 30-50ft Faces to run. They have also confirmed they will not run on the same day as the Eddie if this clash becomes reality.  21 Surfers will be invited.

Invited so far are host Ian Walsh, Twig, Greg Long, Dave Wassel, John John Florence (Yes please), Jeff Rowley and Kala Alexander. Most of these guys being proven chargers out in the Jaws Lineup. One thing is for sure, you dont want to miss this one. Follow the event at Red Bull USA.

Billabong XXL Awards 2012 - The Winners

The 2012 XXL Awards went down last week (Due to my holiday, I am reporting late on this) and the ultimate prize went to Nathan Fletcher for his mind boggling wave at Teahupoo last year. I am still struggling to figure out how a wave not ridden out won, but hell it was crazy! Fletcher won the "Ride of the Year" and the "Monster Tube" awards with this wave. He also took the overall Men's Performance Award. So a good night for Nathan.

The 2012 "Monster Paddle Award" went to Hawaiian, Dave Wassel, for a huge wave earlier in the year at Jaws in Maui.There were stacks of entries from December and January from Jaws, as the world's big wave surfers descended on the previous Tow Surf Spot.

"Biggest Wave Champion" went to Hawaiian, Garrett MacNamara, for his "90"ft ride off the coast of Portugal in 2011. Many thought this wave looked very soft, but the size judges cleared it as the biggest wave caught. Garrett also took the "Verizon Wipeout of the Year" award for a horrible bail at massive Jaws. He was trying to surf the "JetBoard" and went over the falls backwards on a monster of a wave.

Billabong XXL Awards 2012 - Monster Paddle Nominees

The five nominees for the Monster Paddle category of the 2012 Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards are presented for your evaluation: Ken "Skindog" Collins at Maverick's, Danilo Couto at Jaws, Shane Dorian at Jaws, Jamie Mitchell at Todos Santos and Dave Wassel at Jaws. For more details and to view all the still photos see the event website at www.BillabongXXL.com.

Personally, my vote goes to Shane Dorian. His wave is massive, he makes a crazy take off and rides it out. Ken, Danilo and Dave's waves are great, but they don't make them.  The outside shot is Jamie Mitchell on one of the biggest waves to ever get ridden at Todos for sure! Which wave is your choice?