Enter a world of magic and mystery, in my own head, where surfing and snowboarding are considered real jobs! Amazing feats of daring and skill are performed every day - and that's just getting the footage onto film!
Media anarchist, film guru, surf addict and web video blogger!
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.
They will be calling it the session and the day, that what was possible in paddle surfing, was rewritten. Sound epic and grandiose? Well it was...
Twig, Kelly and John John have called it that and they are the three surfers whose judgement on things ridiculous in surfing, I trust the most. Just watch the video from the water and understand what I am harping on about...
Then back it up with these angles. Your jaw on the ground yet?
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.
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?
Ryan Hipwood on one serious Cloudbreak Nomination!
The 2012 "Ride of the Year" nominations are in for the XXL Awards. My choice for this year is the wave above, Ryan Hipwood, at massive paddle Cloudbreak. That has to be one of the biggest grab rail tubes ever and it had the timer running for a solid amount of time. Greg Long's huge tube at Puerto was also solid and Jeff Rowley's Jaws Bomb was pretty amazing.
Interestingly, the 2 Tow nominations don't really deserve to be there in my opinion. While Nathan Fletcher's massive tube at Teahupoo is simply insane, he did not ride it out. Surely the "Ride of the Year" winner needs to be a made wave? Garret McNamara's giant wave in Portugal, while huge, looks pretty slow and flat. (This is the opinion of a couple of big wave chargers I have questioned on the subject.) It may have had the wave height, but it was not a great wave.
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).
Big wave surfer Jeff Rowley ‘paddles-in’ to historic 50-foot plus (15m+) waves at Peahi “Jaws” and becomes the first Australian to ride the waves without Jet Ski tow-in. Our very own Grant "Twig" Baker was there too and you can check some great photos at Surfline - HERE
