Surfing Life's Oakley Big Wave Awards picks finals

Mark Mathews © Calum Macaulay

Surfing Life's Oakley Big Wave Awards

$35,000 Up For Grabs – New Faces Among The Superheroes Of Australian Big Wave Surfing

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 4 February, 2011 : - - After a hectic season of charging, the finalists have been announced in all three divisions of Surfing Life’s Oakley Big Wave Awards. Biggest Wave, Biggest Slab, and Biggest Paddle-in rides are now in the hands of the Awards judging panel – and they’ll be stretched to pick the winners out of an unprecedented range of entries.

Huge, crazy rides have been thrown into the mix from renowned big-wave stars like former winner Mark Mathews and Maroubra’s Koby Abberton, who teamed up with Hawaii’s Tom Dosland to hunt down a massive Slab off southern Australia. But this year the stars are pitched up against colossal waves charged by unknown country kids, lifeguards from Tasmania, veteran Western Australian watermen, and one of the nation’s top junior pro surfers.

Dean Bowen, a quarterfinalist at the recent ASP World Junior championships, was in the right spot at the right time early last winter on the NSW South Coast, and picked off a monster contender for the Paddle-in prize. “That session was pretty sick,” Mick Lowe, Dean’s mentor and a former ASP World Tour star, says. “Really big and clean. Dean was charging like a madman!”

Meanwhile, way off the tip of southern Tasmania, during a lifeguard big wave training program, super-keen surfers Shaun Wallbank and Benn Richardson were towing each other into freezing six-metre bombs

Shaun described it as “an extremely testing day”, complete with huge chunks of kelp, 100km/h onshore winds, hailstorms and big, wide sets. “It's a point break so wipeouts were super heavy because there’s so much water in the base of the wave -- it just rolls you for over 100 metres. “Thankfully, we had a well prepared safety plan and a safety team including a paramedic and Surf Life Saving officer on hand.

Cale Grigson © Calum Macaulay

“Amongst all the mayhem the rides were like a peaceful release. The wind and the necessary hood made things silent, the weather left the surroundings under semi-darkness and the length of ride meant you could really make the most of the wave and set it up.”

Other amazing entries include two outrageous rides by Chris Ross from a spot only known as “The Right”. (Big wave riders like to keep their maddest locations secret, partly out of concern for being poached, partly because they know the risks of a cluttered lineup when eight-metre waves are rearing up on two-metre-deep reefs.)

The Awards, now in their ninth year, have come to highlight a side of surfing that’s way beyond both the recreational mainstream and the professional competitive arena – a zone where seemingly normal people take seemingly outlandish risks, with seemingly little concern for fame or renown.

Previous winners include renowned stars like Mathews and Ross Clarke-Jones – but also include the only two-time champion, Damon Eastaugh, who runs a Margaret River winery in his day job. Says Shaun Wallbank: “People are constantly asking what possesses us as surfers to ride waves that could potentially kill. I think it's a natural progression as an athlete that one would strive to better themselves in their chosen field.”

Surfing Life’s Oakley Big Wave Awards will be presented at a super spectacular evening at Bondi on February 17.

Mark Visser © Rick Jakovich