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Eric Akiskalian © Stefan Czarnecki/Towsurfer

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Big Wave Addicts Episode 3: New Years Swell Delivers to the Pacific Northwest

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 10 January, 2013 : - - Out with the old, in with the new and along with the New Year came one last BIG Pacific Northwest swell that pounded for two solid days. This was by far the biggest and cleanest swell of the year and with so many locations to surf and tow, it was a great two days filled with big long rides on the reef and Puerto style beach break A-frame's that were 4-5 times overhead.

Included in the mix was 52 year old veteran big-wave surfer and owner of Towsurfer.com Eric Akiskalian who became a Billabong XXL Nominee in 2011 while riding the biggest waves in a decade along with his tow partner Keith Galbraith on South Reef. Eric has been a local fixture since the 2003 season and he's been on a decade long pursuit to ride the biggest waves he can find in the Pacific Northwest. Eric is currently aiming to break his own XXL record as he and his crew train and wait patiently for the perfect storm!

Joining Eric, were local residents and big wave veteran surfers Keith Galbraith, Mark Builder, Dan Hasselschwert, Ollie Richardson and Jeremy Rasmussen. Also in the mix was new comer Tyler Cunningham who is the youngest of the crew and is quickly proving himself to be very passionate and a future hopeful for the next generation of big wave surfers in the PNW.

Keith Galbraith has been leading the paddle surge in the area for the past 3 years and he has also been working with a handful of local talent and getting them dialed with training, safety and operations of PWC's in heavy surf. Thanks to Keith and his commitment to get a few more guys trained, every up coming big swell will be supported by the new crew consisting of Tyler Cunningham, Ross Rehberg, Ryan Hawkins, Nathan Muti and Casey Vandamme. So basically that means more safety and media support for the production of Big Wave Addicts and all the big wave sessions that hit the coast.

This New Years swell was filmed by GoPro Hero 2's from the channel and riders. There was also a film shooter and still photographers from the cliffs above. The combined mixture of waves, riders and camera angles has provided a great over view as to how the swell unfolded and the great rides that went down.