Big Wave News

HUGE TAHITI SWELL LAUNCHES BILLABONG XXL BIG WAVE AWARDS FOR '08 WINTER SEASON

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 2 November, 2007 : - - Newport Beach, Ca -- The arrival of the northern winter may be seven weeks off, but the eighth-annual Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards presented by Monster Energy is well underway, thanks to a number of enormous Southern Hemisphere swells -- including massive tubing waves ridden just yesterday at the legendary break of Teahupoo in Tahiti. 

The brand-new XXL event website is now chock full of photographic evidence of what is turning out to be a remarkable year in the big wave realm.  All the latest entries from around the world may be viewed at billabongxxl.com.

The Teahupoo session was lead by a number of past Billabong XXL and Monster Tube contenders, including Hawaiian Shane Dorian, Australian Dylan Longbottom and local Tahitian Manoa Drollet.  Because of the size of the swell, the top pro surfers were towed into the huge barrels by personal watercraft, with the dramatic day of action producing a number of candidates for the Billabong XXL Ride of the Year Award. 

Brazilian Maya Gabeira (winner of last year's award for best overall big wave performance by a woman) shocked observers by launching into several of the heaviest waves ever attempted by a female.  And Frenchman Benjamin Sanchez represented Europe on the XXL front by successfully claiming one of the biggest waves of the entire swell.

The twelve-month XXL event period is barely at the halfway point with the prime season in the North Pacific and Atlantic just starting to get rolling, but so far entries have been arriving from the Southern Hemisphere at an unprecedented rate. The current event window continues through the Spring Equinox on March 19, 2008, with the annual gala awards ceremony scheduled to take place in Southern California on April 11, 2008.

Entries in the Ride of the Year and the XXL Biggest Wave Award categories have been steadily filling up the website with video and photos from a wide array of locations around the globe. 

Dungeons, the notoriously sharky break on the Cape Peninsula in South Africa, produced enormous gray walls for Californian Greg Long and locals Grant Baker, Andrew Marr and Mike Schlebach this June.  Long captured the XXL Biggest Wave award last year at the same venue with a 65-footer.

Meanwhile, the Outer Bommie, a break south of Perth in Western Australia, came through with some treacherous wind-bumped faces for Australians like Alfy Cater and visiting Hawaiian Jamie Sterling. Added to the mix this year are the first entries ever from Papatowai on the South Island of New Zealand, along with some spectacular images from Punta de Lobos, south of Santiago, Chile. 

The Chilean walls, ridden by Ramon Navarro and Cristian Merello just last month, are among the biggest left-breaking waves ever challenged along the entire Pacific coast.

The Monster Tube category is already thick with its own batch of contenders, featuring barrel shots from the famed Mexican Pipeline along with terrifying brand-new spots in Tasmania, West Oz and the latest from Tahiti.  Entries in the Monster Paddle division showcase a diverse number of colossal human-powered takeoffs ranging globally from South America to Africa to North America, thanks to some early season bombs at Maverick's in California in the last few weeks.

The format for the 2007/08 Billabong XXL Awards will remain consistent with last year's major revamp, with the top prize in the XXL Ride of the Year category going to "the individual surfer who -- based on review of available video images by a panel of experts -- demonstrates the most advanced and committed level of big wave surfing performance during a single successful ride during the annual event period." 

The winner is decided by a vote of a large "academy" of experts including top surf magazine editors, photographers, videographers -- and the surfers themselves. Last year, the $50,000 Billabong XXL Ride of the Year Award was captured by Ken "Skindog" Collins of Santa Cruz, California for his stunning tube ride at Puerto Escondido, Mexico.  Total event prizemoney exceeds $120,000.

In addition to all the latest entries in each category, full event details including formats, rules and archives of past XXL years can be seen at the event website at billabongxxl.com.

The Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards are presented by Monster Energy Drinks.  Verizon Wireless is the official communications provider and Surfline.com is the official surf forecast of the XXL. Supporting sponsors include Honda watercraft, Hawaiian Airlines and Surfing Magazine.

2007/08 BILLABONG XXL GLOBAL BIG WAVE AWARDS CATEGORY SUMMARY

Billabong XXL Ride of the Year Award
(Greatest big wave performance on a single wave as captured on video and voted by large judging academy)
Surfer Prize: $50,000
Second Place: $5,000
Third, Fourth and Fifth Place: $1,500
Videographer Prize: $5,000

Billabong XXL Biggest Wave Award
(Biggest tow-in wave ridden based on available images showing maximum face height)
Surfer Prize: $15,000
Photo/video prize: $4,000

Monster Paddle Award
(Biggest paddle-in wave ridden based on available images showing maximum face height)
Surfer Prize: $15,000
Photo/video prize: $4,000
 
Monster Tube Award
(Best big-wave tube based on votes of large judging academy)
Surfer Prize: $5,000
Photo Prize: $2,000

Surfline Men's Best Overall Performance Award
(Best yearlong big wave performance at a variety of spots as voted by large judging academy)
Surfer Prize: $5,000
 
Billabong Girl's Best Overall Performance Award
(Best yearlong big wave performance at a variety of spots as voted by large judging academy)
Surfer Prize: $5,000

Previous reports:
# 1 : Billabong XXL Big Wave Awards gears up for '08 winter
# 2 : Coming soon
# 3 : Coming soon
# 4 : Coming soon  

www.billabongxxl.com

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Bill Sharp

Big Wave- Surfersvillage