Surfing
So ya win some ya lose some…Let us review.
It went down.Friday night, Planet Earth’s entire big-wave elite gathered in ill-fitting blazers, dress-shirts and jeans at The Grove Theatre in Anaheim for the 2014 Billabong Global Big Wave Awards. There was free booze. Hooting, hollering and a few oversized checks given away to a select few.
Greg Long, per usual, had a party bus, bound from San Clemente.
Prior to the event, I made a few big claims and tough calls on who would win. I was right on some. Wrong on a few, too. OK, maybe more than a few (lemme explain!). Regardless, everyone that won truly deserved it, controversial or not, and to that we give our congratulations.
Here are the results with some fair and balanced commentary.
XXL Paddle Award
Winner: Mark Healey, Jaws, Maui
Rebuttal: OK, fine. While we predicted Oahu’s underground unknown Aaron Gold to take it, Oahu’s Mark Healey DID bag this massive Jaws runner on his backside -- which is pretty damn gnarly. And though Mark didn’t pull in at the end like Gold did, that drop was still absolutely balls-to-the-wall.
XXL Ride of the Year
Rebuttal: Sure, this WAS the best wave of last summer and probably THE biggest backside tuberide all year long (Greg even no-handed it!), but the question to me here is size. This Mexican entry is not nearly as big as the Jaws entries, or even South African one. But as stated, it’s one hell of a backhand tube ride. So be it.
XXL Biggest Wave Award
Winner: Gautier Garanx, Belharra, France
Rebuttal: Well, I’ll be damned. Definitely thought Carlos Burle had his Nazare act in the bag on this one. I would say the reasoning for this scenario of Gautier winning it, may be the same reasoning that Nazare gets challenged all the time: Belharra just seems more top to bottom than Nazare. More of a wave, really. And though people were calling Nazare round 80 feet — and Gautier’s French bomb was 62ft — I guess the panel didn’t feed into Nazare’s hype.
XXL Tube Award
Winner: Koa Rothman, Teahupoo, Tahiti
Rebuttal: Yeah, duh. This tube was friggin’ mental.
XXL Wipeout Award
Winner: Koa Rothman, Teahupo’o, Tahiti
Rebuttal: Fair enough. But also pretty amazing that Koa got two awards (Best Tube and Wipeout) from ONE same wave. And, yeah, while I called Jamie Mitchell eating shit on that Belharra bomb the wipeout of the year…when you take another look at Koa’s…yeah, you get it.
Mens Performance Award
Winner: Grant “Twiggy” Baker
Rebuttal: Called it!
Womens Performance Award
Winner: Keala Kennelly
Rebuttal: So this kinda threw me for a loop…But then I reconsidered. Keala HAS been all over the world, chasing every swell alongside the elite, from Tahiti to Jaws to Fiji and beyond. Her devotion to the game is damn near unmatched. Sure, I thought Maya had her beat, but then I forgot about Keala nearly ripping her face off at the huge Teahupoo swell from last summer. Hyeah. That was heavy.