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Finalists for the 2007 Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards announced
by George Mojo
05/04/2007:// French Polynesian surfer Manoa Drollet and Spanish rider Axier Muniain have been included in the list of finalists for the 2007 Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards announced in California.
Nominee waves were challenged in locations as diverse as South Africa, Australia, Spain, Mexico, California, Chile and Tahiti proving once and for all that big wave surfing has become a truly worldwide phenomenon.
It was Drollet’s death defying ride at his home break of Teahupoo, in Tahiti, which earned him nomination in the monster tube category while Muniain earned his spot on the list in the monster paddle in category.
Muniain tackled his incredible paddle in ride at Playa Gris, Spain on November 29, 2006 and will be up for $USD 15,000 should he win his category. He is the only Spanish surfer nominated for a prestigious Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Award.
The winners will be announced at the seventh-annual invitation-only show before 2000 surf world VIPs on April 13 at the Grove Theater in Anaheim, California. The night's full schedule of activities will be carried on a free LIVE webcast.
This year's top prize of US$50,000 will be awarded in a brand-new category in the XXL event -- the Ride of the Year -- designed to acknowledge the most amazing performance on a big wave documented on video over the course of the last 12 months.
And there is little doubt these five finalists are among the most incredible moments of surfing action ever caught on film. The nominees include Californians Ken "Skindog" Collins and Rusty Long towing and paddling into massive barrels in Mexico, South African Andrew Marr's huge gray beast off Capetown and death-defying Tahitian tubes by local Manoa Drollet and New Zealander Doug Young.
Aussie pair Alfy Cater and Damon Eastaugh are contenders for the Billabong XXL Biggest Wave Award for the tallest face of the year including the four biggest waves ever recorded in the Southern Hemisphere: two challenged by Greg Long and Andrew Marr in South Africa and the other two off the coast of Western Australia by Cater and Eastaugh.
They are joined by one of the few bright moments seen along the USA West Coast in the last year -- a lonely wave ridden by Alistair Craft at Ghost Tree off Pebble Beach, California. The one wave deemed largest by a panel of experts will win the surfer $15,000. Last year the category was topped by Brad Gerlach's 68-footer ridden off Ensenada, Mexico.
The Monster Paddle division prize was upgraded this year to an equivalent $15,000 in recognition of the roots of big wave riding. And this year two of the nominees -- Hawaiians Garrett McNamara and Dave Wassel -- come from the spiritual homeland of surfing, yet caught their waves at Maverick's in Northern California during a difficult season for surf in the North Pacific. Also joining their ranks is San Francisco's Ben Andrews at Maverick's along with some spicy latin flavor -- Peru's Gabriel Villaran for a ride in Chile, and Basque surfer Axier Muniain for a wave in northwest Spain.
Australian Martin Paradisis is nominated in the Monster Tube category for his voyage beneath a remarkably thick lip at the notorious Shipstern Bluff near his hometown of Hobart, Tasmania. Also nominated for the most spectacular barrel of the year are Shane Dorian of Kona, Hawaii for his reprise of last year's amazing cavern at Teahupoo, Tahiti.
The Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards are presented by Monster Energy. Surfline is the official surf forecast and Verizon Wireless if the official communications provider. The event is sponsored by Surfing Magazine and Hawaiian Airlines.
[Carissa Moore (in yellow) receiving the winner's prize]
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[Pablo Gutierrez winner of the Superbock Pro]
Hawaiian Carissa Moore won the Roxy Pro Junior surfing in her first ever contest in France
ASP International has announce the inception of their fourth regional branch, ASP Australasia
Twenty-six-year-old Pablo Guitierrez took top honours in the Superbock Pro in Portugal after defeating fellow Portugeuse surfer Eduardo Fernandes in the final
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