Jadson Andre winning the Billabong Pro Santa Catalina

Jadson Andre, the rookie surfing star defeated nine-time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater to win the Billabong Pro Santa Catarina.

The young Brazilian claiming his inaugural victory in front of a capacity crowd at Praia da Vila in Brazil.

The win by Jadson pushed Kelly Slater into second place following a hard fought final. And as you would expect, the Brazilian crowd went wild!

“What do I say? This is my dream,” Andre, 20, said. “This is everything I have worked for in my life. To be on the beach and hear that I was the winner, something special came over me. I don’t know how to put into words. It’s a miracle. I have had some bad things happen in my life, but this is amazing. I am so thankful to everyone for this.”

The win vaults Andre from 13th to fourth on the tour rankings and puts him in excellent position heading into the final two events of the first half of the season.

“It’s very important in terms of my ranking,” Andre said. “Not only to help make the top 32 cutoff, but also to help my seeding at J-Bay and Teahupoo. I know Kelly can get a score whenever he wants, so I tried my best to get scores early and keep the pressure on.”

Although Slater never quite found his high-scoring form during the tournament, the 38-year-old Floridian adapted to the conditions each and every round, exhibiting his dominant nature throughout. The runner-up finish moved Slater to the top spot of the ASP World Tour rankings.

“It definitely puts me in a good spot this season heading into Jeffreys and Tahiti,” Slater said. “I think it’s been almost two years since I’ve led the rankings, and yeah, it feels good. Obviously, you want to win every heat, but that said, I didn’t lose to a Mick [Fanning] or a Joel [Parkinson] or a Jordy [Smith] who are probably bigger threats in terms of the title. Jadson winning here today is special, and it’s probably something that he’ll remember for the rest of his life.”

Andre becomes the first rookie to win an ASP World Tour event since Santa Barbara’s Bobby Martinez won the Billabong Pro Teahupoo, Tahiti, in 2006, and the first South American since compatriot Adriano de Souza won last year’s Billabong Pro Mundaka in Spain.

“Adriano has been my hero for a long time,” said Andre. “All the pressure has been on him these past years and I have learned from him. He is an inspiration and has helped me so much this year. It feels amazing to represent my home country and win here for Brazil.”

The next event will be the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay, July 15 to 25, in South Africa.

Billabong Pro Santa Catarina Final results:

1 — Jadson Andre (BRA) 14.40

2 — Kelly Slater (USA) 14.00

Billabong Pro Santa Catarina Semifinals:

Semifinal 1: Jadson Andre (BRA) 17.70 def. Dane Reynolds (USA) 16.67

Semifinal 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 13.50 def. Owen Wright (AUS) 10.56

Billabong Pro Santa Catarina Quarterfinals:

Quarterfinal 1: Jadson Andre (BRA) 15.50 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 15.27

Quarterfinal 2: Dane Reynolds (USA) 14.27 def. C.J. Hobgood (USA) 13.17

Quarterfinal 3: Owen Wright (AUS) 13.34 def. Taylor Knox (USA) 12.43

Quarterfinal 4: Kelly Slater (USA) 15.43 def. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 13.87

Billabong Pro Santa Catarina Remaining Round 4 results:

Heat 5: Taylor Knox (USA) 15.93 def. Mick Fanning (AUS) 14.83

Heat 6: Owen Wright (AUS) 13.60 def. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 8.90

Heat 7: Kelly Slater (USA) 13.27 def. Chris Davidson (AUS) 12.00

Heat 8: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 13.00 def. Roy Powers (HAW) 8.50

Current ASP World Tour Top 5:

1 — Kelly Slater (USA) 21,750 points

2 — Jordy Smith (ZAF) 18,500 points

3 — Taj Burrow (AUS) 18,250 points

4 — Mick Fanning (AUS) 15,500 points

4 — Jadson Andre (BRA) 15,500 points

Billabong Pro Santa Catarina Gallery

Photo: Jadson Andre claimed his first ASP World Tour victory Thursday, defeating Kelly Slater to win the Billabong Pro Santa Catarina. Credit: Kirstin Scholtz / ASP

For the latest Summer Billabong Wetsuit range visit the The Wetsuit Centre .

Grant Baker Winning the coveted Billabong XXL title

Grant “Twiggy” Baker of South Africa walked away with $50,000 for his incredible ride on an enormous wave that he paddled into during the Mavericks Surf Contest at Half Moon Bay in California on 13 February 2010.

Regarded as the Oscars of big wave surfing, the 2010 Billabong XXL Awards recognize the biggest and heaviest waves ridden and documented over the past twelve months.

2300 surf-stoked fans packed the Grove Theater in Anaheim, California to witness mind-blowing rides from Chile, Europe, South Africa, Australia, Hawaii, Mexico, California and French Polynesia. In what proved to be one of the best years in big wave surfing history, over 1000 images and videos were submitted for judging. The awards are decided by a panel of 400 surfers, selected surf media and big wave aficionados.

Billabong XXL Wave Awards – Mens Winner

Grant Baker, tThe 36 year-old won the Ride of the Year, the premier category in the Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards presented by Monster Energy, at a glittering function attended by 2 250 people in Anaheim, California.

“This is for my country, South Africa! We have the FIFA World Cup later this year and we’re a proud nation,”

Baker said in his victory speech after thanking the El Nino weather conditions for producing the most amazing year of big waves around the planet, his fellow nominees for their incredible performances and confessing that he did not have a speech prepared as he did not expect to win.

Grant Baker Winning Billabong XXL Wave Awards

Shawn Dollar of Santa Cruz won $15,000 for the Monster Paddle Award. Dollar caught the wave during a break between the semi-finalas and final at the Mavericks contest last year. The monster swell was one of teh biggest in the contests history.

The top prize for the Monster Tube Award went to Raimana Van Bastolaer of Tahiti and Brook Phillips won the Billabong XXL Wipe Out of the Year for his mutant body slam at Shipstern’s Bluff in Tasmania. Germany’s Sebastian Steudtner won top prize for Biggest Wave, which he was towed into at Jaws, in Maui.

Billabong XXL Womens Award

Brazilian Maya Gabeira

The Best Overall Performance Award for women went to Brazilian Maya Gabiera for the fourth year in a row. Gabiera beat out Santa Cruz surfers Savannah Shaughnessey and Jamilah Star for the top prize.

Billabong XXL Ride of the Year Results

1. Grant ‘Twiggy’ Baker (Durban, South Africa)

2. Ramon Navarro (Pichilemu, Chile)

3. Shane Dorian (Kona, Hawaii, USA)

4. Raimana Van Bastolaer (Tahiti, French Polynesia)

5. Mark Healey & Shane Dorian (Sunset Beach & Kona, Hawaii, USA)

WINNER MONSTER PADDLE AWARD (Surfer prize $15,000 – Photo/video prize $4,000)

Shawn Dollar (Santa Cruz, California, USA) at Mavericks, California on

February 13th, 2010 (Photos by Fred Pompermayer)

WINNER MONSTER TUBE PHOTO AWARD NOMINEES (Surfer prize $5,000 – Photography prize $2,000)

Raimana Van Bastolaer (Tahiti, French Polynesia) at Teahupoo, Tahiti on March 17th, 2010. (Photo by Ben Thouard)

WINNER BEST MALE OVERALL PERFORMANCE AWARD (Surfer prize $5,000)

Shane Dorian (Kona, Kauai, Hawaii)

WINNER BILLABONG GIRLS BEST PERFORMANCE AWARD (Surfer prize $5,000)

Maya Gabeira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

VERIZON WIRELESS WIPEOUT (Surfer prize $5,000)

Brook Phillips Shipsterns Bluff, Tasmania, Australia on October 19th 2009.

Let us know your thought on the Billabong XXL Awards winning line-up.

Photo Credit: Sachi Cunningham / Los Angeles Times

www.x-tremevideo.com “First Chapter” is the highly anticipated Dane Reynolds surf film. The 20 year-old from Ventura, widely acknowledged as the most exciting young surfer in the world, has dedicated over a year to film this project. It’s rare for a surfer of Dane’s caliber to dedicate an extended break from competition for filming, but the final result is well worth it.

Rip Curl Pro Bells 2010 from Concreteownage on Vimeo.

It’s the womens turn to take centre stage at the Billabong XXL Wave Awards. And the wipeouts don’t disappoint either…..

It is the video that will make you sit up and go “no way, how did he ever survive that wave!!”.

Billabong XXL Wipeout Nominees

Check out the latest video clip of the meanest, gnarliest wipeouts of 2010 for the Billabong XXL Big Wave Awards.

The 2010 Verizon Wireless Wipeout of the Year contenders show you the awesome power of the ocean and what lengths surfers will go to to get that ultimate ride!

Grant Baker from South Africa takes on Maui’s notorious Jaws break – but unfortunately, comes off worse with a super high-speed face plant.

Hawaii’s Shane Dorian took off on one of the biggest waves ever seen at Maverick’s in Northern California, only to be bucked off by the choppy face conditions and tossed head over heels into the 50-degree water.  Dorian then experienced a delayed Niagara-in-a-barrel-style plunge into the Maverick’s depths, resulting in the dreaded two-wave hold-down.

You can see the video evidence yourself of the other three contenders as Ryan Hipwood (Gold Coast) going over the falls, Hobart’s Dan Griffith doing a spectacular butt-first landing and fellow Tasmanian local Brooke Phillips looking like an inverted crash-test-dummy.

Just to allay any of the your fears – none of the surfers were seriously injured in their wave riding mishaps!!

The wipeout and performance nominees for 2010, in alphabetical order:

Verizon Wireless Wipeout Award Nominees:

• GRANT BAKER at Jaws, Maui, Hawaii on December 25, 2009
• SHANE DORIAN at Maverick’s, California on February 14, 2010
• DAN GRIFFITH at Shipstern Bluff, Tasmania on August 7, 2009
• RYAN HIPWOOD at Shipstern Bluff, Tasmania on October 19, 2009
• BROOKE PHILLIPS at Shipstern Bluff, Tasmania on October 19, 2009

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