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

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

Add your Vote

Simon Hipwood Billabong XXL

Well the nominees have just been announced for the 2009 Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards and some of the photos and footage are absolutely stunning.

Regarded as the Oscars of surfing, the Billabong XXL Awards recognise the athletes who ride the biggest and best waves over the last year everywhere in the world, based on the photographic evidence. The ninth-annual event hands out over $130,000 in cash prizes in an array of categories including the Ride of the Year, the XXL Biggest Wave, Monster Paddle and Monster Tube. 

If you thought the shot of Benjamin Sanchis (Hossegor, France) at Belharra Beach was awesome then check out the bunch of clips coming out of Shipsterns Bluff in Tasmania.

Don’t forget if you are looking for the latest Billabong Surfwear 2009 check out the great deals we have over at www.sortedsurfshop.co.uk

Well, it looks like the guys across the pond in the States are thoroughly jealous of the winter storms we have been getting across Europe over the last few weeks.

According to Real Surf.com “A number of top International surfers have heeded the call and gone “Across the Pond” to fill their need for winter power. ”

The unusual weather patterns in the North Pacific have left the Californian West Coast big wave surfers largely starved for waves for the last two months. And, the normally battered Hawaiian coastlines has suffered through a similar drought of extreme high surf warnings this winter season. 

However, there has been some epic conditions down in Southern France and Spain.

Benjamin Sanchis (Hossegor, France) at Belharra

Check out the latest photos from the 2009 Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards. One of the most spectacular images to emerge from the barrage of high surf is a shot of Benjamin Sanchis (Hossegor, France) at Belharra, an outer reef located in the Basque Country near the French/Spanish border. 

The photograph by Stephane Salerno is reminiscent of several other massive rides at the break which earned XXL Biggest Wave nominations in 2003 and 2008.

Isla Pancha, in the Cantabria region of Spain, has also produced some excellent entries for Basque surfers Asier Muniain, Ibon Amatriain and Aritza Saratxaga along with Cantabrian Oscar Gomez. 

There is a total of over $130,000 in prize money up for grabs in The Billabong XXL Ride of the Year Award and Billabong XXL Biggest Wave Award. If the storms continue to rage we could see even bigger rides happening before the event closes on March 20th 2009.

The Billabong XXL competition is open to all qualified, invited surfers at any surf break around the world over the course of a full year and is based on the photographic evidence.

Although there is still plenty of time for more shocking swell events to occur before the event period concludes with the Vernal (Spring) Equinox on March 20, 2009, the world’s big wave elite are already making plans to attend the gala Billabong XXL Awards ceremony this April 17 at the Grove Theater in Anaheim, California.  While the 2000 seats at the Grove are invitation only, the entire evening’s activities from Red Carpet arrivals to the final award will be

If you haven’t got tickets to the Gala Awards Ceremony on April 17th at the Grove Theater in Anaheim, California, don’t fret. The evening will be broadcast live via webcast at www.BillabongXXL.com and televised as a one-hour special on ESPN2 on the evening of May 28.

Check out: http://www.billabongxxl.com

We’re off to book our flights to Biarritz now !