Axi Munian of Basque Country, Spain, is one of five nominees for the 2009 Billabong XXL Biggest Wave Award thanks to this ride on Belharra Reef near the French/Spanish border.
The top surfers in the world will be on hand at the Grove Theater in Anaheim, Calif., for the ninth annual Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards on Friday, April 17. Following 12 months of enormous swell from Europe and South Africa to Australia, California and beyond, more than 550 entered images were distilled down to this year’s elite nominations.
The night's festivities will be Webcast live on the event Web site, www.BillabongXXL.com, and also will be the focus of a one-hour television special airing on the ESPN2 network on May 29.
The top award of the night—the Billabong XXL Ride of the Year—carries a $50,000 prize for the surfer with the most amazing performance on a big wave captured on video. This year features a diverse array of epic rides, including a pair at Tasmania’s Shipstern Bluff—local surfer James Hollmer-Cross qualified with a thick double-tube ride while Gold Coaster Ryan Hipwood made entry by surviving a massive airborne leap down a heaving stair-step face.
California’s Greg Long became a finalist for one of the biggest paddle-in barrels ever seen during the Red Bull Big Wave Africa event at Dungeons, off Cape Town South Africa, while Hawaiian hellman Garrett McNamara is up for his backside vanishing act inside the spitting guts of Tahiti’s famed Teahupoo break. And in a new twist to the Ride of the Year category, California’s Brian Conley is nominated both for escaping a deep tube in Mexico, and for filming it as well, using a hand-held Point-of-View camera throughout the ride.
The Billabong XXL Biggest Wave Award will likely generate debate as to which was the tallest face of the year. Two of the nominees come from Belharra, France, and feature Benjamin Sanchis (France) and Axi Muniain (Basque Country, Spain) atop huge faces at the break, which has been nominated numerous times before but has yet to win the XXL title.
Another pair of massive contenders come from Western Australia’s Cow Bommie with local Damien “Taco” Warr and Sydney surfer Mark Mathews in the right spot at the right time. The fifth nominee is Grant “Twiggy” Baker of Durban, South Africa, for his wild ride down a bumpy, mountainous face at Tafelberg Reef off Cape Town. One of the five nominees will receive $15,000, a Honda AquaTrax personal watercraft and a High Surf Accessories rescue sled in honor of their accomplishment.
The Monster Paddle division has raised the bar ever higher for 2009 as top surfers refocused their energies on stroking into bigger and bigger waves without the use of a PWC assist. The Monster Tube Award also features a number of amazing still images of the most stunning barrel moments photographed in the last year.
Other awards that will be presented include the Surfline Best Overall Performance Award and the Billabong Girls Performance Award. And in a new twist to the Billabong XXL awards, the public will be able to vote and decide the winner of an event division—the Verizon Wireless Wipeout Award. Video clips of the five most spectacular big-wave wipeouts have been posted on awards website and can be viewed directly by clicking here. Viewers are invited to review the five dramatically unsuccessful rides and then TEXT in their vote for the one they deem the best (or worst, depending on your viewpoint).
In all, more than $130,000 in cash and prizes will be awarded to the world’s greatest big-wave surfers in this edition of the Billabong XXL Awards presented by Monster Energy. Verizon Wireless is the official communications provider and Honda is the official watercraft of the event, while Surfline.com is the exclusive surf forecast of the XXL. For more information on the event and to check out video and images of all the top rides, check out www.BillabongXXL.com.
