West Coast’s XXL Contest Follows Success of Maverick’s
Dave Schauber of glass apparel & film reports from Baja California Norte
The fabled lighthouse at Isla Todos Santos, home of the break appropriately named “Killers”.
West Coast’s XXL Contest Follows Success of Maverick’s
Here we are only 2 months into 2010, and it has already unquestionably been the biggest year in the history of Big Wave Surfing. On Sunday Feb 28th, 24 of the world’s greatest big wave chargers showed the entire international surf community that money is not the reason they love to ride big waves.
After Monster Energy backed out of their agreement to sponsor the event at the start of the waiting period, Contest Director and Big Wave Legend Gary Linden along with Surfer Representative and 2010 Eddie Aikau winner Greg Long both took the bull by the proverbial horns and pushed forward with the event even if that meant paying for it themselves. Both of these legendary surfers honed their big wave skills in the beautiful emerald green waters of the “Killers” line up, and wanted to share their spot with the world once again during competition as there has not been an event held on the Island since 1999.
There was no prize money for the winner, and each surfer would pay their own way to be there. Even the officials, judges, and contest director’s worked the event for nothing more than the love of the sport, and an overwhelming desire to see Big Wave Surfing reach the level of recognition that has long been over due. Just 2 weeks ago at Maverick’s these same brave men changed history and redefined the realm of big wave riding by pushing the limits of paddle in surfing to an entirely different level. They have now done it again proving to any potential sponsor for next year that they had blown it this time around, and missed out being part of a very very special contest.
Early on event host Greg Long was in great form posting high 9’s along with eventual 2nd place finisher Shane Dorian, and Big Wave Award winner Gabriel Villaran from Peru. In Semi-Final 2 Greg found himself with a 9.5 early on, and a medium back-up wave and was looking strong to make another final, but just missed out by 0.5 to Mark Healey who fought back with an 8 and an 8.5, which would prove monumental as the young Hawaiian clawed his way to his first win, which everyone in the industry would say has been long over due. Congratulations Sparky!
Final Results
1st place Mark Healey Hawaii
2nd place Shane Dorian Hawaii
3rd place Ramon Navarro Chile
4th place Carlos Burle Brasil
5th place Grant Baker S. Africa
6th place Grant Washburn USA
Biggest Wave: Gabriel Villaran Peru
Biggest Wipeout: Rusty Long USA
