The
Grove of Anaheim, hemmed in by endless miles of SoCal suburban sprawl, always
seems like a slightly surreal venue for the world's heaviest heavywater dudes.
One might imagine a yearly gathering of big-wave riders to be a bunch of manly
men shotgunning cans of beer and eating raw boar, but the XXL Awards are a
fairly classy affair. Limos pull out, lightbulbs flash, TV cameras roll. There's
international media asking the same questions over and over.
"How did it feel?" "Were you scared?"
Nominees smile at the lights, drink it all in, knowing that mostly, come Monday, life will return to normal. Families, jobs, bosses, etc. Unlike ASP surfers or groovy photo pros, only a few of these guys are lucky enough to be paid to surf -- and being addicted to giant waves is no cheap habit.
Shane Dorian is one such lucky man who's still paid to ride waves. His giant, perfect glassy bomb at Jaws in October took top honors as the XXL Ride of the Year and Pacifico Tube. This was no mean feat, especially given the monumental Cloudbreak swell and mammoth Cortes session.
"For me, the wave itself was the real prize," he said. "It was the ride of my life. Jaws is super unique in terms of performance. It's wild. There's a lot of big waves out there, they're tall and scary and dangerous. Jaws is unique, in that it breaks like a small wave even though it's gigantic. It's really hollow; it sucks off the reef, like a gnarly reefbreak. It's super intense and technical to ride. You can't just whip it around on a burger and get a big wave. Jaws, if you get a big wave, you're putting your life on the line. I think it's a wave that's unmatched."
Dorian has a unique perspective among the nominees here in that he's coming off a healthy career as a former ASP pro. "I had no idea I was going to be having this much fun," he smiled. "I spent a lot of years on the tour, and I loved it, it was great times. I would've never foreseen me having this much fun surfing this long in great waves. I feel like I'm doing the best surfing of my life. If someone would've told me that this was going to happen, I wouldn't have believed 'em."
Shawn Dollar, who won Biggest Paddle in 2010 for a Mav's bomb, was the night's other big winner, breaking a world record for his 61-foot open ocean behemoth at Cortes Bank.
"It was the best wave ever, it was unreal," he said. "I've had some amazing waves in my life - like Maverick's in 2010 - but that thing just blew it away. I went out there with the expectation that I didn't need to get a wave at Cortes. Finally, I paddled way the hell out there. That's when that set came. Honestly, I thought I was going to take that wave on the head. It was the biggest wave I've ever seen in my life. Luckily it sat down enough that it didn't break on top of me. I was paddling up it, thinking 'I'm done,' but I saw the opportunity and went for the full Hail Mary. Something clicked and I turned around and went. And it wasn't just a drop. It was like a pointbreak, it just kept going and going and going. Every section you were committed. The craziest, gnarliest ride of my life."
And while the manly men drank and laughed and shared stories and flirted with the pretty girls in attendance long into the night, Dollar underscored the seriousness of what these guys are doing. "At the end of the day, I don't want to get the biggest wave," he said on stage. "I want to make it home to my family."
"How did it feel?" "Were you scared?"
Nominees smile at the lights, drink it all in, knowing that mostly, come Monday, life will return to normal. Families, jobs, bosses, etc. Unlike ASP surfers or groovy photo pros, only a few of these guys are lucky enough to be paid to surf -- and being addicted to giant waves is no cheap habit.
Shane Dorian is one such lucky man who's still paid to ride waves. His giant, perfect glassy bomb at Jaws in October took top honors as the XXL Ride of the Year and Pacifico Tube. This was no mean feat, especially given the monumental Cloudbreak swell and mammoth Cortes session.
"For me, the wave itself was the real prize," he said. "It was the ride of my life. Jaws is super unique in terms of performance. It's wild. There's a lot of big waves out there, they're tall and scary and dangerous. Jaws is unique, in that it breaks like a small wave even though it's gigantic. It's really hollow; it sucks off the reef, like a gnarly reefbreak. It's super intense and technical to ride. You can't just whip it around on a burger and get a big wave. Jaws, if you get a big wave, you're putting your life on the line. I think it's a wave that's unmatched."
Dorian has a unique perspective among the nominees here in that he's coming off a healthy career as a former ASP pro. "I had no idea I was going to be having this much fun," he smiled. "I spent a lot of years on the tour, and I loved it, it was great times. I would've never foreseen me having this much fun surfing this long in great waves. I feel like I'm doing the best surfing of my life. If someone would've told me that this was going to happen, I wouldn't have believed 'em."
Shawn Dollar, who won Biggest Paddle in 2010 for a Mav's bomb, was the night's other big winner, breaking a world record for his 61-foot open ocean behemoth at Cortes Bank.
"It was the best wave ever, it was unreal," he said. "I've had some amazing waves in my life - like Maverick's in 2010 - but that thing just blew it away. I went out there with the expectation that I didn't need to get a wave at Cortes. Finally, I paddled way the hell out there. That's when that set came. Honestly, I thought I was going to take that wave on the head. It was the biggest wave I've ever seen in my life. Luckily it sat down enough that it didn't break on top of me. I was paddling up it, thinking 'I'm done,' but I saw the opportunity and went for the full Hail Mary. Something clicked and I turned around and went. And it wasn't just a drop. It was like a pointbreak, it just kept going and going and going. Every section you were committed. The craziest, gnarliest ride of my life."
And while the manly men drank and laughed and shared stories and flirted with the pretty girls in attendance long into the night, Dollar underscored the seriousness of what these guys are doing. "At the end of the day, I don't want to get the biggest wave," he said on stage. "I want to make it home to my family."
RESULTS:
2013 BILLABONG XXL GLOBAL BIG WAVE AWARDS
Presented by Pacifico
RIDE OF THE YEAR AWARD
WINNER: Shane Dorian (Kona, Hawaii, USA) at Jaws, Maui, Hawaii Oct 9, 2012 ($50,000)
Video by Elliot Leboe ($5,000)
Second place: Shawn Dollar (Santa Cruz, CA, USA) at Cortes Bank, Dec 21st, 2012 ($5,000)
Third place: Greg Long (San Clemente, California, USA) at Jaws, Maui, Hawaii Oct 10, 2012 ($1,500)
Fourth place: Dave Wassel (Kaneohe, Hawaii, USA) at Cloudbreak, Fiji june 8, 2012 ($1,500)
Fifth place: Reef McIntosh (Kauai, Hawaii, USA) at Cloudbreak, Fiji june 8, 2012 ($1,500)
PACIFICO PADDLE AWARD
Shawn Dollar (Santa Cruz, CA, USA) at Cortes Bank, Dec 21st, 2012 (Wave was 61ft, new paddle world record) ($20,000)
Photographed by Frank Quirarte ($4,000)
XXL BIGGEST WAVE AWARD
Shawn Dollar (Santa Cruz, CA, USA) at Cortes Bank, Dec 21st, 2012 (First time a paddle surfer has won this category) ($10,000)
Photographed by Rob Keith ($4,000)
Shawn Dollar (Santa Cruz, CA, USA) at Cortes Bank, Dec 21st, 2012 (Wave was 61ft, new paddle world record) ($20,000)
Photographed by Frank Quirarte ($4,000)
XXL BIGGEST WAVE AWARD
Shawn Dollar (Santa Cruz, CA, USA) at Cortes Bank, Dec 21st, 2012 (First time a paddle surfer has won this category) ($10,000)
Photographed by Rob Keith ($4,000)
PACIFICO TUBE AWARD
Shane Dorian (Kona, Hawaii, USA) at Jaws, Maui, Hawaii Oct 9, 2012 ($5,000)
Photographed by Fred Pompermayer ($2,000)
SURFLINE MEN'S PERFORMANCE AWARD
Greg Long (San Clemente, California, USA) ($5,000)
Shane Dorian (Kona, Hawaii, USA) at Jaws, Maui, Hawaii Oct 9, 2012 ($5,000)
Photographed by Fred Pompermayer ($2,000)
SURFLINE MEN'S PERFORMANCE AWARD
Greg Long (San Clemente, California, USA) ($5,000)
BILLABONG GIRLS BEST PERFORMANCE
Keala Kennelly (Kauai, Hawaii, USA) ($5,000)
XXL WIPEOUT AWARD
Chris Shanahan (Denmark, WA, Australia) at The Right, West Australia ($2,000)
Video by Darren McCagh ($1,000)
www.BillabongXXL.com.
Source, Surfline Media
Keala Kennelly (Kauai, Hawaii, USA) ($5,000)
XXL WIPEOUT AWARD
Chris Shanahan (Denmark, WA, Australia) at The Right, West Australia ($2,000)
Video by Darren McCagh ($1,000)
www.BillabongXXL.com.
Source, Surfline Media
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