The 2011 Billabong XXL Award winners will be announced Friday, April 29th in Anaheim. As usual, the wipeouts inspire sympathy pains. Check out Thiago Candelot at Jaws and click that screen shot for more…
Click to see the rest of the nominees
As you may have noticed, I have a thing for wipeout footage. It’s not that I actually enjoy watching it – it makes me cringe – but there’s something sickly fascinating about watching a particularly nasty wipeout. And these are absolutely brutal. Shipsterns must be the gnarliest wave. Ever.
The idea behind Philip Boston’s film Billabong Odyssey is really cool: assemble the world’s most notable big wave riders, dispatch them to exotic locations in search of enormous swells, and hopefully, that elusive 100-foot monster. The documentary is a little bit choppy, but there are lots of compelling moments, like the end: Mike Parsons suffers an insane wipeout at Jaws. A few minutes later, he catches the colossus that ends up as the film’s opening sequence.
The footage from Teahupo’o was actually one of my favorite parts; those wipeouts and over-the-falls clips are agonizing.
In related news, Billabong held its 10th Annual XXL Awards at the end of April. The Biggest Wave Award went to Sebastian Steudtner for his ride at Jaws on December 7th, 2009. Check it out:
Even more related news: Read Zach Weisberg’s blog post on big wave surfing and the industry.
Water, Water Everywhere And Not A Drop To Drink 