On April 28th, anyone who’s anyone in big wave surfing will gather at an undisclosed Southern California location for the WSL Big Wave Awards with $350,000 in total prize money at stake. On Monday, the WSL formally announced the nominees for many of the categories including wipeout of the year, women’s performance of the year, ride of the year, and tube of the year. The biggest payday will go to the ride of the year, which, unlike XXL Biggest Wave of the year, is less about size and more about commitment, apparently.
The WSL explains the $75,000 cash prize will be “Awarded to the individual surfer who demonstrates the most advanced and committed level of big wave surfing during a successful ride, as judged by available video-footage.” In other words, it’s not the biggest wave but skill and commitment that’ll earn a surfer an oversized check to wave over his or her head. It’s also worth noting that $75,000 is three times the cash prize for winning a men’s big wave tour event ($25,000).
The nominees in the video above are as follows:
Ross Clarke-Jones, Nazaré
Ryan Hipwood, Jaws
Kai Lenny, Nelscott Reef
Sebastian Steudtner, Nazaré
Ian Walsh, Jaws
Who do you think deserves to take home the $75k? Tell us in the comments.
