While the Championship Tour world title showdown is currently underway in Peniche, and surfers and spectators the world over are engrossed in Jordy’s unfortunate European run, and John John’s rock solid mental approach, there is another world title chase that is set to kick off on Friday.
The Big Wave Tour only has one event under the belt thus far this year in the Puerto Escondido Challenge, which was won by Kai Lenny. Now there are two more events ready and waiting for the world’s best big wave surfers – Peahi, which was just given the green light for Friday Hawaii time, and Nazaré, which just had a false start.
It’s due to this, that the whole Big Wave World Tour is currently scrambling from Europe to Maui to arrive in time for the swell. Is Jaws really a wave you want to be taking on with a serious case of jetlag? We’re sure adrenaline injection of Jaws in full cry will soon wake them up.
Jaws is perhaps the jewel in the BWWT crown and a mind-blowing event for spectators. Remember, it wasn’t too long ago when Jaws was not even thought of as being paddle-able. These days the surfers like two times event winner Billy Kemper are backdooring the peak on 30-foot days and playing with the wave like it's a bigger version of HT’s.
It is a wave with serious consequence as well however, if you can remember the almost cartoonish drop by Mark Matthews that resulted in a shoulder that was nearly torn off his body, and was reconstructed with metal pins, plates and the rest. Jaws can and does knock people around.
The Nazaré Challenge is a total mind-fuck of a surf event, with absolute carnage guaranteed when the event runs. The biggest beachie in the world, the heaviest jet-ski ride out, some very serious near-death experiences in the past and a whole run of Big Wave Awards-worthy waves are what makes this event one of the sickest surfing events in the world.
It is the one place, however, that the safety teams are on high alert throughout, and that surfers are always stoked when making it back to land safely after a heat. Last year the event was won by mad dog Jamie Mitchell for some crazy left-handers and some hell drops that were quite unbelievable to the naked eye.
With plenty of swell battering around Europe, hurricanes and other such stuff smashing Ireland and all sorts of other weather phenomenon happening, it could easily be time for this event to kick off, and everyone is ready and waiting. The big boards are there already, and the surfers on the tour are impatiently awaiting the next storm.
The big wave surfers have another ‘treat’ coming their way – if you can call a terrifying big wave spot that has killed people like Mavericks a treat – but the Northern Californian big wave spot is set to become a fixture on the big wave tour as well.
The Mavericks event has been shrouded in controversy for many years much to the chagrin of the local surfing community, but now that the WSL has stepped in and has bought the rights to the event, it is set to rightfully join the Big Wave Tour as another legitimate venue for this tour. “The BWT has always been legitimate,” said world number 7 and former Mavericks champion Nic Lamb. “ Adding Mavericks just takes it to whole new level.”
There has been a little bit of outspokenness recently of the fact that there are no longer any events in the southern hemisphere, but that is for a different conversation altogether.
Everyone is ready, everything is in place, and now we just need a couple of storms.
