After a fast and excitement–filled start to the season on the Big Wave Tour, it all kind of slowed down at the back end, and it finished off with Grant Twig Baker counting out the season from The States, waiting for a last minute call for the Todos event.
It never happened.
The one little blip on the swell maps underwhelmed, the contest season ran to the end, and South African big wave veteran and former world champion Grant ‘Twig’ Baker is the new World Champion.
“I’m extremely stoked to take the title,” said an ecstatic Twig when he was told that the time had run out for Todos. It was time for him to head home, a good couple of days of traveling for him.
The season was groovy though, with the inaugural Puerto Escondido Challenge opening up the season. This event in Mexico, unofficially the replacement for the Dungeons Challenge that was canceled by local surfers, was a massive success, with booming barrels pouring through the beachbreak throughout the event. Twig put his beachbreak prowess to the test and won the event with some giant frontside tubes.
A third place at the Jaws Peahi Challenge saw Twig in a good position on the world ratings, but Greg Long was in the zone with him, and Pedro Calado not far behind. Veteran surfer Carlos Burle, one of the oldest surfers on the tour, was also in the mix and absolutely charging at every chance and never holding back, and so hard did he push that eventually he pushed himself right into retirement, eventually announcing that he was done. One of the most successful big wave surfers around, and one of the nicest guys on tour, Carlos finally holstered his gun.
The Nazaré Challenge was another drama altogether, with the meanest waves probably ever seen for a big wave event showing up on cue for the inaugural event. Massive 30-foot wedges, throwing far and wide and running all the way through to the mother of all shorebreak saw some very intense moments out there, and the safety crew had their work cut out for them in the 10-foot closeout peaks.
It had to be a wild dog who was going to win this event, and in the end it was the wildest of them all, Jamie Mitchell who took the win, fearlessly dropping into some of the biggest left wedges of the year, cranking into massive drawn-out bottom turns, all the way through to victory. Twiggy hung in there despite some serious beatings on the back of the ski, to take 7th place and maintain a lead on the BWT rankings. He managed to hold until the end, as mentioned, and finished the year as the new world champion.
In South African terms, Twig also made bank.
“The money this year has been great and I'll take home around $135K from the three events and the overall prize,” said Twig. “It’s amazing to see how far the tour has come in such a short time and this will be the first year since I started surfing "professionally" that I'll actually make some money from my surfing. Who would have thought that someone would make close on R2mil in a year surfing big waves? The dream has finally become a reality!”
Hats off to Gary Linden, the man who had the big wave dream, and well done to Twig.
1. Grant Baker (ZAF)
2. Pedro Calado (BRA)
3. Greg Long (USA)
4. Carlos Burle (BRA)
5. Jamie Mitchell (AUS)
