Bucks for the biggies

Coming up next week will be the Billabong XXL Big Wave Awards at the Grove in Anaheim.

Some big bucks will be going out to the riders of giant waves. In the tow-in division, where surfers are pulled into the wave by a jet ski, the surfers will earn $1,000 for each foot of wave face.

These days, surfers coordinate with premiere wave-tracker Sean Collins to find the huge surf, giving them a shot at a big johnny paycheck.

I’ve seen the photos, and some of those mackers are at least 50 feet. Former Huntington resident Brad Gerlach is in the running for a giant 50-foot-plus righty at Todos Santos, a break on an island off Mexico.

Also with a good sizer is Aussie Ross Clarke Jones at the same spot the first past of the year. Up north at Mavericks, Flea Virostko, a former XXL winner, caught a bomb there in the freezing water.

Santa Cruz’s Tyler Fox is in the running for riding a wave at another big-wave break called Ghost Trees near Pebble Beach.

Over in Europe, Ibon Amatriain caught some big ones, 40-feet-plus, at Playa Gris, Spain. That surf had traffic stopped for hours as onlookers tried to get a glimpse of the action.

In the $10,000 paddle-in division ? that’s using your arms to paddle the big 12-foot gun boards into the waves ? Grant Baker of South Africa, winner of the Mavs contest, has a possible winner, as do Garth Englehord of San Diego and Rusty Long of San Clemente.

Over in Hawaii on the North Shore, Jamie Sterling had some bombers at Waimea Bay, and down in Chile, Diego Medina had a super hugey at Punto Lobos.

In the $5,000 biggest barrel award, the Big Island’s Shane Dorian probably has the win in the bag, with a death-defying 25-foot-plus suck-out, super-deep barrel at Teahupoo.

Former world champ C.J Hobgood has a good one there, too. But Peter Mel got shacked on a giant right at Mavericks and has a shot as well.

In Tasmania, Laurie Towner survived a super-late drop to pull in another killer right at Shipstern Bluff.

Other awards include overall performance in men’s and women’s and, ouch, worst wipeout of the year.

Over in Australia at the four-star Margaret River Pro, the surf got as good as it gets, 8 to 12 feet with perfect shape. Old-school veteran Mark Occhilupo took the win.

Occy had to come from behind, as Jake Paterson, No. 13 in the world, was in the lead. But when both surfers went for the same wave ? wanting opposite directions ? and collided, Paterson received an interference call, dropping him to third.

South Africa’s Ricky Basnett came in second, and local ripper Tom Innes rounded out the top four. H.B.’s Timmy Reyes was ripping, winning a couple of tough heats but losing in the quarterfinals. And Brett Simpson, just off the win at the Vans Pro here in Surf City, lost in round five.

More rain, wind and storm swell arrived earlier in the week. Yours truly paddled out with big Chandler in those wishy-washy conditions and, wouldn’t ya know it, got some footage on the Channel 7 news.

The Western Surfing Assn.’s next event is at Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz this weekend. Cold water and fun surf’s been happening up there a lot this winter.

That’s it for now, Fig over and out.hbi-fignetti-CPhotoInfoLS1PKTE120060406gzcyauke (LA)