GRANT TWIGGY BAKER WINS RED BULL BIG WAVE AFRICA
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: Twiggy Takes Red Bull Big Wave Africa
It's always tough to put big wave surfing into perspective when you’re not blessed with balls the size of cantaloupes. When your frame of reference only stretches to the ten-foot mark, at a push, it’s impossible for your mind to process the stimuli. Fifteen-foot, twenty-foot, thirty-foot... The numbers take on an abstruseness that exists in the periphery of the non-participant’s understanding.
That’s why watching an event like the Red Bull Big Wave Africa is like watching a crazy anime flick. One where all the heroes die in the end. When you see Mark Healey, the newcomer who’s been charging with reckless abandon, in suspended animation, board clear out of the water, floating on a pocket of air, framed by the slate gray arc of a pitching dragon, you want to believe it’s the whim of a twisted cartoonist. When you see him get utterly obliterated at the bottom and expect him to emerge as an amorphous puddle of human tissue, melting into the torn, glass remains of the gun he borrowed from Jamie Sterling, that’s when you start to wonder, is it like dropping an aquatic Acme anvil on his head?
And when your lower mandible starts tickling your ankles as you see Greg Long drawing a high line, quietly mapping his way through what he will later call the “the biggest barrel I’ve ever ridden in my life by far,” you start to understand how absurd it all is. How, like quantum physics, you’ll never fully appreciate the power and the beauty, unless you truly understand.
Speak to king Twiggy after he’s stepped off the podium, after seeing him dwarfed by those frightening faces, listen to the clamor of his voice as he says, “Getting mowed down by 25-foot waves is no fun for anyone.” You can practically hear his pulse forcing the words to reverberate. Ask local sasquatch-hunter, Mike Schlebach, about having his arm ripped out if its socket, or speak to Jason Ribbink about getting the daylights knocked out of him by a raging mass of water.
Listen to Greg Long recounting his trip through the Alpestrine depths of his hell barrel, hear him say, “That was probably the best wave of my life. I’ve ridden bigger waves and paddled into later, steeper drops, but it’s not everyday you find a barrel like that on however big a wave that was. It felt like it was probably close to 20-feet when I was dropping in.”
That’s when it clicks: these characters are blood and bone. Nothing fictitious about them; just a crew of surfers who allow themselves to access a realm few of us even want to acknowledge.
DRAGON BITS AND PIECES
Location: Dungeons Reef, Hout Bay, Cape Town, South Africa
Occupational Hazards: Sharks, shifting rogue sets.
Winner: Grant “Twiggy” Baker
Dragon Slayer Extraordinaire: Greg Long, the Pit Monster
Breakages: An estimated 30 boards were snapped like cheap plastic spoons during Friday’s practice session and Saturday’s main event
Emergency Ward Victims:
Jason Ribbink (concussed)
Mike Schlebach (dislocated shoulder)
Mark Healy (perforated ear drum and possible rib injury)
Quotes “I have no hesitation is saying that these are probably the biggest waves we’ve paddled into in a big wave event that I’ve taken part in. Mavericks, the year Twiggy won, was probably comparable, but today there were waves that were pushing the realm of paddle surfing. - Greg Long
“I didn’t fly three days to pull back.” - Mark Healey
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READER COMMENTS
Fri Oct24, 2008, 8:58 AM
It's lame when surfers, especially magazines, compare every single break that is firing huge, hollow and clean to Pipeline. It's a cliche that needs to be silenced. There are probably 10 other waves that would be a better comparison (Newport Beach?). That being said, these are beautiful waves for a beautiful stretch of sand and these guys had to be stoked. Would've loved to be there.
Sun Oct26, 2008, 12:40 AM
It's a great comparison. For anyone who has surfed Pipe. It is a great wave that is a benchmark for sure. But I doubt it was that good. Pipe is unreal.
Sun Oct26, 2008, 2:30 PM
aahhhhh hahahahahahaha, Newport beach, ahahahahaha
Mon Oct27, 2008, 1:13 PM
That's hatty at it's best, cant be compared to anythign else but sick dumping barrels. nobody can appreciate it like we do
Tue Oct28, 2008, 2:37 AM
the fact that you would say newps is a better comparison to pipe than a fatty hatty kegger is just retarded. You obviously haven't surfed the place but just check the pics or even videos. I've surfed newport on its biggest and best days and it was no where near as gnarly as the times I've scored OBX in the late fall. Some of these breaks are in fact very comparable to the power of the waves at pipe even though their shape and attitudes are way different.
Thu Oct30, 2008, 12:13 AM
I've surfed Rodanthe dozens and dozens of times over 3 decades. Pipe several times in the 80's. Rodanthe is a fickle, small-to-medium sized beachbreak wave that can get good from time to time. Pipe is a hollow reef break that is one of the hairiest and most dangerous in the world. Rodanthe is Southern. Pipe is Polynesian. There is no comparison. However, NC surfers can hold their own anywhere.
Thu Nov 6, 2008, 8:15 PM
I surf OBX year round, most of the time Nags Head. Rodanthe will have waves when nowhere else will. West coast has nice waves but we don't have to worry about getting cut up on coral or rocks (or great whites for that matter). We have good waves that are easy to catch and not a crisis if we wipe out. When you are as old as I am, giant shore type break waves don't interest you that much anyway. President, Old Farts Surf Club.