search

GRANT TWIGGY BAKER WINS RED BULL BIG WAVE AFRICA

SurferMag.com Exclusive Interview with Grant "Twiggy" Baker
by Brendon Bosworth

Grant, you’ve surfed a fair bit of Dungeons in your time. You’ve ridden some mean waves all over the world. How would you rate this session?

In my semi-finals I said to the guys, “This is definitely the best Dungeons I’ve ever paddled into.” It felt really big. It’s hard to judge size once it gets to the 20-foot realm, especially when you’re paddling, but it felt really big. When you got to the bottom of one you knew “whoa, ok, that was a big one.” You can actually feel it: your speed keeps increasing as the waves get bigger. James [Taylor] and I rode one in the semis that felt like a really massive wave. It’s pretty much as good as Dungeons gets, honestly. At that size it’s normally a lot messier and you have to start towing. So for us to be able to catch waves when it’s that big, well that means it’s good Dungeons.

For people who haven’t surfed Dungeons or seen it in the flesh, how would you describe it? How does it rate as an international big wave spot?

Dungeons is one of the top three big wave paddle waves in the world. I think everyone will agree to that after what went down today. Mavericks is obviously a very special wave: it’s a lot more uniform and kind of a little bit easier to catch, but it’s super heavy. Dungeons is a lot harder to catch, but the wave itself is not as heavy as at Mavs. The whole overview of Dungeons is so radical: there’s the seal island, you know we keep seeing what we think are shark fins, but then it’s just sun fish. From that point of view it’s heavy! Also, at Dungeons you get caught inside. Getting mowed down by 25-foot waves is no fun for anyone. That’s what makes Dungeons just as heavy as Mavericks and just as heavy as Waimea Bay. It’s got different aspects that are super heavy, but it’s up there, it’s a major player on the world stage.

What was your most critical moment out there today?

It was in my first heat when I got caught inside by a solid 25-foot plus wave. Then I got two more on the head after that, right in the impact zone. I was under water for a long time; it felt like two waves.

SCDIR onlineexclusives SCNAME NEWS SSCDIR SSCNAME -->

Subscribe to Surfer Magazine