Billabong XXL goes Irish via Cortes Bank
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In no way does this photo do it justice, but this is Vincent Lartizen of Hossegor giving notice of his entry into the Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards. To see Belharra Reef in its true, jaw-dropping proportions go to the Biggest Wave section on the Awards website.
There are some beauties here, not least the more recent entries from the swells encountered from Ireland to Mexico in January. Yes, Ireland. The big wave scene has been bubbling under for a while in the British Isles, but this is the first time British riders have been nominated for the XXL Awards. Alistair Mennie and Duncan Scott are in the Ride of the Year category for their feats at Mullaghore Head, County Donegal.
Here's some more action from Irish waters...
Cortes Bank has also thrown up some giant faces this year, so big that experienced riders are claiming not to have seen or ridden bigger. Mike Parsons knows Cortes as well as anyone and is convinced 100ft plus wave rides are only a matter of time. Being 100 miles offshore makes this a perilous spot and the window of opportunity small, hence this was the first successful trip there in over 2 years.
The Awards in April this year promise to break records, so the competition is heavy. The XXL prize purse is $120,000 across the various categories, if your cohones are big enough.
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Billabong XXL goes Irish via Cortes Bank (text) by Steph Pomphrey is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
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