Robert Kelly Slater is an American professional surfer, author, actor, model, environmental activist, businessman, and innovator, most well known for his unprecedented 11 world surfing championships.
Patrick Shane Dorian, or "Shane", is an American surfer from Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. He spent 11 years touring on the World Championship Tour as a professional surfer. Dorian quit competition surfing in 2003 to focus on big waves. He is currently a big wave surfer and one of the best in the world at big wave riding.
Malik Joyeux was an accomplished all-around waterman and a professional Big Wave surfer. Known by many as the "petit prince", the goofy-foot surfer often gained attention for charging the treacherous barrels at Teahupoo, Tahiti. He was credited in 2003 with the Billabong XXL Tube of the Year for riding one of the largest waves ever to be surfed in history.
Cortes Bank is a shallow seamount in the North Pacific Ocean. It is 96 miles southwest of San Pedro, Los Angeles, 111 miles west of Point Loma San Diego, United States, and 47 miles south-west of San Clemente Island in Los Angeles County. It is considered the outermost feature in California's Channel Islands chain. At various times during geologic history, the bank has been an island, depending on sea level rise and fall. The last time it was a substantial island was around 10,000 years ago during the last ice age. It is possible that this island was visited by the first human inhabitants of the Channel Islands, most notably San Clemente Island, whose seafaring residents would have been able to see the island from high elevations on clear days.
Billabong Pro Teahupoo is a professional surfing competition of the ASP World Tour held at the break Teahupo'o in Taiarapu, Tahiti. The Billabong Pro Teahupoo was first founded in 1999, and ever since has been recognized as "one of the world's heaviest big wave competitions". This is because Teahupoo is the only known natural wave break in the world that breaks below sea level. It is also "renowned for being the deadliest competition associated with surfing to this present date". The Billabong Pro Teahupoo has not claimed any human lives since the founding of the surfing event in 1999, but the wave has claimed lives over the years.
Peʻahi is a place on the north shore of the island of Maui in the U.S. state of Hawaii. It has lent its name to a big wave surfing break, also known as Jaws.
Keala Kennelly is a professional surfer, DJ, and actress from Kauai, Hawaii. After spending a decade ranked in the top 10 on the ASP World Championship Tour (WCT), Kennelly took a break from the tour in 2007 to explore her passions for acting and music. She is now pursuing careers as a DJ and actress while continuing her surfing career as a big wave surfer, and had a recurring role in the 2007 series John from Cincinnati.
Grant "Twiggy" Baker is a South African professional surfer. He is a 2-time winner of the Body Glove Mavericks Invitational.
Rochelle Ballard is an American professional surfer and a veteran of the Association of Surfing Professional’s (ASP) World Championship Tour. Due to her natural and skilled barrel riding technique, she is considered the best female barrel rider in the world. Through her passion, courage and skill, Rochelle has been a pioneer for the advancement of Women's surfing over the past two decades. Ballard's mastery of big waves and support of women's surfing, rank her among surfing history's most elite. She also co-founded International Women's Surfing (IWS) and has appeared in several movies and television shows, most notably Blue Crush,Step Into Liquid, and Beyond the Break. In 2012, she became the ISA World Masters World Champion. During her years on tour, Ballard won 7 world championship events and in 2004, she was runner-up to the World Championship title. In 1997, at the Billabong Pro at Burleigh Heads, Gold Coast, Australia, Rochelle scored two perfect 10 barrel rides against Layne Beachley in the semifinals and went on to win the event, after beating Lisa Anderson in the finals. To this day, Ballard still holds the women's world record for scoring two perfect 10s in a single heat.
Mike Parsons is an American professional surfer and surfing coach.
Makaukai (Makua) Rothman is an American big wave rider, professional surfer and musician. On February 28, 2015, he was crowned the 2015 Big Wave World Champion in the World Surf League's (WSL) first sanctioned Big Wave World Tour (BWWT).
Surfing first started in the Portuguese island of Madeira in the 1970s off the villages of Paul do Mar, Jardim do Mar and Ponta Pequena. Almost every surfspot is rocky and powerful. No waves seem to break under six feet in the winter months. Madeira did not really come to the attention of foreign surfers until articles in surfing magazines in the mid-1990s. Since 1996, top Portuguese surfers from the mainland compete in the Madeira regional edition of the 'Billabong' Challenge.
Maya Reis Gabeira is a Brazilian big wave surfer.
Dr. Easkey Britton, Ph.D is an Irish surfer from County Donegal with a doctorate in Environment and Society, University of Ulster.
Greg Long is an American surfer from San Clemente, California. He has won the Quiksilver Big Wave Invitational, in memory of Eddie Aikau at Waimea Bay, the Red Bull Titans of Mavericks event held at Mavericks in Northern CA, and the Red Bull Big Wave Africa event held at Dungeons in Hout Bay, South Africa. Additionally, he is the most decorated surfer in the Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards. He is widely regarded as one of the best big wave surfers in the world.
Jeff Rowley is a professional big wave surfer from Torquay, Victoria, Australia. On 4 January 2012, he was the first Australian to paddle into a 50-foot plus wave at Jaws Peahi, Hawaii. Rowley placed 4th in the world at the 2012 Billabong XXL Big Wave Awards.
Cowaramup Bombora is a big wave open-ocean surf break found on the south-west coast of Western Australia. It is located 2 kilometres offshore west of Gracetown which is near the town of Margaret River, world-renowned for its surf, and is 265 km south of the capital city Perth.
The earliest recorded incidence of women's surfing concerns the mythical Kelea. Kelea was born of royalty in Maui, it is believed she out-surfed riders of both genders. A few centuries years pass until the mid-late 1800s, when Thrum’s Hawaiian Annual reported that women in ancient Hawaii surfed in equal numbers and frequently better than men. Women's surfing in Australia has a popular following amongst female participants.
Will Skudin is a native of Long Beach, NY and a professional surfer. Skudin is a third-generation surfer and along with his brother, Cliff, is the co-founder of Skudin Surf and Surf for All, a nonprofit organization.
