Big waves, XXL prizes

It was a night to remember at the Billabong XXL Big Wave Awards at the Grove Theatre in Anaheim Friday night.

Dozens of limos were parked outside and cameras were flashing as a star-studded field of spectators showed up.

Surf stars were hanging, like the nose-ride king from the 60s, David Nuuhiwa; off-the-wall tube specialist Shaun Tompson; former world champ “P.T.” Peter Townend; big-wave standouts Peter Mel and Darryl “Flea” Virostko; Surfing mag editor Evan Slater; Surfline guru Sean Collins and more.

There was a big screen in the center of the stage, and two smaller screens on the sides. When the show started, it was a collage of all the best big waves ridden by all the finalists at all the different breaks.

The crowd was hooting and hollering at some insane death-defying footage.

When the flick ended, it was time for the gold to get handed out, and Sal Masakela did the honors.

In the paddle-in category, South America’s Diego Medina won for a huge left at Punta Lobos in Chile. What’s gnarly about that one was the giant surf, with no jet skis ? meaning no water patrol for rescues either ? in freezin’ water.

The overall big-wave performance division was won by Hawaiian charger Jamie Sterling, who gave a humble speech.

In the women’s overall it was ? for the second year in a row ? Santa Cruz’s Jamilah Starr, who rode some bombs at Mavericks. She was quite happy about the outcome, holding her check above her head as she stood on stage in a dazzling red dress.

There was no doubt about the Monster tube ride: The shot of Shane Dorian at Teahupoo was all you needed to see, locked in on a macker and only one way out.

And that leads us up to H.B.’s former resident getting the biggest of the biggies this last year, calculated at 68 feet ? that’s a six-story building plus. At $1000 a foot, that’s a $68,000 check for Brad Gerlach.

Gerlach took the stage after getting high-fived by all his crew, wearing a green army helmet, a soldier of the big-wave attack. Gerr said that he was giving half of the money to his tow-in driver and partner, Mike “Snip” Parsons.

Parsons did the same when he won in 2001 with a 66-footer at the Cortez Bank when Gerlach was driving the ski.

He thanked and hugged Rob Brown, who took the photo and won $5,000. And Gerlach concluded his speech with a tribute to all the big-wave riders who have passed away: Jay Moriarity, Donnie Solomon, Mark Foo and, most recently, Dale Velzy.

Huntington deejay Mark Moreno kept it going for the after-party. Special thanks to Surf City’s Big Danny Dumalski from Billabong who showed some great hospitality.