Jarryd Foster, Mark Visser, Chris Ross and Justen Allport have stolen Surfing Life's Oakley Big Wave Awards 2015.
The finest big wave riders in Australia were crowned in the "Biggest Wave," "Biggest Paddle-In," "Biggest Slab" and "Viewer's Choice Award."
Foster won the most coveted award for an epic ride at Cow Bombie. The Western Australian surfer walked away with the $20,000 winner's cheque.
"I was back in Western Australia for work for a really short period of time when this swell popped up. It was the biggest I had seen out at Cow Bombie and definitely the cleanest it gets at this size. I had to scramble to borrow a wetsuit and borrow some boards and luckily for me I got towed into this wave, on all borrowed gear, and it’s turned out to be the biggest!" expressed Jarryd Foster.
Mark Visser conquered the "Biggest Paddle-In" division. The big wave experimentalist from Kawana, Sunshine Coast, missed the big swell that delivered Jarryd's winning ride, but he eventually returned to the shark-infested waters.
"On this wave, I thought I was too deep, but I saw the line I wanted to take and just went anyway. My fins only just held in, and I barely bottom-turned around the mass of whitewater, but I made it and ended up pulling off next to Jamie in the channel who was riding the wave as well," Visser told our friends at Surfing Life.
Chris Ross caught the "Biggest Slab" at The Right, a spot that can easily send the most experienced surfer to the dangerous floor.
"If you fall off in the wrong spot at The Right you can go over the ledge and it can pull you down thirty feet or more, bust your ear drums and you might not know how to get back to the surface. The lip could seriously tear your head off out there," concluded Ross.