Mick Corbett won the "Ride of The Year" at the 2015/2016 Surfing Life's Oakley Big Wave Awards. The award ceremony took place in Sydney, Australia.
What do you exactly need to claim Australia's big wave ride of the year decoration? The Western Australian has the answer for you because he rode a beast wave at The Right, in his home state. Corbett took home kudos and $20,000 check.
"The high you get from surfing these waves, there's nothing like it! Just going down there, the adventure of it all, it's incredible. You start getting nervous because you know it's going to be big. Then you watch the first wave, and you're still pretty nervous, but then you get one, and it's like, 'get me back out there I want another one!'," explained Corbett.
"This wave, in particular, Jarryd turned around to me and said, 'don't even look at it, it's big!' So I didn't really look at the wave as I was being towed in. I just looked down the line and tried to put myself in a perfect position. I didn't know what was going on behind me; I was just trying to position myself to get barreled."
Zac Haynes, also from Western Australia, took the second best "Ride Of The Year" for a competent performance at Cow Bombie. He won the "Biggest Paddle-In of the Year" award.
Justin Holland, a surfer from Northern New South Wales, rode the "Biggest Wave of the Year," also at Cow Bombie. However, this ended up being an exceptionally painful experience for Holland - he broke his femur.
"I had always wanted to surf Cow Bombie, so I was stoked to finally have things fall into place and chase it with my good friend, and fellow finalist, Jamie Mitchell. He towed me into six or eight waves before my entry, which was definitely bigger than any of the others I caught that day," said Haynes.
"I felt comfortable as I got to the bottom. But I was definitely wondering where the lip was, and knew that I needed to power up and get out of there fast. It was at that moment that the lip hit me. I heard this amazing noise, this explosion behind me and instantly I felt my leg snap. The pain hit me so hard and so fast, but at the same time I was under the water getting destroyed! I pulled my inflatable vest, which took me straight up, thankfully."
The "Viewer's Choice" award went to Heath Joske, from Valla Beach. He caught a perfect right-hander somewhere in Southern Australia.
2015/2016 Surfing Life's Oakley Big Wave Awards | Results
Ride of the Year:
1. Mick Corbett
2. Zac Haynes
3. Justin Holland
Biggest Slab: Mick Corbet
Biggest Paddle-In: Zac Haynes
Biggest Wave: Justin Holland
Viewer's Choice: Heath Joske