Twiggy nominated for 2020 Red Bull Big Wave Award
Winners will be announced on 10 August at 3pm on WSL World Surf Weekly.
DURBAN big wave surfer, Grant ‘Twiggy’ Baker has been announced as one of the World Surf League (WSL) nominees for the 2020 Red Bull Big Wave Awards (BWA).
Celebrating its 20th anniversary, this year’s Big Wave Awards will honour the best in big wave surfing from the past 12 months.
Over the next five weeks, the 2020 BWA will present awards for men’s and women’s divisions across four categories: Ride of the Year, cbdMD XXL Biggest Wave, Paddle Award, and Overall Performer of the Year.
The BWA will also honour the Wipeout of the Year winner as voted by fans in the BWA’s first fan-voted category.
Three-times Big Wave World Champion, Baker, was nominated for Best Overall Performance alongside some of the biggest names in big wave surfing.Winners will be announced on 10 August at 3pm on WSL World Surf Weekly.
The Overall Performer of the Year Awards acknowledge the top-performing male and female surfers over the course of the last 12 months (ending 20 March) based on every ride captured on video or still images.
As a veteran of the sport, Twiggy, as he is affectionately known, still gets excited when there’s a big swell on the horizon.
“I love surfing and I especially love riding bigger waves so I see it as a life long passion, rather than just a passing phase. This makes it easy to get excited when the swell is big and it’s time to perform. I’m so fortunate to have the means to travel around the world and put myself in the position to catch some big waves and I’m grateful for every swell I get to surf.”
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The 47-year-old has plenty of experience under his belt and years over some of his fellow competitors, but it’s exciting to see a younger generation of big wave surfers lighting up the lineup.
“There are so many good youngsters under the age of 30 blowing up right now and to single a few out is difficult, but I would say they are being led by the Hawaiian crew of Kai Lenny and Nathan Florence, Lucas Chianca from Brazil, Russell Bierke from Australia and Nic Von Rupp from Portugal. These guys are all amazingly talented big wave surfers.”
There is a strong community of big wave surfers in South Africa, but when will we see another of Baker’s calibre compete on the world stage?
“It’s all set up for our young guys to take on the world. We have access in South Africa to the best equipment, mentors and big waves on the planet and the timing of each season means we can start at home and catch a few 20ft+ waves without much cost and effort. If we have a good season at home, then again it’s pretty cheap and easy to get up to Europe to catch a few more big waves up there in the early winter season. When you have some good rides under your belt, bite the bullet and head over to California and Hawaii to close the year out strong and try get into the WSL Top 10 Performers of the year. About eight, good 20ft+ waves will get you into the Jaws event and then it’s a matter of performing on that stage, to start up your career,” explains Baker.
The annual BWAs validate the Guinness World Records and all entries have the potential to break the current world records.
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