Dec. 19, 2006 — Stormy weather all over the planet has caused a surge in the number of giant waves in 2006 — perhaps a taste of what the surf could be like in a warmer world.
This year's remarkable waves began appearing in July in the winter-time seas of the Southern Hemisphere, where mega-wave surfers caught behemoths taller than five stories high off the coast of western Africa, western Australia and Tahiti. That's in all three southern oceans.
"These are by far the largest waves ever ridden in the Southern Hemisphere in the history of mankind," said Bill Sharp, a surfer and spokesman for the Billabong XXL Global Big Waves Awards surf riding competition.
Billabong XXL awards surfers every year for the largest waves ridden worldwide — based on photographic evidence of the rides.
"I don't know what it was," said Sharp of the surf surge, "but there has to be something going on."
Such large waves certainly must have existed in other years in the Southern Hemisphere, he said, but "they were like trees falling in a forest with no one to hear them."
In recent weeks the monster wave action has shifted to the Northern Hemisphere, where powerful storms in both the North Atlantic and North Pacific have kicked up some remarkable fifty-plus-footers.
Oversized surf made surprise appearances in places like France's Bay of Biscay, Spain's Playa Gris and from Oregon to the west coast of Mexico. Rides by several surfers in those areas are contending for the biggest wave of the April-to-March contest season, said Sharp.
Photos and videos of the contenders are available for viewing at http://xxl.billabong.com.
The largest verified wave ever ridden was a 70-footer by Pete Cabrinha of Maui, in 2004. Oddly enough, Hawaii — where big-wave surfing was pioneered — is one of the places big waves have been absent this year.
