Results of the Billabong XXL Big wave awards

So you think your 6ft wave is big?  Been bragging about it with your friends?  It's time to face reality and eat some humble pie, because Billabong's XXL Big Wave Awards have been decided for 2010, and they'll make your biggest wave look like a gentle ripple in a pond..

On 24th April 2010 over in Anaheim, California, the gutsiest surfers in the world gathered together at the Billabong XXL Big Wave Awards to find out who had made the grade.  Over 1000 images had been sent to Billabong in the quest to find the biggest and baddest waves in the world from the past 12 months.

Billabong have been running the Big Wave awards for 10 years now and with every year that passes, the waves get crazier and bigger... and 2010 is no exception.  A panel of judges made up of surfers, industry experts, surf judges, magazine editors and surf writers decide on the winners for each of the categories and their choices certainly don't disappoint.

This year the event witnessed the setting of a new world record.  Californian Shawn Dollar paddled into a 55ft wave at the Mavericks Big Wave Contest, which in turn paddled him into the record books.

So here are the winners with their clips and pics from some of the most amazing rides from around the globe....

Ride of the Year:
Grant “Twiggy” Baker (South Africa)
Date: 13th February 2010
Location: Mavericks, Half Moon Bay, California (Pic below)