Billabong XXL 2011 - 5 Nominees for Ride of the Year

I'd vote for Danilo (Jaws, second one) only because the Cloudbreak one could have been toe-in. Even if the first Shipsterns wasn't toe-in, everyone knows from videos that Shipstern is going to be a WonderFrankenShowzen where you've got many waves inside the wave, and you better know how to ollie a surfboard :)

Dave Scard's Cloudbreak barrel was definitely NOT a tow-in. That's what made it so amazing. It'd be cool if he won it because he's been such an underground charger and amazing tuberider for many, many years. Before seeing the other videos, I didn't even think anything could match it.

However, I think there should be a separation between "amazing" ride and "gnarly" ride. Scard's barrel was one of the most amazing barrel rides I've ever seen, tow in or not (and again, he paddled in). For a wave that big to spit twice, and have him be probably 30 feet back behind the falling lip at certain points was just ridiculous.

However, that wave was just so perfect that it wasn't really necessarily as "gnarly" as some of the others. Once he managed to get into the wave and set his line, the wave did all the "amazing" all on it's own. Scardy just had to keep his cool and not blow it. But I think all the other waves are potentially more scary. Agreed that Danilo ride at Jaws was just ridiculous. I wish there was a better close up of Healy's wave.

All four of the other waves scared the shit out of me, whereas I was just basically in awe of Scard's wave. I guess it really depends on the judge's definition.

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Kenney, with regard to skill/recovery/insaneness etc. in the beginning, at the end of Scardi's take off, you can see him scootch a few times, so I wouldn't say the wave did just about everything :)
Those little adjustments in the beginning made it possible for the wave to do its thing, but without those adjustments on his part, he'd probably have been buried under a section and then watching the ensuing perfection pass him by :)

Piss, in no way am I trying to discount Scard's ride. I saw that ride shortly after it happened, and I thought there's no way in hell that anything will ever rival that. That may be the best pure tube ride I've ever seen. It's like a Desert Point tube on multiple cycles of steroids. Dave is a fantastic tubrider and a cool guy, and he deserves all the accolades.

I'm just saying that wave was probably the most PERFECT wave we see out of the 5 on video. It was up to Dave to ride the wave and maximize it's perfection, which did to the absolute fullest potential. I think all the other wave have a bit more of an element of "extreme" to them, but I doubt I'd trade the view Dave got and the feeling that's probably still tingling his feet for anything in the world.

I vote for Danilo. His takeoff has that freefall in it and the conditions are clearly almost impossible with the very strong offshore wind blowing the board up, but somehow he manages to keep it together. Add that he paddled in and his wave looks to be bigger than the rest. Sick!

I think Danilo or Healey this year...but that Shippies wave was nutz

Amazing double recovery by Danny Danilo. Very impressive example of being "commited" and how it can end up saving you.