A Big Wave Rebel Tour Is Brewing

It’s been six years since the world has seen a true big wave paddle champion. 

The landscape of big wave surfing has shifted dramatically in that time, with surfers focusing more on personal branding and short-form content. Guys like Nathan Florence, Kai Lenny and Koa Rothman have turned to YouTube and personal projects to drive their careers, as opposed to relying on endemic sponsors and contest earnings to keep them afloat. 

After the original Big Wave World Tour started in 2009, five champions were crowned before the WSL took the tour under its wing to sanction events in 2014. The WSL continued to run a tour of varying sizes until 2018 when the financial output for multiple events became unsustainable. 

“As an organizer, we knew how hard it was to get everyone there and get everyone involved and have it succeed,” says Peter Mel, former WSL Big Wave World Tour Commissioner, “So when we pulled it off, it was sick. But again, it was an immense amount of work.”

Lengthy waiting periods and higher possibilities of events not running scared off sponsors. The tour eventually became too much to carry on. “The WSL just kind of slowly pulled the plug,” says Mel. “It was definitely a stressful situation to be in and it was heartbreaking.”

But the wait is almost over. In 2025, the surfing world will have its paddle champion once again. The recently announced Big Wave Alliance (BWA) brings together the world’s best big wave paddle events, culminating in a final competition, which will rotate to a different spot every year, to crown a new Big Wave World Champion.

This new organization is the brainchild of Gary Linden, the founder of the previous Big Wave World Tour (BWWT) and former ASP tour president. He’s working closely with Freddy Olander, a fellow big wave surfer and organizer of the Nazaré competition to make it happen.

“Sporting activity isn’t considered a real sport without a champion,” Linden says. “I want big wave riding to be recognized as a sport, and we need a champion.”

The last champions crowned by the old WSL BWWT were South African Grant ‘Twiggy’ Baker and Hawaiian Keala Kennelly in 2018. But Linden’s vision extends beyond just crowning a winner. “We need to create a platform for young surfers to build careers, develop reputations, and attract sponsorships,” Linden explains. “Contests are the best way to showcase their abilities.”

In the previous Big Wave World Tour, champions were determined through a format similar to the WSL’s pre-Finals days, with a collection of points based on contest results leading to a winner. However, the BWA will operate under a slightly different structure.

Instead of creating a singular governing body to run multiple international events on a tour, Linden and Olander devised a strategy to get things moving more efficiently. “We started with the idea of a ‘big wave league,’” Olander says, “but the more we worked on it, the more it made sense to create an alliance.”

Thus, they developed a plan to unite currently sustainable big wave paddle events, allowing them to send their top surfers to a final championship event. This event, which will rotate locations annually, will feature men’s semifinals and finals, as well as a women’s final to crown the big wave world champions.

However, the term “Big Wave World Champion” remains under the control of the WSL. But Linden doesn’t see that as an issue. “I gave that title to the WSL,” Linden says of his initial deal for the BWWT to become part of the governing body, “So we will have the Big Wave Alliance World Champion. Like in boxing, there are many world champions.”

With six events currently signed on for the alliance, the top men and women will earn a spot in a final event, held in a rotating location each year. Each event will have the opportunity to bring the final to their home break based on timing and availability. 

The BWA kicks off its inaugural season this year with the Santos del Mar event in Chile, which began its waiting period in July and will run through October. The Nazaré Big Wave Journey, Punta Galea Challenge, and La Vaca Gigante all have waiting periods over the 2024-2025 northern hemisphere winter. The Thriller at Killers, held at Todos Santos, is slated to run between January and February 2025, with the CBSurf Big Wave Mormaii at Praia do Cardoso, Brazil, being held later in 2025

Linden says that one of these later events, likely Praia do Cardoso, will be chosen to hold the final contest that determines our world champions — however nothing is confirmed at this time.

“Every event does their own thing, they judge it the way they want to,” Linden says. “All they do is pick a champion, and their champion gets to compete in the world championship event.”

A couple premier big wave spots are absent from the calendar, but not without good reason. “With Mavericks, I know the permits were 50 to 100 percent harder to work through,” Mel says, “my own friendships were affected trying to run that event.”

Word is that the WSL has foregone holding the Jaws event this year. Per the Woz:

“We regret to share that this season’s Pe‘ahi Big Wave event will not take place. The WSL was not granted the land license necessary to operate the event, making it impossible to move forward at Pe‘ahi for the 2024-5 season.”

When asked about the possibility of adding other big-name waves to the calendar, Linden is confident. “The Big Wave Alliance was created to link the existing big wave events together. The addition of more events that will represent all of the world’s premiere big wave surf spots is a goal,” says Linden, “There are 12 spots open for the final event and currently we have six events so that leaves 6 spots open for wildcard selection to accommodate standout surfers from spots that currently do not have events in place.”

Linden lists waves like Jaws, Mavericks and Dungeons and more all as possibilities for wildcard standouts. “Right now Mavericks has a video competition so that might be the best way for them to produce a wildcard,” Linden says. “We want to support these events sustainably.”

Olander is optimistic about the sport’s growth. “It will grow when people see it working,” Olander says about adding potential events. “Gary’s already working on the next wave. He’s really trying to make this work.”

Mel thinks the momentum will be good for the surfers as well. “I’m an advocate of anything now really,” Mel says, “any kind of a pathway for somebody to actually aspire to, because at the moment, there’s nothing to aspire to.”

In addition to organizing the Nazaré competition and spending time in the water, Olander is also getting the BWA website up and running, with Shannon Quirk assisting with communications. They’re creating a centralized hub for all alliance information, including results and event details.

“I’m working on the website every day,” Olander says. “We want it ready to go because now it’s really happening.” The excitement in Olander’s voice is palpable, and Linden shares the same enthusiasm. “You know, it’s a small team,” he says. “I’m not recruiting anybody; this just happened organically.”

Let’s be clear though. At the end of the day Linden is driven by his own passion. “I don’t feel a responsibility to anyone but me,” he says, “it’s a goal I have to see this to fruition and take it to the level we previously tried to.”

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