Q&A with Grant Twiggy Baker

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The wipeout nomination looks sick in all the wrong ways. It looked like you slipped at the bottom as the wave was rebuilding onto an inside slab. Next thing we see you getting sucked BACKWARDS and over the falls. Ouch! Can you talk us through it. How does it rate compared to other heavy wipes you’ve had?

Jaws is a heavy wave and I got taught a lesson out there this year. Greg and I went with a bit of an attitude that we where invincible after all the big waves we had been paddling on the USA mainland and each had the worst wipe-out of our lives. 60ft Peha’i is a totally different animal and we were not prepared for it, but it woke us up and put everything into perspective for the rest of the winter, so it was bad at the time but in the end good for us as well. I think we were lucky to get away without a bad injury.

There are a lot of images of you up on the XXL site, at all the usual suspect big wave locations. Jaws, Mavs, Dungeons. What stood out for you as the session of the year and why?

The Mavericks and Eddie contest where amazing because they both took place during a run of swell that lasted a few days. Almost all the nominations this year are from during these days and you could almost see the level of big wave surfing jump at each event. The session at Dungeons was also something special and to me was still the highlight of my year.

Getting barreled at a big wave spot, like Mavs or Dungeons seems way trickier than at a classic tube wave like Chopes, do you think that consideration will affect the judging in this year’s Monster Tube category.

You never know how the judging is going to go but by looking at the nominations for all categories it seems that paddle surfing has regained its place as the prestigious way to ride big waves. Hopefully this will carry over into the main prizes and most of them will go to the paddle surfers. Not to say that Raimana’s wave is not absolutely insane, I have surfed Chope’s and it’s such a heavy wave, I couldn’t imagine surfing is that big and that deep.

The New Pier is 2-3ft and a bit side-shore. Do you surf or go home and play tv games?

I love surfing any size waves but only if they are of a good quality, onshore slop is not for me these days. But I love to kite so if the wind is up I’ll do that otherwise I’ll go swim the pool or play soccer with the boys. I have no idea how to play TV games…ha ha

There were a lot more of the home crew overseas this year. As a pioneer who has been charging sometimes solo or with very few Saffas, how was that for you?

It was great to see the boys give it a go in the North and I was very proud to see the young Saffas squaring up to Mavericks. Chris winning at Mavericks is a direct result of all the work that has been done in Cape Town over the past 10 years to take Big Wave Surfing to the next level and his victory is testament to South Africa as a Big Wave power house. On the other hand it was quite difficult to approach surfing Mavericks with 10 other Saffas, which to me is disrespectful to the locals and the wave but in the end we took turns on sessions and timing and we were well received.

Who is your biggest inspiration in big wave surfing?

Internationally Greg Long and Mark Healy are the guys really pushing it at the moment and locally I have always loved to watch Andrew Marr’s and Mickey Duffus approach to surfing in Cape Town.

What was your biggest wave of the year?

My biggest wave was at Jaws on Christmas Day and my biggest paddle wave was at Mavericks in the Semis of the contest but it was very close in size to a wave I had at Dungeons in July and Waimea in December.

What was the scariest moment you had this past year?

I had a surf at Mavericks just before I came home in March that was solid 25ft with strong onshores and I shat myself, Andrew was out there with three other guys and it just felt wrong that day.

Do you have any thoughts about the big wave world tour and its future?

I think it’s amazing for the sport and a tool to bring the young guys into big wave surfing . I don’t know how many events I have left in me and I want to see a young South African take my place when I decide to call it quits.

What’s next for Twiggy? Where to from here? Any new interesting locations in mind?

Just stoked on the upcoming season in South Africa and seeing what the Cape guys have up their sleeves, they are pushing it on a world level right now and I have a feeling this season is going to be fucking crazy down there!!

Any last words?

Yes, Life is good and life is fun but it’s not that way for everyone….. Help save the orphans of South Africa http://www.liv-village.com/files/LIV%20Pledge%20Form%20-%20FINAL.pd