This Saturday, history will be written once again in big wave surfing with the holding of another edition of the Big Wave Awards, an event that previously belonged to Billabong and was purchased by the WSL in 2014.

Latin America has a very special relationship with this event. In 2006, for example, Chilean Diego Medina won the prize for the largest paddle wave in a historic achievement. Punta de Lobos, which is now a world surfing reserve, presented itself to the world with its waves and its surfers: Diego himself and his friends Ramón and Merello.

That, of course, was not the only encounter between Hispanics and these awards.

In 2010, a few months after Ramón Navarro surfed one of the most incredible waves in the history of Eddie Aikau (and in the history of surfing as a whole), a new edition was held. With the changed format, Navarro was nominated for the ride of the year.

You had to be there at that moment, that surf was so epic that many had Navarro as the winner before the night even began.

The winners were mentioned from fifth place to first. It was key when Shane Dorian was mentioned in third place. The Hawaiian had taken a huge tube at Mavericks and his wave somehow tickled Ramón's. When receiving the award, Dorian said something like: “It's good that Ramón wins, he deserves it, his wave was huge.”

Moments later, the winner is announced: Twiggy Baker. The South African's wave was a bomb, but it was completely off the radar.

The confusion in the hall of the Grove Theater in Anaheim was felt with silence and muted applause.

Ramon's bomb:

Twiggy's bombshell:

Five years later
Peruvian Gabriel Villarán had surfed a disgusting bomb in the swell of the century in Puerto Rico. It was a day that raised the level of what was possible, and he found a way out in disbelief.

He was a clear favourite, but a late drop followed by a barrelling by Shane Dorian. Villaran's wave was bigger and heavier, less perfect, more difficult to surf. It was a close call, but once again it didn't go south.

Regarding this, Ramón Navarro told DUKE: “I thought Gabriel should have won by a long shot, but we come back to the same thing, it is a more political issue” and explained: “Billabong has pushed its riders for many years and if it needed a little push, I imagine it would go their way.”

Referring to his wave and the situation described above, Ramon recalled: “I had high hopes of winning, but I knew that Billabong riders are important,” and added: “The result was very close, I received an equal prize. According to Twiggy I was going to win and I had high hopes of winning.

And the South African was quick to respond, Ramón said that Baker “offered him a chance to share the prize because it was so close between first and second place.”

“It was a great triumph for me anyway,” added the Chilean, who recalls the wave and says it was the best wave of his life, along with the tube he got at Cloudbreak in 2012. “It was the one that changed my career by far,” he said.

Gabriel Villaran's bomb:

 

Shane Dorian's bombshell: