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Posted on Friday October 5th 2012 at 12:57 p.m.
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The half-way point of the year long waiting period for Surfing Life's Oakley Big Wave Awards has just passed and stunning entries have begun to flow into Surfing Life HQ.
Once again, the judging panel are being blown away by entries from big wave chargers - both underground Australians and international big wave superstars - who continue to push the boundaries of big surfing year in year out.
With the constant hype surrounding jetski assisted tow-in rides, it's refreshing to see a ginormous Paddle-In entry from a top-secret location in the Deep South of Australia.
California's superstar, defending Eddie Aikau champion Greg Long, was escorted by Australian underground surfing royalty - father and son duo Jeff and Josiah Schmucker - to a deep, dark patch of reef, hardly ever surfed before.
What they found at the end of the road was huge, perfect walls of water, delivering one of the largest Paddle-In contenders the competition has ever seen.
"This place isn't for the faint of heart," explains Greg Long.
"To get there, Twiggy (South African buddy Grant ‘Twiggy' Baker) and I had a gruelling overnight drive, swerving around kangaroos, and the wave itself breaks two miles out to sea amidst a haven for Great White sharks."
Twiggy confirmed this shark impression: "On my last wave, all I wanted to do was get back to the boat. By this stage, the sun had set and the water had gone that deep blue/black colour that just screams Great White feeding time. I was ready to go on anything to get the hell out of there! A week after we were there, Jeff Schmucker was filming a small day at the local town's beach break and someone got eaten!"
However, amongst the threats and fear that come with huge, open ocean swells, and the creatures that lurk beneath them, Greg Long managed to stroke into a beast of a wave, leaving him staring down the line at a finalists position come January 26, 2013.
There are still four months remaining in the waiting period for surfers to step up and lay claim to the massive $30,000 in prize money and the prestige that comes with tackling the biggest waves (and perhaps sharks!) that Mother Nature throws at them.
Last years winners....