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Big waves are Jamie Sterling's life. It's what he does. From Hawaii in the winter to South America and Tahiti in the summer, the man's on a mission to tackle the biggest surf he can find. Last week he was rewarded for the effort, taking out the Billabong Pico Alto Invitational. Held in massive 20-foot conditions, the famed Peruvian big-wave surf spot most definitely lived up to its name.

"I've been living the dream for 15 years now, and to win something like this is amazing," told an obviously stoked Sterling.
 

In front of a record crowd, with a record prize purse on the line, Carissa Moore and Sally Fitzgibbons paddled out under the shadow of the Huntington Beach pier. And as the tide quickly rose, in what turned out to be a relatively wave-starved final, Carissa struck first. After that, the way momentum goes, Carissa was squarely in the driver's seat.

Unfortunately, Sally never quite found the waves she needed to make it a heat. Carissa sat on two four-point rides until the dying seconds, when she took the best wave in a two-wave exchanged and clinched the biggest contest win of her short career.

"I couldn't sleep last night," she said the morning after accepting the $50,000 first place check. "It's very surreal, I don't feel like a U.S. Open champion really. I guess my only wish is that we had more waves in the final so Sally and I really could have surfed it out. She's such a good surfer, and she's such a good competitor. We really have been pushing each other lately. But yeah, I'm stoked. This is beyond belief."

And it would appear they're going to be pushing each other for years to come, as Carissa celebrates her 18th birthday soon, and Sally's still under 20. The two young ladies are well on their way to changing women's surfing as we know it.

World tour rookie Carissa Moore,17, celebrated the end of high school with the ultimate graduation party. The class of 2010 and the South Shore of Oahu's most-talented surfers, like Ezekiel Lau, Kelia and Isiah Moniz, and Kaulana Apo, danced their faces off at Fresh Café to celebrate a milestone in Moore's life.

She was completely surprised by the 400-plus people that packed Fresh Café for the party, and Moore was adorned with leis upon exiting the limousine and entering the grand event. Party people packed kept the dance floor constantly packed and sweaty making the Honolulu club look like a scene you would expect to find in Ibiza, Spain.

Professional surfers Sofía Mulanovich, Sally Fitzgibbons, Maya Gabeira and Nadja de Col prepared a Peruvian ceviche while learning about nutrition at the Red Bull Girls Surfing Only camp.

Keeping a healthy and balanced diet is a key part of achieving a top athletic performance, and the coaches at Red Bull Girls Surfing Only camp know this well. A significant part of the third day of the camp was spent discussing nutrition with lady surfers "It's very important to teach the girls to eat correctly so they can replace all the energy spent at sea", states Andy Walshe, director of high performance programs for Red Bull. For Dan Ross, Sofía and Sally's coach, "fish is an excellent source of protein, which we tend to figure prominently in our diet because it's readily available as we are usually working close to the sea."

Forget hiring a godolier, as Robbie Naish demonstrates, it's cheaper to bring your own rig to Venice.

"Caballito de Totora" is the name of the typical Peruvian surfboats, made of a watergrass type, typical to this region. Originally used by fishermen, the caballitos are a versatile tool to navigate the waters. Sofia Mulanovich together with world-class surfer Sally Fitzgobbons and junior Nadja de Col changed their boards for the ancient type to test the surfing quality of these Peruvian boats that have thousands of years of history.

Jamie Sterling reports from Chile:
It's my seventh time to Chile. I guess you could say I'm a fan of the cold water Indonesia, as I like to call it. Why do I call it that? Well, its waves are 80% lefts and yes, it's cold and chilly.  Chile is one the places where I can find every type of wave that there is to surf: slabs, pointbreaks, beachbreaks, reefs, and "almost" waves (i.e. like if we could only blow that one rock up it would be rideable). Not only does is the variety alluring, but the minimal crowds and consistency of the coastline is a main ingredient. Oh yeah, me being a goofy-footer being surrounded by endless lefts with practically no one out is a dream situation. On top of all that there's the culture, the friends I have there, and the food. It's all good!

Bafureira, Portugal (Sunday, May 9, 2010) - The Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Estoril Surf Billabong Girls 6-Star Women's event was won for the second year in-a-row by Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) in a one-sided final over Jacqueline Silva (BRA) at the main contest site of Bafureira in Estoril.
                      
Conditions once again varied during the day with reasonable 4ft (1m) right-handers wrapping the reef at Bafureira to run the final day of the Estoril Surf Billabong Girls 2010. Event officials gave the green light for the action to begin with the incoming tide helping to increase the size of the waves and light winds helped to clean up conditions after yesterday's strong southerly wind.

Few athletes are as unanimously admired in a sport as 23-year-old big wave surfer Maya Gabeira. The latest evidence came this Friday (23/04), when the Brazilian big rider took her fourth straight Girls Best Performance title in the Billabong XXL Awards. The 10th edition of the event happened in Anaheim (CA), and gathered the cream of the crop in big wave surfing.

"Female big wave surfing has grown significantly among since I began. To be crowned once again as the best rider, with so many new talented girls on the scene is definitely satisfying", said Maya, who won U$ 5,000 for her supreme performance during the season 2009/2010. An enourmous wave at Dungeons (South Africa) and the scary barrels of Teahupoo (Tahiti) were some of the respectful spots where Maya left her mark during the last year.

One day after receiving the fantastic news that his  colleague and partner, Maya Gabeira, was crowned for the fourth time Girls Best Performance in the Billabong XXL event, Carlos Burle was crowned the first ever Big Wave World Tour Champion on the 24th of April at the Surfing Heritage in San Clemente, CA.

Such news came to make Burle even happier after an outstanding Big Wave Season. Burle, who is a 43-year-old athlete and has been in Red Bull team since 2001, has reached the highest level as a Pro in Big Wave surfing and has lots of memorable moments in his career to remember and celebrate. This title is the result of hard work and challenging moments!