Shipstern Bluff barrels, Puerto Escondido tubes and paddling Nazaré’s notorious right. These were the moments that earned Laura Enever, Katie McConnell and Bianca Valenti nominations for the 2024 SURFER Big Wave Challenge Women’s Surfer of the Year. You can find out who wins on October 19 at our award ceremony in Nazaré. It will also be live at surfer.com.
In 2017, Laura Enever failed to requalify for the World Surf League Championship Tour. Seven years later, North Narrabeen’s finest has a deserved reputation as one of the most devoted women in the big-wave realm. We’ve seen it before in her first time under Shipstern Bluff, her wipeouts at Jaws and her world-record paddle wave at an outer reef on Oahu. But this year things lined up consistently for Laura. She got a standout barrel at Shipstern’s (and a horrific wipeout to boot), paddled into solid Cloudbreak and towed into proper Teahupo’o for the first time. When you go this hard, stuff just seems to happen. Notice that she and Bianca are in the running for Surfer of the Year and Wipeout of the Year. Such is life.
Katie has also steadily increased her chops across multiple marquee venues: Mavericks, Todos Santos, Jaws and Nazaré. In 2024 she paddled into a righthander in Portugal, won the Thriller at Killers contest in Mexico and towed into the Jaws bowl while working as a substitute teacher in Maui’s education system to make ends meet. You could say she’s been studious this year.
Ever since she won the inaugural women’s competition at Nelscott Reef in Oregon in 2014, Bianca has been a force in women’s surfing. Not just on the performance side, but in the market industry as well. She has long been a champion of pay equity in surfing. “Bianca spearheaded the effort to get equal access and equal prize money,” 7x world champion Layne Beachley told Jim Kempton in this profile. “The great thing is she is so positive about her approach.” This year was another solid effort from Bianca, who credited a regular gym routine after a three-year hiatus and better nutrition for a resurgence. If she can survive that Mavericks wipeout, what can’t she do?
Few people put as many miles on their surfboards and board bags during the 2024 SURFER Big Wave Challenge entry window as Nathan Florence, Lucas Chianca and Jojo Roper. These three have made it their life’s work to experience the ocean at its fullest. They’re fitting nominees for Surfer of the Year. The winner will be announced at the BWC award show at Nazaré on October 19. Catch it live in Portugal or online at Surfer.com. Now, let’s review.
Nathan followed a remarkably successful 2023 (and the BWC Surfer of the Year award) by doing more of the same. Standing all in jaw-dropping Cloudbreak. Pulling into and getting pulverized at throttling Mullaghmore. Chasing crossed-up Shipstern Bluff with Kipp Caddy. Nathan has been on a roll the last few years, making flying across the planet scoring massive tubes look routine. Now he’s doing it under the family business, and it’s only a matter of time before we see all three Florence brothers scoring a slab-torn reef.
First and foremost, Lucas also deserves commendation for his rescue efforts last spring during the horrific floods in southern Brazil, which killed more than 100 people. In terms of his wave-riding heroics, all of Chumbo’s entries this year came from giant, windy, nasty, fast Nazaré. There aren’t enough “large” adjectives to describe how big the waves Lucas consistently faces in Praia do Norte. The water angles attempt to give it justice. The 29-year-old also got after in Brazil on slabs and a big-wave towing event on his home turf.
Jojo Roper was another guy who always seemed to be everywhere this year. The San Diegan pulled into massive ruler-straight Cloudbreak, sand-drenched Puerto Escondido, tall Todos Santos and tackled his biggest Mavericks sessions to date (by hand and by ski). It was on a December day that Jojo got his most viral wave of the year. The clip above has the drone, land and two water angles of his spit-take tube during the day of the year at tempestuous Mavericks.
Three women, six arms, and three very different waves ridden in the Pacific Ocean. These were some of the biggest walls of water paddled into by a woman for the 2024 SURFER Big Wave Challenge. Let’s dive in.
There’s a lot of family history in Domi Charrier’s entry. She spent her childhood playing in the rock garden around the Chilean point break, Punta de Lobos. But this was the 21-year-old’s first crack at pulling into a proper double overhead lefthand tube on a proper gun (a 9’8” shaped by her father). She didn’t make it, but that doesn’t seem to hinder her enthusiasm. “I am very happy that my family has given me the opportunity,” she said. “It’s definitely the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen and I can’t wait to try it again!! I really like paddling big waves.”
Corrie Gray was the first person to enter a ride into three 2024 BWC. Her ride is a classic Waimea Bay bomb. A little airtime on the outside rail during the drop, but she sticks to her toes and leans in. A clean one all the way to the shoulder. Corrie pays the bills as a realtor in Honolulu, this big wave stuff is just for fun.
Rounding off the women’s paddle entries is Katie McConnell, who logged this wave at the inaugural Thriller at Killers contest in Todos Santos, which she subsequently won over two of the marquee names in women’s big wave surfing, Paige Alms and Bianca Valenti. It wasn’t easy: Look at the chops and ledges in the wave she had to negotiate on the way down. Katie had a busy year in 2024, including a paddle-in entry at Nazaré and a ski-assisted ride from Jaws. but we’re tripping the cap to her paddle prowess today.
After waving goodbye to the jetski, Joana Andrade, Michelle des Bouillons and Laura Crane all went left at Nazaré last winter, and all have a shot to win the 2024 SURFER Big Wave Challenge Women’s Biggest Wave award. All rode similar-sized peaks to the channel, and it’s difficult to say with certainty who copped the biggest drop. That’s what the judges are for. For now, let’s review each entry and tip the cap to these women.
Joana Andrade made history as the first woman to tow Nazaré, and she’ll make headlines again in 2024 if she is named Biggest Wave winner in October. Standing a hair over 5 feet tall, Joana’s story about overcoming personal trauma and the natural fear that comes with the wave was captured in the 2022 documentary Big Vs. Small. At age 44, Joana already has a remarkable story, and this ride she caught in January could be another yet another chapter.
Michelle des Bouillons has quietly been working her way up the Nazaré ladder for years. The French-born, Brazilian-raised surfer has towed there off and on for seven seasons and now works with her partner Ian Cosenza to get the rides of her life. After getting runner-up in the 2024 Tudor Nazaré Challenge, this may be Michelle’s time atop the podium.
After three months of training in 2023, Laura Crane got her first crack at proper Nazaré in early December. Backed by former CT surfer and Nazaré stalwart Eric Rebiere, Laura bided her time on the ski before her partner picked her up. Before she knew it, she was on the biggest left of her life and even got off a check turn to stay in the pocket. “That wave meant more to me than anything in my career,” Laura reflected. “I felt a lot of pride, all the work I had put in paid off and the feeling of smashing that glass ceiling I had over me.”
“It’s important in that this is the first fresh investment in big wave surfing in a long time,” Bill Sharp said of the minted $150K prize purse that’ll be handed out this weekend to a select crew of big wave surfers for putting in the hard yards in the second rendition of the Big Wave Challenge.
It should be noted, however, that “none of these big wave surfers are doing it to win the prize money,” Sharp continued. “They are doing it firstly for the love, and then they have their own deals going on, with sponsors and their personal channels. But to get a trophy and another chunk of cash, in front of their peers is pretty cool. As I said, it’s more about the opportunity for the big wave surfers and the content creators to be acknowledged for excellence in every category.”
The goal of this yearlong video-based contest is to give big-wave surfers, historically not a lucrative career, the chance to gather under one roof, earn some coin and a deserved spotlight for their accomplishments. It’s a chance to celebrate some of their most intense moments of the year, relive groundbreaking feats and wince at nightmarish wipeouts. Following in the same vein as the XXL Awards, it’s a one-night event that recognizes the past while looking to the future. You can relive some of the past highlights from big-wave award parties here.
For several months Bill and SURFER staff have reviewed dozens of rides from across the planet ridden from the summer of 2023 through the summer of 2024. There were entries from Tasmania, Fiji, Ireland, Maui, Mavericks, Mexico and beyond. We saw massive tubes caught solely with arm strength, a big board and guts. Several women towed into the biggest peaks of their lives. Others got on a plane and scored again and again, earning entries in multiple categories. In the end, several surfers and moments stood above the rest. Which brings us to the awards.
For the second time in as many years, the SURFER Big Wave Challenge will bestow the annual awards with a live show in Nazaré, Portugal. Why there? “To me, Nazaré in the early season each year is totally reminiscent of the North Shore in the 1970s and ’80s when Oahu was the center of the surfing world each winter,” Sharp explained earlier this year. ‘Everyone went for the whole season, events or not. That camaraderie is what’s happening in Nazaré now.”
Surfer of the Year, Ride of the Year, Biggest Wave, Biggest Paddle Wave, Wipeout of the Year, and Young Gun are up for grabs in Portugal. There’s a men’s and women’s division for the first four categories. Tune in this weekend to find out the champs.
When and How to Watch the 2024 SURFER Big Wave Challenge
The show will be streamed live on Surfer.com. Time and day will depend on your time zone.
- Europe: 9 p.m. in Nazaré, Portugal, Saturday, October 19
- United States: 1 p.m. PT/4 p.m. ET, Saturday, October 19
- Hawaii: 11 a.m. Saturday, October 19
- Australia East Coast: 7 a.m. Sunday, October 20
- Bali, Indonesia: 3 a.m. Sunday, October 20
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