Possibly Irish surfing's greatest ever moment, the Irish team of Californian-based brothers Joe and Terry McNulty pulled off an astonishing second place overall at the World Big Wave Championships in Todos Santos, Mexico, early in '98. Indeed, the Irish only got a wildcard entry after Tahiti pulled out just before the competition and it was too late for many of the other counteries to organise a team. It was largely down to Roci Allen of the European Surfing Association, who put the word in for Ireland. Needless to say, the result shocked the surfing world, and despite many a cheap jibe at Irish surfers, the surfing community was generally stoked for us.

The McNultys sent the trophy over a few weeks ago. I haven't seen it myself but legend has it that it's a big fucker, about two foot high. They thought it would be more appropiate if it were kept with the Irish Surfing Association in Ireland to act as an inspiration for the rest of us cold water warrirors. Needless to say, this result greatly increases Ireland's chances of getting the World Championships within the next few years - don't laugh, it will happen, especially after the very successful staging of the Guinness Eurosurf '97 at Bundoran in Donegal. Fair Play lads, thanks a lot.

The following is a full report of the contest.

The Hawaiian team of Brock Little and Shawn Briley finally arrived at Todos Santos, a day late, but not too late. The ISA sanctioned Reef Big Wave Team World Championship was on its second day at "Killers" and headed into Round Two when the Australian Team of Ross Clarke-Jones and Tony Ray arrived along with Brock and Briley. Sean Davey was one of the few photographers who risked missing "The Eddie" and journeyed to the remote island off the coast of Baja Mexico. With the arrival of the Australians and Hawaiians, he knew he was in the right place.

The first round of competition was extended into Monday morning, Feb. 16th, to include the tardy Hawaiians and Australians. Shortly after arriving, the two teams paddled into the ice-cold water for some friendly competition... in the 20- to 30-foot surf. There was no prize money at stake, just BIG waves and big wave riders going for the gold medal, just like in the Olympics.

Brock wasn't feeling 100 percent. His voice was like an old man's, and Briley wasn't 100 percent either! He paddled out in surf shorts! With all their big wave bravado they made their way into the line-up. Before either team could catch anything, a gigantic wave came in. "It must have been 30-feet," Sean Davey said. "It was so big and black, and it broke so far out, they didn't have a chance. It cleaned them all up." Briley's board survived with minor scratches but he didn't bother going back out. The Australians had to use back-up boards, while Brock paddled back out for a couple. Still, the Australians dominated, especially Tony Ray.

Over the course of the event, ten teams competed from nine countries, plus the Hawai'i team. Taylor Knox and Peter Mel made up the American Team and the McNulty brothers made up the Irish Team. In the semis, Taylor Knox caught the biggest wave-- possibly the biggest of the winter. Some people thought it was "the K2 wave." Wipeouts were extreme too, with Terrence McNulty taking the "Best/Worst Wipeout" award when a mammoth lip landed on his head. Brazil's Carlos Burle broke three boards and after the event, made sure to thank the K38 jet ski rescue team for "saving my life, twice!" Thanks to those rescues, Brazil ended up in the finals surfing against Australia.

In the finals Carlos went big. He dominated with seven huge rides, leading the Brazilian team to gold in this first-ever, one-of-a-kind event. The Hawaiian team went home with nothing, but at least they survived.

Todos Maximus

Interview with Evan Slater after the World Big Wave Championships

How did you end up board caddying the event?

I was there covering the event for the magazine, but ended up being a board caddy too.

So how did it go?

It started on Saturday - there was a lot of confusion because apparently there was another swell that was going to be big enough for the Eddie (Aikau contest at Waimea Bay). So Ross Clarke Jones, Tony Ray, Shawn Briley and Brock Little were all supposed to come on a flight to California the day before, but got pulled off the flight because the buoys jumped up in Hawaii. So that night - Friday, the organizers found out that the Hawaiians and Aussies weren't going to be there because the Eddie might be held.

So they had to decide what to do, and they decided to lump those 4 guys in the same heat together - the final in the first set of heats - and then hold the contest on Saturday. And if it was all-time, they were going to just go on without the guys - but if it was pretty good - but not all time - they were going to just hold the first round and save that fifth heat for them. And actually it worked out perfectly. On Saturday, they got the contest off a little late - like 10:30 and the south winds stared coming up. It was about 10-12 feet - about what I expected the event to be. Fun , but not spectacular. They got the first 4 heats off, and they went pretty well.

Who were the standouts?

Taylor Knox surfed a really good heat - almost a perfect heat. He got the three biggest waves of the heat. Peter Mel took off on a12 footer - critical and late. And Carlos Burle from Brazil - from the very start he stood out. It was clear that he was comfortable in larger surf. He caught a consistent amount of good sized waves, and kind of dominated.

So the first day passed and everyone was stoked. It got rainy and really poured Saturday night - really stormy. I actually drove back to California. I was hearing that Monday was going to be a good window between storms and a pretty big swell - so I drove back down Sunday night. And there was nobody in the bars - no one in the discos. All the competitors went to bed early.

So we got out there early Monday morning. The plan was to be out there by AM, and they actually surprised me. They were able to start the contest by 8 o'clock.

What about the conditions?

It was strong offshores. Huge. Biggest I'd ever seen it out there.

How many times have you surfed Todos in your life and how many times this year?

I've surfed it 8 times this year to that point. And in my life - I've surfed there for the last five or six years regularly.

Was it biggest surf overall that you'd seen? Or the biggest redeemable surf?

Biggest overall. And in the morning it was borderline redeemable because it was so offshore.

And the first wave of the heat that was really a big wave was one that Ross Clark Jones took off on - and he just flew through the air - had like 4 steps down and just ate it. It was a pretty amazing wipeout. And I was already in the channel at that point. And I ended up just staying in the channel - I never got out of the water. I just stayed in the channel the whole time and gave my board to about 6 different guys through the whole contest. Everyone in the final didn't have their own board - they had all gone through their boards.

So after that first heat it was pretty much a wakeup call for everyone else. These guys - the best waveriders in the world were having trouble getting their wave counts. Tony Ray, Ross Clarke Jones, Briley and Brock were in the first heat. Brock and Briley were eliminated.

Didn't Briley get really worked?

Yeah, he got two on the head right in the beginning of the first heat. And he was in trunks. Didn't really prepare I don't think. He didn't want to go back out, so took an early exit out of the heat. It was pretty serious out there and he probably felt like he just wasn't ready. But he actually went a couple days later and caught some really big waves

So they went into the quarterfinals right after that. Tony got one huge wave, Peter Mel had a terrible heat - he was just out of position. A lot of guys were having trouble getting even one wave, because if you miss your timing you can get cleaned up by a set, your leash breaks and that's pretty much it. It was really sketchy, and there were spectacular wipeouts. Burle had a really bad one, and had to be pulled out by this woman lifeguard who's just amazing. She trains up in Washington at this place called Cape Disappointment. She said it wasn't too heavy - and she was going in and out of the impact zone and picking up guys who got in trouble.

If they didn't have someone on a jet, would it have been unsafe to even hold the contest?

I think so - there were, like 4 jetskis. It definitely added a lot of a safety cushion.

So then it went into the semis - and it was still pretty sketchy going into the quarters. But in the semis, the winds eased up a bit - it was clean. In the first semi, it was Joe McNulty, Tony Ray, Taylor and a French guy named Christian Guevara - who was charging. He actually beat Peter Mel in the quarters. It actually started kind of slow, Taylor had paddled out beyond everyone else and sat pretty deep. The first wave he caught was one of the more unrideable waves. He took off, got into it late and just ate it super hard. He got worked and it was a pretty big deal. But he's a pretty stubborn guy, so he got back on his board and paddled right back out.

He didn't break his leash or board?

No, he got really lucky. He paddled right back out and waited again, and he was low on wave count. Joe and Tony Ray had caught some pretty good sized medium waves. So Taylor waited out the back, and this huge wave came in, and as everyone was kind of scrambling for the shoulder, Taylor paddled deeper and out more, and flipped around and somehow caught and rode it. It was pretty amazing to see. Everyone in the channel was going crazy. He kicked out without really knowing what he did - he knew it was a big wave,but didn't have any idea how big it really was. And even Brock was freaking out, saying, "nobody can beat that wave."

So how were they scoring the contest? If Taylor didn't have as many waves...

Well, they kind of judged it in a standard way. Where it was like, 30 minutes, best three waves. And I thought it was kind of lame. Taylor caught the two biggest waves of the heat - one he ate it on, and the other one he made.

And that might be the K2 wave.

Right, and the one that he ate it on was huge. You should get rewarded for going on the biggest wave - even if you don't make it - so he lost by 1/2 a point. But at that point he didn't care.

So then in the other semi, the swell kind of peaked and the south wind started coming in, and this two wave set caught everybody in the heat inside. Terrence McNulty took the brunt of it on the head, and came up freaked out - I've never seen him so freaked out. He was under for a long time. A guy by the name of Rodrigo Resende from Brazil and Takao Kuga from Japan, who beat Brock in the quarters - they got it bad too. And on the same wave, Burle was a little farther inside and a loose board hit him in the head, and put a pretty good gouge over his eye. But he got taken to the doctor on one of the waverunners. And the doc said "well he needs stitches, but can finish the heat up". So he went back out and ended up catching two huge waves. He was taking off on huge waves with blood gushing down his face. It was pretty amazing.

People haven't heard much of him. Did you know him or had you ever surfed with him?

No, I'd heard his name and seen pictures of him at Easter Island. But he has surfed Waimea - he did have some big wave experience out there.

So, it went to the final. It was Joe McNulty, Tony Ray, Terrence McNulty and Carlos and it was an hour long final scoring the best four waves. And it looked like it was going to be really tough to get their wave count. But they found a way to catch a lot of waves. There were actually a lot of waves ridden. Tony Ray got a double-up frothy thing that tubed up over him on the inside. Terrence and Joe both had some moments, but they weren't really getting into their rhythm. I think Terrence was still kind of freaked out from the semi. But Carlos stayed steady through the whole heat and in the last 15 minutes, he got 2 huge waves and just looked solid. After the final, I was convinced he won it. Tony Ray was probably leading through most of the heat, but then Carlos just got two that sealed it for him.

It was a neat thing, and I think he deserved it more than anybody. Throughout the whole contest he was really committed and showed the most consistency in taking off deep. Taylor Knox obviously took off real deep on some, but Carlos consistently took off really deep on a lot of waves. Tony Ray throughout the whole contest, was a little further over on the shoulder. He was kind of surfing more the contest strategy heat.

And everyone who was there had that look in their eye - that they'd just seen something major - of historical significance.

Was it the biggest contest surf ever?

No, I think it was right up there. The Eddie Aikau in '92 and '86 were huge, and the Smirnoff too. Basically all you can say is that it was up there with them. Just because it was fresh, you want to say it was bigger, but you go back and look at the photos - like that picture of Brock - the pressure drop at Waimea - that wave was just unbelievable.

Thanks a lot, Evan.