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Mick Corbett Wins Oakley Big Wave Award For Best Ride

Aussiest Act Ever As Big Wave Surfer-Of-The-Year Gives Mate Half His Prizemoney
Oakley Big Wave Awards

This is the massive, chunky three-lipped mutant monster that won Mick Corbett the Ride of the Year award at the Oakley Big Wave Awards, which were announced in Sydney this week.

The best part? It's not that Mick Corbett tamed that Southern Ocean brute like a boss last June. The best part is that he split the $20,000 prizemoney with his best mate and jetski tow-in partner Jarryd Foster.

Corbett is a 28-year-old Perth electrician who only caught the wave after he'd driven three hours south on a whim to a secret offshore break called "The Right". Needless to say, it was "the right" decision.

The Huffington Post Australia spoke with Mick Corbett after his win. Let's hear from in a minute after you've watched the video of the winning ride.

Now this is not the biggest wave you'll ever see. The home of the world's biggest waves is generally regarded as the north shore of Hawaii or Nazaré in Portugal, where Corbett recently surfed.

Corbett reckons his winning wave was "only" 30 or 40 feet. But it's the force of the thing that made it so tough to ride. That and its uniquely messy multi-lipped structure. Over to you, Mick:

"The Right. It's pretty much one of the craziest waves in the world and definitely the craziest in Australia. There's nothing like it. It's like being hit by a car. I've got blown up there several times and it's really hurt me.

"This wave was the biggest wave I ever caught there. It felt like it lasted a lifetime even though it was only a few seconds. I'd caught a lot of waves that day, probably 10 or 15 before that one. The wave just before it was probably the best I ever caught out there. And then that one came.

"When you're out there you can't really see the waves coming in. But then my mate Jarryd who was the ski driver said 'whoa, don’t even look. This thing is huge'. He'd never said that before to me and my heart sort of sank. And then I saw it. And I said 'holy crap, it is huge'. There was never a moment's pause. I didn't look at Jarryd and he didn't look at me. We were out there for that sort of wave.

"I went down the wave. I was just going and going and going. At one point I sort of hit a little ledge. Sometimes it's better to air drop it, but luckily I just just pushed straight through it.

"The wave started to barrel but not too much. I was not strapped onto my board and I pretty much went down and tried to position myself as good as I can in case it barreled really heavily, but I could tell it didn't really want to barrel.

"I think the fact it had three separate lips is what made it so hard to ride. It have never seen a mutant wave like that, especially one that was 30 or 40 feet.

"The wave eventually broke so far into the channel [the zone where jetskis and cameramen lurk -- usually out of danger] that even the the jetskis had to get out of the way. I got annihilated in the channel and ended up next to a rock that I'm normally 20 or 30 metres away from. It was all over in a few seconds but it felt like slo mo.

"In the water afterwards, I saw surf film maker Chris Bryan's face and he just shook his head and said 'what the hell'. Then I spoke to a photographer who said 'mate, that was the biggest wave I ever seen ridden here'. I saw the footage afterwards and was humbled by it. After a few days, it really sank in."

No doubt the enormity of Corbett's epic ride has well and truly sunk in now he's won a major award for it. And his plans for his $10,000 cut of the prizemoney?

Ah, well that trip to Portugal didn't pay for itself and he's got some serious credit card bills to look after.

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