When the Billabong XXL Awards were telecast on ESPN last week, one particular name stood out: Twiggy. As in Grant “Twiggy” Baker, one of the top big wave chargers in the world and winner of both the Best Male Overall Performance and Biggest Wave Awards. I caught up with Twiggy shortly after interviewing Twiggy's friend and fellow award winner Greg Long the morning after their big night.

BNQT: Twig, how you doing mang?

Twiggy: I’m severely hung over. As you can expect. (Laughs)

BNQT: Looking over the Billabong XXL Award photos, I couldn't help but notice the female presenter.

Twiggy: Yeah how was the envelope hander-overer?

BNQT: Funny thing there is, right after you got one of the awards there's a picture of you checking out her ass. No joke.

Twiggy: Oh, there is?

BNQT: That would really surprise me. That is so uncharacteristic of you, Twig.

Twiggy: Good times eh. It was a great party man. It’s amazing that Greg won wave of the year and it was a paddle wave. That’s really cool and obviously I’m pretty stoked to get some money ya know.

BNQT: Talk about your award. You won two that totaled $20,000. One of them was the Biggest Wave Award. That use to be the biggest cash award.

Twiggy: Yeah they use to pay us $1,000 a foot. Imagine that!

BNQT: So what happened? How come they don’t do that anymore? Do you know?

Twiggy: Well they just changed it to Ride of the Year. You know it's really easy to catch a really big wave but to excel on it that’s totally different.

BNQT: Tell us about the wave you caught. It was 61 feet and it was a location I have not really heard much of, Tafelberg Reef. Tell us about the wave you caught.

Twiggy: Well Tafelberg is actually off Table Mountain. Table Mountain in Cape Town is a national kind of heritage spot. It's a reef shaped like a table and its out to sea. Its like a mile or two outside of Dungeons and yeah, just a really big wave in Cape Town.

BNQT: The actual picture of the wave is freaky looking. The water is dark, it's not looking very clean, it looks choppy, and it looks like you were hitting some bumps on the way down.

Twiggy: Its in the middle of the ocean and there is a lot of revert from the reefs and there is a seal island right there and full of sharks. I got the wave and now I am rich! (Laughs)

BNQT: I love it man!

Twiggy: I’m rich in South Africa that’s for sure!

BNQT: Yeah right!, With Krugerrand coins. They still have those right?

Twiggy: Yeah the Krueger rare. I can buy a couple now.

BNQT: What have you been doing? Just traveling the world catching big waves? Living the high life as usual?

Twiggy: Yeah obviously me and Greg have made a great run this past year. I just resigned from my job six months ago as the Billabong rep and now they picked me up to surf full time. They're just paying me to go surf.

BNQT: Congrats man, that is exactly what you wanted right?

Twiggy: Exactly what I wanted. A dream come true.

BNQT: Bravo, congratulations Twig. I will be totally honest, I think it is long overdue. The fact that you won the Mavericks contest a few years ago should have solidified you being paid full-time to surf, but better late than never, right?

Twiggy: Better late than never. No I’m totally stoked. I had a really cool job. I just thought the time was right you know. Just go surfing and get it done.

BNQT: I think what legitimizes big wave surfers is being invited to Waimea. You finally got the invite way past due but you finally got it. You and Long, you two together have dominated big wave surfing for the last three years now you have straight owned almost everything.

Twiggy: Well I wouldn’t say that but we have talked about what we wanted to do and our goals and we set pretty high standards and we’ve worked towards them and it seems to be working out for us.

BNQT: You guys have taken most of the victory laps and getting a lot of exposure. You guys have been killing it. How do you win Best Male Overall Performance?

Twiggy: I think the performance award just went to the year that you have had and obviously the way it has gone and the waves you have surfed. It’s a fantastic award to win and to beat Greg was great. Whenever I can get one up on him it feels good. Making good calls and getting good waves all year, that’s what we want to do.

BNQT: I think it goes a bit beyond just getting good waves. I think your hard work and time put in is paying off. I have a question though. Does it rub you a little bit that Greg wins on a Dungeons wave?

Twiggy: No not at all. We're a team and that $50,000 we get to spend on some trips when we go away. I’m really stoked for the kid and its just a special night for us.

BNQT: Twig, do you ever reflect on the fact that this whole adventure, in a large way, started out with you getting voted in on the web as an alternate for the Mavericks Surf Contest?

Twiggy: I think we just talked about that last night. I wouldn’t be here if Jeff Clark hadn’t put me in as an alternate and then decided to put it up for a vote. I was the 15th guy and they put it up for a vote and the whole group voted for me and I won it and that was a turning point in my life, ya know. I’m thanking Jeff Clark for giving me that opportunity. It just proves there are little known guys out there that can do it. All up and down the coast there is a guy charging, and I just hope a guy from a foreign country can give a bit of inspiration to give it a go.

BNQT: Jeff Clark really digs your style of surfing. He digs the fact, for lack of a better term, that you have huge balls. You go out there and you kill it all the time. And I love the fact that the Grand Master has so much respect for you? He saw something great in you and obviously he was right.

Twiggy: Yeah for sure Jeff is our mentor. He’s the guy out there every swell on the jet ski\. Looking out when he is not surfing and towing into some bombs when he can. A lot of us are lucky to have Jeff Clark.

BNQT: Were you with Long when he got to hang out with Greg Noll?

Twiggy: Yeah, we stopped at his new store in San Clemente. A really beautiful place, he has some amazing historical surfboards there. We encourage anyone to go check it out. He is making us Mavericks boards so maybe next year we will be riding a Greg Noll. It would be epic, that will be insane.

BNQT: Is Greg Noll's shop a tribute to surfing? Like a surfing museum?

Twiggy: Yeah exactly, a surfing museum. I encourage anyone to go check out the shop, it an amazing spot.

BNQT: Your main sponsor is Billabong. Anyone else you want to show some love to?

Twiggy: Billabong, Cabrinha Kiteboarding, and Country Feeling Surfboards, which is my own company back in South Africa.

BNQT: I want to mention too. Beautiful work on the blogs you do.

Twiggy: Cool, Thank You!

Special thanks to Aaron Moss for his contributions to this story.