Photo: Billabong
Shane Dorian at Teahuppo

Shane Dorian is an undisputed legend in the sport of surfing. A member of the 90s new school movement and a WCT contender for years, the ageless Dorian soon found a home riding the massive outer reef breaks off Oahu and Maui in Hawaii. Enjoying fame along and notoriety along the way from such film s as In God's Hands, Dorian's exploits at breaks like Tahiti's Teahuppo are also well documented. It's no surprise then that Shane has been nominated in three separate categories for this year's Billabong XXL Awards, set to take place this Friday in California. We had the chance to catch up with Shane while he in was driving to check the surf. Here's what he had to say.

How long have you been riding XXL waves?

A long time, I'm 37 now, since I was 19.

What's first memory of riding a big wave surf that scared you?

First year I surfed big waves I had a near death experience at an outer reef on the North shore of Oahu in Hawaii and that really rattled me to the core, and that's something I always remember because before that I felt invincible. That was the day I realized I could die from surfing big waves.

That didn't stop you?

No it didn't stop me. Ya know, I really enjoyed surfing big waves, though when I was a kid I hated big waves. I was terrified by big waves, so for me it was a process of facing my fears; it was a personal challenge for me and I really grew to like it.

How do big wave surfers stack up against other type of athletes?

Hard to say... depends on what kinda athletes your talking about. Surfing these waves isn't the newest thing though guys are pushing themselves now more than every before and it's really accelerated the last couple ears. You have the guys who train year round and keep themselves physically and mentally fit to surf huge waves and then there's the other group of guys who are more daredevil, cowboy stunt guys and everything in between, so you can't really group all big wave riders together - they all have different personalities, which is surprising actually.

Is there a difference between the stunt guys and the more focused big wave riders?

Sure, I d say the very best guys are not the stuntmen type of guys; they truly love to surf waves for the right reasons; they just love it and it's a personal challenge for them; whether it's the XXL awards or if they had financial sponsorships from different brands it wouldn't matter to them, they'd be all over every big swell no matter what.

Photo: Billabong
Shane at Backdoor

Contests don't mean anything, right Chandler? Not to us soul surfers?

Hahah - that's funny - that's a classic movie, uh?

Yeah The North Shore is one of my all-time favs!

Speaking of contests what's the significance of the XXL Awards in recognizing what you guys are doing as well as motivating guys to put it on the line?

Yeah I think it's a healthy motivation. For the first few years it focused on the biggest waves, and it was really exciting and dramatic, but I think there were people in there who just got motivated by the prize. And so Billabong was really good in that they realized it was sort of headed in that direction and they took the focus off the biggest wave of the year and it's now more about the performances and the best ride of the year so they have different categories that are really significant now; it's not just a bounty hunting deal at all; it's more about people being inspired to push themselves as hard as they can in a healthy way.

Has it helped create a category of big wave-specific athletes?

I think it's been really significant; I think it's given guys the opportunity. Take a guy like Grant Baker, Twiggy, he's from South Sfrica and he's nominate for multiple categories as well. In my opinion he's one of the very best big wave surfers in the world. Someone like him coming from South Africa, which is a really small market in the surf world, he's now able to travel the world and surf huge waves and do what he's really passionate about. And I think it's just given guys like that an opportunity to do what he's really into and a lot of surfers out there are super grateful for that.

You yourself were nominated for a few categories, like the Monster Paddle Award and the Ride of the Year Award both of which were on the same wave with Mark Healy at Waimea vs. the wipeout at Mavericks - tell us the difference in those two experiences?

Haha - what is it the thrill of victory and agony of defeat? In surfing it's more the thrill of defeat! Yeah I caught a wave with Mark Healy that we had been fantasying about for 15 years. It's not like skateboarding where you can say I'm Danny Way and my dream is to build a mega ramp and jump over the Great Wall of China and you can do it and all you need is money and motivation. But with surfing it's not like that. You literally have to wait for, it sounds cheesy, but the perfect storm. This year was truly special and it gave a lot of guys the opportunity to really push themselves and do things that they've really wanted to do for a really long time.

Photo: Billabong
Shane with some fans.

And for yourself you mentioned you're now 37 - how much longer do you see yourself surfing these big waves and putting yourself out there?

Well I'm just taking it year by year. I'm still really passionate about it. I feel I'm still surfing at my best. I work hard to be at my best physically and mentally.

Obviously there's risks surfing in these conditions, I mean you ask any of the guys and they all took bad wipeouts this year. We all know that if you wanna play you gotta be willing to take a beating. Of course I have a wife and kids and have that to think about, but I love to do it and when the waves are large I'm gonna be there for as long as I feel up to it.