Big waves are making waves on the big stage.
The HBO hit series “100 Foot Wave” earned two Creative Arts Emmy awards this week – nabbing the nod for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series award and Outstanding Cinematography – a major moment for surfing as it solidifies its spot among Hollywood filmmaking elite.
At the same time, the Big Wave Challenge — known as the “Oscars of Big Wave Surfing” — is making a return to Orange County, a long-running event previously held at the Grove in Anaheim before changing locations in recent years. Last year it was held in Portugal.
Now in its 25th year, the upcoming invite-only gathering will give honors to big-wave surfers from around the world at the Lido Theatre in Newport Beach on Sept. 13.
“It’s a big homecoming and everyone is stoked to have it back in the U.S.,” said the event’s creator and Newport Beach surfer Bill Sharp, who also was among the group honored for the work on the “100 Foot Wave” series at the Emmy Awards Sept. 7.
While the series has won Outstanding Cinematography twice before, it was the first win in the Documentary series category, besting a film showcasing the life of Olympic gymnast Simon Biles.
“To be acknowledged as the best documentary series in all of television, in all of the world, is as big as it gets,” Sharp said.
The series mostly features the big-wave break at Nazaré in Portugal, but for Episode 3 last season, Sharp and the surfers embarked on a stealth mission off Southern California to Cortes Bank, a big-wave spot that sits in the middle of the ocean far off San Diego’s coast.
“I know where the 100-foot wave is, it’s not actually Nazaré,” Sharp told producers. “It’s off the coast of California.”
Sharp, back when he was an editor at Surfing Magazine, was among the first group who discovered the wave 35 years ago. It was a well-kept secret among just a handful of people, including Surfline founder Sean Collins and famed photographer Larry “Flame” Moore.
“All the journeys of the great missions and horrible missions taking place in that time span – to put together the most elite team ever assembled and have everything go perfectly, that will never happen to any of us ever again,” said Sharp, who was co-producer for the Cortes episode. “We captured lightning in a bottle. It felt special at the time and to have the entire Hollywood entertainment community recognize that as the best that was produced that year, wow, it doesn’t get any better than that.”
In the Cortez Bank episode, 41 people – from surfers to safety folks to filmmakers – left from Dana Point and San Diego for the surf session on Jan. 12, 2023.
Capturing the action on a wall of water in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is no easy task, with people taking video from drones above, the boats and jet skis and from in the water.
“Everyone that was there was the best in the world at what they do,” Sharp said.
That list also included the surfers, many who got the ride of a lifetime during that trip when 70-foot-plus waves showed up, all documented and shown to the world.
Many of the surfers on that trip and featured throughout the series are among those who will be recognized at the Big Wave Challenge, previously known as the XXL Big Wave Awards, in Newport Beach on Saturday.
Also among the surfers on the nominee list is La Jolla’s Jojo Roper, who last year won the “Men’s Paddle-in Wave of the Year” award. Encinitas’ Katie McConnell is also again on the list, this year for the “Women’s Paddle of the Year” for a wave caught at Punta de Lobos in Chile.
Any world records attained will be revealed at the event, which is now the official big wave governing body reporting to the Guinness World Records organization.