The nominees have just been announced for the 2013 Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards presented by Pacifico, and it’s going to be another amazing year for surfing as the sport’s best continue to smash down the barriers of what was once thought possible.

The Billabong XXL Awards competition window closed on March 20, the start of spring, with every wave ridden at every big wave break around the world in the previous 12 months in contention. The five biggest or best in each of the key categories have now been identified based on the photographic evidence, and the winners will be crowned at a gala awards show at the Grove Theater in Anaheim, California on May 3, with over $120,000 up for grabs across seven diverse event categories. (Four are announced today, leaving the wipeout and two performance categories to be announced in April.)

FIVE BILLABONG XXL RIDE OF THE YEAR AWARD NOMINEES (Surfer prize $50,000  –  Video prize $5,000)

• Shawn Dollar (Santa Cruz, California, USA) at Cortes Bank, California on December 21, 2012.
• Shane Dorian (Kona, Hawaii, USA) at Jaws, Hawaii on October 9, 2012.
• Greg Long (San Clemente, California, USA) at Jaws, Hawaii on October 10, 2012.
• Reef McIntosh (Kauai, Hawaii, USA) at Cloudbreak, Fiji on June 8, 2012.
• Dave Wassel (Kaneohe, Hawaii, USA) at Cloudbreak, Fiji on June 8, 2012.

read more @ billabong.com

Kieren Perrow (AUS), 34, has won his inaugural ASP World Tour event, taking out the Billabong Pipe Masters in Memory of Andy Irons over fellow countrymen Joel Parkinson (AUS), 30, in four-to-six foot waves. John John Florence (HAW), 19, also found his way to the podium as the overall winner of the 2011 Vans Triple Crown.

Perrow, who finished runner-up to Jeremy Flores (FRA), 23, in last year’s Billabong Pipe Masters, returned to form again this year and charged the massive Pipeline conditions on the opening two days of competition to solidify his position on the 2012 ASP World Tour. The Australian was equally deadly in the smaller conditions on the final day and commanded the Final against Parkinson in a backdoor shootout to secure his maiden ASP World Tour victory.

read more at aspworldtour

Billabong International Limited today announced it has reached agreement to acquire the Southern California surf retailer Becker Surf and Sport.  The acquisition includes Becker’s five brick and mortar retail stores and the beckersurf.com online business, but does not include the Becker Surfboards arm of the business.

Billabong North America president, Paul Naude, said Becker is an iconic surf retailer and holds a distinguished place in the surf industry. “Becker is a name that has been synonymous with surf since the 1970s and, as both a brand and a retailer, it has helped shape Californian surf culture,” said Mr Naude.

“Billabong looks forward to preserving the Becker heritage and growing the speciality boardsports retail channel to ensure premium brands can continue to deliver an authentic experience to the end consumer.” Dave Hollander, co-founder and president of Becker, said Billabong and Becker had a mutual respect for one another’s place in the industry and a shared vision about the future of surf retailing.

“Paul and I have been friends for years and we have always discussed the future of the industry and boardsports retailing and have a common goal to ensure specialty retail remains intact,” he said.  “We were looking for a strong partner to take the Becker brand to the next level and Billabong is a perfect fit.

“Billabong, through Paul, understood that we wanted to keep the surfboard name and manufacturing. They understood how important it was to keep that part of our heritage in the families that have owned it for 30 years. “That was a big deal for us and few others would have understood the dynamics of this in relation to the big Becker picture.”

Becker Surf and Sport and the online business will both continue to operate as multi-branded retailers. The acquisition price was not disclosed.

story via Transworld