So the guys over at Stab Magazine have come out with quite a few juicy rumors to keep us busy.

- Andy Irons will take next year off to chill and do some surf trips. He will aim for a wildcard in 2010. Billabong is backing him all the way, and has just given him a new five-year deal. (Parko’s just signed up for another five, too.)

- Wonder why Bobby Martinez has been shredding Pipe with no stickers on the nose of his board? He’s no longer riding for Reef. Despite the tough economic times (and his management persuading him to put ink on paper), Bobby walked away from an offer that was three-quarters of what he’d asked for. When he simmered down, Bobby went back to Reef, saying okay, I’ll take the deal, but Reef had withdrawn. It’s gonna be tough trying to find a company with $500k kicking round in its marketing budget right now. But Bob has signed some of the smarter deals in surfing. Remember seeing huge Monster energy drink green and black “M” on the bottom and deck of his board? Rumours suggest this nets him around $US300k.

- As always, Dane’s endorsements are the subject of constant speculation. The latest has it that the golden child is going to break his deal with Quik to join Analog. With Burton’s backing, Analog’s certainly got the cash. But Dane has not suggested he’s even thinking about moving, so the rumour remains unfounded.

Should certainly be an interesting year with the economy being the way it is right now. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing lots more issues with sponsorships like we see between Bobby Martinez and Reef. As for Andy Irons taking the year off, I think its great and personally can’t wait to see what comes of it. With Billabong backing him fully we’ll see some sick footage of freesurfing for sure next year. The time off will hopefully do him some good like its done for past champions such as Slater and Curren.

So it looks like Jordy Smith has unfortunately been injured and is now forced to sit out of the upcoming Billabong Pipeline Masters. Websites from around the web are pointing to everything from knee, to ankle, to hip, to thigh injuries as the cause of his pulling out of the Pipeline event. It looks like Jordy, whos currently sitting at position 25 in the rankings, might be out of the running for the 2009 World Season.

Stay tuned for more information about the Billabong Pipeline Masters.

The Thanksgiving weekend at Maverick’s produced an epic feast for many of the world’s top big wave riders during two of the most perfect days ever seen at the legendary Northern California surf break. The all-time action at Mavs provided a monumental kick-start to the Northern Hemisphere winter season and adds to the record number of entries in the ninth annual Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards presented by Monster Energy.

The product of an intense mid-pacific storm on Thanksgiving Day, the extremely long-period swell hit the Maverick’s reef at an ideal angle, magnifying the face heights of the bigger sets to the 30- to 45-foot range. While delighting a group of elite local and international big wave surfers, rogue sets broke unexpectedly along reefs and breakwaters throughout the region, capsizing a 26-foot power boat less than a mile from Maverick’s, which sits just outside Princeton Harbor in Half Moon Bay, a half-hour south of San Francisco. Two fishermen died in the accident.

The surf sessions were not without their own degree of peril. California big wave star Greg Long caught one of the biggest waves to roll in on Saturday, November 29, but straightened out as he was overrun by a mass of whitewater. Long was thrust so deep underwater he suffered a broken eardrum, eventually surfacing with a total loss of equilibrium. Thanks to a strong leash and a quick rescue by Maverick’s pioneer Jeff Clark on a personal water craft, Long was brought to safety before being swept through the notorious rocks which threaten surfers carried inside the main break.

A group of globetrotting big wave chasers jetted into Half Moon Bay ahead of the swell based on forecasts by Surfline.com. South African Grant “Twiggy” Baker proved that his victory at the Maverick’s Surf Contest two years ago was no fluke, consistently taking off the deepest and making it again and again. Mark Healey and Dave Wassel flew in from Hawaii and made the most of the two days of intense surfing. Rusty Long and Nathan Fletcher stood out as two of the most passionate big wave hunters from Southern California and made a big mark on the massive right-handers.

But the local crew was not to be outdone by the visiting contingent. Grant Washburn, Skindog Collins, Nic Lamb, Shawn Rhodes and Lance Harriman all took off on bombs worthy of Monster Paddle entries. Among the largest bombs of the swell was the vast green wall caught by San Francisco’s Alex Martins along with Nathan Fletcher.

[See Article Here]