Billabong finalists '06

Here are the five finalists for surfers riding the biggest waves of the year. These are some beautiful shots of incredibly large waves!

I enjoy the scenes of the huge waves but to me this is not surfing. It seems more like cheating... When I was a kid a "big wave surfer" used a long surfboard called a "Big Gun" and he paddled out into the surf and caught the massive waves on his own. Now the "surfers" use a modified ski to be pulled out into the oceans with motorized Wave Runners. To me it just doesn't seem fair to call these guys "surfers".

It still looks like fun though!