James Hick - Big Wave Surfer
James first went surfing at thirteen with his Uncle at St Ouen's Bay. During his early teens James dominated the junior surfing events, picking up sponsorship deals with the likes of Billabong and Beachbeat.
At seventeen James went on his first independent surfing trip before heading off to University in the UK. Whilst a student he won the student national and Channel Island Championship.
Achieving a first class degree James dropped everything in 2007 and flew to Hawaii to surf his first big waves. Moving onto Australia James was introduced to "swell chasing", and ultimately travelled onwards to Shipstern's in Tasmania, where he surfed his biggest swell to date.
James appeared on the front cover of Qantas Magazine in November 2011 surfing some huge waves at Shipstern Bluff, Tasmania, visit his Blog to take a look.
Above: Shipstern Bluff, Tasmania. Photo courtesy of James Hick.
James continues to pursue his dream of big wave surfing and seems likely to play a major role in pioneering British big wave surfing to the world.
To see why James is called a "Big Wave Surfer" skip to 0:45 in this Billabong XXL Big Wave Awards 09/10 Midseason Highlights video...
You need Flash player 8+ and javascript enabled to view this video.