To be honest, far as we're concerned, the more obsessive the better.

Thing is, many of the big-wave surfers and XXL entrants here tonight are undersponsored and pulling this shit off on a shoestring. Earlier in the night, Long told Surfline, "I still don't have a sponsor, so what happens tonight is pretty important for me -- if I win anything, it'll go towards debt from last year and trying to do the same this year."

Other winners Dorian, Snips and Drollet are all sponsored big-wave freesurfers, which makes getting the plane ticket and tow-board and PWC a bit easier. But of course they still gotta let go and pick the right line through the bowl. And all the boardshort photo incentives in the world ain't gonna help with that. Especially at a place like Teahupoo, where Dorian won Ride of the Year for a crazy drainer on November 1st.

"A lot of big waves don't require much skill," Dorian explained later. "But Teahupoo's a whole different story." This is probably why six of the ten entries for Ride of the Year and Monster Tube came from that one day at Teahupoo.

Manoa Drollet's winning Monster Tube was on par with Dorian's, maybe only slightly less gnarly on the Super Gnar scale, but completely psycho nonetheless. "We'd been waiting two hours," Manoa explained. "So when that wave came there was no hesitation. For a second, I thought I was to much on the shoulder, but when I got to the bottom I thought I was too deep."