Grant Baker, SA surfer, wins the Mavericks Surf Contest at Santa Cruz

An accomplished short board surfer with a fondness for tube-riding, Grant Baker from Durban, KwaZulu-Natal became the first surfer from outside Santa Cruz, California to win the Mavericks Surf Contest Presented by Verizon Wireless on 8 February 2006. Baker had beaten a world-class 24-man field in epic surf with 10 to 13 metre faces at Half Moon Bay. The 32 year-old Billabong KwaZulu-Natal rep and self confessed adrenaline junkie whose slight frame and skinny legs have earned him the nickname 'Twiggy', pocketed the US $30 000 (approx R195 000) winner's pay-cheque and a one of a kind Reactor watch. He finished in front of Santa Cruz local Tyler Smith, Hawaiian legend Brock Little, long-time Mavericks standouts Matt Ambrose and Grant Washburn and Southern Californian Evan Slater in the six-man final.  Baker started his charge to victory in style by scoring a great 10 point ride which helped him win his opening heat, progressing to the semi-finals along with Danilo Couto (Brazil) and Ambrose. A former flow-board champion was rated third in the world kite-board ratings in 2003; he won both the Best Tube award (2004) and the Biggest Wave accolade (2005) at the annual Big Wave Africa event at Dungeons in Cape Town.