Aussie women through to final of Big Wave tour event at Jaws

AUSSIE surf starlets Felicity Palmateer and Laura Enever have earned serious street cred in the macho world of big wave surfing by conquering one of the most brutal waves in the world.

Felicity Palmateer (yellow) tackles the big waves at Jaws.

UPDATE: AUSSIE surf starlets Felicity Palmateer and Laura Enever have earned serious street cred in the macho world of big wave surfing by conquering one of the most brutal and feared waves in the world.

There were wipeouts, rag dolls, injuries and extraordinary feats of courage as a pioneering wave of women on Saturday rode roughshod over critics who claim they aren’t good enough, brave enough or talented enough to ride big waves.

Hawaiian surfer Paige Alms qwon the Big Wave event. s

Charging at one of the biggest, scariest and heaviest breaks in the world, a dozen women from the US, Brazil, France, South Africa and

Australia proved them wrong.

Two ended up in hospital, others were bruised and battered but all wrote their names in surfing history.

“It was crazy, so extreme,” Palmateer, a 23-year-old surfer, model and artist told The Sunday Telegraph.

“It was really scary. I’ve gone from Cronulla (the Sydney International Pro) and two foot waves to Jaws and 25 foot plus in a

week.

“It was crazy.

“Every girl gave it a red-hot crack out there. This is a big step for women’s surfing.”

Palmateer and Enever both made the final of the first ever Big Wave tour event for women at the notorious Jaws break off the Hawaiian

island of Maui, with Palmateer finishing third in the event won by local Page Alms.

On a history-making day, Northern Beaches surfer Enever was smashed in a nasty wipeout on a 25-foot wave just minutes into her first heat and

rag-dolled for the second time midway through the heat.

Felicity Palmateer in modelling mode.

After both pastings the former world junior champion emerged from the whitewash with a smile on her face.

However, she later had to withdraw from the final due to a knee injury.

Western Australian goofy Palmateer rode two 25-foot monsters without a wipeout to impress.

She admitted she had watched in horror as event favourite Keala Kennelly, who created history earlier this year as the first woman to win an open category at the annual Big Wave Awards in the US, was rushed to hospital with a knee injury sustained in a heavy wipeout.

Hawaiian Billy Kemper won the men’s event.

Laura Enever in Sydney last week.