Billabong is expected to announce Monday the signing of San Clemente big wave surfer Greg Long to a four-year deal.

I’ll go on the record right now as saying President and V.P. Paul Naude and Graham Stapelberg have just made the deal of the year. Not that either needs my approval, but if Billabong has said they want to loom large over the world of big wave surfing, this is one sure fire way to do it.

In the almost year and a half that Long was inexplicably unsponsored after OP dropped their entire surf team, Long was the best big wave surfer in the world. And I’ll go out on a limb and say his new brand mates — and fellow XXL Award winners — Mike Parsons and Shane Dorian would likely agree.

For the pointedly gracious Long, though he’s earned the right to sign a deal as big as the waves he’s conquered, he was satisfied mostly to get paid to surf again. A lifestyle many surfers of his caliber have long since taken for granted.

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