Some of your stories really get me stoked about going for this, thanks for sharing guys!

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I don't understand the desire for giant surf. Once the surf is a certain size, things become more survival oriented than anything. It's humbling, gratifying, etc..., Maybe done right it's not so dangerous, but it seems to me to be a lot of training with little reward, and situations which you might not get yourself out of. How much time do you need to spend training, plus then bobbing around in giant surf before you get a good ride?

What do you consider big wave surfing? Tahiti and Pipe up to double or triple overhead seem to be surfed regularly by CT pros and are still big waves, but then spots like Nazare and Puerto Escondido or Mavs have a different crew. I wouldn't claim either of those as being easier to surf, but it does seem like more pros would be comfortable surfing Pipe and Tahiti than a wave like Nazare or Mavs, and I assume this is mostly based on skill vs brawn. (Why risk your life?)

Do pro's survival train for waves like Pipe or Tahiti, or you mentioned Tres Palmas? It seems to me that, they just surf a lot and have been in those conditions enough times to be comfortable. I could be way off, but I don't think early pros trained in the same way people think of it as now. I'd imagine you could surf equally well just by surfing those same spots on smaller days until you feel comfortable in the big stuff.

So what is the appeal of big XXL waves?

Surfing in Big waves is not for everyone. 6 Foot Hawaiian was scary.  Most of the people I knew in Hawaii where much better in bigger conditions. 

 surfers surfing Big waves that you would never see in Surf video, magazine or even hear of in a surf web sight. Most have regular jobs of one kind on the other. Some have Families the one thing they have in common is the love of surfing big waves. There was this one Teacher and Coach at a High School in the San Diego area. He was a a regular at Swamies and often surfed Big Blacks. When massive swell hit he disappeared across the boarder to a then very secret spot. When word was getting out about Todos Santos. We know that that is where he was going. Todos is not an easy wave to surf it is a shallow rock bottom shifty wave with big boils in the face.  The water is cold. The out and back can be cold and wet. 

I applude anyone that has the desire to Big Waves.  By building your skills getting mentored by one of those that know the wave is the best way to earn your place in the line up.