Enter Billabong's Big Wave Bikini Design Contest

I first titled this "Billabong's Swimsuit Competition," and then visions of women strutting the stage like Miss USA floated through my mind. Whoops, no, this is not a bikini contest, it's a design contest. But when Billabong mentioned big-wave surfer Maya Gabeira and sent these photos along, yes, this is pretty much what I expected to see:













My heart stops just looking at that photo. I admit that I am now a big chicken and waves above my head freak me out. I used to be fearless as a kid, but discovered on my honeymoon in the Caribbean (post-storm, Atlantic Ocean-side) my fear of really big waves.

Maya, obviously, does not have honeymoon-related big-wave anxiety.

But you can win a 3-day Hawaiian surf vacation with Maya and a $350 Billabong shopping spree if your swimsuit design (custom-made for Maya) is chosen to be produced for Billabong's spring 2011 collection. Go here for details and enter soon as the deadline is May 31st. The contest is also sponsored by Lycra, and you can draw your submission by hand using their design template or design online using Lycra's "apparel configurator." Get to it, kids.





Billabong, 112 W. 34th Street @ Broadway