Friday, December 7, 2007

It's Time for Mavericks

This weekend, all eyes are on Half Moon Bay -- the stage for the majestic Mavericks surf contest. On just 24 hours notice between today and March 31, 2008, 24 legendary big-wave surfers will gather along the coastline, south of San Francisco, to test their skills and vie for the invite-only Mavericks Surf Contest title. What's in store for them? The bone-chilling Pacific and 40-foot waves. A strong storm season as pushed up the date for the contest window, which officially opened today. Contest directors and meteorologists are now glued to storm charts and NOAA reports to see what mother nature will do. And if it's anything like this past week, then the surfers are in for some challenging heats. On Tuesday, waves crested at 70 feet -- the biggest so far this year.
Here's a some footage of Tuesday's waves. If you've never seen giant waves, take a look at this. It's a common misperception that surfing is best in the summertime....really, the best swells are in the fall and early winter. There's also a link to an interview with big-wave surfer Grant Washburn on NPR. (There's an ad that plays at the start with loud music, but then it gets to the actual clip.)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looking forward to following Mav's this year. Last year we had a bad season.

Anonymous said...

you're such a surfer girl at heart may. when are you coming out with us again to surf? we'll be out this weekend in the morning. welcome back to san francisco sweetheart.