Early In The Mornin' We'll Be Startin' Out

February 6, 2006 11:57 PM

The 24-hour notice was given:the big wave surf contest at Mavericks is on: 8a PST Tuesday!
posted by fandango_matt (13 comments total)

Mavericks is a point just north of Half Moon Bay, California. With the winter storms, the waves can get as big as fifty feet high and are considered some of the most challenging--and dangerous--in the world!

Last year's contest discussed here.
posted by fandango_matt at 12:11 AM on February 7, 2006

Video of last year's contest. (QuickTime)
posted by fandango_matt at 12:16 AM on February 7, 2006

Is that measured using the bascom method?
In Australia, we've always used the back of the wave (for some peculiar reason).
posted by strawberryviagra at 12:25 AM on February 7, 2006

Remember Mark Foo.
posted by NewBornHippy at 4:42 AM on February 7, 2006

I am confused by this thread's comments. I think I'll leave now. Cool about the surfing though matt.
posted by Richat at 6:17 AM on February 7, 2006

Watch Riding Giants if you want to know what this is all about.

Before I saw that I never realized that people surfed offshore.
posted by smackfu at 7:06 AM on February 7, 2006

Just a FYI, the live stream only works with Windows Media Player on a PC. It doesn't work on a mac at all.
posted by mathowie at 8:04 AM on February 7, 2006

Tagline: The Beaches Have Become Battlefields... The Waves Are A War Zone!...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094077/

-who said all surfers are blonde with blue eyes??
posted by OU812 at 8:42 AM on February 7, 2006

Hypocrite.
posted by Rothko at 9:32 AM on February 7, 2006

Here's what it looks like on my PC, there are actually some huge waves and huge wipeouts going on right now:

posted by mathowie at 10:54 AM on February 7, 2006

KTVU has a free webcast
posted by pantsrobot at 11:18 AM on February 7, 2006

Watch Riding Giants if you want to know what this is all about.

Also, check out Step Into Liquid.

The film profiles the Mavericks Crew -- Peter "Condor" Mel, Ken "Skindog" Collins, Darrel "Flea" Viristko, and Shawn "Barney" Collins.
posted by ericb at 12:35 PM on February 7, 2006

I just got back from working the contest today.

It was just about perfect.

Consistent 28 - 32 foot faces with the occasional 35, glassy waves swept by offshore winds, 68 degrees, sunny.

I was up on the air base, right by the judges stand, and the thing that got to me was just the consistency of today.

Wave after wave, with a BIG 20 - 22 second period.

And the sound ... every so often a big one would detonate, and BOOM, you could hear from a mile away (literally).

Just great.
posted by Relay at 5:34 PM on February 7, 2006