January 11, 2008
Mavericks Surf Contest: It's On
Twenty-four of the world's most bitchin-ass surfers are waxing up and on their way to Half Moon Bay for the 2008 Mavericks Surf Contest. Shore stars like Shawn Rhodes, Greg Long (San Clemente FTW), Brock Little, Randy Cone, Santa Cruz's Tyler Smith, and more will take part in tomorrow's dangerous and exhilarating surf contest. The cold waters of Half Moon Bay combined with the Pacific storm winter weather make some of "the most dangerous waves in the world." This battle of the sea is not to be missed. Dude.
And for those of you posers out there who won't hightail it down to Half Moon Bay tomorrow morning to catch all of the boss action, instead take the T-Line over to AT&T park tomorrow (from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.) to catch the live broadcast on the Stadium Screen. Failing that, check out the free webcast of the world famous surfing contest over on Mavericks' MySpace page. (Ugh.)
What: Mavericks Surf Contest 2008
Where: Live webcast party at AT&T Park
When: Saturday, Jan 12, 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. (doors open at approximately 7:45 a.m.)
Admission: $25
|
Ha ha, $25!
The live cam shows maybe 6-8 people in the lineup right now; it looks about 15-20 feet, beautiful south breeze. This is a west swell: very hollow, very dangerous (Mark Foo died during a west swell).
Stormsurf is also reporting that the same swell is causing Waimea Bay to break at 17 ft. Hawaiian, might go up to 25-28 ft. Hawaiian on Sunday. (Hawaiians traditionally measure their waves from the back, so 17 ft. Hawaiian translates to 25 ft. elsewhere; 25-28 ft. Hawaiian means 40 ft. here.)
Half Moon Bay still exists? I thought they lost a $36 million judgement in court to a developer and had to auction the City off as a part of bankruptcy. Which other Cities might get into bankruptcy thanks to lousy decisions at City Hall that result in lawsuits? Hmm....
I'm kidding about the auction ... but not the bankruptcy... they hired Orrick to save the day, which will probably cost enough for them to file bankruptcy anyway.
Dude, we're trying to talk about some rad waves. Why do you have to bring down the conversation with talk of boring auctions?
:-(
Best of luck to all the surfer's tomorrow and here's to hoping everyone comes back in one piece.
You know, $25 at AT&T Park isn't such a bad deal. If you try to drive to HMB, you will be directed to the airport where parking and the shuttle to Pillar Point is $15.
I don't know how many people will fit into the temporary grandstands, but you better bring your binoculars since the break is a half-mile offshore.
It's not like Banzai Pipeline where the action is fifty yards away. And at Pipe, there's a steep sand dune to the water, making it a natural grandstand. Pillar Point is at sea level (the cliffs are off-limits).
The webcam has come a long way from a few years ago when they set up a camcorder on the cliff and the surfers were little dots. The waves were great early on, but have turned sporadic. Hopefully it'll pick up for the finals, which should be in about an hour.
This video from the monster swell back in December is the craziest Mavericks action I've ever seen:
http://www.surfline.com/video/video_player/video_player.cfm?id=12653&mv=ncl