The Mavericks surf competition, which gets announced with a minimum of 24 hours notice based on swells off the coast at Pillar Point (near Half Moon Bay), was just announced for this coming weekend. It will be the first Mavericks to occur since 2010, when a big wave crashed ashore and ended up injuring a few people. And that's because the swells just haven't been right in three years, thanks to La Niñla weather patterns.
This winter's El Nino bodes well, however, and organizers are expecting to make an announcement today as a storm off the coast looks to be creating ideal conditions. Previous Mavericks competitions have seen waves of up to 50 feet.
Once the announcement is made, two dozen of the world's best big-wave surfers will be hopping planes to get here, and surf fans will be streaming up and down Route 1 to catch a glimpse.
Also, you may have caught Chasing Mavericks, which got kind of terrible reviews and left theaters fast last fall. It's about surfer Jay Moriarty (played by Jonny Weston) who started surfing Mavericks at age 16 and died in 2001 at age 23, and his mentor Frosty Hesson, played by Gerard Butler.
Update: Yep, it's happening. It will start Sunday at 8 a.m.
