Mavericks

Yesterday was a perfect spring day in the Bay Area, the sky was baby blue and what wind there was, blew off shore. While I spun the wheels on my bike during a lunch time ride, some of the best athletes in the world paddled into the gawp of the intense Mavericks wave. It was a perfect day for the Maverick's Surf contest in Half Moon Bay, a normally sleepy seaside town south of San Francisco. There are many, many incredible and talented athletes in the world, but I would bet pound for pound the surfers that have the cojones to surf this break are the toughest fittest sports people on the planet. Imagine a small skyscraper falling on you and surfing the tumbling bricks is your only escape: then you might have some idea of how formidable this is. The San Francisco Chronicle had a spectacular photo from the contest on the front page today, and it's sister website, sfgate.com has the story and more photos. The photos of surfers wiping out on these huge waves, give me knots in my stomach. Any average surfer, (as I am), knows the hammering a 7 foot wave can give you, and how long you can be held under by it's force. It's hard to imagine the same thing happening on a 45 foot wave. You need to be able to hold your breath for well over a minute on these hold downs, only to take a breath on surfacing just before you get hit by the follow up wave.

All's swell that ends well / Surfing's biggest names, waves crest at right time