Mavericks - The defining Moment
As we drove up the coast, we saw Scotts Creek with waves breaking the whole way across the bay, closing out. It was obvious this surf was the biggest we had seen on our trip, so far.
It took us an hour to drive to Half Moon Bay and the whole way up the coast we saw white water smashing up on to headlands. The air was cold and crisp, the sun was really bright and there was patchy fog. When we got there, the car park was packed full of vans and pickups with huge boards hanging out the back of them. There were loads of guys getting ready.
We parked up and ran up the hill with Mike to take a look from the cliff. The eerie fog was made more intense with the sound of a fog horn resonating across the bay. When we got to the cliff edge, we could just about see through the fog enough to make out a surfer dropping down the face of a huge wave way out at Mavericks. When the wave pitched out above him and then landed behind him, the explosion it made was incredible. We were standing at least a mile away, yet the sound was amazing.
It was obvious how much volume was in the wave. It was thick and heavy. I remember feeling excitement as I knew this was it! It was my dream to be here and surf these waves - and I was about to do it!
I also remember feeling nervous,and realising how serious this could be. I was frightened of getting hit by one of those waves. We went back to the car park and began to 'suit up'. We met a bunch of the crew as we waxed our boards. I always go quiet when I'm thinking or concentrating. Emmet was obviously nervous too and wouldn't stop talking. I actually put my headphones on, as I didn't want to seem ignorant to him as I wasn't really listening to him chattering away.
We started walking down the path towards the paddle out spot and I began to separate myself a little. I know that I need to focus, and I find I sort of go into myself when I'm really focusing on something. The walk down the path takes about 10 minutes. We walked along the edge of the still water behind the headland where we couldn’t see the waves break. My mind was filled with thoughts. Should I really be doing this? Do I know what I've got myself into? Am I ready? Is Emmet ready?. None of us really said much as we walked. We got to the edge of the water, right behind the giant black rocks. The tide was higher than the last day we were there, and the beautiful rock pools were now below water with a strong current flowing over them.
We set our boards down and did some stretching and warming up before we all waded into the water. Mavericks breaks behind the rocks so, to get out there, we paddled against the current...
continued in Surfing Mennie Waves
Image Credits:
Tony Canadas