Crazy photo taken on Wednesday August 30, 2011 at Swami’s outside of San Diego California. Swami’s is a popular point surf break in Encinitas. Ralph Collier of the Shark Research Committee estimated the shark to be a 10-12 ft long Great White. No surfer was touched by the shark and few seemed aware of it’s presence.
One of the lifeguards in the news report suggests it’s the leg of a surfer, what do you think shark or surfer? Add your comment below.
Check out all the latest shark news on surftherenow.com here.
The Mavericks Surf Contest ran today in epic, clean conditions at Pillar Point, Half Moon Bay, CA at one of the world’s heaviest and biggest waves. Results were: 1st – Chris Bertish (South Africa), 2nd – Shane Desmond (Hawaii), 3rd – Anthony Tashnick (Santa Cruz). The Mavericks Contest was webcast on Ustream and they provided updates throughout the contest on Twitter and Facebook. They shot some great photos from the line-up and posted them via Twitter (see below).
The Mavericks contest is held semi-annually at Mavericks (between 1999 and 2010, there have been 7 contests). Contest organizers wait until the swell is sufficiently big (40 ft. minimum) before calling the contest. Invitees fly from all over the world within a few days notice to compete. Previous years winners have included Darryl “Flea” Virostko (1999, 2000, 2004), Anthony Tashnick (2005), Grant “Twiggy” Baker (2006), and Greg Long (2007). Check the photos below (full gallery at SFGate.com). Photos: Ben Margot/AP.
Josh Loya paddles into a giant
Diagram of the wave at Mavericks
Evan Slater drops in late on a macking wave as Darryl "Flea" Virostko looks on.
View from the boat of the Mavericks Surf Contest - This photo posted via Twitter
More photos of the Mavericks Surf Contest after the jump
Jaimal Yogis, NorCal local, award-winning writer, and part time Buddhist, writes simply and eloquently about his own discovery of surfing in a remarkable account that mixes surfing and snips of Buddhism. Saltwater Buddha resonates with every surfer with stories echoing surfing’s journey of discovery. As surfers, we all know that the sport is much more than the act of standing on a fiberglass boarding and gliding across waves; but it is a struggle to explain that without sounding like the media charicature of surfers. “Bro, it’s all about the wave…”
Jaimal’s spiritual search parallels his discovery of surfing in high school. He did what many of us wished we had, bought a one way ticket to Hawaii at the height of his youth and surfing exuberance. Surfing takes Jaimal through Hawaii, San Francisco, and New York. Jaimal writes simply yet powerfully about the sport and weaves stories of Buddhism. I finished the book in a night and look forward to reading more from Jaimal. Saltwater Buddhaputs Jaimal firmly in the class of other great writing by writers such as Duane Duarte (Caught Inside) and William Finnegan (Playing Doc’s Games). Even more Saltwater Buddha is a an excellent narative that transcends surfing.
I turned my board, pointed it toward the rocks and began pumping my hands through the water. The thing began to lift, kept lifting. Up, up, up. I was looking down the line of a horizontal tornado and my board picked up speed. I didn’t hesitate. My body somehow knew.
Then… speed. Unbelievable speed. Not walking on water. Running. Gliding. Flying. No separate self. No Jaimal riding. No wave about to crush me. No thought. Just the sound of thunder behind me. Just a blue wall transforming. Just–I saw the rocks coming.
More and more authors are having to utilize social channels to get their content out there and build their following. Tim Ferrriss is well known for his guerilla marketing style tactics of launching his books. The best authors are influencers (as in the case of Tim Ferriss) with build in loyal audiences on Instagram and other social channels. These authors use these social channels to keep in touch with their audiences between books so they have a build in audience of their core fans for their next book launch. Such authors will use all available social channels including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Twitch (live streaming app owned by Amazon) is even emerging as a channel as well. See twitch statistics here.
Big wave season is coming to an end with the North Pacific in a funk sending more rain than waves at the big wave breaks of Hawaii and California. Check this years entries at the contest site. Here’s a video of last year’s bombs including the winning wave of Mike Parsons at Cortez Bank.
A high pressure sitting over California and a big West-Northwest Swell driving toward California could set up ideal conditions for the Mavericks contest this Friday. The Swell is expected to be in the 15-20 ft. range, which is on the smaller side for Mavericks, but ideal conditions with warm weather and off-shores could have the contest going for Friday. Forecast courtesy of Stormsurf.com. Check the Mavericks Surf Contest home page for updates.
Transworld Surf reports on an Oregon State Study of wave heights that measures Pacific wave heights from buoy data and finds that waves are increasing by an average of 7 cm per year. Surfers are likely to the only people rejoicing over this information as larger wave also result in more coastal erosion among other problems.
“Unlike sea level, the current data suggests that wave heights are not increasing uniformly across the globe. However, many regions lack the right data to do proper analysis. Bigger wave heights off the coast of Oregon were first discovered just a few years ago by other OSU scientists. They had the advantage of working with the unique dataset created by the Pacific coast’s longest-floating buoy; it’s been gathering data on wave heights for over 30 years.
“This is high quality data and you didn’t have enough data to do this kind of analysis until very recently,” Ruggiero said.
Despite the clear wave-height increase in the data, particularly of the largest waves, Ruggiero and his colleagues still can’t explain it.”
I’m not sure there’s anything that needs to said here. He blew away the field, winning 6 contests and 5 of the first 7 contests. It was never a contest, there was no race in points, it was just a matter of when he would close the deal, which he did in Mundaka, Spain. Unless the top 10 on the tour step up huge next year, there doesn’t look like anything is getting in the way of Kelly winning his 10th world title next year. Final ASP Rankings.
2) AI implodes on tour, takes 2009 off.
Photo: ASP/Cestari
Andy Irons put up a disappointing performance on WCT tour in 2008. He highest finish was 5th place. He failed to show up for his heat at the Quicksilver Pro France and skipped the Brazil contest leading to speculation about his troubles. Andy announced that he was taking 2009 off from the tour, and may be following the path of free surfer of his brother, Bruce Irons.While I respect any athletes decision to do what he pleases with his career, A.I. has shown to be the best competitor to Kelly Slater (no disrepect to Taj, Mick, Parko, Bede, and others in the top 10). When he’s on top form, he’s one of the most exciting surfers to watch on tour. So while a year free surfing the best barrels of the world will no doubt be the time of his life, he will be missed on the 2009 WCT tour and his absence removes one more hurdle to Kelly Slater clinching his 10th world title.
Kelly looked unstoppable all year and the Pipeline Masters was no exception. He beat Chris Ward in the final heat while riding a 5’11” in 8-10 ft Pipeline. Adding a final flourish to his epic year. Well done, Kelly. Looking forward to see what you can do next year.
The future of the big-wave Mavericks Surf Competition (Half Moon Bay, CA) was in doubt when previous sponsors pulled out this year (article SFGate). Jim Beam bourbon and benefactors Moose Guen and Jane Sutherland of the private equity firm MVision couldn’t pass on the opportunity to support the chance of the best big wave surfers in the world hucking themselves over 50 ft. ledges at the famed Northern California big wave surf spot. The total purse is $75,000 with $30,000 going to the winner. More at the official website Maverickssurf.com, including the list of invitees.
The surfboard industry produces over 750,000 surfboards a year (link), the vast majority of which are discarded into landfills at the end of their short life. Surfboards are made with toxic petro chemicals (yes, made from the same source of other environmental and energy problems–crude oil) and release VOC (volatile organic compounds) throughout production and their lifetime. Obviously, there is a high hidden environmental cost for your retro twin fin or Kelly Slater Merrick Model.
San Diego, one of the best surf cities in the country and home of a large population of surfers, is now offering free surfboard recycling to keep old boards out of landfills.
Boards are now accepted at the Miramar Recycling Center and the Solana Beach Lifeguard Station. Those in usable condition will be donated to Los Angeles nonprofit organizations, while broken boards will be ground up and used in mixing concrete.
So consider alternatives to standard polystyrene boards (like epoxy or balsa) and recycle your old boards.
