Mavericks

I stay up late - 1030PM - to watch Riding Giants, a tale of surfing the Big Waves of Hawaii and Northern California from riders Greg Noll, Jeff Clark (who surfed Mavericks in Norcal 15 years before they were "discovered" in 1991) to icon Laird Hamilton who caught the perfect wave in Teahupoo, French Polynesia - a once-in-a-100 years wave that was thought un-surfable and on film for posterity. The sport has evolved from the early, heady days of beach-bumming in the '50s and '60s to sophisticated tow-and-drop operations allowing surfers to ride smaller boards and 60 foot drops. Legendary spots include Jaws' at Peahi, Maui; The Banzai Pipeline, Sunset Beach, Waimea Bay - all North Shore; and of course Teahupoo. For me, I fondly recall expeditions up the Highway 1 where Dan, Adam and others would walk through cabbage and broccoli fields to skinny down cliffs for the breaks at Four Mile and Three Mile points (Danny wrote a book, "Caught Inside," about this). Sitting in black-ink, 60 degree salt water in a kelp bed often surrounded by fog at the dawn allows for some contemplation of nature or one's loneliness. But then the rollers come in obliterating life's worries replaced by movement and joy. Amen.

Photo of Twiggy Baker at Mavericks by Tom Cozad, Newport Beach.