Mavericks

For other uses of the word, see: Maverick.

The history of Mavericks starts with surfing pioneer Jeff Clark.
In 1975, Clark became the first person to surf Mavericks.
Despite this groundbreaking achievement, Mavericks remained almost entirely unknown for the next fifteen years.
During this period, Clark continued to surf Mavericks alone.
Only a few of Clark's close friends who had paddled out and seen Mavericks themselves believed in its existence; the popular opinion of the time was that there simply were no large waves in California.

In 1990, a photo of Mavericks taken by Steve Tadin, a friend of Clark, was published in Surfer magazine.
This event triggered a flood of interest in Mavericks as surfers realized that world-class big waves could be found in California.
Over the next couple years, more photos of Mavericks began showing up in surfing magazines, and before long, filmmaker Gary Mederios released a movie about Mavericks, Waves of Adventure in the Red Triangle.
As news of Mavericks spread, many big-wave surfers came and surfed the new break.

The next major event occurred in December of 1994, during the annual "Men Who Ride Mountains" gathering.
About twenty major big-wave surfers including Mark Foo, Ken Bradshaw, Brock Little, Mike Parsons, and Evan Slater came to surf Mavericks.
Unfortunately, the occasion is remembered for its tragic outcome.
Hawaiian big-wave legend Mark Foo died when he caught an edge on a midsize wave and fell.
A few hours later his body was found floating just under the surface.
Foo's death gave Mavericks more publicity and also prompted the formation of the Mavericks Water Patrol.

The first big-wave surfing contest at Mavericks was held in 1999.
The competition resulted in Darryl Virostko ("Flea"), Richard Schmidt, Ross Clarke-Jones, and Peter Mel taking first, second, third, and fourth places, respectively.
The second competition was held the following year and put Darryl Virostko, Kelly Slater, Tony Ray, Peter Mel, Zach Wormhoudt, and Matt Ambrose in first through sixth places.
The third and most recent competition was held in winter of 2004, with Darryl Virostko, Matt Ambrose, Evan Slater, Anthony Tashnick, Peter Mel, and Grant Washburn placing in spots first through sixth.

Jeff Clark and Mavericks are featured in the 2004 film Riding Giants, which documents the history of big wave surfing.
Directed by skateboarder turned documentary producer Stacey Peralta (best known for the skating documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys), Riding Giants includes interviews with many of the surfers mentioned in this article.