The brutal truth of Maverick’s day of days

All photos by Dave Nelson 

During this historic “hell niño” winter, Jaws has clearly been the star. Session after session there the bar continues to be raised there. For the most part Northern California has been inundated with wind and rain, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing for drought starved California, but it sucks if you’re a Maverick’s surfer. All that changed yesterday, the conditions cleaned up and a big old northwest swell marched in. The Titans of Maverick’s contest was unable to run due to blackout dates for the upcoming NFL Super Bowl, which may have been a blessing in disguise as anyone and everyone that’s wanted to tempt fate at the cold-water slab showed up. With 60-plus people in the lineup at times plenty of waves still roared through unridden. The following’s a collection of the most poignant moments of the day.

Pete Mel outruns an airy explosion.

Local guys still rule:
No matter how good of a big-wave dude you reckon yourself, Mavericks isn’t just somewhere you rock up to and get a bomb. Albee Layer, Kai Lenny and a handful of other would-be chargers who’ve all been setting the bar at Jaws this winter tried their hand out there, got some good waves, but when it comes to taking off on the bowl out the back, guys like Peter Mel, Ryan Seelbach and Ken “Skindog” Collins still are still the men out of there.

It’s all rainbows for Jamie Mitchell

Josh Kerr and Damo Hobgood are madmen:
After spending the morning dodging sets and battling giant peaks at Ocean Beach in San Francisco, Kerrzy and Damo Hobgood showed up to Mavs and put on a show. Josh got a couple good ones right off the bat, but Damo went next level on one of the best rides of the day when he faded a backside bottom turn on a thick 20-footer and setup for the barrel. He didn’t make it out but everyone in the channel went nuts.

Occasionally first timers get lucky:
For Maui upstart Tyler Larronde it was his first time at Maverick’s. The Maui grom tagged along with Albee and crew and came into his own on his first wave. Sticking a late drop, he ran down the line and eventually pulled into one of the only successful tubes of the day. Suffice to say, it made the kid’s whole trip.

An unknown soldier goes headfirst into the unknown.

Mavs shows no mercy:
Still steaming from sliding down one of the biggest waves in the history of surf, Aaron Gold showed up to Mavs with the a red right hand. Then he got absolutely annihilated on a big set wave. He tried to paddle in on the bowl, the bottom dropped out and he ended up airdropping through the barrel, only to get destroyed upon impact. Of course, he was hardly the only one. Matt Becker took a thick lip to the face and Nic Vaughn got all kinds of sideways. For as much as Mavs giveth, it’s also quick to take away. Nobody suffered any serious injuries, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t a few shattered egos.

No Titans of Mavericks yesterday but the titans still showed face.

Today, was better than the Super Bowl:
On Sunday the NFL Super Bowl will go down at Levi’s Stadium in nearby Santa Clara. All week the Bay Area’s been rocking as the build up for the big game reaches a crescendo. But seriously, whatever kind of football magic Cam Newton and Peyton Manning can work, this day at Maverick’s was far more riveting. Giant clean-up sets, heroic late drops, committed barrel rides and no million-dollar commercial interruptions. For 10 hours straight Maverick’s pumped and the surfers that were there rose to the occasion. We love this game!

They’re calling it the best day in years, oh El Niño what will you do next?