Mavericks Might Run On Monday!

Nazaré ran just under a month ago, Jaws blew us (and the competitors) away a couple weeks later, and now, there’s an off chance the third and final BWWT event will also be wrapped up. 

We’re still a week out, but there’s a solid swell scheduled to hit Half Moon Bay next Monday – 30-40 feet solid. 

The WSL hasn’t gone onto yellow alert yet – they wait until they’re four days out for that – but they did respond to ABC 7 News that they were “monitoring the swell very closely!” on Twitter. 

If the Mavericks comp does run, it’ll be the first time it has under the guise of the WSL, and will also be the first time that a women’s comp has been run at the wave that escalated big wave surfing on the West Coast. World Surf League forecaster, Surfline, told the ABC that even if this swell on Monday didn’t eventuate, the odds of the event running in the window were good. 

“A weak El Nino should help fuel the jet stream, but it’s slow in coming so later in the season is probably a better option.”

In addition to it being the first female inclusive event at Mavs, it’ll also be the first to feature equal prize money between the sexes; a rule introduced to wide acclaim a few months ago. Both the guys and the gals will receive 20 big ones for taking out their respective divisions. 

It’ll also be the first time in recent years the event isn’t called the ‘Titans of Mavericks’. After the previous organisers, Cartel Management, went broke, had lawsuits filed against them for harassment, and a number of deals gone awry with previous streaming partners, the WSL jumped on the program and understandably relabelled the event 

While we’re all hoping to see Mavericks kick off, there’s also a small part of us saddened by the fact we’ll need to wait almost a year until the next big wave event if Mavs does get underway Monday.

Either way, here’s the surfer’s lineup for the impending Mavericks challenge. 

Men:

WSL Big Wave Tour Top Ten Seeds: Billy Kemper, Kai Lenny, Ian Walsh, Makuakai Rothman, Lucas Chianca, Jamie Mitchell, Tom Lowe, Alex Botelho, Greg Long, Natxo Gonzalez

Injury Wildcard: Will Skudin

BWA Performer of the Year Qualifiers: Grant Baker, Nathan Florence, Jojo Roper, Russell Bierke

Mavericks Event Invitees: Travis Payne, Patrick Shaughnessy, Matt Becker, Anthony Tashnick, Jason Stark, Hunter Murrison

WSL Big Wave Tour Invitees: Peter Mel, Nic Lamb, One to be selected on Green Light

Women:

WSL Women’s Big Wave Tour Four Seeds: Paige Alms, Keala Kennelly, Justine Dupont, Bianca Valenti

BWA Women’s Performer of the Year Qualifier: Maya Gabeira

Mavericks Event Women’s Invitees: Sarah Gerhardt, Emily Erickson, Andrea Moller, Jamilah Star, One WSL Commissioner Selection TBD

ALTERNATES

Men:

BWA Performer of the Year Alternate: Ryan Hipwood

Mavericks Event Invitee Alternates: Tyler Fox, Luca Padua, Ryan Seelbach, Colin Dwyer, Ben Andrews, Kyle Thiermann

Women:

Mavericks Event Women’s Alternates: Wrenna Delgado, Laura Enever, Felicity Palmateer, Raquel Heckert, Easkey Britton, Silvia Nabuco