Mavericks Surf

[Illuminati]

If there's any surf photogs out there in the San Francisco Bay Area region, bring your camera tomorrow morning to Mavericks. The annual Mavericks Surf competition is on for tomorrow, and the waves look like they're insane as ever!

I'm going to try and make it up there, so I hope to capture some great shots!

Contest starts at 8 AM. Details can be obtained at http://www.maverickssurf.com/

- Jason

[simowills]

Hi Jason, I'll bring the gear, you send the tickets.


Simon

[vIZnquest]

Jason,

Have a great time and thanks for posting. I would love to go but being where I am at the present time I will have to pass on it. Hope all do well and stay safe. That area took the life of one of the greatest surfers of all time from Hawai'i. Mark Foo the son of a Chinese Photojournalist. The swells there can be as big as they can get in Hawai'i except for JAWS. This year should be good but not as big as it had been and last year was a wash.

Mahalo,

Tom

[ennacac]

I will actually be out there on Sunday, but not Saturday!

I guess I will be a day late, and so close at SFO.

Tom

[mtngal]

I'm stuck down south, can't get up north this weekend (sigh!). It looks like an awesome event - I'll be looking for your pictures.

[Illuminati]

I have returned, bearing pics and a lesson.

First off, if you're going to photograph a once-per-year competition and want a good location for photographing, get there early. I got to the location at the start of the competition, so it was already packed. Luckily, I was able to squeeze my way to the very front of the beach, where the rocks hug the water. Now, the waves at Mavericks were not what I was expecting them to be. They're HUGE!!! This posed a problem, as the surfers needed to go really far out to get rideable waves. There are no piers at this beach, so I had no easy way to get a higher vantage point. So, my only option was to step on the rocks and hope for dear life I don't fall....

Luckily I didn't fall. However, I (and a bunch of other onlookers) didn't realize that the high tide was able to reach up to those rocks. Unfortunately for me, I wore jeans, socks, and shoes; so, I ended up getting soaked from the knees down every 20 minutes or so. I was determined to maintain my decent shooting location, so I just accepted my sogginess and kept trudging. I should probably mention I was shooting with a K100D. I finally called it quits once one of those knee level waves hit me along with another wave that soaked me to my upper thighs, nearing my pocket w/ cellphone. I'm quite happy, as I survived the beating and protected my gear (although my monopod is now missing its rubber foot )

So, the takeaway lesson is, always bring spare clothes when going to the beach.

I was hoping for nice photos with surfers overshadowed with huge waves, but my vantage point didn't allow me such a nice composition. Here's all I could make out with:







- Jason

[NonEntity1]

Dang, I hope that first pic was not of the rocks you were standing on!!! Nice shots and the nice thing about annual events is you can take what you learn the first time and go better prepared next time.

Tim

[vIZnquest]

Thanks for sharing these captures. All of them are very good. Some may prefer a bit closer action but getting the size of those waves with the surfer riding that mountain as they say back home in Hawai'i is great.

[bigdawg]

Loved them all. Wonderful photos.

Dawg

[Illuminati]

NonEntity1 wrote:

Dang, I hope that first pic was not of the rocks you were standing on!!! Nice shots and the nice thing about annual events is you can take what you learn the first time and go better prepared next time.

Tim

I'd be dead if that was the rock. But I did get hit by similar waves, though just at the leg level.

Thanks
- Jason