California - 2008 Official State Visitor's Guide and Travel Planner - (Page 48) play » surf » mavericks riding monsters S 48 urfing in California has always been about sun, sea, and adventure. Nowhere is this more apparent than at Mavericks, the world’s bigwave mecca just north of Half Moon Bay. For someone paddling out through the channel, the sheer scale of the surroundings is awe-inspiring: the towering cliffs along the shore; the jutting cluster of giant, Jurassic-style rocks inside the break; the deep, dark, cold water below your surfboard, teeming with sea life. Then, an enormous wave rears up and breaks, the lip catapulting forward and hitting the trough below with a startling boom, sounding more like a mortar blast than a breaking swell. A trail of mist from the exploding whitewater rains down upon the lineup of surfers as the wave rumbles through. When a giant set approaches, blotting out the horizon, surfers have to ignore all rational impulses to paddle toward safety, away from the incoming waves. Instead, they wait, Enter positioning themselves precariously in the path of the fastmarching swells. “The most intense part of catching a big one is staring it down,” says big-wave surfer Grant Washburn, who has documented the break in both film and book. “You have to sit in the impact zone while guys are fleeing for their lives, and hold your ground when all of your instincts are screaming ‘run!’ ” Turning and paddling for a Mavericks wave requires a leap of faith. It’s an act of yielding to nature that demands equal parts skill, courage, and fortune. Pushing yourself over the ledge and dropping into the massive, morphing wall of moving water is akin to free-falling off the edge of a cliff, an aquatic avalanche nipping at your heels. You pray that you don’t fall. If you make it to the bottom, balance intact, and manage to steer your board out from under the crashing lip, you’re rewarded with a rush like no other—something even mere mortals watching from the safety of the beach at Pillar Point L wave tour] can appreciate. dean la tourrette [ L keyword in Search box at visitcalifornia.com Oceano Hotel & Spa Half Moon Bay Harbor http://www.visitcalifornia.com
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