The Maverick's Contest: (Almost) Everything Changes

I've been and watched from the cliff. In fact, I was there last time after people and merchants got washed out. I'm torn. Mavs is too big a media spectacle now - too many people show up to watch. Just getting up and down the cliff is treacherous enough, but I still marvel that no one has fallen onto the beach below!?! The bottom line is most people have no respect for the ocean or even a basic understanding of how huge swell and a massive incoming tide can affect beach conditions. This is one reason people drown every year at Ocean Beach.

Guess what I'm trying to say, is that as much as I don't like the ban on spectators AND the $25 tickets, I kind of agree with the decision. Or do we go all natural selection on the spectators???

Can you tell me how to get to the Maverick? I want to get my picture taken with a pro surfer!

(what a joke the whole circus is. Anybody who goes to watch is f-ing kook. I know about everybody on this site is looking for Clark Reach Around) GAHHHHHH!!!

You want to get to Maverick - Pay $1000 and you can go VIP and get all the reach arounds you want, beer included but non refundable!

>Anybody who goes to watch is f-ing kook

Watching a surf contest makes a person a kook? I was not aware of that rule.

I have a new rule. Hell, maybe I'll even call it a tradition. Anyone that wastes their time trolling a surf website is a f*cking kook.

Hell yeah - anyone who wears a wetsuit is a kook. Anyone who eats PB&J is a kook. Anyone who looks like a kook is a kook. Anyone who calls me a kook is a kook even though I am a longtime kook...

HEY, is there a kook in the house? Let's hear an Amen for the kooks of the world.

This song is kookie

Hey Kook, go back to Arizona!

To paraphrase Nixon, I am not a kook

Did the mavericks contest a few years ago on a boat in the channel. Have seen it big from the cliffs. This time I'll watch it via webcast. No diesel boat fumes. No traffic. Much better camera angles, scoring, IDs (which guy is that dropping in?) and replays. It's no contest. Online contests kick ass these days. We are fortunate.

Although I must say it was fun about 10 years ago when the mavericks contest online was pretty much just a chat board with a video feed. You could post whatever comments crossed your mind and they went to the top of of queue instantly. (Flea is taking a break for a sandwich. Pretty sure its pb&j. Hey shut up about sandwiches. What about the surfing????!!!)

@KOK Was it worth watching from the channel?

Taking a boat ride with Capn Stabbin and inhaling diesel while eating PB&J's doesn't sound too good. Though some crank and PBRs does sound about right 10yrs ago.

I think that watching a big wave surf contest a mavericks is kind of silly anyway. Just watch the buoys and figure out when it is going to be breaking. There will be people surfing. Trust me. Get some binoculars and check it out. You can not really see too much anyway. They are about a half mile out!!!

OB is way better for the spectator when it is big and rideable.

I am so stoked for the Maverick. How do I get to the Maverick? I really want to go be part of the surf community and watch it. Actually I don't even care if I watch it. I just want to get some photos of me near the maverick so I can post them and increase my overall stoke.

I share your stoked @surf8266. The Maverick is what I want to be.

Actually it is pretty cool to watch it there, but the angle they get from the boats is way better. Watching the feed is nice, you probably get more out of it, and you can actually follow what's going on better, but it's not the same as being there. No, they shouldn't restrict access and charge $45 to meet the GMAC. Shutting it down for the contest is basically restricting public access to Mavericks on (potentially) the absolutely best day of the year to actually be there, if they get the contest scheduled right. Throw a bunch of native seed on the bare parts and shut it down for three months in the spring, cordon off the whole hill, let it re-vegetate. Don't tell me you're worried about erosion when the whole thing's been bare as baboon's ass since as long as I can remember.

And yes, they should invite women as well.

Also agree that OB is much better to watch when it is big and rideable.

I've got a better idea: all the local surf shops should have concession stands at the contest and rent out Wavejets and SUP's so that the spectators could paddle out and watch it from the "channel". And they could have GMac and Gerard Butler usher spectators to the viewing area.

figure out how to get a couple of these, http://www.sealander.de/ , and I'll rent one from you wag.

Nice idea, that will be the bar.

my computer's security is blocking the sealander.de website... is it really a security risk?

here u go cbrody:

Can't you just see that thing bobbing around 20-foot maverick's?

I watched from a boat in the channel and it was fun for sure...
I ended up on a boat full of photo guys & gals so we stayed close.
And you could feel the waves break and the sounds were amazing..
that said it was also kind of exhausting getting up at 4:30am, taking dramamine like a madman, the 45 minute cruise through big swell.. and then the drive home...

Anyway I'd say go once and then like Kok hit the webcast