From February 13, 2010

2010 Maverick's Surf Contest at Half Moon Bay, CA

Photos from the San Francisco Chronicle

It started out with a lovely dawn...

But the morning fog rolled in quickly, making the bluffs a distant second choice for viewing the contest early on...

But then, near tragedy, as a series of rogue waves swept over the beach...

Luckily, no one was killed-13 were injured, with the worst injuries being a broken leg and a broken ankle...suddenly, the bluffs became a lot more desirable...
Understand that to get any kind of wave break at Mavericks, it takes at least a 10 to 12 foot swell...

On the water, the surf was truly monsterous... 

Ion Banner went for a spin cycle in an opening round that left him with a bruised right eye, a bloody nose, a broken board, and worse, no time to get another board and ride another wave before time ran out in his heat...

3 time Mav's champ Flea Virostko bit it early on, but got back up...

and no one backed down...

Someone lost their board completely...

Check out this pic of Evan Slater, editor of Surfing magazine, dropping in while Flea Virostko watches...

And here's the fearless Josh Loya...

but in the end, the could only be one champion...this year, that title belongs to South African Chris Bertish, pictured below riding his championship wave...look at the size of that wave!!

It's no wonder after seeing these pictures that the original name for this contest was "Men Who Ride Mountains"!