Author Topic: Titans of Mavericks . . . . with SUP'ers  (Read 5352 times)

Beasho

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Titans of Mavericks . . . . with SUP'ers
« on: October 21, 2016, 06:21:02 PM »
Titans Announced

I saw the GEICO guy building this sign out of sand, no joke I asked if he was really a professional sand castle dude, and he only nodded and continued crafting.

Note the number of renowned SUP'ers in the lineup.  Interestingly Kai was approached most by kids, << 16, who seemed to know who he was. 

The adults were fawning over the other traditional big wave faces. 
« Last Edit: October 21, 2016, 06:53:06 PM by Beasho »

Beasho

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Re: Titans of Mavericks . . . . with SUP'ers
« Reply #1 on: October 21, 2016, 06:21:56 PM »
I was sure to congratulate Kai on the nomination . . . and ask about his fins.

Jeff Clark couldn't help but jump on the topic. 
« Last Edit: October 21, 2016, 06:35:10 PM by Beasho »

Beasho

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Re: Titans of Mavericks . . . . with SUP'ers
« Reply #2 on: October 21, 2016, 06:29:50 PM »
And the Lei bestowed by Kim Moriarty, widow of Jay Moriarty (see Chasing Mavericks). 

The ceremony was very touching, warm and receptive considering it was a global collection of Pro-Bowl'ers from the Big Wave world tour.

The Half Moon Bay surf team, all kids 8 - 18 yrs, was invited out with the contestants to hold hands and form the ceremonial circle.  A lot of us old guys were pretty envious. 
« Last Edit: October 21, 2016, 07:17:12 PM by Beasho »

Beasho

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Re: Titans of Mavericks . . . . with SUP'ers
« Reply #3 on: October 21, 2016, 06:40:24 PM »
PS: On his big wave gun, which was ~ 8' 10", he was running FINS that looked like G10 Controllers by MFC. 

He had gone AS SMALL AS POSSIBLE with the larger fins trailing the smaller forward quads.  He was emphatic that he would never go larger or back to 'Normal Fins' because they just felt too darn slow (at Peahi). 

Are Big Fins the new smoking  ???
« Last Edit: October 21, 2016, 06:43:30 PM by Beasho »

TallDude

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Re: Titans of Mavericks . . . . with SUP'ers
« Reply #4 on: October 21, 2016, 06:44:18 PM »
Jamie Mitchell is no longer a SUP guy? Maybe just not on big waves?
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Beasho

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Re: Titans of Mavericks . . . . with SUP'ers
« Reply #5 on: October 21, 2016, 06:54:05 PM »
Jamie Mitchell is no longer a SUP guy? Maybe just not on big waves?

Whoops.  Yes he is (fixed it). 

I guess I wrote him off when I watched him stuff Haley into the bowl.  Jamie was in Yellow.  Haley was in the Seattle Seahawks jersey just trying to have fun. 

You know what they say "It's all fun and games until someone cartwheels into the bowl." 
« Last Edit: October 21, 2016, 07:07:16 PM by Beasho »

SUPcheat

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Re: Titans of Mavericks . . . . with SUP'ers
« Reply #6 on: October 21, 2016, 07:43:41 PM »
'Titans of Mavericks'?  I guess I'll stick with 'Wimps of Supcheatlandia" for the time being.
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starman

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Re: Titans of Mavericks . . . . with SUP'ers
« Reply #7 on: October 22, 2016, 10:09:02 AM »
Very cool to see Matt Becker on the list. I ran into his father last winter and he mentioned how Matt was now totally engrossed in big wave surfing. I find it interesting how the culture of big wave surfers is totally opposite of the short board world. The people involved in surfing places like Mav's are very supportive of each other as opposed to the dog eat dog world of short boarding.

I also had the pleasure of meeting Sara Gerhardt a couple of weeks ago. There was a local screening of One Winter Story which is a 1 hour documentary of her life as the first women to surf Mavericks in 1999. It was done in an artsy fashion using super 8 and 16mm film giving it a very retro look. Cool but I would have loved to have some of the Mavericks footage done in HD. She was also the first women to stand-up Mav's as well as tow-in. So her resume was quite impressive. Also impressive to think this was long before all the safety devices available today.

There is a push to allow women to be included in the event. They would hope to have a heat during the break before the men's final. Odd that the men would be very supportive of the women who surf there but are very resistive to the idea of being included in the Titans event.

Bean

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Re: Titans of Mavericks . . . . with SUP'ers
« Reply #8 on: October 26, 2016, 10:28:47 AM »
Here is a pretty cool clip from Dr. Sara Gerhardt:

https://youtu.be/MG25z4U0GX4

starman

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Re: Titans of Mavericks . . . . with SUP'ers
« Reply #9 on: October 26, 2016, 11:46:34 AM »
Well the female big wave chargers will now be included in this years event. I guess we can add at least one more SUP'er to the list of those invited;

http://www.surfermag.com/features/womens-heat-held-titans-mavericks/#o4SXlg63jWaiiUqo.97

surfafrica

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Re: Titans of Mavericks . . . . with SUP'ers
« Reply #10 on: October 26, 2016, 12:51:54 PM »
He had gone AS SMALL AS POSSIBLE with the larger fins trailing the smaller forward quads.  He was emphatic that he would never go larger or back to 'Normal Fins' because they just felt too darn slow (at Peahi). 

Interesting....a quad with small fronts/larger rears.  Is that a big wave thing?  Anyone try that on mortal waves?
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Beasho

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Re: Titans of Mavericks . . . . with SUP'ers
« Reply #11 on: October 26, 2016, 01:01:45 PM »
More on the women's event here (link below).

I have mixed feelings about this.  Everyone welcomes diversity in the lineup, at least they do at Mavericks.  Even on a SUP I am not yelled at or treated with disdain like I might be in Santa Cruz.  At the same time I am not charging it hard like some of the regulars. 

When the crowd gets big, say 25++ people, it would appear to be difficult to catch a wave.  However Jeff Clark is famous for saying "If you want a wave then paddle to the bowl and get one." 

The bowl is the epicenter of all your childhood night terrors.  It is a patch of water maybe 20 feet across sitting atop the underwater peak that springs Mavericks to life.  Even on a crowded day there may only be 2 or 3 people willing to sit 'on the bowl'. 

The rest of the crowd spreads itself along a South by Southwest fan in concentric clumps of skill level further and further, 100's of feet from the bowl. 

I am attaching the Mission which claims NOT to discriminate.  But they do discriminate:

The group of Titans are by definition those who most capable of sitting on the bowl, charging and conquering

On a scale of 1 to 10 the men who sit on the bowl I would rate a 10/10.  Even 50 feet from the bowl I would rate the men 8/10.  The woman I have witnessed are 7 or 8 out of 10 category.  When a woman performs at a 10/10 level then she should, and likely will, be invited to the primary event.   

PS:  To put this into perspective I would rate myself a 3 out of 10.  This only because I have caught more than 1 wave (1.0), caught more than 1 wave in a session (2.0), been willing to surf Mavericks totally alone, paddled out in the fog, paddled out in pitch black, once caught "the biggest wave of the morning" on a crowded day, and been willing to catch a wave going left (3.0).

https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2016/10/21/mavericks-surfing-contest-will-include-women-for-first-time/
« Last Edit: October 26, 2016, 01:53:54 PM by Beasho »

supthecreek

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Re: Titans of Mavericks . . . . with SUP'ers
« Reply #12 on: October 26, 2016, 05:42:44 PM »
Nice to have a Zoner playing in the big leagues, to keep us up to date on the inner circle.
Thanks Beasho!

starman

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Re: Titans of Mavericks . . . . with SUP'ers
« Reply #13 on: October 26, 2016, 08:54:44 PM »
Beasho, based on the post movie Q and A with Sara Gerhardt and Frosty Hesson there was no interest in women being included in the men's division. Owning to the fact that there can be only one event a year at Mavericks the women were never going to get a event of their own if left up to the event promoters and the permit process. They wanted a chance to hold a women only division at the same time as the Titan's event. Made perfect sense as there is plenty of time between the men's heats for the women to get enough time on the water. Plus it will help eliminate the lack of action on the water for those watching the live steam. Anyway Frosty didn't seem to share any concern for a mixed event. They both just didn't know if it would happen this year.

One question I did have for Sara was what made the wave at Mavericks so different than other big wave spots. Her response was that at the moment you take off at the peak the wave has a nasty pitch that causes one to free fall in the beginning. ( I pictured it similar to launching off a cornice when skiing except the water is moving below you) So it sounded like she was familiar with what makes Mavericks so revered.

Oh, and a question for Frosty about the biggest wave witnessed at Mav's lead to this story..

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/DESPERATE-RACE-FOR-SURVIVAL-RIDING-FOR-THEIR-2652731.php


Beasho

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Re: Titans of Mavericks . . . . with SUP'ers
« Reply #14 on: October 29, 2016, 01:52:44 PM »
Beasho, based on the post movie Q and A with Sara Gerhardt and Frosty Hesson . . . .

Oh, and a question for Frosty about the biggest wave witnessed at Mav's lead to this story..

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/DESPERATE-RACE-FOR-SURVIVAL-RIDING-FOR-THEIR-2652731.php

This was a great article on some of the bigger waves ever witnessed by humans and survived. 

I have been out in legit 40++ ft conditions and have never seen the ocean break as described in that article. 

This was one of the bigger waves that I "almost caught."  It was during the 2014 Mavericks competition.  I paddled out in the dark with my surf amigo Dave.  He suggested we go out pre-dawn and see if we could catch some waves before the competition.  It's usually an 'Open Session' before 8 am.  The problem was that you couldn't get anywhere near the point, it was on police lockdown.  So we paddled across the harbor and jumped the sand spit.  When we got to the sand there were two volunteer security people.  They said "Hey you can't be here . . . what are you doing?"  We just kept walking past them in total darkness and said 'We're with security' and proceeded to hop in the ocean on the other side having little idea of what the preliminary shore break would be. 

When waves are 20 feet or less you can get out with dry hair, but this was a competition day so it was bigger and we knew we would have to punch through mushroom rock delivering anything from 8 to 12 feet of whitewater.  Since it was still dark we spread out and said "See you on the other side." 

Prior to the competition Dave says "Hey let's paddle North to Rocky's cove."  This would be the only option to actually surf, then again a bit absurd considering how big the swell was. 

While paddling North a set of waves took out the competitors the most noteable being Mark Healey who's episode was caught in full GoPro HD.

 


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