Wipeout!

[gh]

Check out picture/story on front page of SF Chronicle site today. The annual Maverick's big wave surfing contest is on, with an historic wipeout. These guys are trying to ride 80-footers?!

[tandfman]

Slow learners?

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... .DTL&tsp=1

[malmo]

Re: Wipeout!

Check out picture/story on front page of SF Chronicle site today. The annual Maverick's big wave surfing contest is on, with an historic wipeout. These guys are trying to ride 80-footers?!

I don't believe those are 80 footers are they? go to youtube and type in "biggest wave ever surfed" or "biggest wave ever ridden"

60 foot waves at Cortes Bank, 100 miles offshore from San Diego.

[malmo]

Slow learners?

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... .DTL&tsp=1

Even more legendary.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Foo

Surfing mavericks must be like heroin is to rock stars?

Just in case anyone is interested, a cool video about the science behind the big waves.

http://tinyurl.com/2ddmwr

[jhc68]

80 foot wave faces? Discussions of wave hts. is a lot like trying to measure vertical jump tests... it is all in the eye of the beholder.

Still, it was an awfully big swell. Go to this site and take a look at the Tyler Fox video... it COULD be 80 feet at one point or another:
http://www.billabongxxl.com/ride_ofthe_year/index.html

Here is another great story. The latest installment of the Laird Hamilton legend: http://starbulletin.com/2007/12/06/news/story06.html

[gh]

I forgot to include any URL... here's the cometition's home page... note couple of pieces on purported 100-foot waves.

http://www.sfgate.com/mavericks/

Here's the main story that was on front page of the ink & paper version this morning... it says that waves approached 80 on the big wipeout last week

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... ITQULT.DTL

[tandfman]

It's not like big-wave surfers to dwell on the negative. Theirs is a world of pure survival.

I dunno. It seems to me that if they really cared about survival, they'd sit on the beach and watch the waves from a safe distance.

[malmo]

"waves breaking in 65-75 feet of water...the physics of it is mind-boggling in itself"

[malmo]

"waves breaking in 65-75 feet of water...the physics of it is mind-boggling in itself"

and seawater weighs approx 2300 lbs per cubic meter. That's a lot of weight falling down on some hapless surfer dude.

[tafnut]

That's a lot of weight falling down on some hapless surfer dude.

But as Bodhi says in Point Break

"If you want the ultimate, you've got to be willing to pay the ultimate price. It's not tragic to die doing what you love."

[bad hammy]

"All I need are some tasty waves, a cool buzz, and I'm fine." - Jeff Spicoli

[tandfman]

as Bodhi says in Point Break

"If you want the ultimate, you've got to be willing to pay the ultimate price. It's not tragic to die doing what you love."

Very easy for Bodhi to say. He is, after all, fictitious.

In the real world, it is tragic when young people die, even if they die doing what they love.

[dukehjsteve]

I went "swimming" on the Banzai Pipeline once...I was the only one in the water other than surfers. Needless to say I was VERY careful, and never ventured out beyond where they were breaking !

But it was a trip, oh yes !

[gh]

You've just gotta be really careful in the Bonsai Pipeline... those low-hanging branches can rip you right off your board!

[gh]

Maverick's tournament scheduled for this morning on mere 20/30-foot faces. They're expecting 40,000 people to flood into the small beachside town.

They're also opening the Giants ballpark and simulcastign the thing on the big-screen so you can see the waves life-size!