Forces of Nature at Work at the Mavericks at Half Moon Bay

This is my second weekend in San Jose, I had initially planned to drive to the coast yesterday, Capitola or Half Moon Bay, my two favorite NO CA beach towns but in the end settled on more pressing task at hand - that of clearing my stuffs out of storage. Yesterday was the day of the famous Mavericks Surf competition with top surfers from around the world. Local evening news were reporting moderate size waves Friday and they were not sure if there would be good wave actions for the competition. The organizers were optimistic though. When I got back to the house, I saw the competition had made news nationwide, the giant 40-50 foot waves and two rogue waves that had swept onto the beach where the breakwaters and the organizer's tents were set up and swept a group of spectators off their feet, seriously injuring quite a number of them. The location of the bay explained how that could happen, ridges underneath the ocean a few miles out meant that given the right element the waves could build and become much larger as they approach the shoreline. I learned later that the waves were the largest waves ever, 40-50 ft high and adrenaline rush for even the most accomplished surfers. If I had gone to watch the competition, I probably would have ventured out to the beach to get a close shot of the surfers riding the giant waves, instead of shooting from the cliffs above...I could easily have been one of those injured....Scary thought.


Link to the story in San Jose Mercury News
Heavy surfs at Mavericks injured at least 15 spectators

An article I wrote awhile back about Half Moon Bay