5 most famous surf spots where the legendary giant waves come
Waves most often calm and fascinate the person watching them. Just imagine: the beach, the setting sun is drowning in the ocean waves, one after another running white foam on the golden sand. “Idyll,” you say. Now imagine: strong gusts of wind, a cooling breeze and a huge 30-meter wave that has grown right in front of you in a matter of seconds. “Idyll,” big wave surfers will say.
Today we will talk about the most famous spots with big waves: how and where these ocean Hulks appear and who hunts them. Source: birdymag.ru
(Total 14 photos)
Mavericks, California
1. Perhaps these giant waves have become the most popular and familiar even to people who are far from surfing, and all thanks to the film “The Conquerors of the Waves” (2012), which tells the real story of the young surfer Jay Moriarty, who conquered those same Mavericks. But now is not about that.
The spot got its name back in 1967, when three surfer friends came to ride on an unnamed spot. They had a dog with them - a German shepherd named Maverick, who loved to swim next to the guys. Leaving the dog on the shore, they took a boat to the line-up, but the dog still went after them. The boat had to be turned around to tie Maverick tighter - the weather deteriorated badly and it was not safe for the dog to be in the water. In terms of skiing, that day was not successful: the guys surfed close to the shore, and the giant waves rising far in the ocean seemed very dangerous to them. Returning to the shore, they decided to name the place after the dog, who was much more fortunate that day.
2. Since then, the small town of Half Moon Bay in Southern California has become a Mecca for surfers who do not know life without deadly waves. But not for everyone. For many years the spot was a great secret, jealously guarded only by the elect. And all the rumors about the Mavericks were more like crazy nonsense. Only in the 90s, thanks to Surfer Magazine, the spot received wide publicity and became a magnet for everyone to stare and break in killer waves.
3. These waves acquire such power due to the unique bottom topography: at a distance of about one and a half kilometers from the coast, the reef has depressions that, like a pump, pump up the wave with an additional volume of water coming from other deep-sea reefs. But this is only a “meeting a good friend on the threshold”: the waves themselves form long before approaching the coast of California. Mavericks in their pristine state are the echoes of storms in the nearby North Pacific. Overcoming a distance of 320 km (ideal), the waves move south, driven by the westerly wind. Another important component for a large Maverick is the period with which the swell waves come to the reefs, this period should exceed 16 seconds. When all factors add up, a huge 25-meter wall rises in front of you.
Nazare, Portugal
4. Who would have thought that an ordinary fishing village would instantly become a surfer center of attraction? And all thanks to the recently opened spot of the same name with truly frightening waves.
As in the case of the Mavericks, the deep Nazaré Canyon (Canhão da Nazaré) plays into the hands of surfers. This is the largest underwater gorge in Europe, stretching along the coast for 170 km. In some places, the width of the Nazare canyon reaches 5 km, and the depth is about 300 m.
5. Find a surfer
6. The waves of Nazare "feed" on strong Atlantic storms, the swells of which are moving towards Europe. The canyon, like an arrow pointing straight to the Praia do Norte beach, enhances the power of the wave, and a sharp drop in depth between the gorge and the reef allows the waves to grow in height, reaching 30 m, and sometimes even more. There are plenty of madmen who have conquered such giants.
7. Take, for example, the owner of the Guinness record, the American Garrett McNamaru, who in 2011 rode a wave 23.7 meters high. And two years later, he increased his success by conquering the 30-meter giant in the same Nazar. The deadly storm "Saint Jude" helped the Brazilian Carlos Burle outrun McNamara by 1.5 meters. By the way, Burle's girlfriend, big wave surfer Maya Gabeira, nearly lost her life when she fell off a giant wave in Nazare.
Garrett McNamara catching the Nazaré monster
Jaws, Hawaii
8. Hawaiian spot Jaws ("Jaws") on the northern coast of the island of Maui is happy to open its mouth to everyone from November to March. This name was dubbed by local surfers in 1975 in honor of the just-released blockbuster of the same name by Steven Spielberg. The waves rising here really look like the unpredictable behavior of a shark: suddenly, quite a friendly wave can turn into an 18-meter monster.
9. The Jaws arrive thanks to the storms of the big-wave entertainment-rich Pacific Ocean. These high, fast and powerful waves attract town-in-surfers i.e. those who get on the wave with the help of towing on a jet ski. By the way, this method was invented at the Jaws spot in the 1980s.
10. "Jaws" arise due to an underwater ridge that appeared as a result of a volcanic eruption. The ridge sharply slows down the fast movement of the swell, driven by sharp gusts of wind, and the reef, concentrating all this mass, brings it down in a certain place. In the same place where the XXL Big Wave Awards will be held on May 1st.
"Jaws": a surfer for mom, a surfer for dad ...
Tahiti
11. Spot Teahupu (or rather, in the local dialect, the name is pronounced as "Chopu") is located in the southwest of the main island of French Polynesia - Tahiti in the Pacific Ocean. In translation, the name sounds like “tear off your head” and fully justifies itself. Of course, it appeared as a result of bloody tribal wars that happened in these parts hundreds of years ago. But today it does not lose its relevance. And all because giant heavy waves rise 500 meters from the shore and collapse on reefs slightly covered by shallows, sharp as a thousand knives. This is the merit of a strong southwestern swell, carrying a left wave, and the unique semicircular "jagged" relief of the reef, sheerly going down, allows it to show itself in all its insidious heavy beauty. It seems that giants just grow out of nowhere.
Rhys Wartenberg, surfer, traveler: “When I got out of the water after my first cruel “kiss” with the reef in Chop (on the hip), one of the surfers warming up on the shore said that I was lucky, since I didn’t grab this beauty with my face. And then I realized: yes, damn it, I really am lucky!
Chopu is included in Transworld Surf Magazine's "Top 10 Deadly Waves" list. The full power of the "daredevil" was experienced in 2000 by surfer Bruce Taerea. An unsuccessful attempt to dive through a 4-meter wave by duck-dive ended in death for a professional athlete: a powerful wave pushed the athlete out, throwing him onto the reef. From a fracture of the neck and spine, Bruce fell into a coma, and then died in the hospital.
Chop gave
Pipeline, Hawaii
12. What can we say, Hawaii is the historical birthplace of surfing, attracting riders of all levels and ages to its waves. But big wave hunters have a certain point here - the Pipeline spot on the coast of Oahu, or rather, on Banzai Beach. In winter, huge (up to 10 meters) pipes rise here, which, closing in shallow water, add another 10 points to the level of danger.
13. It is noteworthy that, depending on the size of the incoming swell, the wave on the Pipeline breaks into several peaks, the most traveled of which is First Reef. It is logical, because the reef that goes into the ocean is divided into three parts by depressions that give the incoming waves additional power. Encountering shallow water, all this huge mass collapses, creating a perfect, but damn dangerous pipe.
Speaking of pipes. The Pipeline spot got its name, surprisingly, not at all for the peculiarities of the waves. It was in 1961 when director Bruce Brown decided to shoot some guys on unnamed waves for his surfer film In Search of Summer. And very close by, work was underway on laying underground communications in the ocean. So Brown dubbed the place - "Pipeline" - very unromantic.
14. Since the 1970s, The Billabong Pipeline Masters have been held here annually, where the strongest athletes fight against the elements for a prize of $425,000. But not everything is so rosy: since 2000, six deaths of professional surfers and photographers have been recorded here.
Of course, these are not the only places on earth where you can come face to face with huge waves. But to learn, and most importantly, to understand them all, you need to make a lot of effort. Not only physical, but also mental. After all, big wave surfing is a deadly enterprise. And for those who still dream of riding, for example, Mavericks, we came up with a motto: “Study. Ride. Rule."