Mavericks Surf Contest 2010

Nothing screams 'CALIFORNIA!!' quite so loudly as surfing. I've spent my fair share of mornings watching the surfers on Ocean Beach and Rodeo Cove, marveling at their patience as they bob in the ocean, waiting for that perfect wave. Once a year, when those perfect waves comes along, the top 24 big wave surfers in the world descend on the small town of Half Moon Bay for a heck of a wild ride. The Mavericks Surf Contest was first held in 1999 and a young man from Santa Cruz was crowned champion: Darryl "Flea" Virostko. Darryl went on to win in 2000 and 2004. 2005 went to Anthony Tashnick (Santa Cruz), 2006 to Grant Baker (South Africa), 2008 to Greg Long (San Clemente) and this year, 2010 Chris Bertish from South Africa took the top spot.

For years I have wanted to attend the fabled 'Mavericks' surf competition but always seemed to either be out of town with no hope of a speedy enough return when the contest has been called or I waited the season only to find no suitable waves. This year they were sweet enough to call it in between trips and I found myself driving down highway 1 in the dark with two different sets of camera gear and my poor tired cousin in tow. I was fully prepared to climb the cliff with my 600mm and 2X teleconverter and hope for the best.

We arrived in Half Moon Bay and met up with a friend of mine, Jim Goldstein who tipped me off there might be room on one of the boats. Jim managed to score a spot on the media boat and was traveling light: two lenses, two camera bodies. Sure enough, I managed to get a spot on the Queen of Hearts. It might have been my imagination but she seemed a much less rolly ship than the Huli Cat but then again, EVERYTHING was rolling out there.

We saw a huge wave literally pick a guy off his jet ski and throw him into the water. I can only assume that was the wave that injured the people on the beach. It seemed to have a vengeful mind of it's own as it cut through the surf zone.

I had no idea what focal length would work best for the contest so I relied on my 100-400mm lens. Not the sharpest in my arsenal but you can't argue with the hand-holdability and flexibility a zoom can provide. I quickly abandon hope of being able to shoot with two cameras and stowed my second body in the main cabin for safety sake. One hand for the camera, one hand for the railing, or window, or desk.... or other passenger.... whatever is in reach when the boat gets knocked by a wave. The excellent light helped me keep my shutter speeds high enough to be able to shoot with less stability than I would think optimal and I captured many images that I am very pleased with.... not too shabby for a first timer. Next year I know what to expect and I'll be prepared!

While Chris Bertish did pick up top honors... I couldn't help but follow Kenny "Skindog" Collins. I mean, the guy had rainbows following him! One thing is for certain, the ocean runs deep in these guys veins and they love being big wave surfers - it showed in every run they made. As for me.... I'll stick to being below the waves with my trusty regulator delivering me O2 whenever I need it. Scuba Tuesday tomorrow!

Images
1: A famed Mavericks wave breaks on it's way to Pillar Point.
2: Peter Mel is chased by a monster wave.
3: Kenny "Skindog" Collins glides effortlessly down the face of a giant Mavericks wave.
4: Champion, Chris Bertish is quickly engulfed by a breaking Mavericks wave.
5: Kenny "Skindog" Collins slides down a wave face while a rainbow trails behind.

Hitting the Road

After installing the Thule Carrier no less than three times... too far to the back, crooked, backwards you name it... My friend Iain and I piled the camping gear in for our desert portion of the trip and hit the highway. Our first intended stop was along the coast north of San Francisco in search of a Harbor Seal rookery of which I recently learned.

As it turned out our first stop was the graveyard in Sebastapol. We had an amazing graveyard in the town where I grew up. It was full of old stones that my mother and I would make rubbings from, there were tons of old trees to sit beneath and one side had a great hill for sledding in the winter so far from eerie, graveyards have always been a place where I went to relax and enjoy the quiet. I kept this in mind as I slowly wandered through the tombs, admiring the trinkets people had left for their loved ones. Green plastic snakes, ornate crosses, Christmas Tree decorations, bracelets, teddy bears and more. One grave in particular caught my eye - a marble woman sitting in thought. The morning dew clung to her eye lids and ran down her cheeks. She looked so serene, quiet and peaceful that I had to take time to study the angles until I found a shot that I feel captured her beauty.

We piled back into the car and headed toward the coast again, intent on capturing the cute faces of the harbor seals. Instead, we found a raging sea that was boiling and bubbling over the rocks and crashing onto the beaches below the cliffs. So of course we had to stop and attempt to capture the moment.
When we finally arrived at the rookery we discovered that all access was closed off... not as we had feared because of the seals but rather because the surf was too rough and unpredicable. The rangers feared people would be swept from the beach by sleeper waves and out to sea, never to be heard from again. I think they were more afraid that people would try to surf and the coast guard didn't want to have to fish people out. So no Harbor Seals for us. :0(( Better luck next time.

So on to Tahoe we drove arriving after nightfall. We settled into our rooms and I promptly passed out for the night. A pretty good start to the trip even though it wasn't what we expected.

The Stars of Midway Atoll

By far the Stars of Midway Atoll are the albatross. Both Laysan and the endangered Black-footed Albatross nest and rear their young on the three islands. They literally take over every available inch of ground space. Traveling around the roads in a golf cart can put you into a stand-off with an albatross... luckily they don't seem to find the hard roads as comfortable as the grass, weeds and sand so they rarely stand their ground on the road. There were a few occasions when I had to get out and give a little push to get a stubborn bird to move over.

The courtship dances are amazing to watch. There are a least 25 different moves the birds make when they dance with their mate. The dances of the Black-footed are subtly different from the Laysan. One wrong step and the mate will loose interest so it pays to practice. I saw many groups of non-breeding juveniles dancing together trying to get all the steps down.

The bill clacking and squeaking cry's of the albatross make a wonderful music. I found that I am missing it since I've been home. It's much harder to fall asleep to the sound of cars than it is to the sound of happy albatross.

Winter is here

Winter is the time to dive in Northern California. It might be cold but storms clear out the dead kelp leaving behind cathedral columns stretching to the surface. The visibility is amazing and the sunshine on the kelp is magical. So... we have a few weeks left before we hit prime time. We attempted to dive a couple of weeks ago and experienced surge, waves and the famous 3 foot visibility that leaves cold water divers shaking our heads and asking, "Why am I freezing my butt off for this??" Today Point Lobos gave us a taste of what's to come.


Unfortunately, I am WAY out of practice with my underwater camera gear. I did say "taste" of what's to come... you can see that the vis wasn't STELLAR by the scatter in the water between me and my dive buddy Enrique. Congratulations on Open Water Dive #8 Enrique! Soon we'll both have cameras out there and we'll turn into horrible dive buddies.

TURTLE!

I managed to make it back out to the Farallon Islands. More importantly, I managed to do it without getting sick. Out of 20 people on the boat, 7 people were down for the count due to sea sickness.

I headed out because I had heard there had been Blue Whale spotted. Unfortunately there was a storm at sea that stired up the currents - the whales had not yet returned to their feeding cycle. We did spot the Blue but at the end of the day and from afar.

The absolute highlight of the trip for me was an encounter with a Leatherback Turtle. If you know me, you know I ADORE turtles... if you don't know me... I ADORE turtles. When I first moved to San Francisco I took a tour to the Farallons and found a Leatherback - we got some photos which I am sure were nothing short of amazing... and the print lab lost the film.

It's pretty rare in life that you get a second chance. Even more rare to have a second chance with an endangered species. So I am counting my blessings on this encounter. The Turtle was so nice and mellow and didn't even care that we drifted along side of him for a time.

The Mola Mola (Ocean Sunfish) was the icing on the cake for the day!

Whale of a Tale

We cruised the Icy Straits on our way back to Juneau after our visit to Glacier Bay National Park. In the distance we saw a Humpback Whale breaching repeatedly so we changed our course to investigate. As we slowed the boat to a standstill in the general area we had seen the whale we heard that unmistakably powerful blow of whale breath. On the starboard, a large whale had surfaced and was slowly cruising past, her breath hung in the air. I noticed a large clump of bull kelp off the forward port side of the boat and suddenly realized that it was moving rather quickly. Just then a tail appeared in the mess and I realized that there was a whale in that kelp. At first it seemed as though the calf was helplessly tangled in the kelp and we wondered if we should attempt to intervene on his behalf. Soon enough it became apparent that he was playing! He disappeared beneath the surface and pushed the kelp upward with his nose, then rolled it around his flipper and finally sliding it down his back to give it a flip with his tail. He did this for about 10 mins before mom finally got impatient. She began slapping the water loudly with her tail. "Ok, enough playing around, we have to go eat!" she seemed to be saying. Like most children... this calf seemed to have selective hearing and ignored her for a while. Then she raised her flipper and slapped the water with it. That got his attention and he left his toy behind to joined her. A few spouts later they were ready to start feeding again and dove in unison. When we saw them next they were swimming away together, the bull kelp floating beside our boat, a discarded toy looking for a new purpose. Perhaps it would become cover for some fish or maybe another calf would find it interesting as it proceeded on it's journey through the Icy Straits.

My Eagle Addiction

I can't seem to get enough Bald Eagles. I love raptors with the cool talons and the sharp eyes and that strong beak... but there is just something about eagles that makes my camera shutter fly. They don't even need to do anything to look cool - just stand there.

I took some wonderful head shots and close up's while I was here in Homer this winter but I didn't get many scenics. Today my boat trip to Gull Island was canceled due to huge waves so we went driving around the countryside and discovered a great recreation area near Anchor Point. The eagles were wary but with a little bit of patience and without too much trouble I was able to get close enough to get the wide angle shots I was craving. I love the mountains rising up in the background. To me these images scream Alaska much more than the close up portraits.

Sea Food Lovers

Took a quick trip down to Moss Landing with my friend Jim this past Wednesday. We rented a boat and went in search of Sea Otters. We didn't have to look for very long at all, barely out of the marina and we were surrounded by adorable fuzzy faces.

I'm looking forward to going back earlier in the morning for better light on these guys. Before I can do that I am in Moab, Utah on a photo shoot. Sea to desert in three days. =)