|
Santa Cruz surfer Darryl "Flea" Virostko who, for the third time in a row, showed the most style, the best wave selection and the truest grit. Having won the contest all three times it has gone off since 1998, Flea remains undefeated at Maverick?s.
A trio of locals tries to conquer Maverick's mountains at the final of the 2004 contest. (Dan Coyro / Sentinel)
By GWEN MICKELSON
Sentinel correspondent
PILLAR POINT ? Surfers invited to the 2004 Maverick?s Surf Contest, which went off without a hitch Friday after a three-year respite, hailed from as close as Half Moon Bay and as far as Brazil.
But it was local Santa Cruz surfer Darryl "Flea" Virostko who, for the third time in a row, showed the most style, the best wave selection and the truest grit. Having won the contest all three times it has gone off since 1998, Flea remains undefeated at Maverick?s.
It might not have been the perfect day, but it was the right day. And Friday, 24 Maverick?s contest invitees were ready to show what they were made of. Or, at the very least, have some fun.
Contest organizers typically look for solid 20-25 foot waves for the Maverick?s contest. Yesterday the waves averaged 10-12 feet, with some 15-to-20-footers. That still means 20-to-30-foot faces, but in terms of Maverick?s, Friday was fairly small.
There was nothing small about some of the drops the surfers made though, or some of the wipeouts. Santa Cruz?s Ken "Skindog" Collins pulled off a nice air-drop in the first round, while Shawn "Barney" Barron, also from Santa Cruz, found himself in a bad situation, having gotten thumped trying to scratch over a wave, then held under as the next wave rolled over him.
The rain had subsided and the sun had broken through the clouds by 10 a.m., making for a misty Half Moon Bay morning as the first round, consisting of four six-man heats, progressed. As the tide dropped, bottoming out at 11 a.m., so did the waves.
As the first round concluded, 12 men were set to continue into the semifinals, half of them from Santa Cruz. First, Matt Ambrose of Pacifica, Carlos Burle of Brazil, Josh Loya of Santa Cruz, Collins, Virostko, and Southern California?s Evan Slater took the stage, but the heat was a slow one, and the men didn?t have a lot of chances to peg high-scoring rides.
"There were some 30-foot faces," said Ambrose, "but it was really leftovers from yesterday?s giant swell."
For the second semifinal, Peter Mel, Shane Desmond and Anthony Tashnick, all of Santa Cruz, Rodrigo Resende of Brazil, Grant Washburn of San Francisco, and Garrett McNamara of Hawaii paddled to the take-off zone. While most of the surfers were making the drop and coasting to the shoulder and off the back of the wave, Mel took two epic rides way to the inside ? which, of course, meant epic paddles back to the lineup.
As the semifinal was drawing to a close, what seemed to be the best set of the day reeled in from the outside. Resende snapped up the first wave of the set, making the flailing drop, while Tashnick dropped in to the second, riding what looked to be the biggest wave caught yet that day.
After the judges had tabulated the results of the semifinals, the Santa-Cruz-to-the-rest-of-the-world ratio held true. In a six-man final, there were three surfers from Santa Cruz.
Virostko, Ambrose, Slater, Tashnick, Mel and Washburn made the cut for the hour-long final heat. They paddled out and bided their time a while, awaiting the sets, as onlookers from the sea, the beach, the cliffs and the sky watched and waited to see who would ultimately rule the day at one of the heaviest waves in the world.
Tashnick and Mel took off on the first wave together. Tashnick made the drop and faded out while Mel continued on one of his patented long rides.
Washburn took wave after wave, clocking solid but not dramatic rides. Slater also caught a wave, finishing in foaming whitewater. It looked like Virostko, the reigning champ, was having difficulty catching a wave and was being shut out. He took a left and fell. Meanwhile, Slater scored an unreal air-drop, but Mel and Washburn were also on the wave, which may have cost him points.
With less than 10 minutes remaining in the final heat, Virostko finally found his wave. He paddled for what was most likely the largest wave of the day, and before an audience bating its breath, made the drop and fluidly bottom-turned. The crowd let out a collective roar.
Virostko?s wave notwithstanding, the elite level of surfing during the final heat (and all day), made it a tough call who had won the contest. But with the judges? scoring system (best wave doubled, plus the one other highest- scoring wave), Virostko emerged the winner.
The general feeling among the invited surfers seemed to be one of gratitude to Maverick?s pioneer Jeff Clark for reinitiating and running the contest.
"It was great for the community and for surfing in general," said Randy Cone of Half Moon Bay. "It was a little small for Maverick?s, but there were definitely a few sets. It doesn?t even matter ? any size is a heavy wave at Maverick?s."
Most of the surfers also seemed to have a sort of rational awareness about the event.
"It?s been a bad year (for waves), and we were lucky Jeff wanted to run the contest," said Washburn. "Was it the best day? No. But if you want to have a contest every year, you can?t set unattainable standards.
"It?s an excuse to take an otherwise not-so-special afternoon and make it a special day," he added.
Especially special for one maverick surfer from Santa Cruz.
|
