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Tashnick beat 23 other surfers to win the event and a $25,000 check. He did it by catching as many waves as he could find throughout the day, no matter how big or small.
 Anthony Tashnick gets a big ride during the final round of the Maverick's Surf Contest in March 2005. (Shmuel Thaler / Sentinel)
By JULIE JAG
Sentinel staff writer
HALF MOON BAY - Plenty of big waves crashed at the Maverick's Surf Contest here Wednesday. As big as three-story buildings, the murky green-blue sheets of water rose up against the reef, curled under, then came careening back down to the ocean with a thunderous crash.
As swollen as those waves were, though, none has as much an impact as the wave of change that swept over the fourth Maverick's big wave contest.
The most noticeable change began with someone other than Darryl "Flea" Virostko winning the event. Virostko, 33, of Santa Cruz, had won the Maverick's contest each of the three years it had been run. But this year, with Virostko sitting out with knee pain, fellow Santa Cruz Westsider Anthony Tashnick took a turn.
Tashnick beat 23 other surfers to win the event and a $25,000 check. He did it by catching as many waves as he could find throughout the day, no matter how big or small. The strategy seemed to work as a chance he took on a medium- sized wave in the last five minutes of the contest probably boosted him above second-place finisher Greg Long of San Clemente. Tyler Smith of Santa Cruz finished third.
Though elated to have won, Tashnick said he doesn't consider it a true victory since he was competing against Virostko's legacy, not the real deal.
"A lot of these guys are my heroes. I feel fortunate to be a part of this," Tashnick said. "But I didn't beat the pro, so I guess it doesn't count."
Tashnick and Smith both said Virostko had told them before the contest that one of the Santa Cruz Westsiders needed to win to keep the title local. Virostko then observed the final in street clothes from aboard the Roc 'N' Ceviche II as Tashnick granted his request in waves measuring 20-25 feet from the back with up to 40-foot faces.
Virostko said he enjoyed watching Tashnick win.
"It?s all good in the hood," Virostko said. He then added, "He has a lot of potential, a lot of future ahead of him."
More than just putting another name in the winner's bracket, the placing of Tashnick, 20, Long, 21, and Smith, 26, ushered in another change for the contest. The contest previously had been dominated by surfers in their 30s and 40s. On Wednesday, the young guns made it obvious the new generation of surfers is ready to take over.
Most of the Maverick's surfers and organizers approved of the change.
"I think fresh blood is good," said Keir Beadling, a founder of Maverick's Surf Ventures, which orchestrates the contest. "This is the kind of thing that can change guys' lives, and I think it's good."
If it didn't change his life, taking third in his first Maverick's contest seemed to at least change Smith's outlook. Smith originally made it onto the alternates list, but received the call-up Monday. He said his placing even surprised him.
"I'd told myself that if I made it into the contest, I was going to charge as hard as I can," said Smith, whose younger brother, Russell, was eliminated in the first round. "I've never taken off in the bowl like that. I proved a lot to myself today. ... I realized I have a chance to win this thing."
Competing in front of a record crowd, estimated at 30,000 people, Tashnick won his first heat and took second in his semifinal to Santa Cruz's Zach Wormhoudt. Long advanced out of his first heat by scoring the day's only unanimous perfect 10 by surviving a deep drop on a monstrous wave with about a 40-foot-face. He placed third in his semifinal. Smith took second in his opening heat and in his semifinal.
Concerns about the surf not being good enough to hold up the big-wave reputation of the Maverick?s contest were put to rest early Wednesday. In the icy, 56-degree waters of the first heat, surfers passed on waves that were too big to handle. Winds picked up in the early afternoon, making finding a wave's peak almost as difficult as riding it.
"Every heat had a wave that no one can get, that's what makes Maverick's special," said longtime Maverick's surfer Grant Washburn of Ocean Beach. "This is vintage Maverick's. It was charging."
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