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Written by rsholin
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Evan Slater, 34, Ventura
Stature: 5-10, 165
Maverick’s results: Runner-up 2004 Maverick’s contest, semi-finals 2005, sixth place in 2006.
Occupation: Editor-in-chief of Surfing magazine
Maverick’s experience: Slater was one of the only legitimate big-wave surfers out of Southern California during the early 1990s. While most adventurous surfers down south were content to head down to Todos Santos right across the border in Mexico, Slater became obsessed with the challenge of surfing such a dynamic and powerful waves as Maverick’s. He shunned a budding pro surf career on the world tour and moved to San Francisco to dedicate himself to scoring Maverick’s whenever the conditions were right. During the pioneer days of Maverick’s, few of the original cadre of Maverick’s devotees pushed the level of performance out off of Pillar Point more than Slater, earning him the respect of guys like Doc Renneker, Grant Washburn and Jeff Clark, who adopted him into the tribe.
Notable: As a journalist and a big-wave surfer, Slater is still trying to figure out whether the pen is mightier than the sword. Last year he not only had to contend with preparing himself mentally and physically for the Mav’s contest, but he also had to contend with a publishing deadline for Surfing magazine at the exact same time. Slater wound up flying up to San Francisco with his family the weekend before the contest to have a few practice surfs out at Maverick’s, then flew back down down to Southern California on Sunday night to ensure Surfing magazine would be shipped out on schedule to all the little grommets waiting at the surf shops, then flew back to Mavericks just in time to compete in the contest that Tuesday.
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