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Written by rsholin
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Ross Clarke-Jones, 38, New South Wales, Australia
Stature: 5-8, 175
Occupation: Pro surfer
Maverick's results: Third in 1999, 13th in 2000.
Other contest results: 2001 Eddie Aikau champion, second in 2004-05, 10th in 1999.
Notable: Clarke-Jones is a big-wave legend. His exploits in extreme conditions have been well documented and marveled at by surfers around the world. In January of 2001 he won the Eddie at Waimea Bay and has come close to a repeat, finishing runner up in 2004. He has dominated every wave along the North Shore, from Pipeline to Sunset, and recently pioneered new big-wave discoveries in South Africa as well as the wave deep in Tasmania known as “The Cyclops” where he towed into some of the most evil-looking 20-foot mutants ever seen. Clarke-Jones is also proven at Maverick’s, and although he doesn’t surf the place much these days, his third place finish in ‘99 speaks for itself. Among his accomplishments in huge surf, Clarke-Jones is probably best known for that fabled day in January 28, 1998 known as “Biggest Wednesday.” On one of the biggest swells ever recorded and a day when Oahu declared “Condition Black” (the official Hawaiian Civil Defense alert that declares the ocean off limits to everyone, effectively making it illegal for any vessels to leave Hawaiian shores because ocean conditions are too dangerous) Clarke-Jones and his tow partner Tony Ray managed to slip past harbor authorities and navigate through the endless walls of seething whitewater to the outer reefs on the North Shore. There they joined a handful of other tow teams that had prepared for this day of days and towed into some of the biggest waves the world has ever seen at a deepwater reef known as Outside Log Cabins, over a half mile off shore. Photos taken from the rooftops on the shore that day show Clarke-Jones along with Ray, Ken Bradshaw, Dan Moore, and Noah Johnson riding waves with 70- to 80-foot faces.
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