Video: Mega Swell Slams Mavericks; Big-Wave Surfing Pioneer Jeff Clark Hits the Lineup

The Pacific Ocean kicked off the winter season with a swell bender.

First stop on the swell crawl was a blur of intoxicating madness in Hawaii; in fact, the swell might’ve went a little too big while there. It was messy, Pipeline was terrifying, Waimea Bay was maxed out, Jaws on Maui had a few moments to tow and paddle.

Then, the swell hitched a ride across the Pacific, and went for round two at Mavericks, continuing the party with one last blowout bash, at Mavericks.

Some folks followed the swell – just like Maui’s Tyler Larronde back in October, when both Jaws and Mavs saw their season openers, and the big-wave charger took a redeye flight to surf the same swell in both locations.

“I saw you yesterday in the water at Jaws,” said a bleary-eyed Jamie Mitchell to filmmaker Tim Bonython in the video above, “and here we are in San Francisco.”

Mitcho continued:

“You can [chase a swell across the Pacific. The redeye is a horrible flight. But it does get you where you wanna be. You can surf Jaws all day, come in, regroup, get on a flight at 10:45pm, get here at 6:30am, and be in the water at Mavs in a couple hours.

“It’s not for the faint of heart. But you can do it.

“Mavs is super dangerous. Obviously, Mark Foo died there and Sion [Milosky]. It’s a spooky wave. It’s gnarly.”

Along the way, Bonython jumped on a boat with Mavs pioneer Jeff Clark. Famously, Clark surfed the wave alone for 15 years before the world took notice.

This time, however, Clark sticks to the boat.

“You put yourself at risk, unless it’s the absolute perfect shape,” Clark said about these conditions. “And then, you can pull into a nice barrel on the end section.”

Stay tuned for a full Mavericks photo gallery to come.

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