WSL postpone Mavericks Challenge despite huge waves
Though much of the surfing world's attention is focussed on the North Shore, the northern Califonian coast is being hit by a series of significant northwest swells. Justin Housman from Surfer magazine is calling today's conditions the largest he's seen in ten years of living in northern California.
Despite the size, the WSL has put the kybosh on the Maverick's Challenge. The league started applying the handbrake last week, when, instead of relishing the forthcoming swells, they issued a statement tentatively postponing it. An unusual move from five days out.
Yesterday they made good on that call when the following statement from Big Wave Tour Commissioner Mike Parsons was posted on WSL.com:
"We will not be running the Mavericks Challenge this week and will wait for more optimum conditions. The wind is good and conditions will be clean, but the swell will be dropping through the day on Thursday and we won't have the consistency we need to run an excellent event. With three months left in the waiting period, we are confident that we'll have better opportunities to run this event this season. January is typically the best month for Mavericks so we'll be watching things closely and hoping for a great finish to the season."
Here are some photos from the less-than-ideal conditions at Mavericks this morning.
(All photos @azhiaziam)
Kai Lenny (1)
Kai Lenny (2)
Comments
Holy faaark! So skis are legal out there again? Or only in certain conditions?
Certain conditions, though I can't recall what at the moment.
Same time as Pipe so they double up the resources but split the viewership. It's a commercial decision.
A few waves of a couple of crew paddling early morn Mavs
nick ian johnson insta
Link or it didn’t happen..
20ft offshore and perfect.yep lets hold off on running the comp at Mavericks, and it has nothing to do with the Pipeline Masters being on. sounds like a good idea WSL and it has nothing to do with money
That one paddle wave of Kai looks pretty creepy with the double up step in it.
Potato patch would have been even bigger.
Let's wait for less optimum conditions. The waves look completely optimum.
Slo-mo on Instagram is ridiculous, is it not?
Anyway, paddle waves...
Aaron Gold :-0
Yes the alternative facts seemed to be spreading.
shannon reporting insta
Anthony Tashnick towed into a bomb.
skin_dizzle for some even bigger shit
[ FASTEN YOUR SEAT BELTS ] As tour bus backdoors The Big Barrel Museum.
Not sure why the WSL seem to continually set themselves up for criticism.
Indeed. Nothing quite like punching yourself in the face. Speaking of which, how's Julie Bishop's form out in Sydney Harbour today? Bailing over the side of Wild Oats X, an all women boat sailing under the banner of the reduction of plastic in the ocean. A fantastic cause and good on her for getting involved but gee, talk about a politican leaving themselves open to lampooning via cheap comedy headlines.
"Bishop jumps ship"... "Bishop fails to finish the race"... "Bishop bails on women" the possibilities are endless. A true Christmas present for any tired, hungover journo who can't be fucked but needs to churn out some lines to keep the fucking boss off their back and fulfil output obligations while they're trying to enjoy the holiday.
You shoulda been all over that one Stu!
The locals must have been very happy.
Waiting for more better conditions is a blatant lie. It is insulting to us astute surfing conissosuers.
Big wave surfing doesn't need contests. It just goes viral off Nazare now days.
I think that as well as going viral it also dilutes events and sessions like this.
Big wave surfing does not need wsl
They just need to figure out how to pay the riders properly !
...and again & again & again for 4th year in a row?
https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/08/30/mavericks-canceled-organizers-scr...