11/05/24
January 10, 2008
Surf's up at Mavericks this Saturday.: Many of the world's best and bravest surfers are heading toward Half Moon Bay as organizers of the legendary Maverick's Surf Contest have scheduled the big-wave event for Saturday. You can watch it for free by heading down there or tuning in to the live webcast. Or pay $20-$25 to watch it on the big stadium screen at AT&T Park in San Francisco (wtf?).
posted by worldcup2002 to extreme at 11:33 PM - 11 comments
Stuff like this is the reason I love this site so much. Obscure stuff I wouldn't ordinarily see. Will have to try and remember to check the webcast out. I find surfing fascinating. (Probably due to the fact I am deathly afraid of the sea. Well, not the sea so much. It's the drowning that scares me.) I remember reading about a famous surfer years ago. Can't remember his name sadly, but he went out for this one big wave despite people telling him not too. He wiped out, and all they ever found was his wetsuit. The forces had literally sucked him out of the suit. And it would be severely remiss of me to not post the following amazing YouTube link which if you have even the SLIGHTEST appreciation of surfing, you'll click. (Sound quality is pretty bad, but believe me, it detracts nothing from the jawdropping visuals.)
posted by Drood at 01:19 AM on January 11, 2008
Dammit. Edit failed and I screwed up. Here's the link. Billabong Odyssey is the title of the documentary this is from I think.
posted by Drood at 01:23 AM on January 11, 2008
It's the drowning that scares me My girlfriend is 30 and has never set foot in any "dark" water. No ponds, lakes, or especially the ocean. Why? Sharks. Scared of sharks in ankle-deep water. She went to school on a swimming scholarship, and is scared of the ocean. Me: "look hun, sharks don't live in Lake Tahoe, it is fresh water" Her: "yeah, that's what they want you to believe" women?!? BTW, that link is friggin fantastic.
posted by r8rh8r27 at 12:42 PM on January 11, 2008
LOL! Well I do remember from "Jaws" that sharks attacked in three feet of water. But yeah, Lake Tahoe... Not a place one automatically associates with sharks... My fear is more like being washed overboard in the middle of the ocean. No land in sight etc... The infinite abyss below... That freaks me out. As for the video, it's awesome isn't it! That guy is brave/insane. (Possibly both.)
posted by Drood at 02:50 PM on January 11, 2008
Ha! I had to spend months with my wife in the pool at the gym over 2007 to get her ready for visiting the Great Barrier Reef on our Oz/NZ tour. Even after all that she had to wear a life jackets just to wade in the shallow water off Michaelmas Cay, wouldn't go further than waist deep and was completely thrown by the saltiness. But she had fun, so all good.
posted by billsaysthis at 03:09 PM on January 11, 2008
I spent a long time on our honeymoon convincing my wife the ocean wasn't so dangerous. Finally got her to at least try the piggy-back approach, but that kind of flopped . . . Me: "Huh." Her: "What." Me: "I just got bit on my toe by something. Just a nibble, no big deal." You can guess the rest.
posted by yerfatma at 03:35 PM on January 11, 2008
We've just had a week of big surf on the east coast down here. Most beaches were closed and we had waves up to 5 metres. Much too big for this little black duck. The big wave surfers are possibly some of the craziest people on the planet. But at least they're not tanking up and then driving their cars at 200 kilometres per hour on a public road. And the footage is unbelievable. But why would you pay to see it live via satellite, when the DVD will be out in a few months with all the best waves? On sharks - I've been surfing all my life, and have seen sharks on only two occasions. Even at the beach with the family, I think the shark alarm has only gone off once in 16 years. More people are killed by lightning or bee stings than sharks in Australia. Of course, none of this matters if you try surfing for the very first time and then come across a white pointer. JJ, come in, where are you?
posted by owlhouse at 03:40 PM on January 11, 2008
More people are killed by lightning or bee stings than sharks in Australia. I had initially read that as: MOST people are killed by lightning or bee stings than sharks in Australia...
posted by chris2sy at 04:00 PM on January 11, 2008
"I just got bit on my toe by something. Just a nibble, no big deal." I'd be out of that water screaming like a little school girl.
posted by BoKnows at 04:38 PM on January 11, 2008
On sharks - I've been surfing all my life, and have seen sharks on only two occasions. Even at the beach with the family, I think the shark alarm has only gone off once in 16 years. More people are killed by lightning or bee stings than sharks in Australia. Of course, none of this matters if you try surfing for the very first time and then come across a white pointer. I was a kid taking a summer scuba diving class when JAWS came out in 1975. Our Scuba Teacher made us a deal. He would take us all to see the movie but we all had to go straight from the movie to the ocean for our class. I have never seen a group of more freaked kids in my life. Class ended early when one of the kids pinched the teacher's thigh. Hard. I have never heard a man scream so loud in my life. Or a group of kids head for the shore so quickly.
posted by cjets at 03:17 PM on January 12, 2008
Keep track of ongoing conditions here.