Mavericks surf break is located around one half mile offshore Pillar Point in Half Moon Bay, California. It breaks during a large and long period west swell. In January 2018 the forecast was on for Mavericks.  I decided to go out on a fishing boat to see it up close. It was a cool, gray, and white sky day with sun breaking through for 30 minutes or so around 3PM. By Mavericks standards it wasn’t an epic or “big” day but it was still very impressive and powerful.

I decided not to use a big lens.  Rather than zooming in on guys hurling down a massive wave, I hoped to make pictures showing the scale of the place. A few pictures show how far offshore the break is. Some pictures show how high the waves are.  A couple pictures looking towards land and shot near the top of a swell, or a picture made from behind of someone getting on a wave,  show how much higher we were than the shoreline.  I cropped a couple of photographs to show the intensity of  getting in close on these waves. When looking at a picture, consider the size of the rider or his board compared to the wave.  These guys are riding boards up to ten feet long.