At Ocean Beach.
Wow:
Via Nature’s Lantern – click to expand
Posts Tagged ‘waves’
The Best San Francisco Jumping Dolphin Photo of 2013 (So Far) – Completely Out of the Water – Via David Cruz
Wednesday, January 9th, 2013The Happy, Jumping Dolphins of the Bay Area – Best San Francisco Porpoise Photo You’ll Ever See
Monday, November 19th, 2012[Oops, dolphin not porpoise, corrected, thx.]
San Francisco photographer David Cruz does it again.
Dancing in the waters of Fort Funston:
Click to expand
Yowzer
People, Turn Off Your iPods and Whatnot When You’re Below 10,000 Feet the Way They Tell You – Here’s Why
Thursday, March 10th, 2011Now it’s sort remarkable how no passenger has died the past decade in an Airbus or Boeing jetliner that either took off or landed in the United States. Of course there was the 9/11 and shortly after that at the end of 2001 there was American Airlines Flight 587, but since then, nothing. That’s a pretty good record, non?
But you people, you don’t listen when they tell you to turn off your portable electronic devices during critical phases of flight. And then stuff like this happens.
Just saying, bro-ham.
Ah the daily Lufthansa flight from Frankfort, Germany. This happens to be an aging Boeing 747-400, but in a few months it will get replaced by a superjumbo A380.* Can you see someone iPodding or texting up there? I can:
Click to expand
*No, contrary to what the Mayor’s Office tells you, the A380 doesn’t use less fuel than legacy aircraft. And the version that’ll soon be coming to SFO each and every day has wings that are too big for its body, and it’s overweight, and blah blah blah. But oh well.
8th Annual Mavericks Surf Contest Wave Watch Window Starts November 1, 2010 – All the Deets
Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010Believe it or not, Mavericks, or at least the waiting period for Mavericks, will start up again in just three short months.
(And guess what, I haven’t seen any self-rightous falderal burbling up from San Mateo County lately – that that can only be a good thing.)
As promised, all the deets, below.
Dorian “Doc” Paskowitz at Opening Ceremonies 2009 – ISI Photos, click to expand
Mavericks Gears Up for the 8th Annual Mavericks Surf Contest®
$150,000 Prize Purse Offered for 2nd Year; Initial Sponsors On Board; Enhancements to Epic Contest to be Unveiled in Coming Months
Half Moon Bay, CA/San Francisco, CA – August 3, 2010 – On the heels of perhaps the greatest big-wave surfing contest in history last February, Mavericks is back and bigger than ever. Preparations are underway for the 8th annual Mavericks Surf Contest® showcasing 24 of the world’s finest big-wave surfers battling for the largest prize purse in big-wave surfing. The 2010/2011 Contest is poised to return to Half Moon Bay, California later this year and will include a number of enhancements to bring Mavericks to an even broader audience, while continuing to honor the spot, the riders, and the local community.
The Contest Is Back. Mavericks Surf Ventures is very proud to make this first announcement laying the groundwork for the 2010/2011 Mavericks Surf Contest®, picking up right where last season left off. The dedicated team has been very busy in the off-season and has just completed a fundraising round that will greatly benefit this year’s event, the riders, the coastside community, and the future of Mavericks and big-wave surfing for years to come. “Our goal is to keep the focus on the soul of the event and respect for the spot, giving the power to the surfers to make ‘the call’ and helping to bring the Mavericks’ ocean phenomenon to a broader global audience,” said Mavericks CEO Keir J. Beadling.
Convergance vs. divergance. See?
Ever more deets, after the jump
Public Not Invited to Mavericks Surf Contest Public Safety Meeting in Moss Beach
Monday, February 22nd, 2010The San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office is going to hold a “critical incident debrief” this morning down in Moss Beach – organizers of the 2010 Mavericks Surf Contest have been invited to discuss the 2009-2010 season. The public and the media are specifically not invited. Well, that doesn’t sit well with some down Coastsigh-eeeeede way. Oh well.
Here’s Critical Incident Exhibit A from the 2010 contest on February 13th, 2010, when an unlucky 13 got hammered by the waves:
via dwan.mac Click to expand
Now check out the new piece from Katie Worth, and then decide if you agree with this:
“Mavericks Surf Ventures passes the buck to San Mateo County, County Counsel Michael Murphy passes the buck to Harbor District Manager Peter Grenell who passes the buck to Vandenberg Air Force Base who promptly pass the buck to Army Corps of Engineers and then the buck circles back to Mavericks Surf Ventures.”
And leave us travel back to 2006, during another Mavericks contest with crowd injuries. That was the year that Diana Rivers of Redwood City filed a lawsuit after being injured when the crowd on the bluff apparently dislodged some rocks sending them on down towards the beach. Check out this quote in a bit about the 2006 rock slide victims:
“We feel for the Rivers family and it was a terrible accident. But we’ve always regarded safety issues with the utmost importance. All managers have taken and will be taking all measures necessary to provide a safe contest for surfers and visitors.”
IMO, the post-injury palliative cliches from 2006 don’t square with the post-injury palliative cliches from 2010.
IMO
To Be Continued…
Photos – Mavericks Surf Ventures Claims Biggest Waves Ever Surfed In A Contest
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010Our recent 2009-2010 Mavericks Surf Contest had the “Biggest Waves Ever Surfed In A Contest,” according to organizer Mavericks Surf Ventures. That’s what they’re claiming today, February 17th, 2010.
What do you think?
Click to expand:
“What the surfers are saying about it…
“It was an honor just to be here today and paddle out with these other guys. I flew 36 hours to be here, and this has been a dream come true.” – Chris Bertish, 09/10 Champion
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“The entire book of big wave surfing was re-written today.” – Greg Long
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“These were definitely the biggest waves I have ever paddled into.” – Shane Desmond
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“No excuses on a day like today, it was perfect. Whatever you wanted, you could take.” – Anthony Tashnick
———-
“It was undoubtedly the largest surf any paddle-in contest has ever seen.” – Dave Wassel
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“There is such a brotherhood in the lineup. These people are my family.” – Carlos Burle
———-
“Today took big-wave surfing to another notch.” – Gary Linden, Head Judge”
Of course the event was not without controversy. Perhaps MSV will address that at some point?
Regardless, It was an epic day.
The Reason Why Mavericks Surf Ventures is Dead Wrong about Injury-Causing Rogue Waves
Monday, February 15th, 2010First of all, let’s acknowledge the fine performances of all the competitors at our recent Mavericks Surf Contest 2009-2010 and especially that of Chris Bertish. As it turned out, his victory was overshadowed somewhat by discussion of the giant “rogue” sneaker waves* that injured a dozen or so spectators.
Mad props:
Having said that, let’s take a look at higher-def footage of the problem, ably shot by KRON VJ (video jockey) Haaziq Madyun. And here’s the reverse angle. And ganderize your eyes on this bird’s-eye view of the scene. If this were the Olympics, this would be the Olympic Village:
via dwan.mac click to expand
O.K. then. Comes now MSV’s Matriarch and area Realtor Katherine Clark to say:
“It’s unfortunate that the focus has been on people not knowing to be aware of the ocean around them. I don’t see how on Earth we could be responsible for people willfully going to the ocean.”
And let’s hear from MSV CEO and former lawyer Kier Beidling:
“Bringing common sense is a must for anyone who shows up to watch from the beach.”
Fair enough, but isn’t this your temporary awards stand getting demolished by a tiny tsunami? Was “common sense” used to place it there?
And wasn’t this formerly-underwater piece of sound equipment placed exactly where you wanted it to be?
So please let’s go easy on any more nagging, patronizing Respect The Ocean talk coming from MSV, considering that MSV and its sponsors appeared to be just as unaware as some of the spectators.
In other words, if this unsecured P.A. loudspeaker ended up killing a fan, all the DANGER: HEAVY SURF signs in all Christendom wouldn’t save your hides from a dead-bang, seven-figure wrongful death lawsuit. (If you think you see a bunch of people people in the water around the speaker in the video, your guess is correct.)
So that is exactly “how on Earth we [MSV] could be responsible for people willfully going to the ocean.”
(Hello? Hello? Anybody home? Huh? Think, McFly!)
In other words, from the 2/16/10 Santa Cruz Sentinel:
“The Maverick’s contest organizers probably realize that, in retrospect, it was unwise to put scaffolding and platforms in an exposed area and then allow spectators too close to the high tide line and a seawall along the Pillar Point coastline.”
You see? That’s why the party line of having MSV reps repeatedly bleating about how spectators just need some common sense doesn’t wash.
Now do I think that this fellow (people never seem to let go of their cameras or their beer, huh?) and others who got banged up by the surf on their own will win any possible lawsuits their shysters file? No.
But do I suppose that things could be handled differently by Mavericks Surf Ventures the next go around?
Yes.
(Contrary to what you might have heard, no post mortem meetings with county (or other) authoritahs are scheduled this week. But they’ll be coming soon.)
*Or surge or whatever. It’d be nice to have one descriptive term to cover all these different words…
Rogue Waves at 2010 Mavericks Surf Contest – Video Showing What Happened
Saturday, February 13th, 2010[UPDATE: Even more better vids have turned up today, links right here. Still hunting for 1080p High Def...]
Here’s some video from creilly94010* showing a giant rogue wave that injured spectators at the 2009-2010 Mavericks Surf Contest in Princeton-by-the-Sea / Half Moon Bay today. The video only has two YouTube views now but nevertheless it, so far, does the best job of showing what went wrong.
From the bluff, with people on the rocky seawall getting inundated by the wave:
Those are temporary structures temporarily in the water.
Here’s view from the seawall during the 2005 Contest, looking up at the bluff – nice and dry that year. Click to expand:
UPDATE: Comes now KRON Channel 4 FTW. Their video shows the same wave as the one shown above crashing through the seawall like it was nothing. The beach here has more than its fair share of random boulders, hence the danger:
And here’s a first person report from reporter Beth Spotswood. And here’s a discussion of just what, in fact, constitutes a wave’s rogue-ness.
(Waves going rogue at Mavericks- there’ll be a Sarah Palin joke to make once everybody’s recovered 100%.)
This kind of incident hasn’t happened at prior contests – it’ll be interesting to see what changes, if any, are made at future events…
* Of Burlingame, this is not San Francisco’s famous C. Reilly
Ocean Beach Erosion Town Hall Meeting Tonight at the Great Highway’s Park Chalet
Monday, January 25th, 2010Our neighbors in the Great Sand Waste* of the Outside Lands are having a little trouble with the partial collapse of the Great Highway near Sloat, so there’ll be a meeting tonight at 7:00 PM:
“A community meeting is being held on Monday, January 25th at 7:00 PM at the Park Chalet (located behind the Beach Chalet at 1000 Great Highway just south of Fulton in San Francisco) to discuss the proposed actions at Sloat Boulevard. The DPW Project Manager, Frank Filice will be there to discuss the emergency declaration, the short-term strategy, and a process for a long-term solution. Everyone who has an interest in the preservation and the future of Ocean Beach is encouraged to attend. The emergency declaration will go before the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for ratification the following day, Tuesday, January 26th.”
Will San Francisco “armor the beach“ or something? Stay tuned…
If that doesn’t float your boat, there’s always, this:
“The Park Chalet will be offering $2 pints and extending their $5 happy hour menu of appetizers all night for the event.”
See you there.
*Look at this – snark from 160 years ago: The True Story of How San Francisco Received Its Name:
“San Francisco – this is a derivative word from sand and Francisco. In the early settlement of this country it was the custom of an old monk of the interior, by the name of Jeremiah Francisco, to perform a pilgrimage to this place every month, to visit the tomb of a brother of the order whose remains he had here interred. The wind “blew like mad” here, and upon his return he was usually so covered with the dust and sand, that his neighbors were unable to recognize him; hence they soon began to call him sand Francisco.
On one of his pilgrimages he happened, by mistake, to die here, and the place ever after was called by his name. From the difficulty of enunciating the d, it was usually called SAN FRANCISCO, and has so continued to this day. The present popular notion that the place was named after the St. Francis Hotel is an error!
California Weekly Courier
August 1, 1850″
