Mavericks Utility Swell

TUES, January 3rd, clean, 15-20ft and from the west. The opening day at Mavericks is number one of a trifecta of swells, the second and largest forecast for Thursday and Friday, before a third low rolls in next week. Crowds aside it was a perfect session to get your feet acclimatised to the wax. Frank Quirarte, coined it "utility swell" a perfectly serviceable opening day at the the infamous West Coast break with plenty of 20ft swell in the water. It also served a second utilitarian and functional processs, sweeping away the flotsam of froth which had accumulated over the summer and fancied a crack at this most unforgiving of spots. "It was the most dangerous I've seen it." Said Frank, a man with 20 years experience out there running water support. "Almost 50 guys out there, a lot of new faces who've spent summer imagining their first Mavericks swell and found reality tougher than they'd ever anticipated. This is the clean broom which clears the ground for first really big session on Thursday. We hook them out of the impact zone and they won't be back." © 2013 Frank Quirarte

There's a further reason the uninitiated may be having nightmares about finding themselves in the line-up come Thursday. The 17ft at 16 second swell will be throwing regular 40ft faces in the later stages of Thursday and early on Friday. The only fly in the ointment of the forthcoming swell is the peak arrives overnight and local winds are forecast to be blustery. The NPAC storm track is currently cleaved open with a clear shot for activity from Japan to California. A remarkably straight westerly Jet Stream will bring three successive lows, unsurprisingly also west to bear on the the reef at Mavericks. Swell two, arriving on Thursday 5th is currently bringing large surf in the 30ft plus range to the Hawaiian island chain. Swell three arriving on Tuesday 10th, looks be be briefly intense before dissipating; as ever there's a reasonable chance of change this far out.

When it's big and west here the sets will first crush you, then dash you against the cliffs. The westerly direction shuts-off the movement of water from the north-west and into the relative safety of the southern reaches.

Shawn Dollar is a man who knows his way around this line-up.

As do this trio by the looks of it, going three ways up on a Mavericks right.

Shawn Dollar, making it?

Skin Dog dropping in. Long-time Mavericks surfer Ken "Skindog" Collins is this season working as the liaison with the competitors and the new Mavericks Invitational event which replaces the various and now previous incarnations. A lackluster early season for big waves convinced organisers to shift the contest window forward a month, and it'll now run from January 1st through March 31, 2012. This year they also plan to hold the opening ceremony at a time when there are waves, which makes it this Friday. "It's a new year for our group, with a lot of positive changes and a new direction to bring this event back to the way it should be, for the surfers," Reckons Contest Director and Mavs pioneer Jeff Clark.

Mavericks at this size can look like a punchy a-frame you'd see down your local, except one which has been at the plant food and grown into a baby of monstrous proportions with wild swinging fists capable of swatting you like a fly.

Rusty Long from San Clemente was back at Mavs after a time on the sidelines. He put on a show getting critical and showing the new faces where you're supposed to sit.

[FWN-13815:right:fff:000::Frank Quirarte:300]Rusty also took the wipeout of the day with this drop not letting him in. "The top bit wasn't very steep and then it hit a ledge." He said "It was like going over the edge of a hill. It sent me vertical at such a high speed."

Rusty was pushed deep and hard towards the bottom on this one.

When Rusty come up clean, patted himself down to make sure everything was in the right place and paddled himself out of the impact zone he said he felt strong and chuffed to have ridden through the impact so well.

Mavericks lip flare and projection.

The crowd was all over the more manageable ones.

What happens when enthusiasm and inexperience gets involved in a situation it shouldn't have received an invitation to attend. Colin Dwyer an alternate into the Mavs event gets tangled up with a guy who was shortly ordered from the water following this attempted stumble-in.

Pat and Tanner Gudauskas were out there giving it a solid go. By all accounts both brothers were more than holding their own, both catching their fair share of waves.

Pat's well on his way back from injury it would seem. "I've been training hard and in the water for a couple days." Said he. "I feel good, and what better place to test it than Maverick's?"

Brother Tanner also seemed to be taking it in his stride.

Josh performing the one footed Mavericks shuffle ... not recommended.

"Ben Wilkinson shows up every swell and stays in the water longer than most people, charging the biggest waves." Reckons Jeff Clark. The Australians's reward has been an invitation into the paddle comp.