You should've been here yesterday No. 4: Jeff Clark discovers Mavericks.

thewhale's, 'You should've been here yesterday' posts will be random regular reminders of what has gone before us in the wonderful world of water sliding...

February 1975 marks a turning point in the history of surfing, as this was when Jeff Clark paddled out and rode Mavericks for the first time, on his own. His friend said he would call the coastguard to let them know. Clark was 17 and nobody else was interested; he rode it alone for 15 years, so the story goes. Although big waves had been ridden in Hawaii for decades before this event, the open ocean power of Mavericks, it's location in cold water, and the fact that it was outside Hawaii was seen to be a new frontier in the surfing world. Mavericks now has it's own Big Wave Tour event and is often very crowded when it's working. It is now a very different place to when Jeff Clark surfed it back in 1975!

Here is the Jeff Clark story on video:

Here is the documentary Discovering Mavericks in Full:

#Mavericks #JeffClark