Maverick’s is one of the most feared and respected waves in the world. Photo: YouTube//Screenshot

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Maverick’s is one of California’s most famous waves. It is named after a dog – Maverick. He was a German Shepherd who was in Pillar Point in 1961.

In the late 1960s, locals Alex Matienzo, Jim Thompson and Dick Notmeyer often surfed the smaller waves and watched the massive waves continue to break out. Of course, when it gets going, the line-up is packed with some of the best big wave surfers in the world and also the most dedicated local Maverick’s surfers – some of whom are considered both.

On December 22, 2024, Maverick slipped into their dancing shoes and many of these gifted forwards found themselves in the Maverick’s lineup, chasing their own perfection, which you can watch in full below in the Powerlines Productions recap.

All of this attention that Mav’s is getting – from the surfers to the lensmen and everyone in between – is a relatively new development. It is one of the waves on Earth that remained a mystery for a long time.

“For more than a decade, Jeff Clark was responsible for keeping this secret from the masses, a carpenter riding the wave alone starting around 1975,” says a short story I wrote for The inertia in 2015. “On a huge, clean northwest wave, 18-year-old Clark paddled out alone. As a goofy-footer, he initially drove on the left side. As he learned more about the wave, he learned to surf in a regular stance so he could surf with the right side of his forehand. Although it wasn’t made public, Clark tried to convince some of his friends to go with him – there were simply no takers. Clark had Maverick’s as his personal playground.”

But in 1990, Clark finally convinced some surfers to give him a try. David Schmidt and Tom Powers paddled out with Clark on January 22nd and caught some of the biggest and best waves of their lives.

Today it is one of the most powerful and respected waves in the world. People dedicate their lives to it, and for good reason: Maverick’s will change your life, and December 22nd showed why.