Having the pleasure of living near the ocean, I’ve set foot on a surfboard countless times. Granted, I’ve never dealt with waves bigger than 30-story buildings, like those at Mavericks, namely because I don’t want to die in a massive washing machine.
Ironically, that’s almost what happened to pro big wave surfer Garrett McNamara, who decided to brace the massive Mavericks swell on the heels of an El Nino storm.
Everything was seemingly going well after McNamara’s drop-in, but that’s when things turned ugly in what might be the worst wipeout in surf history.
Per SF Chronicle:
One of them was Garrett McNamara, who is not on the 24-man list of Mavericks contest invitees but has been a storied figure in big-wave surfing for years. On a day when most of the really giant waves went unridden – just too dangerous – McNamara stroked into one of the biggest waves ever paddle-surfed (as opposed to tow-surfing, with a jet-ski assist).
He did not get far. About halfway down the drop, McNamara went down, hard, and as San Francisco surfer Grant Washburn described it, “He skipped like a stone and flew into the air,” at one point getting so dramatically airborne, it resembled a man being catapulted off a trampoline. Then, to make matters worse, McNamara was crushed underneath the wave’s massive lip.
McNamara suffered major injuries to his shoulder and arm and required surgery. But at least he lived to tell about it.
