HALF MOON BAY, Calif. - A 24-year-old California surfer topped a daredevil contest yesterday that had competitors riding waves more than four stories tall.
Greg Long of San Clemente was among 24 elite surfers who took part in the Mavericks Surf Contest - considered the Super Bowl of big-wave competitions - in Half Moon Bay, about 20 miles south of San Francisco.
After the contest was whittled to six finalists, Long was crowned the winner. Grant "Twiggy" Baker of South Africa was second, and Jamie Sterling of Hawaii third. Baker won the event in 2006, the last time it was held.
On his first wave in the final heat of the competition, Long barely held his balance on his 9-foot-6-inch royal blue surfboard. He took a late drop down the towering 40-foot wave before landing on the bottom and carving a fast turn to dodge a wall of whitewater crashing behind him.
He said he felt nearly weightless as he surfed down the face of the wave, and thought, "I'm either going down hard or going to get a good one. Luckily it was the latter."
Before the last wave, Long and his fellow finalists agreed to split the $75,000 purse, which would've been divvied up with the winner taking home $30,000 and the other finalists sharing the rest.
The 24 entrants were broken into four groups of six surfers who competed in 45-minute heats during which each rider caught up to 10 waves. They were whisked out on jet skis to conquer the giant swells about a half-mile offshore.
Surfers were judged on their best two waves, and the top three scorers in each heat advanced to the semifinals.
Contest organizer Jeff Clark, who is credited with "discovering" Mavericks in 1975 and being the only person to surf there for the next 15 years, buzzed around near the competitors on a jet ski.
"The waves are good. The surfers are happy," Clark said from his jet ski. "That's the best part, the surfers are happy."
Half Moon Bay surfer Ion Banner walked in from the first heat with a big smile across his face. He had air-dropped down a couple of waves during his heat - meaning the wave was so steep he and his board lost contact with the water.
"I somersaulted down a couple of them," Banner said.
Worried about traffic in the small coastal town, organizers and local officials asked fans to watch the contest over the Internet or a live broadcast at AT&T Park in San Francisco (about 800 people were at the ballpark).
Closer to the action in Half Moon Bay, thousands of spectators came out. Some perched on cliffs to watch the surfers through binoculars, while others gathered in front of a big screen on the beach.
