Mavericks Winner Chris Bertish after the contest. Check at his winning board and jersey on display at Mavericks Surf Shop.

An Amazing Day of Surfing
The wave delivered. I've always said Mavericks will take care of itself, and indeed it did at this year's surf contest. The dangerous break one-half mile offshore did not disappoint, and in fact served up waves so big that it appears to be the biggest paddle-in contest ever surfed.

While things were different for me this year, my adrenaline was still pumping as the sun rose over Half Moon Bay and the winds died down. My friend and fellow surfer Chris Bertish arrived from South Africa after a 36-hour flight, straight from work with no luggage. His favrote Clark board, his "magic peach," was lost somewhere by the airline. He got arrived in SFO and got to the house around 11:30 p.m. the night before the contest, and was in bed by 1 a.m. His 6 a.m. wake-up gave him only 5 hours of sleep in 36 hours, before heading out in the massive swell.

Chris still had two Clark "magic peaches" at the house from his earlier winter trip here, and so I set him up with the right fins for the conditions. He was ready. I also had several other contestants riding my Mavericks Big Wave guns: Carlos Burle, Ken "Skindog" Collins, Alex Martins, Grant Washburn. My role was the sweetest this year: to provide support to my riders and to all the guys throwing it down at the contest. It was pure stoke to be in the water with some of the finest big wave surfers in the world.

In the end, for me, it's all about the surfing. And this was no exception. The drama of the surf contest was left on shore while the men who ride mountains got through some of the toughest conditions I have seen in my 35 years of surfing Mavericks. It's an honor to surf with these guys. And it was an honor to see Chris Bertish take the crown. For me, building boards has always been a passion. To put all of my big wave experience into every board and see the surfers put them to the test is incredibly gratifying.

Check out some of the epic rides and photography from the day.

See you in the water,