Overview
With its massive faces, punishing rocks, and treacherous currents, Maverick's presents a surfing challenge like no other. Author Matt Warshaw has updated his critically acclaimed illustrated history of Maverick's to cover important recent developments, and we've added a fresh new cover to kick this edition off in style. "A fascinating account," to quote Surfer magazine, it takes "a cue from Sebastian Junger's The Perfect Storm...Warshaw focused on a single event...and expands on it to illuminate an entire culture and its world beyond waves." The event was the death of celebrated surfer Mark Foo, one of those who congregate every winter to test themselves in the dark, foreboding waters. And what unfolds in Maverick's is no less than the story of big-wave surfing, from its ancient Hawaiian origins to modern tow-in riders. It's a book to be enjoyed not only by those who surf deep in the waves, but also by those whose taste for adventure is satisfied deep in the pages of a very good book.Synopsis
Veteran surfing writer Warshaw presents a well-illustrated account of Maverick's—a central California surfing break completely at odds with the warm breezes, pillow beaches and azure water of Hawaii. The stalwarts of Maverick's must don wetsuits to endure the rocks and 50-degree water, but nothing can stave off the constantly shifting currents and deadly undertow. Warshaw alternates his descriptions of the development of surfing from its mythical past with how it is done in this steel-cold water, focusing on the death of world-class surfer Mark Foo in his first attempt of Maverick's in 1994. Warshaw examines the way it is for surfers worldwide, but returns again and again to Maverick's to describe the pull of the extreme on people already riding very near the edge. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR