While most surfing competitions take place on a single day, the inaugural Mavericks Awards featured a culmination of a season’s worth of video footage from the iconic Mavericks wave in Half Moon Bay, California. The rules were simple: anyone could enter, surf Mavericks between Dec 1, 2020 and April 15, 2021 and submit their footage. Then, a diverse and well-respected panel of judges that included former Mavs champion Chris Bertish, Jeff Clark, Darryl “Flea” Virostko, Maya Gabeira, and Grant Washburn, watched, analyzed and eventually picked the winners. At 6pm on May 13th, 2021, we stat with our eyes glued to the computer screen as The Inertia hosted and broadcast the Mavericks Awards in order to honor and solute the best Mavericks big wave chargers of the winter.
While Peter Mel swept the podium in the men’s category for Best Barrel, Male Performer of the Year, Biggest Wave, and Ride of the Year, Manera’s Justine Dupont nabbed Female Performer of the Year. In her acceptance speech, Justine explained, “When I came to Mavericks, my goal was to put time in the water, to improve on my skills, my equipment, figuring out the lineup, and improving on my paddling in big waves. I definitely think this award is the cherry on top of the cake.”
With a huge run of winter swell, 2021 was a Mavericks season to remember and one of the best yet on record. Stay tuned for next year, we can’t wait to see what happens!
