Mavericks may be one of the heaviest waves in the world. This year it saw bigger days with more raw power than ever before. With elite surfers traveling from all over the world to surf Northern California’s infamous big wave, this year Manera athletes Grant “Twiggy” Baker and Justine Dupont both rode career waves with Twiggy surfing what might be the biggest wave ever paddled into at Mavericks and Justine winning the Female Performance of the Year at the inaugural Mavericks Awards.
While Mavericks usually sees only a handful of surfable days each winter, this season saw more consistent surf with bigger and heavier waves than most can remember. This was a record year for Mavericks and while KSBW reporter Kevin Stark was researching the impacts of warming ocean water, he couldn’t help but ask, “Could these bigger, faster and more powerful waves be caused by climate change?” He caught up with big wave surfers Bianca Valenti and Grant Washburn, who both have been surfing Mavericks for years, to gain a better understanding of how climate change is affecting big wave surfing.