Despite high hopes, the first-ever Mavericks Challenge and Women's Mavericks Challenge under the World Surf League umbrella wasn't meant to be this past winter.
It's a no-go for Tuesday at Mavericks due to an unfavorable forecast. Anticipation still high as swell tracking continues.
After acquiring rights to the event at the end of 2017, the WSL set an event window of January 1 - February 28 -- about half the length of the normal Big Wave Tour (BWT) event window. While Mike Parsons, the BWT Commissioner, called a Yellow Alert in early January, the consistency needed for a contest format didn't materialize.
At the time, Parsons was optimistic, saying, "We still have the rest of January and all of February to get a better opportunity to run the Mavericks Challenge and will continue to closely track the conditions to hopefully run this season."
2018 Biggest Paddle Entry: Bianca Valenti at Mavericks - WSL / Audrey Lambidakis
With a full event window next year (October to February), men's and women's invitee lists that are jam-packed with the best at riding giants, all we'll need then are the massive waves to arrive.
Mavericks Window Closes, with High Hopes for 2018-2019
Anna Dimond
Despite high hopes, the first-ever Mavericks Challenge and Women's Mavericks Challenge under the World Surf League umbrella wasn't meant to be this past winter.
After acquiring rights to the event at the end of 2017, the WSL set an event window of January 1 - February 28 -- about half the length of the normal Big Wave Tour (BWT) event window. While Mike Parsons, the BWT Commissioner, called a Yellow Alert in early January, the consistency needed for a contest format didn't materialize.
At the time, Parsons was optimistic, saying, "We still have the rest of January and all of February to get a better opportunity to run the Mavericks Challenge and will continue to closely track the conditions to hopefully run this season."
With a full event window next year (October to February), men's and women's invitee lists that are jam-packed with the best at riding giants, all we'll need then are the massive waves to arrive.
Women’s Mavericks Challenge
A comprehensive look at the massive conditions and epic rides.
The WSL big-wave event at the famous Northern California break could run between now and March 31. Here are the details.
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