New books chronicle surfing's history
31.12.69
In Ghost Wave , Dixon dissects the historical fascination with Cortes Bank -- a shallow, 20-mile long shelf 100 miles west of San Diego -- and how the progression of big-wave surfing has perpetuated its allure. "I've seen how radical it can get out there, and Chris is pretty spot on," said Surfline's Sean Collins, who's surfed Cortes himself.
Cortes Bank detonated the surf world in 2001, when boats ferrying an all-star crew of surfers, photographers, and filmmakers confronted a massive northwest swell that hit Cortes that January. Mike Parsons and Brad Gerlach from southern California, as well as Santa Cruz's Peter Mel and Ken "Skindog" Collins, paired-off on jet skis, while Evan Slater and a young waterman named John Walla took to self-propulsion. Dixon recounts the expedition with muscular detail, from the planning and forecasting efforts by Collins and Larry Moore, and how the swell disrupted the surf contest at Mavericks, just south of San Francisco, to the disparity in equipment between the tow-teams and paddle surfers.
Source: ESPN