Waves' siren song lures riders to surf spot

HALF MOON BAY, Calif. - The cold water and stories-high waves at the treacherous surf break called Mavericks in Northern California have made it a Mt. Everest-like conquest for some surfers.

And like Everest, Mavericks has impacted its share of lives: whether it be the death of legendary big wave waterman or serious injury to less experienced surfers seeking to make a name for themselves. Yet more wave riders keep coming.

Mavericks almost claimed another life Jan. 22, when a surfer nearly drowned after being pummeled and washed through rocks by a big wave. That surfer, 30-year-old Jacob Trette, was in fair condition three days after he nearly drowned.

Trette was rescued by an Australian firefighter, Russell Ord, who was on a personal watercraft taking photographs of the surfers when a large "freak set" caught a pack of them too close to shore. Trette, from San Clemente, had reportedly surfed Mavericks once before.

"Mavericks is one of those places that people make a pilgrimage to surf," said Jeff Clark, the first documented person to ride those waves, which he did alone in 1975.

Clark surfed it by himself until 1990, he said, and since then more big-wave aficionados have been joining him. In recent years, many surfers who were not ready for Mavericks' heavy surf have been showing up, he said.

"You're definitely seeing a lot of people who maybe have caught a couple of waves at other big wave spots, but Mavericks is a different animal," Clark said.

The waves Jan. 22 were large - if not huge by Mavericks standards - maybe a 15-18 foot surf, Ord said. The size brought out more surfers with little experience handling the break, Ord said.

"I'm not talking about Jacob specifically, but even on the smaller ones I was watching some guys, a lot of guys, who shouldn't have been out there," Ord said.

Clark said the rogue set that took out Trette and others was a solid 30-foot or higher and especially powerful because the swell came unimpeded from the west.

"You could see that first wave coming, all of the surfers started paddling toward it," Ord told The Associated Press.

A group of about five surfers did not make it over the encroaching wave before it broke.

"I saw all the broken boards and people waving for help," he said.

Waves that break at Maverick's often begin in the North Pacific, when a storm bulldozes across the ocean's surface generating a chain of moving swells li

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