Photo: ©Ed Grant grantsgraphics.com
This is a story about the history of Maverick’s, and the surfers who ride the giant waves.  This special eight part series focuses on how the wave was discovered, and features contributions from some of the world’s greatest surfers sharing their experiences surfing Maverick’s and what they do when they’re not riding one of the world’s biggest waves.  Every Wednesday surfers including Kelly Slater, Greg Long, Jeff Clark, Tom Curren, Grant “Twiggy” Baker, Peter Mel, Matt Ambrose, Ryan Seelbach and Grant Washburn will provide detailed insights into one of the biggest waves in the world, and what these surfers do when they’re not busy chasing some of the ocean’s most powerful waves.

Click here for Maverick’s Untamed Part 1.

Click here for Maverick’s Untamed Part 2.

Click here for Maverick's Untamed Part 3.

Soon after the word got out about Maverick’s, a large amount of surfers began exploring the colossal Northern California wave.  Two in particular are part of a large group of surfers who live approximately 20 miles north in the city of San Francisco.  Grant Washburn and Ryan Seelbach have been fixtures at Maverick’s since the early 90’s and still surf and compete there today.

“I moved West after college in 1990, and first heard about Maverick's shortly after settling at Ocean Beach,” said Washburn.  “Doc Renneker was my neighbor, and after cutting my big wave teeth out front for a season, he insisted I join him at the new spot the following January - that was 1992.”

Like Ambrose, Washburn cut his chops at Ocean Beach (OB) before progressing to the mighty waves at Maverick’s.  “My preparation was basically getting slammed at OB for 18 months.  That first season no one knew about Maverick's, so the more extreme guys would just go after the biggest swells in the middle of OB,” said Washburn.  “We would basically just try to get out, and then try to get as close as possible to the epicenter of the juice focusing around the middle.  It is pretty much Maverick's size without a channel, so that's about as good a place to prepare as anywhere in the world.  I loved being able watch the action from my place, suit up in my living room, and rinse off in my shower.  For a guy that grew up hours from surf and starved for more power, it was heaven.”

Seelbach started surfing at Maverick’s some years after Washburn.  “In the mid 90’s I watched Nacho Lopez surf Mav’s from the cliff and saw him wipeout so bad that I knew I didn't want it,” said Seelbach.  “Three years later two close friends called me to say Mav’s was going off and they were picking me up in one hour to surf it.  I raced over to SF Surf Shop and bought a Michel Junod that he shaped for himself, rode once at Mav’s and gave it to SF Surf Shop just a few days later.   Apparently Michel had a Nacho situation that scared him straight.

“So, with no prep or planning I went down with the new board, and caught three waves in one hour, met Jeff Clark and Jay Moriarty and was super stoked!  Feeling confident and in charge I moved farther over to the bowl, spun around and snagged a bomb that doubled up enough to have my board become airborne on the drop,” continued Seelbach.  “I landed it, but couldn't stick it, fell back and went over the falls into a dark deep place that was far deeper than I had ever been.   I came up gasping and dazed to see Frankie Quirarte’s hand outstretched from a ski.  With my board snapped and another wave bearing down, I grabbed on and he dragged me to shore.   My first thoughts were, ‘OK, I lived and I handled a Nacho style wipeout.’  Would I go back?  Yes, but with some mental and physical preparation.   I was not ready for that situation!”

Similar to Ambrose, Washburn and Seelbach have professional careers that have little or nothing to do with surfing.  Washburn is a film and video producer, coordinator, writer, director and surf documentarian, having worked on the film Riding Giants which documented the early days of Maverick’s and is currently doing production work on the upcoming film Of Men and Mavericks which focuses on the late Jay Moriarity and his mentor Frosty Hesson, played by actor Gerard Butler.  Seelbach works as a federal employee for the Presidio Trust in San Francisco managing the environmental remediation program.

Click here for Maverick's Untamed Part 5.