Richard Hesson - Making Mavericks

Making

Mavericks

by Frosty Hesson

with Ian Spiegelman

Prologue

when his whole world changed on a fifty-foot monster of a wave that almost killed him. Instead, it made him famous.

At just sixteen, he was by far the youngest surfer to take on Mavericks, a reef break half a mile off the California coast at Half Moon Bay that at the time was recognized as having some of the largest waves anywhere in the world. Some of the most legit surfers in the game had even conceded that when Mavs was on, it was more powerful than the legendary waves at Waimea on the North Shore of Oahuand that had been considered the all-time mecca of big wave surfing since the late 1950s. So for a kid Jays age to surf Mavericks was unheard of.

To say that Mavericks isnt for kids is doing it an injustice. Its hardly for people . Id been surfing it for seven years when Jay had his life-altering moment. I had seen world-renowned big wave riders paddle out, take one look at the building-sized, dark green wall of ocean rushing at them with such incredible force that the water actually gets sucked backward up the face of the wave, and then just turn around and go home. These were people whod conquered breaks all over the globe, but they simply wanted nothing to do with Mavs.

Jay, though, he wanted to slay dragons.

As a coach Id worked with dozens and dozens of young people, training them toward the goal of not merely being the best athletes they could be, but more importantly the best people they could berespectful, responsible, passionate human beings. But when Jay was just a scrawny twelve-year-old whod somehow gotten up the nerve to come over to my van at Pleasure Point in Santa Cruz and asked me to teach him about surfing, his enthusiasm for learning what I had to offer totally blew me away. He had a vision of who he wanted to be, the ceaseless determination to make it happen, and you could see it in his bright blue eyes and this killer grin that drew everyone to him.

If not for his passion and eagerness to do the work, I would never have let the kid anywhere near Mavericks. Wed been working together on basic technique and then contest surfing for two and a half years before he even brought it up. After that the real work began, and it was another year and a half before I let him paddle out at Half Moon Bay.

He hadnt even been surfing Mavs a whole season when the wipeout happened.

Boots McGhee and his wife Carm decided to host it at their house on the beach flats at Aptos. Everyone was invited. They must have had 75 people jammed into their living room and dining room and another hundred outside. The Santa Cruz surfing community really is a community. Jay belonged to a club called Big Stick Surfing Association, which was a group of long-boarders, and I belonged to the Santa Cruz Long Board Union. Both clubs put on non-profit surf contests that gave money to the Junior Lifeguards and the Santa Cruz Surf Museum; they established scholarship funds for kids in the neighborhood, bought equipment for the lifeguards, and just generally fulfilled a number of community-based support needs. Around here, thats the way its done.

Bob Barbour, the photographer who snapped the now-famous shot was there, along with Jays mom, Christy, and his girlfriend, Kim. And of course Jays surf buddies were partying with himShylo Steinthal, Bobby Brown, Mikey DiGregorio, Neil Moose Matthies, Steve Thomas and Jed Noll, whose dad, Greg Noll, is the grandfather of big wave surfing and a Waimea legend.

Its a whole scene. Everybodys all stoked and everybodys so psyched for Jay. Its party on , totally a great time. Bootss people are musicianshis dad was a very famous jazz man from back in the fortiesand Carms people are from the Philippines, so that combo means theres lots of great music and lots of great food.

Theres chicken fixed a couple of different ways, short ribs, and theres a keg or two because were surfers, you know, and we dont have any money. There are sodas for the junior members, potato salad, macaroni salad, green salads. It was lightweight in the sense that we werent roasting a pig, it wasnt a Hawaiian hukilau. Everybody brought a little something to be able to have a big function without tapping anybody too much.

Everybody was just having a blast. When my wife Brenda and I showed up, right away Jay and I started laughing and joking and there were congratulations all the way around. Since the party was at Bootss house he was playing emcee, directing the festivities, and finally he decided to publicly acknowledge why we were all there. He went into a little speech about how he enjoyed our community and how its support had led to Jay having success, how that success had landed Bob Barbours photo in The New York Times that was a big deal for us. Plus, the magazine cover acknowledged that Mavericks was a legit, world-class surf spot. Boots just wanted to give three cheers for Jay. We all did.

When the speech was done, I let the room settle down a bit, and then I said, Well, I would like to follow that up with a little something. Thank you to everyone for being here. Thank you to our hosts Boots and Carm for opening up their house for all of this to happen, and it truly does take a community.

At that point, Brenda went out to the car and brought back the gift-wrapped surprise I had gotten for Jay, and I continued, All of you know who I am and everybody has a certain perception of me. It has come to my attention that among the kids that I have worked with theres a joke that still persists about some of my accomplishments and endeavorsand that theres a mention of a wheelbarrow and the suggestion that I use it to carry around a particular part of my anatomy

I passed over the present to Jay and everybody was cheering. Jay and I made eye contact. Hes got his little smirking smile and Ive got mine. It was like, Here we are, heres the deal, here it isdoors are opening for you.

So he undoes the ribbon and takes off the wrapping paper in one motion. And there is this gold-painted toy wheelbarrow that is probably a foot long and seven inches wide, with two little handles and just one wheel on it.

Everybody started cracking up and Jay gave me his Are-you-kidding-me? look. I just smiled and told him, If you continue on the path that youve begun, then you can earn your way up into a larger wheelbarrow. Mine doesnt fit in the car.

He came over laughing, gave me a big hug, then he looked at me and caught me completely off-guard by saying, I have something for you, too.

Turning to the crowd, he said, Everybody knows how important Frosty has been. All of the time we have worked together and been together, you guys only know a small portion of what was really going on and how much he has truly meant to me. So, Frosty, I have something to give to you.

He handed over a gift-wrapped present. I said thanks and gave him another hug, holding up the present for everybody to see because it was so nicely wrapped. Then I carefully took the paper off.. The inscription read:

Frosty,

Youve been my inspiration.

Thank you for your continual guidance and support.

Love, Jay.

February 25 th , 1995

Tears came to my eyes. There were still so many things I had to teach that kid. How to be a good human being wasnt one of them.

Part I:

I Want to Go There

Chapter One

Before I ever got near a wave, never mind a wave the size of Mavericks, were already worried about the kind of trouble I could get into if there was water around. We were living in San Francisco in the early 1950s, there was still a lot of untouched wilderness to be explored, and my parents wanted to experience as much of it as they could. The only problem was that by the time I was three, if I caught sight of a lake, a stream, or a creek, Id go and jump right in before anyone could stop me. It was totally cool.