...........Wetsand.........SurfLine
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Weather
Big
Surf!!
The Pro and the Amateur
One thing NewportSurfShots.com
hopes to focus in on this winter is shooting giant swells
at various offshore California reefs during the big wave season.
However I have yet to find the 4 seater waverunner I'm looking
for in which to shoot from. So as it stands now...
This is surf photographer Rob Brown's
brand new big wave surf photography rig for the big surf season...
A 36' pilot console that is 11'10" wide. Powered by
twin Super Charged Mercury 275 Verado outboard's Boat. It
can be trailered wherever it needs to go and is permitted
by Cal Trans for wide load. The boat is an all weather support
vehicle with FLIR (forward looking infra red) as well as 72
mile Raymarine radar for night use. Hull holds 340 gallons
of fuel and has an approximate range of 600 miles. AND...
...this is NewportSurfShots.com's current
surf photography rig for the big wave surf season...
6'11 Sakal that is 20" wide, with curved fins, and a
3 pound wicker basket for carrying precision waterhoused camera
equipment. The vessel is a Polyurethane Foam, 4 oz fiberglass,
all weather vehicle, and has an approximate range of 10 miles,
or until your arms give out.
____________________________________
Large Wednesday
Skip S., off the
bottom of an outside wave at "The Point"... Somewhere
in Baja
As we motored away from this surf
spot in Northern Baja we knew we had scored. The Tow team
I was with had surfed this wave from far up the point, through
the inside section of paddle in surfers (pictured below),
and all the way to channel. A wave that started at 20ft, and
1000 yards latter ended at head high. After experiencing this
wave the four of us on the boat agreed that we would tell
nobody about it. By the time we'd arrived back at the Baja
dock, the word was already out however. People on the cliff,
on the beach, and in the line-up of this spot were already
talking about how epic it had been, how there was a tow team
charging it from far outside, how a top pro was tearing apart
the inside, and how there was a camera shooting it from a
boat. If word about this wave had not gotten out, and if videos
of the session had not surfaced, the photos of this surf spot
would have quietly been put away.
Perfect Baja
We'd dropped anchor out the back
of this wave on "Large Wednesday" so I'd have a
good line-up with the tow in crew I was shooting on the outside.
After a while however the anchor drug and the boat began drifting
farther and farther inside. No problem, just move the boat.
But when I turned the key... nothing happened. Newport's Nigel
K., who was also on the boat and had just come in from paddling
this wave, attempted to start the engine, still nothing happened...
We tried to wave down the boat's owner who was a mile outside
with his tow partner waiting for another monster set to tow
into. No good, he didn't see or hear us.. So Nigel started
the long paddle out to get him.
.
There I sat drifting further and further to the inside where
I was getting a better and better view of guys paddling into
and charging this inside section, but also where the boat
and I were becoming more and more at risk of getting picked
off by a set that swung wide and riffled down the reef. This
photo was shot with one eye looking through the viewfinder,
and the other eye scanning the horizon for a clean up set
that would swamp the boat.
"Smaller Thursday"
Before dawn the next morning we
headed with everyone else to Todos again, only to veer off
at the last minute at top speed so we could lose any tow teams
that might try and follow us in the dark all the way back
to this spot. Arriving at sunrise we got a glimpse of it.
While the swell was still a good 15ft on the buoys, this particular
wave was now weak, and nothing like it was the day before.
Which demonstrates just how big of a swell you need for this
Baja point to do it's thing.... Moral of the story. Don't
look for this wave to break like this again until another
"swell of the decade" rears it head.
Sunrise
over Ensenada...South of the
Border
.jpg)
San Diego big wave charger
Scott Chandler... charging big waves at Todos.
(Photo Copyright T. Cozad)
Tackling some really solid
winter surf...
(Photo Copyright, Tom Cozad)
___________________________________
Another epic wave that day...
Somewhere in Newport
(Above photo copyright Tom
Cozad)
______________________________________
Maverick's
2006
The Perils of New Equipment
A surfing magazine photo editor recently told me that
if I wanted to start producing professional photos, I needed
to get professional photo equipment. I've been getting away
shooting with pretty nominal cameras over the last few years,
and am used to being one the few people that doesn't shoot
major surf events with a state of the art camera.
So a few days before the Maverick's Surf Contest was set
to go, I threw in the towel, and bought Canon's top-of-the-line
camera, a Mark II N . And then shot with it off the 32nd st.
jetty, in the fog and haze, trying to figure it out.
Two days later I'm heading out of Half Moon Bay Harbor
excited to put my new camera to work at the 2006 Maverick's
Surf Contest. For once I've got photo equipment that equals
professional photographers I thought. As we pull up to the
break I flip the switch of the camera on, but nothing happens.
I change the batteries, and nothing happens. I borrow an extra
battery unit from someone on the boat, still nothing happens.
The fricken thing is dead!
In a state of panic I grab my old back up camera and start
shooting with it... and in between heats I, as well as those
around me, try to get it to turn on. It's then that I realize
the extra batteries for the back up camera aren't in my bag,
but up with Kiefer on the cliff. This is not good. Now I'm
pissed, and begin hitting the new camera against the side
of the boat, hoping it might jar something and turn on. The
violent impacts cause a large piece to fall out of the front
of the camera, and it comes on. Nobody could identify what
it was exactly that fell out of the camera, but it now seemed
to be taking ok pictures.
The only thing was the light meter wasn't working, so
I shot with it on manual, and guessed on the exposures all
day. That night as the editor of Surfline and I were about
to look at photos of the day, I was praying they would be
properly exposed and in focus. Luckily they were.
After spending the last 2 weeks at the Canon Factor the
camera is now back in my hands. And for local surfers that
means this site will be capable of producing much better quality
images. And if anyone that works for Canon is reading this...
um, the part about me hitting the camera against the side
of the boat, I'm pretty sure that's not allowed under the
warranty, so I was only kidding.
"Twiggy", the
clear winner... @ The 2006 Maverick's Surf Contest
Brad Gerlach won $68,000
at the Billabong XXL awards for his wave at Todos last December.
Rob Brown won $5,000 for the photo. For photos of the awards
click below
XXL
Awards
Who the heck would
cut back at big Todos? Gerlach would... @ Todos...
(Photo
Copyright Tom Cozad)
_____________________________
Todos and the Billabong
XXL
Word was that "Large Wednesday", December 21st.
2005 was going to be really large! I'd heard that a trip to
Cortez was being planned, and figured big wave surf photographer
Rob Brown would be leading the brigade, so I quietly planned
to sneak off to shoot Todos. Now I'd never met Rob before,
and while I'd heard he was a nice enough guy and all, I was
hoping to be shooting no where near him during this swell.
There's just no way I can out shoot him. He's got the boat,
the equipment, the experience to put himself in the right
place to get the shot, and he's one hell of a great photographer.
And me, well I've shot big Blackies from a ladder before...
.
When I pulled up to the Baja Marina at midnight, bubbling
over with excitement about the thoughts of Todos the next
morning, my heart sank. Sitting out in front of the hotel,
on a giant trailer, was Rob's double hull, twin Yamaha engine
powered ocean vessel, with a big shiny jet ski sitting on
the back.
Suddenly my plans of trying to meet up early the next
morning with a guy named Corky, who I'd never met before,
and pleading to him my case of giving me and my camera gear
a ride out to Todos, didn't seem so special anymore.
It seems Rob had information from a plane flying over
Cortez the night before that it was wind blown, and his photo
mission to Cotez was scrubbed, and rerouted to Todos. When
I met the legendary lensmen the next morning, all I could
think of saying was, "I'll try and stay out of your way
out there Mr. Brown sir". Next winter I hope to be shooting
from my own waverunner, and while its nothing like Mr. Browns
rig, it's a start I guess. Look for a photo by Rob Brown of
Brad Gerlach from late that day at Todos to win the Billabong
XXL Big Wave Awards this Friday night. They deserve it!
Brain Conley on a monster
@ Todos
(Copyright Tom Cozad 2005)
_______________________
Before the final of the Maverick's Contest
this year, they took a 30 minute break so the guys from the
last semifinal could rest up. With photogs and news crews
in the water, in the air, and on the cliff, it gave the crew
of big wave chargers not in the contest (like the guy below)
an opportunity to paddle into some bombs and show their stuff.
No guts,
No glory.... @ Maverick's
_____________________________
___________________________________________________________
Jaws in Maui didn't really
do it's thing this year, but the West Coast of California
sure did. I had the opportunity to shoot a few big wave spots
this winter, and tried to educate myself on their line-ups,
their crews and where to launch a water craft from in the
future. Below are 2 of the largest waves that NewportSurfShots.com
captured this winter.
On December 21st, San Diego's Scott
Chandler was towed into one of the biggest sets of the morning
at Todos. He made it to the bottom, somehow squeaked around
the gigantic mountain of foam... and lived to tell about it.
Chandler is a fearless diehard Todos local who lives for days
like this. And while he didn't make it into the XXL this year,
there can be no doubt in anyone's mind that one day he will.
Kiefer is a humble and intellegent
16 year old. And when you put a camera in his hands, he will
get the shot every time. Keifer was busy getting in position
up on the cliff just before the start of the 2006 Maverick's
Contest, when this set came in. In typical Kiefer fashion
he spun around and perfectly captured this guy
dropping into one of the biggest paddle in waves of the winter
season.
________________________________________
The
Maverick's Contest 2004-05
When
I got the call Tues. morning that the Maverick's contest was
on I was skeptical. The buoys didn't look that impressive,
the swell forecast for the area was only 12-15ft, and the
weather looked like it might not cooperate. The contest had
gotten television rights lined up, had clothing appeal printed,
and had spent money on publicity. My worry was that they were
now trying to squeeze the contest in before the March 31st
deadline, regardless of how good the surf was. Turning my
life upside down to attend the event and then getting skunked
was not something I wanted any part of, or I could afford
to do. I then found out that Mr. Maverick's himself Jeff Clark
was the one that called for the contest to go Wednesday morning.
Figuring he was loyal to holding the event in only extreme
sized surf, and that he could predict the conditions better
than anybody else on the planet, I loaded up and headed north.
Nine hours into my drive it began pelting rain, and my doubts
about the contest resurfaced. When I pulled up at the dock
at 2am, the howling onshore winds and torrential rain intensified
my worries. Would the surf be blown out? Would the waves be
riddable? How long would my camera equipment hold up in the
rain before it crapped out? Would the back up equipment I
borrowed getting ruined? Was the contest canceled, and I not
notified? It was too quiet on the dock and in town, and as
I dosed off for a few hours of sleep I felt I might have made
a mistake disrupting mine, my family's and my co-workers lives,
who had all changed their schedules so I could attend the
event.
The
next morning I awoke to the bluest skies one could imagine,
and
when I stepped outside I was in awe by the calm wind
and sheet glass Pacific Ocean. Once
on the dock everyone was asking the same question, "what
was the surf like"? Yet no one seemed to have an answer.
When
we rounded the bell buoy the back of the break came into view
and you could feel and hear the power of the wave. As we motored
towards the inside we got our first glimps of the day's surf.
A 20 foot piece of smooth round ocean threw itself towards
shore, and a lone surfer free fell to the bottom, landing
head first on impact! The contest was on and the surf , lighting,
and weather conditions were epic! Moments later Jeff Clark
casusally motored by on his waverunner, and I couldn't help
calling out and giving him a thumbs up. The guy pulled it
off. He foretold to the surfing world that the waves at his
beloved break would come up, the skies would part, and the
wind would calm... and he was right!
Jeff Clark all smiles.
Shane Desmond's Big wave
= Big Money..... @ Maverick's
(Photos Copyrighted NewportSurfShots.com)