Giant Waves and Perfect Conditions Set The Stage For The 2006 Mavericks Surf Contest Presented By Verizon Wireless

Grant Baker of South Africa, the First Surfer from Beyond Santa Cruz, Takes the Win

Photos

Twenty four world-class surfers, epic waves with 30-40 foot faces, and record attendance of about 50-60,000 spectators marked the return of the third consecutive Mavericks Surf Contest Presented by Verizon Wireless. Grant “Twiggy” Baker of Durban, South Africa took home the win, a $30,000 paycheck and a custom REACTOR Watch. Notably, Baker was one of the final five surfers that were voted into the contest by a poll at www.surfermag.com. Close on his heels, Tyler Smith of Santa Cruz took second and $10,000; Brock Little, of Hawaii, third and $5,000; Matt Ambrose of Pacifica, fourth and $4,000; Grant Washburn of San Francisco, fifth and $3,500; and Evan Slater of San Clemente, sixth and $2,500.

Contest winner, Baker, kicked off the day scoring a perfect 10 in heat three of the first round, a relatively quiet heat compared to heat two, just before, which was non-stop action pitting Tyler Smith, Evan Slater, last year’s winner Anthony Tashnick, Josh Loya, Greg Long and Peter Mel against each other. Loya, Smith and Slater advanced to the first heat of the Semis where they met Randy Cone, Russell Smith and Brock Little. Heat two of the Semis saw Grant Baker, Danilo Couto, Matt Ambrose, Grant Washburn, Ryan Seelbach and Zach Wormhoudt battle it out.

In the final, the six highest scoring surfers again battled it out on longer, cleaner sets. Solid rides continued with a bit of a lull in the final two-thirds of the hour-long heat. With just minutes left, Smith made one final hit on a huge, gorgeous wave to make his case for the win, but was unable to surpass Baker.

The buzz of the day was the perfection of the wave conditions and the consistency of which they came in. All day they kept firing and continued getting bigger and cleaner. “The weather could not have been better, it was a perfect day. You couldn’t script it that well,” said contest founder, surf legend and board shaper Jeff Clark.

The field of surfers demonstrated a knowledge and respect for the Mavericks wave making for an outstanding contest. Additionally, this year’s winner Grant Baker, also received the especially significant Jay Moriarty Award and large praises from Clark. “Grant ‘Twiggy’ Baker, as he is called, surfed with a great sense of spirit and enthusiasm today. It was beautiful to watch the energy that he had while surfing,” quipped Clark.

To round out the event, The 2006 Mavericks Surf Contest Presented by Verizon Wireless featured numerous exciting initiatives including a live web cast brought in part by Media Zone, an NBC Sports broadcast airing May 13, 2006, an SMS “It’s On!” messaging alert notifying fans when the contest was called and an innovative environmental partnership with Clif Bar & Co. to make the event the first “climate neutral” major surfing event. For those that missed the event today, the action is still available through a web cast at www.mediazone.com/mavericks.

2006 Contestants:

Anthony Tashnick, Greg Long, Tyler Smith, Zach Wormhoudt, Shane Desmond, Matt Ambrose, Brock Little, Ryan Seelbach, Ryan Augenstein, Evan Slater, Eraldo Gueiros, Shawn Rhodes, Randy Cone, Grant Washburn, Darryl Virostko, Kenny Collins, Peter Mel, Nathan Fletcher, Mike Gerhardt, Grant Baker, Josh Loya, Danilo Couto, Russell Smith and Alex Martins.

The 2006 Mavericks Surf Contest Presented by Verizon Wireless has been made possible due to the generous support of its sponsors and partners : Verizon Wireless, SURFER Magazine, Clif Bar & Co, Hard Rock International, REACTOR Watches, Doc’s Pro Plugs, Coast Commercial Bank, Capture Technologies, Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, Save the Waves, Peninsula Open Space Trust, Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, San Mateo Harbor District, Harbor House Inn, Ono Bar & Grill.

Source: Mavericks Surf Ventures, LLC

See SurfPulse's Exclusive Feature Article & Photos on the 2006 Mavericks Contest

2006 Mavericks Contest Photos in SurfPulse Photo Gallery (60+ photos)

2006 Mavericks Contest Photos by Tony Canadas (30+ photos)

2005 Mavericks Contest Photos by Don Montgomery & Tony Canadas (18 photos)

2005 Mavericks Contest Photos by Tony Canadas (11 photos)