Courtesy of Darryl Virostko

World famous surfer and local to the Santa Cruz community, Darryl “Flea” Virostko takes recovery to another level with his local, non-profit organization Fleahab.

Started in 2010, Fleahab aims to “provide a sober living environment, created to integrate exercise and a healthy lifestyle into the recovery process for those afflicted with drug or alcohol addiction,” according to the project’s official website . This year, Virostko plans to purchase a new home on the Westside to continue carrying out this mission. First, he has to get enough funds and make the right buy.

Q: What is your short-term goal for Fleahab?
A: Our goal in the next six months is to get into a house. I get emails from people all over the country who want to do Fleahab, but I can’t do it unless we get it going for sure. We’re trying to figure out our next event to give us that push to get us that house.

Q: How are you encouraging kids to ask for help?
A: By speaking and telling my story. I was making twelve grand a month surfing. I was on top of the world. But it got to me. The partying. I didn’t think it was going to get to me, but it slowly crept in. I say to these kids you have to check yourself and know where you’re going in your life and not be scared to talk to your parents about it.

Q: How will the new house contribute to the organization?
A:There would be guidelines like a regular house, to clean up after yourself. I want them to actually do something and not just sit out back smoking cigarettes. I think that the people that come for this, come from far, like New York and Florida–they’re surfers. They’ll want to do sports and get good waves. I’m excited because there are so many possibilities for it.

Q: How do you think Fleahab will affect the community?
A: It’s going to really help people. People will get excited about getting clean and feeling like they used to feel. A lot of times, people used to like to do sports before they got on drugs. Being able to help different people with different backgrounds in sports is going to be cool for Santa Cruz. There’s no sober living environment like this.

Q: Does surfing play a large role in the organization?
A: It’s so nice to get into a wetsuit and be away from land. Surfing is definitely going to be a big part, but whatever someone wants to do, I’m going to be a support to a lot of people. I’m not going to pressure people to go surfing but if they will, that will be great.

Q: How will your past experience help the organization?
A: Just in trying to bring awareness that it’s a common problem. It’s not something that we should be hiding from. I want to help that person to not be scared and to actually ask for help. So many kids around Santa Cruz are scared. They don’t want to get in trouble. So making it more open is really important.

Q: What kind of support have you received from the community?
A: I’ve had so much support from the community. Kids’ parents who know what I’m doing are so stoked because I’m a positive role model for their kids now and it feels good for myself because I can actually help these little kids.

Q: What have you gained from helping people in Fleahab so far?
A: I’ve helped a lot of different people. Seeing the joy and happiness in their face when they actually rode a wave. The energy that you get from other people being excited is like being a kid again. I see myself catching my first wave. It’s so cool to see that. People coming back into life is such a special thing. I’ve always been really passionate about helping people, and if they need help, I’m going to help them. Just seeing progress and people being happy and being able to support people. I get satisfaction from all of that.

Photo by Morgan Grana

Vernon Legakis will load 20 books in waterproof plastic bags onto the front of his surfboard and paddle into Cowell Cove on Monday morning. There he will hand the books out to fellow surfers as part of World Book Night, a global event promoting literacy and the written word.

“We figured we would be the only surfing bookseller in the country by doing this,” said Casey Coonerty Protti, event organizer and Bookshop Santa Cruz owner. “Part of the idea of World Book Night is to make the idea of reading books a fun thing.”

Local organizations including the Santa Cruz public libraries and Bookshop Santa Cruz will be participating in World Book Night on April 23.

The event began in the United Kingdom in 2011 and spread to the United States this year. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) World Book and Copyright Day, April 23, falls on the date of birth and death of English playwright and poet William Shakespeare. Santa Cruz City Council plans to officially declare April 23, 2012 as World Book Day in Santa Cruz.

The event is centered on the idea that a single book can inspire a lifetime of appreciation for the written word.

“One book can change a person’s life and make a person a reader,” said Coonerty Protti, who brought the event to Santa Cruz.

On World Book Night, volunteers will hand out free books to people across the county who may not identify as recreational readers. Volunteers select a book to distribute from a diverse list of 30 special-edition books donated by the authors and publishers.

Legakis will also be handing out books at the historic Santa Cruz Lighthouse.

“The world of literature is as massive as the ocean,” Legakis said. “But still, it’s wonderful to shake hands with some of these authors, in a way, to meet them on the page.”  

The aquatic division of World Book Night will be handing out Patti Smith’s memoir “Just Kids.”

“A lot of people think of surfers as not being well-read, and we want to dispel that myth,” Coonerty Protti said.

World Book Night has been making waves in the publishing industry, Coonerty Protti said. “[Nationally], 25,000 volunteers will give away half a million books. Most of the volunteers asked for a particular book to give away. You’re supposed to pick a book that you loved and that you want to share with others.”

For some volunteers, the selection of books is extremely personal.

Coonerty Protti chose to deliver copies of “The History of Love” by Nicole Krauss to the nursing home that housed her grandmother. The novel explores themes of family and ancestry.

“I thought it would be nice to go deliver that book to the nursing home and bring my daughter with me to make it a kind of multi-generational thing, in response to the book,” Coonerty Protti said.

One volunteer is city council member David Terrazas. Terrazas will be distributing the novel “Kindred” by Octavia Butler in the Louden-Nelson Community Center.

“It’s an amazing story that deals with racial themes,” Terrazas said.

Louden Nelson Community Center is home to two alternative high school programs organized through the County Office of Education.

“There’s going to be a classroom there on site that I’m going to distribute books to, and they’re going to use this as part of their curriculum,” Terrazas said. “Plus it’s right adjacent to a park, and I think some of the best reading can be done during your leisure under a tree.”

This is the first annual World Book Night in Santa Cruz, and it will likely be the precursor for many more to come.

“Reading will always be a part of our culture,” Terrazas said, “and I think days like this help to ensure that the readers of tomorrow continue our traditions today, and can continue these traditions moving forward.”

Photo by Sarah Manley

“Many foam surfboards are mass-produced in China, and concerns about being environmentally conscious are non-existent,” Stiphout said. “Even American-made foam surfboards or boards made of 100 percent recycled foam still require unsafe production processes.”

Ventana Surf Co. builds environmentally friendly alternatives to foam surfboards. The company specializes in hollow, wooden surfboards made locally from 100 percent recycled wood, which come from trees such as redwoods. Stiphout and Frome find leftover wood from Santa Cruz sources, using it even when it is aged or punctured with nails.

“It is more work to find the wood. It’s more labor-intensive,” Stiphout said. “[But] wood is safer to work with and reduces our environmental impact.”

Ventana Surf Co. is also beginning to use bio-based resin on the boards in place of more harmful epoxy resin, which can lead a shaper to develop occupational asthma. With a less harmful resin, Ventana Surf Co. will complete the entirely safe board construction production process, becoming the first company in Santa Cruz to make sustainable surfboards.

“Bio-based resin is 70 percent tree sap based, so it turns a waste product into a usable resin,” Stiphout said.

Stiphout has been making boards for four years, and along with Tyler Frome, he formed a business that resulted from a passion for surfing, the ocean and the environment. For about a year and a half, they have occupied a shop on Mission Street.

Stiphout said he became tired after his last foam board broke, pushing him to build a board that would last longer and produce little waste.

First-year environmental studies major Maaya Hensman has been surfing for eight years. Hensman said foam and fiberglass boards pose different problems, for both the environment and for the shaper’s health.

“Shapers have to wear masks because shards of glass can get into their lungs. It’s also made of so many different chemicals that aren’t good for them,” Hensman said. “Wood boards are better than foam boards, because if they come from trees that are from local sources, they are much more sustainable.”

Stiphout and Frome have been experimenting in recent months. Ventana Surf Co. not only makes surfboards, but they work on different types of wood projects and create other sustainable surf-related products. The company shapes woodworking art and custom handplanes.

Frome enjoys being able to create something a product for surfers that is both unique and of good quality. For Stiphout and Frome, their projects are about connecting to the sport they love.

“When we make wooden boards,” Frome said, “they’re special and your surfboard is that connection to that feeling.”

Ventana Surf Co. is located on 2712 Mission St., Santa Cruz, Calif. To order a custom board, you can reach the company at 831-818-8988, or on www.ventanasurfco.com.

The Cold Water Classic was held in Santa Cruz from Oct. 26-30. The tournament attracts surfers from all over the world. Photo by Marielena Verdugo.

Photo by Marielena Verdugo.

Dozens of black wetsuits appeared along West Cliff Drive over the weekend. Surfers stretched their limbs, waxed their boards and fearlessly jumped off the cliffs, all for their love of surfing waves.

The surfers came to Santa Cruz with the O’Neill Cold Water Classic. It was hard to miss, located along Steamer Lane with bleachers set up for spectators, as large red banners bearing the O’Neill wave flew and music blasted over the ocean.

The O’Neill Cold Water Classic has been Northern California’s largest professional surf event in Santa Cruz for over two decades. Locals and visiting surfers compete for the title of Cold Water Classic Champion. A $250,000 prize purse is awarded at the event, as well as an extra $50,000 for the series’ crowned winner.

In the past two years, the prize money has gone to Australians. The event is sponsored by Philips O’Neill Headphones, Sierra Nevada, Dream Inn Hotel & Aquarius Restaurant.

Nineteen-year-old Brazilian Miguel Pupo not only won the O’Neill Cold Water Classic in Santa Cruz, but won the overall Cold Water Classic title and $90,000. There was a great sense of community and respect when Pupo was announced champion.

Sitting on the bleachers, spectators commented on the event.

“They tend to have bad luck around this time of the year,” a man said to his son. “They should do the contest deeper into winter when the waves are bigger.”

Professional and amateur surfers competed in hopes of winning the champion title and a grand prize of $40,000. Between Oct. 26 and 30, spectators gathered around along the cliffs to watch the show, many with cameras or binoculars.

It was a diverse crowd, ranging from older spectators and young families with babies to high school kids. In spite of the beautiful weather, there was one important problem on everyone’s mind: lack of waves.

Early Thursday morning there were no waves, so the competition changed locations to Waddell Creek, just up Highway 1 North.

Josh Kerr, a professional surfer from Australia who currently resides in San Diego, prepared for his heat by watching his buddies surf at Waddell Creek.

“It’s a bummer we had to move from Steamer Lane to Waddell Creek,” Kerr said, “but there were no waves. It’s just not the same vibe here. It’s been a really fun event regardless. There’s been a lot of excitement around it — it’s something we all look forward to.”

Kerr has been surfing his entire life, but became professional 10 years ago when he was 16. He is currently sponsored by Rusty.

“Friggin’ sets going off! This is the best set of waves we’ve seen in about two weeks,” the announcer yells.

At the surf competition, the announcer used words like “barrel,” “stoked,” “sick,” “dude,” “whoa,” “gnarly,” “ripping” and “beat.” For someone not involved in the surf community, it may sound like another language.

Early Wednesday morning, local boys dove into frigid water at 7:30 a.m. in the hopes of being chosen to compete in the contest. Whoever won was named the “wild card” player. Two local boys won the wild card and competed yesterday, but were out of the competition. One left with $750 while the other left with $1,000.

Although the title “Cold Water Classic” is appropriate for Santa Cruz water temperatures, UC Santa Cruz student and surfer Brett Hardy said, “The water actually tends to get a little warmer in the winter months due to an upwelling. It’s pretty strange.”

Professional surfer Kerr said surfing at Steamer Lane is a special treat because everyone gets to stand along the cliff and watch the surfers. It’s rare a crowd can be that close to the action.

Each surfer had a heat, a designated time slot where a few surfers compete to get the best waves and scores given by judges.

Thursday’s, Friday’s and Saturday’s heats were surfed at Waddell.

“The boys were going nuts out there, just crazy,” the announcer said. “It was a really last-minute decision to move locations, but it had to be done.”

Zach Schank, a local high school surfer, watched the heat with a look of inspiration in his eyes.

“It’s incredible seeing the pros surf,” Schank said. “I wanna see a local win. Rat Boy (Jason Collins) is my favorite. He’s a real Santa Cruz pro.”

Schank said he surfs all the time, every chance he gets. He enjoys attending surf competitions because he gets to see the best of the best compete.

Standing at the score board, local Ardon Lockyer reviewed the results from this heats this week.

“It’s a great event, anything that brings people together helps the community,” said Lockyer, who lives down the street from Steamer Lane.

Drew Kampion, a former editor of Surfer, as well as Surfing Magazine, was signing his latest book at the event. The book, “Jack O’Neill: It’s Always Summer on the Inside,” documents the life of Jack O’Neill, owner of O’Neill Surf Company and inventor of the modern surfing wetsuit.

“Without O’Neill you wouldn’t have globalization of action and water sports,” Kampion said. “The invention of the wetsuit opened up 90 percent of the world to surfing. Before it could only be done in specific locations by a small niche of people, but the wetsuit changed all that.”

Photo by Sal Ingram.

While the U.S. News and World Report recently ranked UC Santa Cruz as the 72nd best university in the country, there is another publication that holds UCSC in much higher esteem — albeit for completely different reasons.

This past month, Surfer Magazine ranked UCSC as one of the top 10 surf colleges in the nation. The ranking was not numerical, with colleges instead getting a more specific assessment from the magazine, which looked at factors like distance to the nearest beach and consistency of waves. UCSC was crowned the best college for those who “Want to Surf at least 300 Days a Year” and called the “capital of consistency” in the article, which also praised the city of Santa Cruz for its high density of surf spots in a small area.

It’s a title that Stevenson College first-year and Monterey Bay native Cory Steinmetz agrees with. An avid surfer for about five years, Steinmetz made his decision to attend UCSC partially because of the surf scene here. As far as the assessment goes, Steinmetz whole-heartedly agrees.

“Santa Cruz is so consistent,” Steinmetz said. “There are always waves here.”

Doug Haut, owner of Haut Surfboards, also found Surfer Magazine’s rankings to be accurate. He said that the surfing conditions and the town itself are what make UCSC a top school to attend for someone interested in surfing.

“[Santa Cruz] has all the diversified surf spots,” Haut said. “We have right handers, left handers, point breaks, beach breaks. Up and down the coast we have more surf spots in 50 miles than any other place. It’s a great surf town because there are so many people involved in surfing here.”

The university itself has found a way to capitalize on its surf school reputation by offering a variety of surfing classes through the recreation department. The program offers a beginner’s one-day clinic on surfing, as well as a weekly class that last the entirety of the quarter.

David Schulkin, a UCSC alumnus and current surf instructor at the university, said that the Santa Cruz surf scene and culture was a major reason why he came to and stayed in Santa Cruz.

“I came to UCSC because the waves are so good,” Schulkin said. “And then I realized that I could get paid to teach this.”

Schulkin, who has been a surf instructor for 14 years with 11 of them being at UCSC, also said that it is the consistency of the surf in Santa Cruz that makes it stand out.

“[Santa Cruz] has a lot of different breaks,” Schulkin said. “It’s a ton of world-class waves in a small radius.”

That consistency and breadth of spots that Schulkin speaks of is what got UCSC on the list, but some say it should have helped them get an even higher ranking. While the list wasn’t ranked numerically, Surfer gave an “Overall Winner” award to UC Santa Barbara.

While he acknowledged that UCSB has some nice spots, Steinmetz still felt that Santa Cruz was more deserving of the top praise.

“Santa Barbara is flat half the year,” Steinmetz said. “And the beaches aren’t as beautiful.”

When asked if he felt similarly, Schulkin said that he “doesn’t really care” about the ranking, but also said that Santa Barbara doesn’t offer the same constant opportunity that a surfer gets in Santa Cruz.

“Santa Barbara has some really wonderful spots,” Schulkin said. “But it also has the Channel Islands that block a lot of activity.”

While much of the praise in the Surfer Magazine article and from people like Steinmetz and Schulkin has been for the city of Santa Cruz more than the university itself, the proximity to the storied surf city is perhaps the biggest reason for UCSC’s high ranking. With the campus a considerable distance from the waves, Steinmetz said that just being located in one of the most famous surf towns in the country is what makes UCSC a great surf college.

“It’s just the fact that [UCSC] is in Santa Cruz,” Steinmetz said. “[Santa Cruz] just has world-class waves and so many great spots.”

Service members enjoyed a surf lesson organized by Operation Surf at Cowell Beach last Wednesday. Photo by Kyan Mahzouf.

Surfers glide through waves, towels lie on the beach and wetsuits bob in the water as far as the eye can see. In Santa Cruz, boarders are always visible from the coast, buoying in the water.

Yet this week there was a new group of surfers at Cowell Beach. Soldiers — wounded service members of five different conflicts, including Iraq and Afghanistan — experienced local surf culture as part of Operation Surf.

This is the first time the event has come to Santa Cruz, after previously being held in Pismo Beach. Local donors funded the event and volunteers made it a reality. Santa Cruz businesses, like Richard Schmidt’s Surfing School and the Dream Inn, collaborated to provide lodging for around 15 service members and a week of surf therapy in the warm weather.

“What’s really nice [is] the support from the community,” Schmidt said. “The Crow’s Nest, I Love Sushi and Paradise Grill all gave food, and kids came out with signs on the last day saying, ‘Support Our Troops.’”

Participating soldiers came from Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, a medical facility that works with Operation Comfort, a nonprofit philanthropy group that focuses on recreational therapy.

Operation Surf, founded by amputee surfer Rodney Roller, was organized by nonprofit Amazing Surf Adventures to provide recreational surf therapy.

“[The service members] started asking about surfing,” Schmidt said. “I told them to come out to Santa Cruz. We really rolled the red carpet out for them. It was very successful.”

Recreational therapy takes soldiers out of the medical center, gets them active in a sport, and fulfills their desire to go outdoors and get moving.

“[It’s] basically diversion therapy,” said Heather Miller, a therapist with Operation Surf. “It takes a sport or an activity that these guys enjoy doing and it takes away from the fact they’re working on their core, their muscle strength, their endurance.”

Trent Alexander Winstead, a 19-year-old rifleman with the U.S. Marine Corps, was wounded in December and lost his right foot as a result. Operation Surf introduced him to surfing, which he described as “a workout and very therapeutic.”

“It was awesome to really feel the power of the waves,” Winstead said.

Winstead said he was thankful for everyone’s hospitality and for the work of the event organizers, participants and volunteers. Volunteer Brent Edwards expressed gratitude and respect for young soldiers like Winstead in return.

“He’s a young Marine, and it’s just an amazing thing — the guy is just so tough and has such spirit,” Edwards said. “It really puts things in perspective.”

Edwards, who is a Marine veteran himself and has lived in Santa Cruz for 20 years, said he had it “good” compared to the young men, but that “you’d never know” the struggles that face the soldiers — all because of their spirit of resilience.

Some of the riders had never surfed before, pre-injury or not.

“We thought it [would] be really challenging,” Schmidt said. “But they really exceeded our expectations. It was pretty inspiring.”

Riders chose between two sets of specially-made boards, the short board and the long board. Paul Lambert, 30-year-old military veteran, r

Operation Surf offered roughly 15 service members the chance to learn from surf instructors over the course of the week. Photo by Kyan Mazouf.

ode the short board.

“[It is] a lot more subtle than a soft [long] board. It’s easier to catch and easier to fall off as well,” Lambert said.

Some surfers were injured during Operation Surf, with at least one surfer getting a bloody nose from trying to stand on his board. Their surf instructors distributed a special reward for courage and perseverance.

“He got a ‘Purple Wave Award’ for being injured in the way of surfing,” Schmidt said of the injured surfer. These awards were given out to the soldiers for their bravery in the face of cold surf.

By the end of the week, the soldiers were awestruck, hungry and tired, but the event was one that balanced health and relaxation, focusing on recreational therapy while offering a week-long getaway in California.

Miller, who worked with the soldiers throughout the week, said they’re “healing but they’re happy.”

For her, the highlight was “seeing the looks on their faces, [and] seeing a one-legged surfer doing a handstand on a surfboard.”

Young surfers catch waves at the Surfing America Prime Surf Competition on Monday. The under-18 event was held on the waves off West Cliff Drive. The contest, which features the best young shortboard surfers in the country, ran from Jan. 15 through 17. Photo by Sal Ingram.

Photo by Ryan Tuttle.

Santa Cruz local Willie Eagleton, 16, discusses his semi final heat. Photo by Elizabeth Arakelian.

Colored jerseys dot the water. Jack Johnson plays on the speaker system. The smell of salt hangs in the air.

The Surfing America Prime Series tournament coincided with the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial weekend. The event took place at Steamer Lane, a surf spot on West Cliff Drive. Large tents popped up near the lighthouse to serve the event.

The Prime Series, which is run under the sanctioning body of Surfing America, was founded by Andrea Swayne and Greg Cruse. The invitation-only tournament is where the best amateur surfers in the nation gather to compete for a spot on the national team. The event is run in four-person heats. Boys competed in under-18, under-16 and under-14 groups, and girls in under-18 and under-16 groups.

Swayne, who is also the beach marshal, kept track of the scores at the tournament. Every few minutes, seemingly typical teenagers — in fact the best amateur surfers in the nation — approached Swayne, perched underneath one of the tents. Still dripping wet, they checked their scores and which bracket they had been placed into.

One of the teenagers was bleach blond Willie Eagleton, a 16-year-old who attends Santa Cruz High School. His father, a surfer as well, got him into the sport four years ago, and now Eagleton surfs every day before and after school.

“I started out at Cowell’s and now I surf at the Lane,” Eagleton said, observing the surfers in the ocean through his black Oakleys. “It is unique to be able to surf at all right point breaks.”

Swayne commented on the location as well.

“Santa Cruz is a classic location to run the contest,” she said. “It is a nice way to showcase the talent.”

Cruse, who also serves as director of all aspects of the event, said that it takes a lot of work to put together a tournament like the one at Steamer Lane. Since the event is invitation-only, the majority of the work is figuring out who will be invited to participate, he said.

He also handled sponsorship and advertisement. Not wanting the major energy drink companies marketing to the competing teenagers, he sought out the support of the California Milk Processing Board, and was able to get Got Milk? to sponsor the event.

Swayne said that the group of participants are highly competitive but also good friends.

“Friends on the beach, but not in the water,” Cruse joked.

Cruse and Swayne said the program promotes good sportsmanship and winning or losing with good grace.

Cruse, a surfer of 42 years, has noticed an evolution in the sport as of late, as more money has flowed into the event.

“You used to just go surf and have fun, but now it is being treated like a serious sport,” he said.

He has seen the youth begin to incorporate more intense training, including stretching before surfing and cardio, to stay in shape.

The competitors take surfing extremely seriously, Swayne said.

“They are focused,” she said. “Some even have private coaching. Many competitors are on independent study and are world travelers, going to Australia, Indonesia and Costa Rica.”

Many of the current amateur standouts are from surfing families with a long history of surfing travel.

“It’s addicting,” Cruse said of surfing. “You feel like your gills die out if you don’t get in the water.”

As the sun started to sink and the tournament ended for the day, cars still lined the streets with their windows down and surfboards poking out the back windows.

This is surf culture and as Cruse says, it is as much a sport as it is a lifestyle.

With the new name the Jay at Mavericks, the world-famous surf competition promises the same great waves and history making surf-runs, but its new management reflects a higher dedication to the sport and its players. Photo by Nick Paris.

Kenny Collins, a Santa Cruz veteran surfer (third from the left), bows his head with other competitors in the Jay Moriarty Mavericks Surf Competition. The surfers remembered Jay Moriarty, a friend and fellow surfer for whom the contest is named. Moriarty was killed in a tragic diving accident in the Maldives in 2001. Photo by Nick Paris.

For them, last Monday’s opening ceremony to the Jay Moriarty Big Wave Invitational was the dawn of a new chapter in big wave surf history. The opening ceremony was the culmination of a long-standing conflict between the surfers and the previous permit holder of the competition’s location, Mavericks Surf Ventures.

In 2004, Mavericks Surf Ventures began hosting the Mavericks Big Wave Surf Invitational near Half Moon Bay. The company, named after the competition’s location, had annually attracted thousands of viewers to watch the daring surfers tackle the Goliath waves. The scene is a dream for many a big wave surfer: 80-foot swells, California sunshine and the biggest names in surfing around the world.

Hawaiian big wave surfer Jamie Sterling, current leader in the Big Wave World Tour, recalls some of his best moments in surfing that happened at Mavericks.

“Mavericks generates the perfect swells,” Sterling said. “It breaks in a defined reef location consistently, and has some of the biggest waves in the world. The Jay pushes the evolution of big wave surfing to the next level by bringing together the most stellar athlete line-up from around the world. In this way, all oceans meet at Mavericks.”

But in recent years, the competition has been mired in poor management, angering both the surf competitors and the competition’s sponsors, veteran surfer Grant Washburn said.

“[Mavericks Surf Ventures] was going to do whatever it wanted to do, regardless of what we thought,” Washburn said. “They were taking all of the money provided by the competition’s sponsors to spend on other company events and merchandise. They wouldn’t — no, couldn’t — pay the judges, the staff or even the prize money to the winning surfers.”

Washburn’s comments reflected the attitude of the international surfing community as a whole, unhappy with Mavericks Surf Ventures for commercializing one of the largest surf events in the globe.

“When they forced Jeff [Clark] out of the competition, the guy who made Mavericks what it is today, none of the surfers were happy then,” Washburn said. “When they were cutting the smaller prizes out to just give one big prize to the top winner, we weren’t happy then either. But we all banded together then just as we are now … [Mavericks Surf Ventures] had this coming.”

In October, the Half Moon Bay Surf Group, composed of veteran Mavericks competitors in conjunction with Barracuda Networks, succeeded in a prolonged campaign against Mavericks Surf Ventures over the permit for the competition’s location.

The competition, renamed the Jay Moriarty Big Wave Invitational — or “the Jay,” for short — is named after the late Jay Moriarty, an avid surfer who died in a diving accident. In the huddle of Moriarty’s friends and family at the opening ceremony, not a single story passed without describing him as “stoked.”

But more than just the event’s name has changed.

One third of this year’s competitors hail from Santa Cruz, the rest coming from other prominent international surf spots such as Australia, South Africa, Brazil and other U.S. surf locales. Kenny “Skindog” Collins, winner of Billabong’s 2010 XXL Ride of the Year, is one of the surfers from Santa Cruz invited to compete at the Jay this season.

“We’re a real close community,” Collins said. “You can see we’re all out here just doing what we love doing most. Now that the old management, Mavericks [Surf Ventures] is out, and we, the surfers, are in, things are awesome. No other contest is run like this.”

The event has had an overhaul in its managing scheme, now being geared as a non-profit event — its earnings going towards supporting local charities. The invitations to the event are now allocated based on a vote among the surfers handling the Jay, as opposed to being chosen by Mavericks Surf Ventures. In short, every facet of the world-renowned competition is now solidly in the hands of its surfers.

“These shores have a global reputation and a dedicated bunch of dudes who love to surf them,” Collins said. “It’s no surprise that so many surfers from Santa Cruz — surf culture central — should care about what happens at Mavericks.”

To see the wave riders out on the water and hear the shore roar from the beach-side crowd, it’s clear that Mavericks this year belongs to none other than the surfers themselves.

Nic Hdez dips in water three to four times a day, practicing his surfing skills. After competing against the world’s prime riders last month in the Cold Water Classic, Hdez said, “It was so fun — and hard to get waves against bigger guys.” Photo courtesy of Jonathan Riise.

On the windy beach at Pleasure Point, Nic Hdez, 13, stands contemplating the waves. While all of his friends are at school taking notes, Hdez is deciding whether it is the right time to get into the water. He needs to practice those flips for next week’s competition, because he has made a promise to himself: He will continue to be the best amateur surfer in Northern California.

Hdez began his career as a competitive surfer at local surfing contests when he was eight years old. Last month, five years after his first surf, Hdez competed at the O’Neill Cold Water Classic at Santa Cruz’s Steamer Lane. The competition is one of the most important international surfing competitions in the area, attracting surfers from all around the world, most of them between 18 and 35 years old. Hdez was the youngest competitor.

One other Santa Cruz surfer, 17-year-old Nat Young, also took part in the competition. He advanced to the semi-finals but did not make it past that round.

“Other surfers got surprised that I got in, because you need a certain amount of points to get in and I didn’t have them,” Hdez said. “I got in as an alternate –— someone didn’t show up.”

Hdez lost in the first round of this competition, but for him it was a positive experience.

“It was hard to compete against [older surfers],” he said. “I only got to do one round ’cause I lost, but it was so fun — and hard to get waves against bigger guys.”

Although Hdez has been competing for more than four years in events around the California coast, his commitments have become more demanding with every year.

“This year, he’s starting to do some of the pro-junior events,” Anita Hdez, his mother, said. “We’ve already been to Florida, New York, New Jersey, Huntington Beach and Newport Beach.”

But defending a title and becoming a professional hasn’t been without its downsides. For Hdez, becoming a competitive surfer has meant competing on weekends, and it required his missing classes on Mondays and Fridays in order to fulfill his sports commitments.

Four years ago, Hdez’s parents decided to pull him out of public school to continue to support his development in surfing.

“[The school] was giving us a hard time, so we decided to start home-schooling him,” Anita Hdez said.

Hanging out with his friends has become more difficult, Nic Hdez said, as he is only able to spend time with them after they get out of school.

Coming from Northern California has also proved to be a challenge.

“It’s really hard for Nic to compete with the Southern California crowd, because that is where the industry is all located,” Anita Hdez said. “Those kids always get a little more advantage when it comes to exposure and sponsorship.”

Nevertheless, Nic Hdez’s talent has been enough to capture the attention of many important surf companies. He received a sponsorship from Billabong at the age of 10 — and now, some of his other sponsors include Oakley, Nike 6.0 and O.A.M.

For Hdez, surfing may be a golden ticket to other opportunities as well.

“In the future, I would like to go out and surf good waves, go on surfing trips and check new places. I want to go to Indonesia,” Hdez said. “Once you start surfing and get the hang of it, you just can’t stop.”

Shane Desmond hugs his waxed-up board following an interview with City on a Hill Press. Photo by Morgan Grana.

Shane Desmond appears to be an ordinary Santa Cruzan — bagging groceries at the Whole Foods on Soquel, working behind the bar at a local pub. You probably figured he was just like any other guy, an everyday resident working to make ends meet.

While this is true, Desmond, 40, is also an accomplished surfer who has competed in dozens of prestigious competitions, including the O’Neill Cold Water Classic at Steamers Lane for over 10 years and the infamous Mavericks surf competition, held at Pillar Point in Half Moon Bay, five times.

At this year’s Mavericks contest on Feb. 13, Desmond made it to the final heat and took home second place, his best finish ever at the competition.

The man whom the Mavericks website refers to as “the most respected backside surfer in Mavericks history” sat down with City on a Hill Press on the bumper of his car to talk about his start in surfing, what he loves about the sport, and the historically big waves at this year’s Mavericks contest.

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City on a Hill Press: How did you get started in surfing? Who or what was your source of inspiration?

Shane Desmond: I started surfing when I was 11 or 12 years old. My source of inspiration was my best friend, whose mom had a friend who was really into surfing and took us surfing for a day. I definitely think having a friend that was into surfing got me into it.

CHP: When did you start surfing competitively?

SD: I surfed my first contest in junior high around age 14.

CHP: What do you enjoy most about surfing?

SD: The thing I love about surfing is that I get away from everything on land. You get out and surf and you have to focus on what you’re doing, so it allows you to clear your head completely of what’s going on on land. With big-wave surfing it’s an adrenaline rush — some people say it’s the best drug in the world. There’s nothing like it.

CHP: What’s your favorite place to surf in Santa Cruz?

SD: The Harbor. It’s a barreling wave that breaks in front of the jacks and it’s really hard to surf. I grew up surfing there.

CHP: What other contests had you competed in prior to this year’s Mavericks, and how did you do in them?

SD: This is my best result [in Mavericks]. I participated in it four times before. In 2005 I made finals and got fifth in that event, and caught the biggest paddling wave in the world that year — 47 feet — and got an award for that. I’ve also surfed in the Cold Water Classic 10 years or more and I’ve made it to the round of 32 in that event a couple times. There’s also a tow-surfing event in Oregon that I got second place in in 2005, and third place in a paddling event there in 2008.

CHP: What do you think of the recent change to Mavericks’ rules, which requires a two-thirds majority vote of approval by the participating surfers in order to set a date for the competition?

SD: This is the first year we have done this and there are new challenges with this voting. Everyone had to pay attention to the Internet and the coming swells. This year we did a good job and I’m so glad we picked the day we did. It was the biggest surf ever in a paddle contest, and it raised the bar a lot higher than it ever was before.

CHP: What was your first impressions of the conditions at Mavericks that day? Were the waves really of record-breaking size?

SD: I was just like, ‘Wow, these are some of the biggest waves and this is going to be really gnarly.’ This was by far bigger than anything — they’re calling [these waves] 40 to 60 feet. The Guinness Book of World Records says the biggest wave ever caught was 50 feet, but I think this broke that.

CHP: This year you placed second in the competition, edged out by Chris Bertish of South Africa. How would you evaluate your performance overall?

SD: I just observed the conditions and I looked around to where I needed to sit and make waves. A lot of guys were catching the waves too deep and I sat a little more over where the bowl was lining up. … That worked out, got me second place and almost got me a win.

CHP: What do you plan on doing now that Mavericks is over? Are there any upcoming competitions you’re participating in?

SD: Typically, swells start to become more far and few as we come into March. There isn’t an event I see that I’m going to participate in right now.

CHP: What do you feel has been the defining moment of your career thus far?

SD: I think the first time I was invited to Mavericks was the defining moment. It’s such a great honor just to be invited and to surf with these guys, some of whom I grew up with and some of whom are surfing legends. It’s a dream come true and it’s still a goal of mine to win this event.

CHP: What words of advice would you give to up-and-coming surfers who are trying to get to a competitive level?

SD: It’s pretty simple: just follow your dream. Do what you can to just make it happen.

Illustration by Kenny Srivijittakar.

Sean Van Sommeran and his research team at the Pelagic Shark Research Foundation have spotted three great white sharks in Santa Cruz since October. Photo by Morgan Grana.

Next time you are out in the waters of Santa Cruz, don’t assume that the fin you spot out in the distance belongs to a dolphin. This time of year, it could belong to a ferociously hungry, 20-foot-long great white shark.

Lifeguards, researchers and boaters in Santa Cruz County have made numerous sightings of great white sharks in Carmel Bay, Marina, Moss Landing and Monterey Bay since the beginning of August. Over the summer, Seacliff beach, New Brighton state beaches, and Capitola city beaches were closed to swimmers and surfers after a shark was spotted.

While it may not be common knowledge that great whites migrate to areas in and around the Monterey Bay, Sean Van Sommeran, the executive director of the Pelagic Shark Research Foundation in Santa Cruz, said that this is actually very common activity for the sharks.

Sommeran coined the term “Sharktober” at his research center to give a name for the time of year when shark activity is most prevalent.

“I see great whites on a regular basis beginning in July,” Sommeran said. “With the increased number of people using the coastline in the summer and with the improvements in technology, shark sightings are much more common.”

Sommeran said that since October his research team alone has spotted three great whites. The number of great whites seen in these areas has increased dramatically from previous years due to increased technology and the ability to explore new territories.

Great White sharks are highly migratory because their prey — elephant seals and bait fish — swim in areas as large as their predators do. Additionally, the seasonal water temperature and swell shifts have influence over their migration.

“The environment acts as a kind of conveyer belt in an airport that moves the animals within them along the current and that’s why we see them in the Monterey Bay,” Sommeran said. “They are just following their prey and are moved along by the natural conditions.”

Giacomo Bernardi, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UCSC, said that there are two reasons why new technology has been so much more useful in discovering new deep sea animals.

“We are discovering more about the deep sea in rural habitats because we are probing it a lot more with updated submersibles and cameras,” Bernardi said. “And traditionally we discovered new species of animals from fishermen bringing them back, but because many fisheries have crashed, fishermen are resorting to go to more remote places to catch fish and they are finding these new species in the water.”

New Shark Discovery

The increase in technology has assisted researchers and scientists in the discovery of more shark species. A new breed of ghost shark that resides in the deep sea was discovered on the coast of Southern California in mid-September.

The black ghost shark is the 12th new species of ghost shark discovered in the past three years. Technically the black ghost shark is a chimaera, which comprises the oldest and most enigmatic groups of fish alive today, according to Science Daily.

Professor Bernardi said that the ghost sharks are also called rat fish and their names are based on their appearance.

“The name comes from the strange looking faces that they have,” Bernardi said. “Cartilaginous fish often look weird and they dwell in the deep waters.”

Bernardi is fascinated that researchers are still uncovering new species that has likely been around for millions of years in an area so close-by.

“It’s a major deal when a new species of chimaera is discovered because chimaeras are so ancient and they have been delegated to particularly dark and cold environments,” Bernardi said. “This discovery only underscores how little we know about the deep sea. I find it amazing that fairly big animals can be very inconspicuous.”

Sora Kim, a graduate student at UCSC with a degree in marine sciences, said that the reason we do not know very much about the chimaeras and sharks is because of their adaptations to stay out of human sight.

“We also don’t fish them regularly and they are not a regular part of our consumption, so we don’t know a lot about their population numbers,” Kim said. “It is hard to watch what they do because they are underwater and they travel such long distances, so in the world of science there is still a lot that is unknown about sharks.”

Misunderstood Monsters

From Hollywood representations to urban legends, sharks have long been portrayed as vicious killers with a taste for human blood.

Lauren Smith, a second-year marine biology major at UCSC, recently completed a nine-day field study in Bahia de las Animas. While she knows her fear of sharks may be a little unfounded, she was nonetheless happy not to encounter one during her time there.

“You are more likely to be killed by a hole dug in the sand than you are to be killed by a shark attack,” Smith said. “But even with that said, I would still be scared to encounter one in the water because with a wetsuit on, a person looks a lot like a seal to a shark.”

Kim explained that sharks hunt sea animals that are easiest to catch and that give them the most nutrients, and humans do not possess either quality.

“In the case of great white sharks, they actually like eating things that are very fatty and have high protein content like seals and sea lions with blubber layers,” Kim said. “Humans are pretty small compared to other animals sharks could eat and we don’t have a very high fat content.”

Sommeran explained that it is normally not the shark attack that kills an unlucky human victim, but rather what occurs after the attack.

“Statistically shark attacks and injuries are really, really rare, but even though attacks are usually not fatal, when people are attacked it is injurious and they are usually far from help or from the shore,” Sommeran said. “Usually I find that people don’t go out too much further than the wave breaks because it gives people the creeps.”

Justin Mendez, a second-year from College Nine, frequently surfs at the beaches in Santa Cruz and has never encountered a shark but he still gets spooked on occasion.

“When I went out last Saturday, I was tripping balls because I thought I saw a shark and we were the only ones out there, so I paddled my ass back in for a little bit,” Mendez said.

On her field study, Smith learned some tricks to evade shark attacks.

“If you put a hand on a shark’s nose, which is full of sensory organs, they will fall back and swim away because they do not understand what it is and they do not want it to happen again,” Smith said.

Part of the work that Sommeran and his team of researchers do is to warn surfers of dangers in areas where there are sharks. However, they still joke about the inexperienced surfers and pedestrians in Santa Cruz.

“We have this ongoing inside joke that the sharks sort of weed out the kooks and keep the crowds down in a lot of the more remote spots in Santa Cruz,” joked Van Sommeran. “They help natural selection create a faster, smarter, and more alert breed of surfer.”

However, Mendez has a different take on the way sharks go about choosing their food.

“It doesn’t really matter to a shark if you are a weak surfer,” Mendez said. “If you are floating around out there, a shark is going to eat the guy who looks most like a seal.”

A Reverse Threat

Despite the fact that sharks pose a threat to humans, they face threats of their own as well. Even though sharks are apex predators, they are still in danger of extinction due to high sea fishing and because of their horrific reputation. Sharks are long-living, slow-growing and easily susceptible to being over-fished. In addition, a lot of small species like ghost sharks and skates get caught in troll fisheries.

Sommeran’s Pelagic Shark Research Foundation has been making efforts to conserve sharks since 1990.

“In many cases this by-catch [of sharks and rays] is discarded,” Sommeran said. “It is also estimated that numerous high-seas commercial fisheries discard more than 210,000 metric tons of sharks and rays annually.”

Several local efforts are targeted at addressing the threats humans cause to sharks.

At the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the tour leaders try to change the negative perception of sharks by emphasizing the danger that can occur from a diminishing shark population.

“Sharks are really in danger and they are a big part of the food chain because they are apex predators, so if you take them out there is going to be a great unbalance,” Ann Veneman, a tour guide at the aquarium, said. “They eat fish that are usually diseased or not as fast as they normally should be, so they are cleaning up the environment.”

Sommeran’s Pelagic Shark Research Foundation has three long-term monitoring programs at Moss Landing where there are critical breeding habitats threatened by a few real estate restoration issues.

In the Monterey Bay Marine Canyons, the foundation is checking pelagic sharks that are heavily affected by open ocean drift drill nets and whale liners. They track the sharks from the Monterey Bay pacific basin to Japan.

Sommeran recognizes the value sharks have in the field of marine biology and is doing all that he can to preserve them for the future.

“Sharks are fascinating for all of the obvious reasons because of their teeth and all that, but they are also interesting for showing a long tenure in the fossil record,” Sommeran said. “They represent some of the earliest, if not earliest, vertebrates of our planet.”

As a surfer, Mendez has developed a respect for sharks despite commonly held misconceptions about these ancient vertebrates.

“Sharks are interesting because everyone freaks out about them and thinks that they are crazy,” Mendez said, “but they are actually pretty calm creatures.”

Surfers of all ages and abilities enjoy the waves at Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz, where the Cold Water Classic will take place starting November 2. Photo by Devika Agarwal.

Steamer Lane, simply “The Lane” to many locals, is one of Santa Cruz’s most visited surf spots. And for this reason, it comes as no surprise that this will be where the world-renowned O’Neill Cold Water Classic and accompanying Oakley Pro Junior’s competition will kick off on Nov. 2.

Over 170 surfers, many of whom are top-rated, will be competing in the week long event. Mark Prefontaine, who is the marketing manager for O’Neill Inc. and helped run the competition from 2001 to 2008, says that this year’s competitions will feature even more talented participants than in past years. He said the increase in talented participiants is due to the Cold Water Classic becoming a six-star prime event, the highest level of competition in the World Qualifying Series (WQS).

“Up until this year the Coldwater Classic had a four-star rating,” Prefontaine said. “But the six-star rating is the highest possible and allows for the best of the best to come out and surf because it gives more incentives to the surfers by awarding them with more points for the circuit.”

The Cold Water Classic started in Santa Cruz in 1987 and has since grown steadily to become one of Northern California’s most premier annual surf competitions. This year the competition went global, making stops in Australia, Scotland, South Africa and Canada.

“What we wanted to do was to take the idea of surfing in cold water, much like in Santa Cruz, and apply it globally,” Prefontaine said. “People have heard of the endless summer; surfing in warm water has been done. We wanted to flip that idea and chase winter instead.”

Santa Cruz is the final stop for the event, and is the place where the winner from all the stops overall will be crowned and awarded the $50,000 prize. Prefontaine believes it is fitting that the competition will end where it originally began and where O’Neill first began operating.

“We wanted to bring the event back to its roots at the end and award the winner there where the event originally began,” Prefontaine said.

The competition this year is thick with big names like Jordy Smith, Tim Reyes and Cory Lopez. Many locals, however, seem especially excited to see last year’s Cold Water Classic winner and local golden boy Nat Young compete in the tournament.

“It’s an awesome tournament! [I’m] really hoping to see Nat Young go home the winner again, too,” said Max Tom, a local, UC Santa Cruz alum and surfing fan.

Prefontaine said that Young definitely has a chance of repeating his success from last year.

“Nat is phenomenal, he has the skills to win this thing again,” Prefontaine said. “The Lane has such a weird wave and it takes time to pick up on its subtleties, but Nat has the edge in the fact that he is local and is able to surf there whenever.”

Los Gatos resident Brandon Balance went to the tournament last year and is looking forward to watching surfers ride the waves in ample company.

“It’s a huge tournament. The spot is filled with people. It’s really great and exciting to watch,” Balance said. “I’m definitely planning on going again this year.”

Prefontaine also believes that without the backing of Santa Cruz and the many Cold Water Classic fans, the tournament wouldn’t be what it is today.

“The Lane only hosts four contests a year, and it’s been really great to have the backing of the city to allow us to become consistently one of those contests,” Prefontaine said. “It’s important for us to have the relationship we have with the city because without it we couldn’t put on this event.”