So I wanted to give you guys the story about my childhood dream and how I made it happen.

I grew up as a typical Southern California surfer kid. I spent my days at the beach and my nights lobster diving or fishing. I also worked on fishing boats which I will make a post about at a later time.

Since I was about thirteen I had wanted to surf Mavericks. Mavericks is the wave from that Hollywood movie "Chasing Mavericks". Mavericks is considered one of the deadliest waves in the world and is arguably the most powerful. At the age of thirteen nobody took me seriously and nor did I. Reflecting upon that time I know why my parents took my goal so lightly and I'm glad they stopped me from doing something stupid. Although I wasn't going to be surfing Mavericks anytime soon I made it known that was a goal of mine and I started doing breath hold training as well as strength training.

Fast forward to age 17: I am a senior in High School with the same intentions and the same goals. I had a 4:30 breath hold, was an incredibly strong swimmer (I placed top 10 in our county lifeguard trials) and my surfing was at its best. I thought I was as ready as I could get. That January I got the opportunity to surf the biggest waves I had ever seen, not at Mavericks, but at a less fucky spot. I paddled out and had one of the best sessions of my life. I caught three waves all over 25 feet and I fell on one which put me in a pretty dangerous spot, but I was able to get myself out of it.

After this session I though I was fine. I was ready for Mavericks. That was until the one person in my life I would listen to told me I wasn't. throughout this entire journey I hadn't listened to my parents concerns ( this gets kinda comical later) or anybody else in my life. The one person who had any say was my friends dad. Lets call him Gary. Gary is a 65 year old who is in better shape than 99% of you, he's been referred to as a "hellman" in the Big Wave community. The guy is the most dedicated and unstoppable person I have ever met. At 65 he charges into the Gnarliest most fucked up waves on this planet. He told me I had no Idea what I was getting myself into and that I really need to prepare more. Back to the Drawing board.

Last winter was one of the best winters for surfing we've had in about 20 years. due to el Niño we had an abundance of big surf in northern California. fast forward to the end of January last year. I was still in Great shape and I had only began to want Mavericks as bad as I needed too. something changed after Gary told me I wasn't ready. I had began to envision what it would be like, I watched countless youtube videos, I obsessed. around this time one of the biggest swells in recent history appeared. Me and Gary went up to the other spot that I had mentioned except this time the surf was WAY bigger, the bigger sets were 40 foot or bigger and guys were getting into serious danger. My first mistake was calling my mom. she had a minor panic on the phone before my dad grabbed it and said "don't listen, go!" this was the first piece of advise that would help me and has proven very useful in many ways but especially when you're looking down a 40 foot wave. As I was standing on the beach Gary looked at me and said "you're going to get into a fucked up situation out there. there is nothing you can do about it. go to your happy place". Well that advise saved my life. about 1 hour later and a 1 mile paddle, the biggest wave any of us have ever seen rolled through. All 9 of us surfing got caught inside (after some sketchy math we decided it was about 45). I have never been hit so violently nor powerfully. I completely zoned out and relaxed for 30 seconds, this sounds short, but when you're getting thrown around like an actual rag doll it sucks pretty bad. I came up a little shaken and with a new realization for the magnitude of what I was doing. I was shaken but not quitting. I finally got one of the big ones and decided to call it a day. Back on the beach Gary started talking about Mavericks and I told him it was time. He agreed, but said "You're ready although You have no idea what You're getting into".

About a month later it was time to make it happen. Little did i realize how many obstacles there would be. The first Major goal was getting my parents on board. They pay for school so they have that to hold over my head. what happened next even surprised me. My mom, who had watched me train for this and obsess over this, strait up told me no. without even thinking I told her I was moving out and taking on student loans for school. I didn't realize I wanted it this bad until right then. She too realized how determined I was, but persisted that I stop. Never in my pre TRP days would I have thought my mom would try to stop me from surfing Mavericks for arbitrary school related reasons. She was still unamused but knew I wasn't stopping. My LTR was also concerned for my well-being, but once you envision and want something like I had at this point I didn't even acknowledge that.

A week or so later it was go time. After a brief and frantic phone call with my Mom and the same phone grabbing procedure from my Dad. I walked out to the Bluff and saw Mavericks break for the first time. The emotional shit-storm that hit me right then is like nothing ever. I had come all this way and at age 18 I was going to actually fucking do it. that was until I saw the second wave break. Some dude broke his board in three places and then got caught by about 5 waves that all slowly drug him closer to the famous rocks on this inside. As the cliff full of spectators and photographers helplessly watched this guy get drug through the rocks and eventually rescued by a jet-ski I realized what Gary had meant. This wave is not to be fucked with and it will kill you regardless of how smart you are or how good you are. As soon as the "what're you doing" thought came into my head I said I'm doing it to my friend standing next to me.

I paddled out, when I finally got out there my second wave of second guessing came in, except this time I was all alone, sitting in a sharky 50 degree ocean watching from the channel as the surfers I had seen on covers of Magazines my whole life were FALLING on these waves and getting rescued by jet-skis, not some average run of the mill surfers, but people who have made careers out of it. Right then some friendly guy paddled up to me as I was watching and said " I don't know who you are, but you aren't catching any waves out in the channel just go over there and see how you feel" so after this I finally paddled to the peak at Mavericks. and before I had even been there in the pack for 30 seconds a set came in. I didn't think, I didn't listen, I just did. I took off on the fastest heaviest and most symbolic wave of my life. After this I decided one was enough and made the long paddle back to the beach. When I got back to the beach me and my friends that came to watch had a combined total of 63 missed phone calls from my Mom. Turns out she was scared for my safety, she just masked it with other shit.

Id like to go back and explain some of the things that were said to me. The first one from my dad: "don't listen, go". I know how vague this sounds, but it really helps me remember to be impulsive and to work towards your goals at all fucking costs.

When Gary made the comment about fucked up situations I didnt really have a tangible concept, but after that session I realize what he meant, both in surfing and the real world. as for surfing. If you panic when a 40 foot wave is rag-dolling you, you're going to die. no questions asked, youre either going to drown or not be able to focus when you get the opportunity to fight back. If I'm ever in a fucked up situation elsewhere I take a moment to let the initial chaos or fuckery blow by while I craft a plan of attack.

As for the "you don't know what you are getting yourself into" comment. sometimes we want something so bad we overlook other aspects, such as danger. I didn't know how heavy that wave was until I saw it and experienced it. This helps me kinda to take other perspectives on that in my own life. I really don't know what I'm getting myself into. Girls, Jobs, whatever, it doesn't really matter. while uncertainty is a part of life go out there and conquer the unknown do some cool shit. If you have an achievable childhood dream go do it.