Maverick’s reef looks like a staircase or wedge, with rising steps of stone that urge incoming swells to launch skyward. Anyone who has ever gone into the water up here in NorCal understands what it’s like: _cold_. Like getting-your-nipple-pierced cold. Only until you travel south of Santa Barbara does the Pacific current bifurcate; SoCal gets the warm tropical water, we get the Alaskan variety [thanks Brad].
Last Spring I was on Hapuna Beach on the big island of Hawaii on a beautiful sunny day when the water was as smooth as glass. Even under those serene conditions, the idea of swimming out into open ocean with nary a wave in sight was still a scary thought. If you know what the surf is like out here and you eye their sheer size, you begin to understand that the surfers who ride these waves are fearless.
