“Mavericks” is a world-famous Northern California Surfing destination located just north of the town of Half Moon Bay, and south of Pillar Point in the town of Princeton-By-The-Sea.
“Mavericks” Half Moon Bay, CA was named after the dog of three local Half Moon Bay Surfers, Alex Matienzo, Jim Thompson, and Dick Knottmeyer, that discovered the location in 1967. They brought their dog “Maverick” along but decided to leave him on the shore. Maverick was used to swimming out into the water with his owner Alex Matienzo, and decided to swim out and join the surfing crew. The three surfers decided to name the location for their dog “Maverick” who seemed to enjoy himself that day. It later became known as, “Mavericks.” Little did they know that this big wave surfing spot would be rediscovered by Jeff Clark in 1975, and introduced to the world in 1990 as the location for California’s biggest waves.
Local Half Moon Bay resident, Jeff Clark is the first documented person to ever surf “Mavericks” Half Moon Bay, CA. Jeff grew up watching the massive waves break from Half Moon Bay High School and Pillar Point. In 1975, at the young age of 17, Clark decided he would surf the massive 20-24 foot waves and paddled out by himself to face the break. Except for Clark and his friends who saw the giant waves that made up Mavericks Half Moon Bay, CA the big wave surfing community still had the belief that there were simply no big waves in California. Jeff Clark continued to surf “Mavericks” by himself for the next 15 years and the location remained “unkown” to the rest of the world.
Dave Schmidt and Tom Powers, friend of Jeff Clark were the next people to surf Mavericks. They were accompanied by Jeff Clark on January 22, 1990. After this point knowledge of Mavericks as a Big Wave Surfing destination begin to attract attention. After a photograph of Mavericks Half Moon Bay, CA was published in “Surfer” Magazine, news of this incredible Northern California Surfing spot grew to the point that Big wave surfers from around the world had to come see what all the fuss was about. For nearly 24 years, Mavericks Half Moon Bay CA has been a world famous surfing destination and attracts thousands of spectators and some of the best surfers from around the world to face the massive waves of the Mavericks Surf.
You can walk to Mavericks Beach in 22 minutes from Inn at Mavericks. Inn at Mavericks is unique because its the only Ocean front Inn at half Moon Bay, and the closest hotel to Mavericks. The Inn was recently selected for 2013 Best of Half Moon Bay Award in the Hotels & Motels category.
For more information about the history of Mavericks Half Moon Bay, please see the following articles:
http://www.thebigwaveblog.com/surf-spots/mavericks-northern-california
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mavericks,_California#History