Big wave surfers waiting for swells suitable for the world-renowend Mavericks Surf Contest could get a dose of "be careful what you wish for" this weekend.
The competition could be held Tuesday, depending on whether a swell forming off the California coast produces contest-worthy waves, a contest spokeswoman said.
But the waves might just be too big even for the die hard extreme surfers, who came to the Half Moon Bay area from as far as South Africa, Australia and Hawaii, and have been watching the swell form for the past week.
The 24 surfers from around the world chosen to compete in this year's contest will vote Sunday on whether to hold the contest Tuesday, said contest co-director Katherine Clark. It's the first time the date for the contest will be decided by the whole group instead of one contest director, she said.
"It's just this huge big mass out on the Pacific," Clark said. "We're seeing it change and develop."
But don't get too excited about those waves. "The swell could bring some very large waves," Clark said. "Even maybe too large."
Clark, who said she and her ex-husband Jeff Clark, the former contest director, created the competition together more than a decade ago, said all the surfers are excited about the possibility of holding the contest Tuesday.
"We're all just totally stoked that we're in the window," she said.
Last year the contest window opened Jan. 1 and closed March 31, but the contest was never held because the ideal conditions didn't materialize. This year, the contest window opened two months earlier, on Nov. 1.
Bay City News contributed to this report.
