{"id":37875,"date":"2012-11-10T15:34:14","date_gmt":"2012-11-10T23:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/?p=37875"},"modified":"2012-11-10T15:41:05","modified_gmt":"2012-11-10T23:41:05","slug":"mavericks-invitational-opening-ceremony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/?p=37875","title":{"rendered":"Mavericks Invitational Opening Ceremony"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Img<\/a><\/p>\n

In an opening ceremony held today (November 10, 2012) on the beach at Mavericks, the waiting period for the Mavericks Invitational<\/a><\/strong> big wave contest officially started. And nearly all of the 24 invited surfers were there to celebrate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe surfers look forward to the ceremony to reconnect with each other and with Mavericks,\u201d said contest director Jeff Clark, who introduced the surfers and led the group in a prayer. \u201cIt\u2019s the coming together of the family and the brotherhood that goes way deeper than surfing. It helps us remember that it is a power much greater than us that allows us to challenge one of the greatest forces of nature.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For the official word, including heat lineups follow the jump.Mavericks Invitational Presented by GoPro Kicks Off the Winter Season
\nContest Window Opens with Ceremony<\/p>\n

HALF MOON BAY, CA (November 10 2012) \u2013 Mavericks Invitational presented by GoPro, the world\u2019s premier big wave surf contest, kicked off the winter season with an inspirational Opening Ceremony and paddle out from the beach at Mavericks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe opening ceremony and paddle out is more special than any big day of surfing,\u201d said Danilo Couto, Brazilian big wave surfer on the list of alternates for this year\u2019s competition. \u201cIt just reminds us how lucky we are to be here year after and year. Mavericks is the most intense big wave around. It keeps me on my toes every day of my life, knowing I have to be ready. It keeps me healthy, keeps me young, and keeps me doing the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nearly all of the 24 invited competitors and 17 alternates attended the ceremony, along with the local high school and junior high school surf teams, fans and the local surf community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe surfers look forward to the ceremony to reconnect with each other and with Mavericks,\u201d said contest director Jeff Clark, who introduced the surfers and led the group in a prayer. \u201cIt\u2019s the coming together of the family and the brotherhood that goes way deeper than surfing. It helps us remember that it is a power much greater than us that allows us to challenge one of the greatest forces of nature.\u201d<\/p>\n

The heat draw, always a highlight of the ceremony, is where competitors pull out a numbered ping pong ball which places them in their respective heat. This years heat draw is as follows:<\/p>\n

Heat#1Heat #2\tHeat #3\tHeat #4
\nPeter Mel \t Chris Bertish\t Tyler Smith\t Alex Martins
\nDave Wassel\t Jamie Sterling \t Ryan Augenstein\t Anthony Tashnick
\nMark Healey\t Grant Washburn\t Zach Wormhoudt\t Grant Baker
\nKelly Slater\t Shawn Dollar\t Shane Dorian \t Ben Wilkinson
\nKen Collins\t Nathan Fletcher\t Greg Long\t Carlos Burle
\nRusty Long\t Matt Ambrose \t Ryan Seelbach\t Shane Desmond <\/p>\n

The ceremony also marks the opening of the Mavericks Invitational contest window, which starts on November 9, 2012, and runs though March 31, 2013. When wave height and weather conditions are perfect, organizers make \u201cthe call\u201d to hold the contest with 24-hour notice.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s event is presented by GoPro, with supporting sponsors Sierra Nevada Brewing Company and 1st to Know. To receive up to date news and alerts about the contest, fans can sign up for free text alerts at www.mavericksinvitational.com.<\/p>\n

About Mavericks Invitational<\/p>\n

Mavericks Invitational is the world\u2019s premier, high adrenaline, big wave surfing event, and is now part of the Big Wave World Tour. The association with BWWT allows those surfers who are part of the tour to use their performance at Mavericks as part of their overall scoring for the season. The contest is a one-day, invitation-only surfing competition is held at the legendary Mavericks surf break located \u00bd mile offshore at Pillar Point Harbor, just 20 minutes south of San Francisco. The 24 most daring big-wave surfers in the world attempt to tame the massive swells on the biggest and best day of the 2012 winter season. For additional details, tickets or sign up to be a volunteer, visit MavericksInvitational.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In an opening ceremony held today (November 10, 2012) on the beach at Mavericks, the waiting period for the Mavericks Invitational big wave contest officially started. And nearly all of the 24 invited surfers were there to celebrate. \u201cThe surfers look forward to the ceremony to reconnect with each other and with Mavericks,\u201d said contest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37875"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37875"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37875\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37880,"href":"https:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37875\/revisions\/37880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}