Peter Mel Makes A Strong Case For Wave Of The Year At Maverick’s
At 54 years old, Peter Mel continues to prove that there is no age limit when it comes to how big of a wave one can ride. With a giant west swell hammering the California coast on December 28, Maverick's in Northern California was a focal point of the Pacific energy. And while there were more than 25 tow teams featuring local and international surfers alike, it was Mel that rode what may be the best wave of the day our there.
"All hail the king," reads the Instagram post from the Mavericks Surf Awards.
Mel's been surfing Maverick's since he was just a young pup in the '90s, and now into his fourth decade out there, he somehow just continues to get better and better. Those years of knowledge and insight clearly paid off on a day where Maverick's was pretty much as big as it gets.
Breaking on the outside reef, Mel can be seen getting into the wave way further out than where the normal take-off zone would be and comes flying into the main bowl, where the wave stands up and throws. There aren't many other surfers in the world, if any, that could do that, and make it look relatively easy like Mel does.
For the record, it's worth noting that Mel rode that wave on a 6’0” tow board from Channel Islands Surfboards that was only 6 1/2” wide and 2 1/8” thick. He rode it as a quad fin setup with fins by Futures.
There's a lot more to unpack from this swell as photos and videos continue to come it. At the end of the day, everyone made it back to the Half Moon Bay Harbor safe and sound, which is the biggest win in conditions like we're seeing.
Video: Maverick's Goes Giant As Historic El Nino Swell Slams California
With more than 25 years of writing about surfing, the ocean and action sports, Jake Howard continues to share stories, profiles and issues that shape the surfing world. One of the premier subject-matter experts in the field today, he's savvy in the ways of print, digital and social media, his breadth of work is expansive. Getting his start writing Surfline surf reports and recording the phone reports for 976-SURF in the late '90s, Jake served as the managing editor for Surfer Magazine in the early 2000s before moving on to launch RedBullSurfing.com and cover surfing for ESPN and the X Games. Over the years, Jake has also enjoyed time behind the edit desk at The Surfer's Journal, as well as the World Surf League, where he worked as the Senior Editor for a number of years. Beyond producing editorial content, Jake has served as a digital marketer and copywriter for iconic surf brands such as Quiksilver, Roxy and Rip Curl. Writing thousands of pages of copy for Surfline, he has deep SEO experience as well. The surf columnist for the San Clemente Times, Jake continues to dedicate himself to the culture and history of the sport through his involvement with the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center in San Clemente.