Surfing 'Super Bowl': Big Waves, Risks
A South African won surfing's annual challenge at Maverick's Reef off California Tuesday. It's considered one of the sport's biggest events.
As CBS News Correspondent John Blackstone
"It's definitely really dangerous," says surfer Tyler Smith. "This is why it's the 'Super Bowl of surfing.' "
The waves off the rocky stretch south of San Francisco were rising 40 feet when two dozen competitors paddled a half-mile out to catch a harrowing ride back, Blackstone observes.
"When you hop up and start going down, the wave, all the wind and the rush is incredible," exclaims surfer Ryan Seelbach. "Keeps you coming back."
Competitors get just 24 hours notice that maverick's on.
Organizers study the weather developing thousands of miles across the Pacific, all the way to Japan, Blackstone says. "When they spot the conditions that will produce the big waves, the call goes out: Surf's up. Way up."
What goes up, of course, must come down. The soaring waves beat many of this year's competitors early on.
"Imagine," says event organizer Doug Epstein, "flying down a moving mountain going about 35 miles an hour and then having a 4-story building crash on top of you."
But the conditions were perfect for Twiggy Baker, 32. He made two rides scorekeepers called perfect, and won the $30,000 first prize.
"There's a lot of luck involved, you know," Baker conceded, "just to get the right wave. And the guys that get through it are the lucky guys who get the waves."
Some might think them lucky just to survive, Blackstone concludes.