Maverick Waves from Around the World

A maverick wave is a monster, naturally occuring wave that is formed when a variety of factors come together. The term 'Maverick Wave' comes from a popular big-wave surfing point called Maverick's in  Northern California, USA, where the waves frequently crest at 25 feet (8m). There are various other places with such huge waves like Oahu, on the north coast of Hawaii and Todos Santos, Mexico

There is a great video at this website: http://www.surfline.com/video/featured-clips/how-does-a-swell-form-and-get-into-todos_51691

Todos Santos is a Mexican town surrounded by amazing beaches. One of these beaches is La Peligroso. La Peligroso is a major big-wave surfing site and is included in the World Big Wave Surfing Tour in January - February. As an example of the size of the waves in the best conditions in 1998, a 50 foot wave was nominated for 'Biggest Wave of the Year'.

There are a few factors into how such big waves reach Todos:

- The deep water canyon prefers a long swell period primarily those over 15 seconds that combine over the deep water canyon

- Strong winds, over 40 knots or greater for at least a day and a half, about 1000 miles away low over the North Pacific heading West

The waves have a potential of over 80 feet across the Channel so professionals say that they have not seen Todos at its best.