For those who may not be aware, this is classic Michael Joshua. He’s not at every swell that hits Mavericks, but like a cat patiently waiting for a mouse, he chooses his window carefully.
Born and raised on Half Moon Bay’s exposed and windswept sandbars, Joshua has a knack for picking gems out of chaotic conditions. He’s one of those unsponsored and underground surfers who turns heads when things start to get serious. In the non-life-threatening (but still solid) beachbreaks in his hometown, Joshua is one of those guys who gets the ones you were mind surfing.
The same goes for his approach to Maverick’s. So it’s no accident that on December 28, the wave’s biggest day of the winter, Joshua got a truly massive ride after showing up late in the afternoon. The ride earned him an entry into the 2024 SURFER Big Wave Challenge.
Related: FULL VIDEO: Surfers Brave ‘Biggest Day in Years’ at Mavericks
Now based in San Diego, Joshua spends more time fishing than he does checking the Maverick’s cam. But when the buoys spiked in late December, he was on it. This entry, filmed from a ski by Tim Bonython, is from his second wave of the session. After getting the assist into the 30-40 footer courtesy of Nic von Rupp, Joshua waited for the bowl to show itself, negotiated a few treacherous bumps, then leaped into the crumbling pocket before flying out to a channel in uproar.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” Joshua recalled on Luca Padua’s account of the session. “I need to see the footage of this to take it all in.”
Tow partners Luca Padua and Alo Slebir, who had been surfing all morning, called it one of the waves of the day. Just another session for Michael Joshua.