Life Sized Mavericks Hits The Big Apple

Maverick's hit the big-time last week. Instead of retreating to the sofa like everyone else interested in watching NBC's one-hour contest special, sponsors from Evolve Sports and Maverick's Surf Ventures sent a crew of big-wave chargers to New York, where they reveled in their celebrity for an unforgettable weekend.

While the boys partied inside the Hard Rock Cafe, watching a private screening and enjoying one-hour concerts by Pepper and Slightly Stoopid, Times Square visitors were able to watch the NBC show on a 7,000-foot-square screen some three stories above the street. "For once," cracked Jeff Clark, "people saw life-sized Maverick's." It just happened to be all-time Maverick's, easily one of the top five days ever witnessed for the combination of big, challenging surf and perfect weather.

The visiting crew: Grant Washburn, Flea Virostko, Matt Ambrose, Shane Desmond, Kenny Collins, Mike Gerhardt, Randy Cone, Alex Martins, Ryan Seelbach, Russell Smith, Clark and Grant (Twiggy) Baker, the astonishingly talented South African who won the contest. Invariably surrounded by a flock of female company, Twiggy spent most of the weekend with a huge smile on his face -- which pretty much summed up the Big Apple weekend. "Somehow, none of us got in trouble," said Washburn. "That's a triumph in itself."