The enlarged version of this image shows the overview of the local set up. The church overlooking the break is an icon for the perfect left hander that peels off in the foreground. Long known to the campervan nomads who did the European surf trail down to Morocco for the northern hemi winter, this is the 'graveyard view', the best vantage for evaluating Izaro potential. Only in recent years has the break featured prominently in mainstream media. Some of the waves generated by the European storm.
Daryl 'Flea" Virostko was narrowly displaced from taking the biggest wave of the 2001 northern hemi winter season by Mike Parsons to the tune of $60,000. It was at Giant Mavs where Flea had to straighten out as the wave jacked on the bowl, and was forced to take one of the heaviest beatings of his life.
Flea also rode the gnarliest tube of the Hawaii/Mavericks/Todos Standby Sessions December 27 late afternoon at Mavericks, and took barrel of the session the next day at Todos. Heavy situations on critical waves are second nature to him. Shown here loving the view of Basque lands from the inside Jan 25.
Humble, well spoken and with impeccable, almost British manners, Mike Parsons has evolved his surfing career from rookie professional in Australia 1985, to one of the greatest big wave surfers of all time.
He enjoyed a twelve-year campaign in the Association of Surfing Professionals Top 44 rated surfers, and finished a high 4th on the Professional Surf Tour of America as recently as 2000. Parsons is now focused solely on finding the biggest rideable waves in the world. Shown in a reflective moment exiting the water after a Basque Country Standby Session.
Brad Gerlach broke onto the Association of Surfing Professional at Huntington Beach July 1984, littering the surfmedia with brash, bold statements regarding the surfing performances of some contemporaries. He had the ability, charm and charisma to back up his ever growing reputation as the tour's chief story teller and comic before retiring in 1991, 2nd on the world ratings.
Diametrically opposed in their past pro surfer lives, Mike Parsons and Brad Gerlach could never have been imagined as partners in the future sport of giant wave tow surfing. They've surfed Todos Santos, Mavericks, Jaws and now the Basque Country together. Ask Ger about the person Parsons was in the past. He's a natural comic. He tells it like it was.