Mavericks Followup

As Keith said in comments, the action was intense for everyone.

For the surfers:

The moment Anthony Tashnick saw a fellow contestant spitting up blood after a particularly horrendous wipeout, the former Mavericks Surf Contest champion knew this was a whole new ballgame.

"There was tons of blood spewing from his nose and mouth, and they were telling him he had to go to the hospital," Tashnick said of fellow Santa Cruz surfer Zach Wormhoudt. "But he refused and paddled back out. He said, 'No, I've gotta go surf.'"

For the spectators:

From 8:30 to 10 a.m., the tide line at Mavericks Beach became a panic zone as rip currents swept more than 50 feet inland, trapping some spectators who had walked farther out in hopes of getting a better view. People were thrown on their arms and faces, emerging bloodied and soaked from head to toe. Children lost their shoes and dogs floated away from their owners before being retrieved in the surf.

Hanging on to the DANGER sign while the wave tosses people around -- it doesn't get much better than that. The ironic thing on the spectating is that there really is nothing to see from shore. Lots of people ended up watching a big screen TV on the beach. While I was watching online, even one of the commentators on the scaffolding was using his binoculars to watch that TV!