Surfing
In the final episode of Made In Central California, filmmaker Graham Nash tells the untold story of how the death of the big wave Ghost Tree helped spark the paddle renaissance.
"I really feel like the 2010 winter was the tipping point for the modern era of big wave paddle surfing," former Surfing Magazine editor and big wave surfer Evan Slater says in the final episode of Made In Central California: Ghost Tree. "That was a semi El Niño winter, there were a lot of big days, but a specific Mavericks swell just opened up such new territory for all these guys."
And so it went thereafter that Mavericks would become – and remain – California's premiere big wave venue and Ghost Tree would fade into the shadows. By then, jet skis had officially been banned from Ghost Tree, leaving the biggest and gnarliest days virtually unridable.
However, as Californian filmmaker Graham Nash illustrates in this final episode of Made In Central California, the lessons learned while towing Ghost Tree – specifically the rescue techniques – helped pave the way for today's complex and highly structured safety teams that accompany every big wave surfer, whether they're paddling or towing.
"I'm curious to see how much further they can push it," Adam Replogle says at the close of the episode, referring to young phenoms like Kai Lenny, who seem to be reinventing what's possible on big waves each winter.
As Peter Mel points out, though, no matter how enormous the watery summits become, there will always be a jet ski nearb and we have Ghost Tree to thank for that in part.
"I think that we have yet to see the truly biggest, biggest wave ever ridden," Mel says. "I think that tow surfing's still going to come into play when those days happen, because there does come a limit where it's just not possible to catch the wave on your own two hands, but where's that limit? We've got to find that out."