Watch: Biggest Day in Maverick’s History?

Originally posted on SURFER | By Dashel Pierson | Last updated Jan 2, 2025 2:40 PM ET

As 2024 came to a close, a series of massive swells percolated in the Pacific, shepherding gigantic surf to both Hawaii and California. The Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational was greenlit at Waimea Bay for just the 11th time since 1985 (congrats, Landon McNamara); and at Maverick’s, a historic session went down before Christmas with a potential world record wave ridden.

With Alo Slebir’s possible 108-footer, many wondered: “biggest day in Maverick’s history?”

That’s the question drone video specialist, Tucker Wooding, poses in his recap edit from December 23rd, 2024 at Mav’s. (Check it out below.) Wooding had been on six-day swell chase, shooting and hopping planes from Pipeline to Jaws, back to Oahu for The Eddie, then to Maverick’s for the potential day of days. As Wooding told SURFER about the whirlwind of waves: “I don’t know if I’ll ever get the chance to film something like that again.”

Dark and moody. Scary. Downright humungous. Enjoy from the safety of your screens. And to hear more about this session, and that six-day swell bender, here’s Wooding:

“After chasing some Jaws swells and filming the Eddie, I found myself on a redeye to San Francisco to chase the same swell that just hit Hawaii. Seeing this storm develop was unreal. Satellite showed giant seas in the middle of the pacific. This was a day I could not miss. The anticipation built the closer I got to arrival. I got there took a few hour nap as I was up for around 30 hours and headed to Mavericks. I knew it was going to start pumping around noon. The buoy readings were off the charts.

“The fog had cleared as soon as I pulled into Half Moon Bay. Walked over to the cliff and began filming.

“It was one of the more special days I’ve been a part of.

“Talking with the guys after it was pretty clear that we had been a part of Mavericks history. With the consensus claiming ‘biggest ever.’

“Now that claim can get thrown around often while chasing swells. But this was legit.”

This article first appeared on SURFER and was syndicated with permission.

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