Mavericks big-wave contest: Is it on or off?

San Clemente's Greg Long, winner of last winter's Mavericks Surf Contest, is wondering the same thing many of the world's top big-wave surfers are curious about: Will there be a contest this winter at the infamous big-wave spot beyond Half Moon Bay?

Long, who is awaiting a possible Friday swell at Mavericks, said he first heard the contest might be called off due to a lack of sponsorship, but more recently that the contest was saved "in the 11th hour."

I could not reach contest director Jeff Clark this morning but did talk to Keir Beadling, CEO of Mavericks Surf Ventures, who said an announcement is forthcoming.

He did not know, however, what the announcement would be.

"No question it's a challenging economy for everybody, but we've got some things in the works and are feeling pretty good about pulling it off," Beadling said.

"But to say something like the Mavericks contest is off, that's way too premature."

Beadling said organizers are proceeding as usual, holding meetings about logistics, such as crowd control, while trying to secure enough sponsorship to ensure a sixth consecutive season for California's premier big-wave event, which has a contest window that runs through the winter.

"We are being, safe to say, more cautious this year to make sure we have the support we need to pull the contest off. I feel good about it, but this is  a really challenging economy, probably the worst anyone's seen in 50-60 years. So it takes longer, but we've pulled this off for five seasons."

In other words, fingers remained crossed.

-- Pete Thomas

Photos: Grant Baker (top photo, by Associated Press) provides, during this free fall, the scope of the size and power of waves at Mavericks. Josh Loya (bottom photo, by Frank Quirarte) attempts to negotiate a sheer drop.