Ghost Wave
The discovery of Cortes Bank and the biggest wave on earth
-
-
4.0 • 1 Rating
-
-
- $24.99
Publisher Description
'A remarkable story that will appeal to those who ride a board and those who have never set foot in the water alike.' NEWCASTLE HERALD
In GHOST WAVE, Chris Dixon dives deep into the fascinating history of Cortes Bank and the motley brotherhood of argumentative, damaged, brave and quirky margin walkers who discovered and scaled the tallest mountain in the sea. Along the way, he'll show how these pioneering wave-addicts changed our very understanding of the science of surfing, while giving sea-level credence to environmentalists' fears that the weather is indeed going haywire.
GHOST WAVE is the result of extensive interviews not only with these surfers and those close to them, but also with psychologists who provide insights into their strange addiction to deadly waves. Dixon draws on the knowledge of oceanographers and meteorologists as well as emulating his own experience as a lifelong surfer.
'The object of my obsession for the past few years has been a sunken island 100 miles off the southern California coast called the Cortes Bank. On just the right swells, in just the right conditions, the three foot deep summit of this mile-high mountaintop produces the biggest surfable wave on the face of the earth ...'
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Journalist Dixon, founding editor of Surfermag.com, has written an engaging, multifaceted story of an obscure locale off the California coast that draws the most daring big-wave surfers in the world. Rising sea levels submerged the Cortes Bank thousands of years ago, but the former islands are so close to the surface that they make for dangerous seas. Dixon chronicles the history of human interaction with the bank, starting with Native Americans before Columbus and encompassing the days of sail and steam before bringing in contemporary surfers with their jet-skis and adrenaline addiction. Dixon's ambition takes this story well beyond the realm of most surfing books. Early chapters include a daring reconstruction of an imagined journey to the area by proto-Chumash Indians. Accounts of American explorers and treasure hunters and the bizarre attempt to found a nation atop Cortes in the 1960s are equally fascinating. The second half of the book loses focus as Dixon tries to cover the entire history of big-wave surfing. Yet Dixon always writes capably, and his insider knowledge brings the allure and danger of this turbulent locale to life.
