SAN DIEGO (KSWB) – Daredevil surfers have been riding giant waves for years, but a Southern California skier is breaking new ground by skiing the same big surf.
Chuck Patterson spoke from Dana Point about tackling the world-famous big waves at Mavericks surf break near Half Moon Bay. Patterson said he has been skiing since he was 2 years old and got into big-wave surfing as he got older. So it seemed only natural to combine his two interests.
“It’s kind of a cool thing to blend the two — a little spicy obviously,” he said. “Nowadays, being ordinary is a little too ordinary.”
Patterson uses custom water skis to ride the big waves. The skis have design elements from both snow skis and surfboards. They have standard snow ski bindings.
“I use regular ski boots, so obviously if I do fall … I can’t really click out,” he explained. “It’s like wearing cement shoes.”
The skis are about 5 feet long and wider than normal water skis. They also have a small fin on the underside to help with tracking and turning, Patterson said.
He said skiing big waves is definitely more challenging than surfing them.
“Skiing is definitely hard to do — two separate boards versus one,” he said. “You get a lot more glide out of a regular board, obviously.”
(Video courtesy of @waterful_world and drone video courtesy of Tucker Wooding, @woodingmedia)