:54:02
... while he was repeatedly battered
by incoming white water.
:54:06
The leash wrapped around rocks.
I was stuck for eight waves.
:54:10
- How come you couldn't get it off?
- The water current was so strong...
:54:15
...it's like doing a sit-up
with 200 pounds on your chest.
:54:30
Flea eventually worked himself loose.
But in a more dramatic incident...
:54:35
... Jeff Clark was hurled
into Mavericks' rocky Boneyard...
:54:38
... and was trapped when his leash
became hooked onto Sail Rock.
:54:42
I can't get the leash off my ankle.
:54:45
The broken half of my board
is dragging me into the rocks.
:54:48
Finally, I'm getting swirled around,
I got my hands out, and I feel the rock.
:54:53
I'm hanging onto
the side of this rock.
:54:55
I'm underwater and the water starts
to drain, and I am high and dry.
:55:02
Next thing you know,
another wave came over the rock.
:55:05
I'm underwater again.
The tension from my leg rope relieved.
:55:08
I climbed on the rock,
and I got rid of that damn anchor...
:55:11
...that was around my leg.
:55:14
It's funny that Mavericks surfers value
their surfboards more than their lives.
:55:19
It's like a lifeline.
:55:20
If you get held down,
the only thing that I know...
:55:23
...is at the end of this is something
that floats more than I do.
:55:27
So if I wait and hold onto it,
that's up.
:55:29
So I reach around
and grab my leash...
:55:31
...and climb it back to the top,
back to the surface.
:55:34
I know, in my experience,
there were times when...
:55:36
...if I didn't have a leash,
I'm not sure I would have lived.
:55:42
In May of 1992...
:55:44
... two years after Clark shared his
spot with Powers and Schmidt...
:55:48
...Surfer Magazine
took Mavericks public...
:55:50
... with a cover story
titled "Cold Sweat."
:55:56
As if to back up
the front-page headline...
:55:58
... in 1994, California was bombarded
by a series of epic north swells...