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Articles by Sachi Cunningham
The Life of a Very Big Wave
A big storm was barrelling east across the Pacific Ocean in late December 2024. Alo Slebir couldn’t sleep while flying through its turbulence on his way back from Maui home to Santa Cruz. Big winter storms in the North Pacific send big waves to Mavericks, a surf mecca just north of Half Moon Bay, and big waves are what Slebir lives for. Each year, between September and April, a handful of opportunities arrive to ride energy of this magnitude. Slebir had been obsessively watching the swell charts.
Letter of Recommendation: The Ocean
There is nothing quite like witnessing the rapture of a toddler waddling into waves for the first time. I expected nothing less from my daughter, who swam inside of me for 10 months and was conceived when my husband and I quit our jobs in journalism in order to literally get on the same wavelength during a baby-making sabbatical, a 14-month road trip down the Pacific coast of the Americas.
Surfers at Maverick's On January 10th Showed Just How Outrageous This Run of Swell Was
Editor’s Note: Award-winning documentary filmmaker Sachi Cunningham was in the channel on January 10 to witness another outrageous day at Maverick’s. All the names you’re used to hearing were there like Kai Lenny, Jamie Mitchell, Grant “Twiggy” Baker, Justine Dupont, and Bianca Valenti. But some underground chargers were also on hand to send it during an unprecedented run of swell that saw some of the greatest waves ever ridden at California’s premier big wave.
Bianca Valenti, Changing the Face of Female Surfing
It was a beautiful sight — a circle of the most daring surfers in the world, sitting on their boards in the calm shallows just inside the reef at Pillar Point near Half Moon Bay. Holding hands and bouquets, they gathered for the start of the Mavericks big wave surf competition season; the event happens in late winter–early spring, but only if the swell arrives.
Keala Kennelly's Powerful Acceptance Speech
"I hated myself because I didn't think you could be World Champion and gay at the same time. I needed to dream bigger." WSL / Tony Heff Monday, April 1, 2019 The Hold Down: E2 Top 5 Volcom Pipe Pro Moments From perfect rides to wipeouts, Ronnie and Vaughan unveil the best of the notorious North Shore event. Produced by Surfing Australia. 21:52 WSL / Kelly Cestari Tuesday, April 2, 2019 Gold Coast Forecast Update Good chance of the event starting tomorrow with new swell building in over night.
Inside the World Surf League’s First-Ever Big-Wave Competition for Women
On Friday, November 11, with a solid swell that surpassed 30 feet, the World Surf League called its first big-wave contest of the Pacific Northwest swell season at Pe'ahi, aka Jaws, in Maui. This was the second time the competition was run, but this year was different: it included the first-ever female surfers to compete in a WSL big wave event.
Op-Ed: Let Women Compete in Big-Wave Surf Competitions
The current El Niño weather pattern has stirred up massive swells around the Pacific nearly every week of this year, making for an exceptional season for big-wave surfing contests. The World Surf League (WSL) has pulled off successful big-wave events in Chile, Hawaii, and Mexico. The Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau competition in Oahu came close to launching this week, and the Titans of Mavericks surf contest in Northern California is going off today.
Impeccable Maverick's: XXL Mountains and Colossal Conditions
All of the elements came together for a memorable swell at Maverick’s this past Monday. Watching the webcast of the Pe’ahi Challenge the day before reminded me of the 2010 Maverick’s contest, which was held during the last El Niño season. In fact, I haven’t seen Maverick’s quite like that ever since, nor do I expect to anytime soon. I guess that’s the beauty of the ocean, right?
Movies of Cold War Bomb Tests Hold Nuclear Secrets
When Greg Spriggs was 11 years old, his father, a Navy man stationed on Midway Island, took him out one night to watch a nuclear bomb explode in space. The year was 1962 and the nuclear test was Starfish Prime, the largest in a series of high-altitude detonations. A rocket shot the 1.4 megaton nuclear warhead 250 miles above Earth—higher than the International Space Station orbits today. “It just lit up the sky like day,” recalls Spriggs.
The Best Views of Ocean Beach's Epic Weekend: From the Water
This a collection of images that I shot from the water at Ocean Beach in San Francisco from January 23 through January 25. I live on the Great Highway so I consider myself lucky to be able to check the beach almost every day. These were no ordinary days at the beach. I was out of town when the MLK swell of 2013 came through, but back then I had a six-week old baby by my side and I was in no shape to swim or surf in those conditions. But I felt like I had it in me.
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