Gaining admittance to the contest at Maverick’s involves years of making appearances at the famed big wave location, proving not only that you can handle one of the most dangerous waves in the world, but also that you have an innate passionate for it. For some big wave surfers, it can take years before any sort of recognition is made, and even then there’s a very good chance that the alternate list will evade the prospective surfer. As the popularity of big wave surfing, especially at Maverick’s, continues to grow, so too does the challenge of earning a place among the competitors at Maverick’s.
South Africans Chris Bertish and Grant “Twiggy” Baker have both won at the famed big wave spot. Baker was an alternate thanks to a fan voting contest. Bertish, the defending champion at Mavericks, was the first ever South African selected as an alternate, but it took years before he was invited as a competitor. That resiliency, patience, and continued committal to a place as dangerous as Mavericks is just a part of what it takes to earn a spot as a competitor.
Frank Solomon is a big wave surfer who hopes to add his name to the list of South Africans who compete at Maverick’s. Solomon began surfing there in 2007, and continues to make annual appearances, paying his dues with the hope that one day his name will be listed along with the legends who are invited to compete each year at the famed big wave contest.
Biding his time, the 27 year-old finds plenty of other ways to fill his thirst for adrenaline. This past year, Solomon went on a sailing expedition that found him not only sailing across the Indian Ocean, but finding a perfect isolated point break in the process. Solomon’s sailing adventures also involved an encounter with Somali pirates and nearly being eaten by sharks.
Solomon joined me at San Francisco Surf Company, where he sat down for an extensive interview covering everything from his amazing sailing adventures, how he progressed into becoming one of the top big wave surfers in the world, and the effort he’s putting in to one day be a competitor at Maverick’s.
Cyrus: You were saying you’re not on the alternate list for Maverick’s this year, but you’re paying your dues and if there’s one thing that your peers and the competitors who surf Maverick’s respect more than anything else is people coming out there year after year. You’ve been staying here for months and surfing pretty much every swell that hits Maverick’s. Do you feel like next year is when you’re finally going to be on the alternate list?
Solomon: I really hope so. Look at someone like Chris Bertish. He’s been coming here for ten years and putting in his time, and he got into the contest. I’m going to keep coming back until I get in and hopefully next year I’ll be on the alternate list, if not the year after but I’m not going to stop until someone says no. My goal obviously is to be in the competition, but you have to prove yourself and no one just gets straight in. It doesn’t matter who you are, you have to put in your time out there and that’s what I am doing.
Cyrus: The last few years South Africa has had a major resurgence in terms of getting back into the world scene. On the big wave side Grant “Twiggy” Baker won Maverick’s, Bertish won Maverick’s, and they’re both invited to The Eddie now. Then on the ASP World Tour you have Jordy Smith, who is a favorite to win the World Title if Kelly Slater doesn’t return full-time, and he represents your home country. How has South Africa made this resurgence into becoming one of the main players in the world?
Solomon: You know, South African people in general are really competitive. We’ve got some of the best big waves in the world. Jordy’s one of the best surfers in the world, he’s incredible. I don’t know what it is, but I guess yeah, South Africans and Australians are super competitive. They want to be the best. They know they can do well, so that’s why they are doing well.
Cyrus: Speaking of South Africa, you revealed something before the interview started that I had no idea about. The big wave contest at Dungeons, South Africa, which Red Bull sponsored for years, was scrapped. A lot of surfers got on the big wave map because of that contest. Greg Long comes immediately to mind. When was this announced, and how does this affect South African surfers?
Solomon: It actually got scrapped last year. Red Bull did it for 10 years and they kind of decided that’s it. It’s terrible. Say for someone like me, having a contest at your home break that you are going to be in, if you win that contest, the rest of the world sees that. It’s a platform for the young South African guys to do well. That’s how Chris (Bertish), Twiggy and others made their names for themselves: through Dungeons. Even Greg Long. And it has made it difficult for guys like me. Now we have to go somewhere new where people don’t really know us and start from scratch. It sucks, but you know I really want to (surf big waves) so whatever, I’m going to keep doing it.
Cyrus: That’s the spirit you have to have. Did you start your surfing career off trying to compete through the WQS to get on the World Tour, or did you know right from the beginning that big waves was what you wanted to do?
Solomon: I didn’t start with the WQS. When I was a kid I surfed the Billabong Junior Series in South Africa, and I surfed all those contests and was never really that good. I just hated losing to those guys. I’m super competitive and one day I was like, ‘You know, I don’t want to surf one-foot slop anymore.’ I always liked surfing bigger waves, and there was the Dungeons contest. Here are these guys coming every year from all over the world to surf this contest, and I literally lived in front of Dungeons.
Cyrus: So what was the first time you surfed somewhere other than Dungeons? When did you finally leave to start exploring other big wave spots?
