Review
WL Rating
For those who live and surf in Northern California, the 2010 Winter surfing season at Mavericks had plenty of drama. Unfortunately for the surfers, however, most of the drama happened out of the water. Mark Kreidler’s new book, The Voodoo Wave, takes the reader on a fast, unvarnished tour of the ill-fated Mavericks big wave surfing contest. In one corner, you have the sentimental surfer’s favorite, Jeff Clark, the unquestioned godfather of Mavericks. In the other corner, you have Keir Beadling, the CEO of Mavericks Surf Ventures (MSV), the business unit behind the Mavericks brand, clothes, and contest. Now, an author of lesser skill and discipline would have been tempted to simply portray Clark as a simple surfer who is unwittingly wronged by surfing’s corporate overlords (in fact, if you look at message boards on the topic, you’ll see plenty of surfers who, without any real data or knowledge, invariably take sides with Clark, regardless of the truth). Fortunately for us, Kreidler did his homework through exhaustive interviews with Clark, Beadling, Grant Warshaw, and many others. The result is an honest depiction of the genuine, yet conflicting goals for both Clark and Beadling. Clark (who was paid handsomely by MSV by the way, and who also held the majority of MSV stock) clearly lacked the business acumen and work ethic to handle a contest of this size. His intentions were good, but his approach was off. Beadling, on the other hand, had grand ambitions to create a world-class brand and contest. Unfortunately, the realities of weather, capital requirements, sponsor pressure, and surfer personalities made his endeavor near-impossible. Kreidler is extremely evenhanded in his descriptions, relying solely on the facts and never resorting to subjective opinion or hyperbole. For the reader, you’ll get some intriguing insight into just how difficult it is to create a new surf brand, particularly one that is tied to a spot as menacing and fickle as Mavericks. If you want to see firsthand how difficult it is to marry surfing and commerce, look no further. This is a very solid book. (October 2011)
The Voodoo Wave - Mark Kreidler
