Ghost Wave: The discovery of Cortes Bank and the biggest wave on earth

(Paperback)

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'A remarkable story that will appeal to those who ride a board and those who have never set foot in the water alike.' NEWCASTLE HERALD

In GHOST WAVE, Chris Dixon dives deep into the fascinating history of Cortes Bank and the motley brotherhood of argumentative, damaged, brave and quirky margin walkers who discovered and scaled the tallest mountain in the sea. Along the way, he'll show how these pioneering wave-addicts changed our very understanding of the science of surfing, while giving sea-level credence to environmentalists' fears that the weather is indeed going haywire.

GHOST WAVE is the result of extensive interviews not only with these surfers and those close to them, but also with psychologists who provide insights into their strange addiction to deadly waves. Dixon draws on the knowledge of oceanographers and meteorologists as well as emulating his own experience as a lifelong surfer.

'The object of my obsession for the past few years has been a sunken island 100 miles off the southern California coast called the Cortes Bank. On just the right swells, in just the right conditions, the three foot deep summit of this mile-high mountaintop produces the biggest surfable wave on the face of the earth ...'

Reviews

This is much more than a book for surfers. It is a great adventure yarn - SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

This is much more than a surf tome. Science, the environment, the future and personal fulfilment are also on board . . . In a word: gnarly - GOLD COAST BULLETIN

'GHOST WAVE takes us to a place of almost mythic power and tells a story that unfolds like a long ride on a killer wave. I can't imagine doing what those surfers are doing out there on Cortes - and I can't imagine a finer book about them. This is a beautifully researched and compellingly written book; I basically read it straight through from the first page. Terrifying.' - Sebastian Junger, author of THE PERFECT STORM

Author Bio

Chris Dixon was the founding online editor at SURFER magazine and has been a writer or correspondent on roughly 200 assignments for THE NEW YORK TIMES, a features writer for MEN'S JOURNAL, and he has written an online travelogue for Jimmy Buffett. This is his first book.