Article updated: 1/20/2013 7:55 AM

World’s best big wave surfers compete at Mavericks

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In this file photo from Saturday, Feb. 13, 2010, Ion Banner loses control on a giant wave during the Mavericks surfing contest in Half Moon Bay, Calif. As massive swells lumber across the Pacific toward Northern California, nearly two dozen of the world's best big wave surfers will be waiting to meet them Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013, a half-mile offshore at the infamous surfing break Mavericks.

Associated Press

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As massive swells lumber across the Pacific toward Northern California, nearly two dozen of the world’s best big wave surfers will be waiting to meet them Sunday a half-mile offshore at the infamous surfing break Mavericks. For the first time since 2010, the Mavericks Invitational surf contest — which requires wave faces of at least 20 feet — will occur at the bone-crushing break that has claimed the lives of two expert big wave surfers.