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Mavericks, in Northern California.

Read More GoNOMAD Stories about Surfing

From huge swells and perfect barrels, to just trying to stand up, GoNOMAD has surfing stories from the most beautiful beaches in the world!

Here are some sample stories:

Exploring San Mateo County’s Surfers, Seals and Sunsets

It is known simply as Maverick’s and tucked away behind a military communications center just north of Half Moon Bay.

Somehow a wave that breaks between twenty and sixty feet remained virtually unknown and unsurfed until the early-nineties.

Only Jeff Clark surfed here from the mid-seventies to early nineties.

To most people Maverick’s wasn’t a wave you surfed, it was a navigational hazard endangering the boats entering Half Moon Bay.

When Jeff Clark brought surf journalist to Mavericks in the early '90s, it quickly became recognized as one of the preeminent big wave surf spots in the world.

I visited Mavericks on the right day. It was breaking around forty feet and some of the world’s greatest surfers were there for the Maverick's Surf Contest. This global contest happens when the conditions are right and surfers around the world get 24 hours notice to get to San Mateo County.

Huntington Beach: A Surfer's City

Huntington Beach California is the ultimate surfer's paradise. The eight and a half mile long stretch of beach in this city of about 200,000 south of Los Angeles is lit up at night with campfires.

Charlos Bentley, Surf Teacher and resident of Huntington Beach, ready to hit the waves. photo by Max Hartshorne.

Small circular barbecue pits dot the beach for miles and the locals love to sit beside them, casting an eery glow on their faces as you drive by on the seaside Pacific Coast Highway. Nowhere else in California's long coast can you legally build a campfire and sit by the warm glow like this.

The waves are steady, and just about perfect for riding. And the surf breaks pretty far out, so when you catch a wave, you're in for a long ride to shore.

Kook: What Surfing Taught Me About Life, Love, and Catching the Perfect Wave

El rancho. There were no cattle, no fields. Not many surfers. Kim and I walked down to the pick up. Two lawn chairs, a stone fire ring, a fishing rod corded to the side of the camper, a board rack above it holding two shortish boards. This guy was here for a while. His name was Jamie. He came out of the camper blinking from his nap. He was in his early fifties, a master electrician from San Clemente. He had been here six weeks. He did it every summer. Cleared his schedule of jobs, drove down here, camped, and surfed every day, with the wave mostly to himself. He was built like Tarzan, had curly blonde hair down over his collar, eyes mineral blue. Deliberate and kind.

The beast--a 1988 VW Vanagon that took Peter and Kim all the way to Mexico and back chronicled in Kook, the book.

Read more GoNOMAD stories about surfing:

Surfing the Severne Bore in England

No Waves In Cuba: Sweetness and Blood by Michael Scott Moore

Elbows In, Knees Together: Volcano Surfing in Nicaragua

In the Land of Sand: Dune Surfing in Huacachina, Peru

Budget Beaches of Sayulita, Mexico

Buzios, Brazil: The Perfect Place to Worship Sun and Sea

Learning To Surf in Costa Rica: You're Never Too Old... Right?

Vieques Island, Puerto Rico

San Diego, America's Finest City

Byron Bay: Australia’s New Age Wonder Beach Town

Tahiti Iti: The Forgotten Island

Sandy Hook, New Jersey: A Different Sort of Beach