Jeff Clark, the man who surfers Mavericks for 15 years by himself and has directed the Maverick Surf Contest since its inception, has been pushed out from his position of Contest Director and will not be making the decision to call the contest, this according to the San Jose Mercury News.

"It was time for us to democratize the process," said Keir Beadling, CEO of Mavericks Surf Ventures and the man who fired us from being the webcast commentator so a ski announcer could make the upcoming broadcast even worse. "We have 24 amazing human beings at our disposal. ... It will depend on what the guys think is best."

Clark didn’t comment on the story and hasn’t returned phone calls seeking comment, but in an interview he gave The Extreme Scene on June 17th he never mentioned any recent strife between him and Beidling, likely meaning this decision was just handed down.

It remains to be seen if the decision was made because of Clark’s hesitation last year to give the green light to a contest on a mediocre day, against Beidling’s wishes.  In Beidling’s eyes (and note that Beidling to this day has never surfed), as long as the contest is held the sponsors will be happy, meaning Beidling’s wallet will be happy.  Clark’s concerns about the prestige of the event continually went over Beidling’s head.

The surfers who regularly compete in the contest pledge tremendous loyalty to Clark, and whether they will avoid surfing the contest in homage to the Godfather is an unknown at this time.  More to come.