Taking on a ‘slab’

Big-wave surfer Garrett McNamara and his entourage pass through farm country north of San Francisco on their way to a “slab” wave surf spot in the Pacific Northwest.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Garrett McNamara, 41, of Pupukea, Hawaii, hugs his 11-year-old son Titus, wearing a ski mask for warmth, before they tackle the “slab.”  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Surfer Rob Brown, 24, of Wilmington, N.C., videographer Mike Cimino, 25, of New York,and surfers Will Skudin, 20, of Cape Hatteras, N.C., and T.J. Gumiela, of Long Beach, N.Y., prepare their boards, jet skis and other equipment for the “slab” for the first time.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

McNamara, left, and his crew drag a Sea Doo jet ski to the water. Locals insist that the location of the slab surf spot not be identified even by state.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Titus McNamara leaps off driftwood before joining his father on a jet ski to tow friends into a slab.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Titus McNamara carries a surfboard to the jet ski. Surfers must be towed into slabs because they move too fast to be paddled into.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Pro surfer T.J. Gumiela of Long Beach, N.Y., rides a slab before it forms a tube.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Rob Brown signals his approval to McNamara after emerging from a tube. McNamara towed him with a jet ski into the slab.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

The slab is visible from a cliff. It is not so much a normal ocean wave as a sudden, violent tear in the fabric of the ocean.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Big-wave surfer Will Skudin races along the face of a tube that is forming. When the slab rolls out of the deep, it does not rise, but sucks all the water up in its path. The result is not a wall with a front and back, but a hole.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

McNamara tells Gumiela to dive under an oncoming wave before he can pluck him from the cold water after a wipeout on a slab.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

With a coastal forest as a backdrop, McNamara picks up surfer Rob Brown after a wipeout.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Fellow Hawaiian big-wave surfers Garrett McNamara, 41, left, and surfing legend Gerry “Mr. Pipeline” Lopez talk about their surfboard design.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Big-wave surfer Garrett McNamara’s head peers behind the wave as Rob Brown of Wilmington, N.C., speeds through an intense tube ride.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)