Frank QuirartePat Gudauskas, a long way from T-Street but frothing just the same.

"The doctor told me don't push it until January 1," told Pat Gudauskas, who's been sidelined all winter after sustaining a severely sprained ankle during the Rip Curl Search contest in San Francisco in November. "But I've been training hard and in the water for a couple days. I feel good, and what better place to test it than Maverick's?"

As the North Pacific has finally decided to awake, surfers up and down the California coast and in Hawaii were scrambling to test their mettle in whatever conditions they could find. Pat and Tanner Gudauskas, along with fellow SoCal fixtures Rusty Long and Timmy Reyes, opted to head north for the day.

"It was crowded, people were just frothing to get out there," told Pat yesterday evening has he was headed south down Highway 101, hoping to be at Rincon for the dawn patrol session today. "We got a couple good ones and got beat down a couple times, but it was fun, it felt good ... and the ankle held up."

Frank QuirarteKen "Skindog" Collins doesn't miss many swells at Maverick's, and riding a 10'6" he doesn't miss many waves either.

There was no shortage of carnage. Rusty Long sustained the worst wipeout of the day, Jeff Clark and a photographer that he was carting around in a little dingy got clipped by the left, subsequently dumping the photog's gear in the brine, and a few poor saps got sent in after "getting in the way."

The first of a two-swell run this week, as I type this ESPN Surfing has photographers and video guys dispatched all over the place. Jason Murray's on Maui, where Greg Long, Mark Healey, Shane Dorian and company are planning to paddle Jaws today.

"If it's not too big and there aren't too many people towing it should be a pretty good day," told Murray last night. Murry and crew are looking to chase the swell to the West Coast and be in the water at Maverick's tomorrow and Todos by week's end.

Frank QuirarteSomewhere under there is Rusty Long, who copped the worst beating of the day thanks to the bottom dropping out of an otherwise benign wave.

Tom Servais buzzed up to Rincon for the day, where Kelly Slater, Kolohe Andino and Dane Reynolds were battling the crowd. "Mike Parsons said it's the most crowded Rincon he's ever seen," reported Servais, "but there were moments. It was about six-foot and some nice waves, but yeah, the crowd was heavy."

Needless to say, there's surf everywhere in California and Hawaii right now ... and the crowds to go along with it. It's been a slow, waist-high winter, and as Pat Gudauskas said, "people are frothing."

The big day's not even forecast to hit until Friday, so stay tuned as ESPN Surfing's stable of contributors bring you the latest from the frontlines.

Frank QuirarteSouth Africa's Josh Redman about to get served on the left.