March 24, 2008 Monday

Bolinas	Patch
8:30 am	1’ to 2’, occasional ‘3
Super low tide (0.2 ft at 7:50 am)	Onshore breeze
Thick fog	Lousy conditions, didn’t go out

Mary is out there but I can’t see her due to the fog.

Conditions weren’t good. There was a super low tide, the swell was one to two feet with no shape and there’s a stiff onshore breeze at 8:00 am in the morning. Someone told me that Mary was out at the Patch. I walked down there with camera in hand to see if she was catching anything decent. The fog was so thick I could not see her and while standing there I didn’t see any waves of interest come through. Thus I kissed it off. 

Instead I went for a jog at Stinson Beach. I was having a good run on the packed sand at low tide with the cool air against me when a mere eighteen minutes into my run I pulled a muscle in the back of my thigh. I had to limp back to the car. It just wasn’t my day. 

March 22, 2008 Saturday

Half Moon Bay	Kelly Ave
10:00 am to 11:15 am	6’ to 7’ sets to 10’
Mid upcoming tide (3 ft at 10 am)	Steady onshore breeze
Bright, sunny and warm	Terrible and terrifying waves

“We should have gone out at Fort Point.”

That became our mantra for the day. At 9:00 am, Kevin and I were parked at Fort Point watching a crew of ten guys catching well-shaped head high lefts. Kevin wanted to go out, I didn’t. I was apprehensive about the big rocks one has to crawl over to get out, the closeness of the waves to the rocks and the up-coming tide. Due to deep water, Fort Point is best at low tide and as the water gets higher it becomes dangerous to exit. We decided to push on.

The swell had come up overnight from yesterday’s eight feet at 13 seconds to this morning’s 12 feet at 14 seconds, that’s Mavericks size.

Ocean Beach was huge, white water everywhere and monster peaks breaking quarter mile out to sea. 

“We should have gone out at Fort Point.” 

“Dad we are breaking one of our rules: if there are waves you go out, don’t waste time chasing dream waves,” Kevin reminded me as we drove down the Great Highway. A few souls were in the water scratching to get out; the paddle out looked impossible to me. 

At Linda Mar in Pacific there were 20 to 30 people in the water spread across the entire cove. The waves were walled, mushy and without shape thus we pushed on. 

“We should have gone out at Fort Point.” 

Montara was huge and closed out. No one was surfing there, plus we hate this place. We pushed on. 

The waves at Kelly Ave in Half Moon Bay were big and about ten guys were out. We watched from the cliff for several minutes, and saw several spectacular rides, big drops down faces two feet overhead by skilled short boarders. Kevin was thinking that the peak to the south was smaller, easier to get out and more makeable. 

“I hope you are saying to yourself that we should have gone out at Fort Point,” Kevin stated. Knowing Kevin loves this place I responded, “I have an idea. Why don’t you go out here and I will take pictures of you?” Done, that was the plan. Kevin suited up and I put the big lens on the camera. 

I sat on the cliff, camera at the ready, watching Kevin struggle to get out. He duck-dived under one big wave, then another, and another, and another until he finally made it outside. A strong current had pushed him several yards to the south. I picked up and walked along the cliff trail to the next bench to the south. I repeated moving along the cliff three times as the current pushed Kevin farther south. In one hour Kevin paddled for several waves, all of them huge, and managed to catch two.  On the first, Kevin pushed himself into an overhead peak, angled left, the wave doubled up into a huge wall, Kevin pulled out before going over the edge of the reformed monster that exploded into a mountain of white water. On the second wave, Kevin got a good ride on another overhead peak where he managed to maneuver down a huge left wall before straightening out. 

After this ride Kevin hesitated, I could tell he was considering coming in, but he turned around and started paddling back out. A set of four huge waves, all of them ten feet plus, came marching through with Kevin caught inside. After duck diving all four of them Kevin was closer to shore than when he started, a mere ten feet from dry sand. With that he turned around and came in. I found a path down the cliff and met him on the beach. 

“Dad, what time is it?” Kevin asked. “Eleven fifteen,” I responded. “The Duke game is on,” Kevin stated. Kevin is a graduate of Duke University and ever since he started there in 1993 Kevin and I have been great fans of Duke basketball. The March Madness, the NCAA tournament, was in progress and Duke barely won their first round game and was playing West Virginia today. I responded, “Kevin, there must be a bar or saloon in downtown Half Moon Bay that has the game on. Lets go.” 

Half Moon Bay is one of my favorite towns. The historic Main Street is a collection of practical and tourist businesses: grocery and hardware stores, old style coffee shops, tacquerias, book stores and tourist gift shops. We located the San Benito House, which is a classic old two-story hotel in the center of the business district that had a bar downstairs which was open. Kevin and I walked into a wood paneled bar filled with Half Moon Bay memorabilia. At the far end a local artist was painting a mural on the room’s only stucco wall. Behind the bar was a photo of the building in 1890. The place was empty and the two guys running it welcomed us. We asked if we could watch the Duke game. On went the game, two bar stools were pulled out for us, the bar keep handed me the remote and quickly placed two ales in front of us. They touted their great food, handed us menus and claimed that the latest item, which was not of the menu, their pulled pork sandwich was fabulous. I ordered that and Kevin chose the ravioli. In the hour and a half that we were there, the placed filled up. Every booth and stool at the bar was taken. The patrons were locals, all of them personally knew the proprietors, and they were not here for the game or the beers but for the food, which we concurred was good. What a perfect way to end a surf session: Duke basketball on the tube in a friendly bar with a couple of brews and some great food. The only glitch in this picture was that Duke lost. 

On the way home Kevin and I again confirmed that we should have gone out at Fort Point. We vowed that someday soon we would do it. We set the conditions: mid-week to beat the crowd, minus low tide in the morning and a descent north or west swell. 

But all in all it was a fun adventurous day.

March 21, 2008 Friday

Bolinas	Straight out from the Ramp
8:30 am to 10:00 am	2’ to 3’, fairly consistent
Low upcoming tide	Stiff NW breeze
Sunny and warm	Fun session but crowded

 

Good Friday

So what do you do in crowded conditions? Here’s my strategy. 

This morning crowd was an issue. It’s Good Friday, sunny, warm and a beautiful morning. There were eight people out when I paddled out and fifteen when I left at 10:00 am. All of them packed into one narrow take-off zone. 

When I arrived at Bolinas this morning, Kathy the Branson biology teacher, Ray the Petaluma fireman, Mary and Marty were all suiting up. 

“There must be something out there if you are all suiting up,” I stated to Marty. 

“It’s barely breaking, but there are a couple of guys out front who are getting some rides.” 

From the seawall I saw several long lines come in that broke in the same spot. I watched two guys take off on the same wave, one went right and the other left. Both of them got long rides. Knee-high curls, my kind of wave, I’ve got to go out. 

I was the eighth person to enter the water. I had to quickly come up with a strategy to handle the crowd. I sat inside of everyone else. My objective was to pick off the small waves that everyone was letting go by. The small ones, like the set waves, had good shape. I managed to catch several of them. When the sets came, I figured could see them coming and paddle out to meet them. I also studied one guy who sat way outside and who was an excellent surfer. I watched him closely. If he started paddling out or moved to catch a wave, I paddled out. My strategy was to let the crowd have the first wave of the set and I would position myself for the second or third set wave. I banked on the notion that surfers hate to wait. After sitting through a low and a set of waves approaches, inevitably three guys will paddle for the first wave of the set. I would paddle to the take off point that they just left and set up to catch the second or third wave. My strategy worked. With each set I managed to connect with one good one. 

The waves were good, two-footers and an offshore breeze holding up the curls. On my first ride I connected with was a left curl that went on and on and on, right up to the shore. All morning I caught one long left after another, again and again. 

It was a beautiful morning with some beautiful long left curls.

March 18, 2008 Tuesday

Albee’s Alley

On Sunday March 16 sports columnist Dave Albee of the Marin Independent Journal issued a writing challenge to the readers of his Albee’s Alley column. Albee was going on vacation and solicited help from “pinch hitters” to submit 250 words opinion or commentary for his column for the week of March 24 – 31. “Be creative, be controversial and be completely serious or funny.” 

Here’s an opportunity for a novice writer like myself to get something published. But what should I contribute? Kate suggested I submit one of my Surf Journal entries. I reviewed a few of them, but they were too long and too narrow. After much thought I hit upon the idea of Marin’s Other Athletes, the dedicated surfers who organize their lives around surf conditions, in other words my surf buddies. The interest of the story is the people who surf multiple times a week. 

Below is the piece that I submitted. My first draft had 578 words. In my second draft I cut it to 401 words. Kate edited it down to 360 words and in my final draft I cut it to 350 words. Albee’s limit is 250, but I was hoping the IJ staff would accept a few extra words. My piece describes ten dedicated surfers including Marty and Mary who are pictured above. 

******************************************************************

Marin’s Other Athletes 

Blessed with tremendous beauty for hiking, running and biking, Marin also possesses great surf locations Rodeo Beach, Stinson Beach and Bolinas that provide exceptional waves for beginners and experts alike. 

On any weekday, year-round a dedicated core of surfers challenges the weather and freezing water to glide down the watery peaks of Marin’s beaches. These are not “Weekend Warriors” but those who schedule their week around weather and swell conditions reported by numerous websites devoted to surf conditions. These surfers don’t fit the image of the “hey dude” flakes; they are: 

A mother and artist whose children are grown with the youngest at Stanford. 

A Petaluma fireman who volunteered to fight the wild fires in San Diego for nine days this past summer. 

A retired biology teacher of 27 years, who at age 69 claims that every day spent surfing adds one day to his life. 

A retired systems analyst who in a year of constant surfing lost 30 pounds and dropped 15 points off his blood pressure. 

A retired Petaluma High economics teacher and part time carpenter who states that in twenty years of surfing he has never encountered an angry person in the water. 

A poet and English professor who recently read his works at the famed St Marks Poetry Project in New York and faithfully enters the water every day for inspiration. 

A psychotherapist who reserves Wednesday mornings for surfing and who agrees that surfing is the best “therapy” in the world. 

The owner of a Laundromat in Fairfax who rides a boogie board because shrapnel in his hip from Viet Nam prevents him from doing stand up surfing. 

The owner of a paper recycling business in Oakland who after setting the morning tasks for his crew manages a couple of hours surfing. 

Proprietors of the local surf shops, 2-Mile in Bolinas, Livewater in Stinson and Proof Lab in Tam Junction, take in a few waves before opening their shops for the day. 

These athletes know and appreciate the precious environmental gifts of beaches, waves and spectacular scenery that exist here in Marin.  

**************************************************** 

Two days later I received an email from Dave Albee stating great idea but its too long. He would have to cut it in half but would give me first shot. The next morning I cut out four of the ten descriptions, which reduced it to 244 words, and sent it back. On Saturday March 29^th the IJ printed my article. Boy did this make my day and has made me a hero with my surf buddies at Bolinas. 

March 6, 2008 Thursday

Bolinas	Straight out from the ramp
8:50 am to 10:40 am	Consistent 3’ to 4’, sets head high
High tide – 6 ft at 10:00 am	Offshore breeze
Warm bright sunshine, turned to high clouds	Good session. Somewhat frustrating.

What a beautiful peak. This is straight out front from the ramp at Bolinas. I took this picture from the seawall at the end of the ramp. I had stopped at Stinson where the waves were four to six feet and rideable, glassy, easy paddle out and only two guys out. I was tempted, but the above peak looked perfect to me. Clean lines coming in, the bottom pushing them into a perfect “A” frame peaks, sunny, glassy, and an offshore breeze gently holding up the curls. I’m going here. I took several pictures, some captured riders locked into picturesque emerald curls, but the above shot best depicts the overall “look and feel” of the peak. 

The tide was already high and there was another hour to full high tide. The discussion from the others on the seawall was that the incoming tide would knock the waves down. I figured I would go out here first and when the waves stop breaking I would drift down to the Groin to get those fast right curls I caught on Monday. I thought that I would enter the water at the bottom of the ramp and pleasantly cruise out to the peak. When I did entered the water I had to duck under a sizable wave breaking at the base of the ramp. Damn, got my hair wet before making it to the peak. Then a set approached and I found myself ducking under white water of four outside waves before reaching the takeoff point.

To my surprise the waves were bigger than they looked from shore and certainly more powerful. By now the high tide was causing a sizable backwash that reflected off of the seawalls on both sides of the ramp. The waves were difficult to catch and difficult to ride. I could see the lines coming in from a long distance, when they got near the impact zone the swells would jump up and break, causing me to take off too late on my first few rights. By the time I got to my feet the wave had already broken several yards in front of me. Going down the face in front of the white water was a thrill because of the backwash adding a sizable bounce to the rides. I figured I couldn’t take off late; I have to catch the wave while it is still flat before it jumps up. Easier said than done. I needed the steepness of the jump to get into the waves. I would drop down the face and once at the bottom all momentum and speed died. As it turned out, the waves were steep at the top and flat on the bottom. They would jump up break half way down the wave, meanwhile of bottom of the wave had not formed at all. Once you reached the bottom of the wave, the ride was over because the white water from the top quickly caught up with you and overwhelmed the board and your speed and within a second or two the first of several backwash bumps would hit, further challenging your ability to stay in the wave. 

I figured the strategy was to catch the top of the waves when they jumped up and then stay at the top of them as long as possible. This meant paddling fast, jumping up fast and turning as soon as possible to hang at the top of the wave. I managed to do this on one great left wave. It was a set wave with a definite left shape to it. I paddled hard and at an angle to the left, I was already angling left when I got to my feet, the wave was head high and feathering several feet in front of me, I hung at the top to gain some speed, the wave broke in front of me, I dropped just below the white water to push back into the swell. I didn’t quite make it. I went a long ways with the curl breaking on the nose of my board and me leaning into the wave to force myself back into the swell, which I finally did when the wave died in the deep water close to shore and all the while bouncing through the backwash. 

After an hour in the water I managed to catch two good long right waves back to back. Meanwhile the backwash was getting more pronounced and the waves were getting more difficult to catch. Our fear of the high tide knocking down the waves never occurred. In fact it was just the opposite, the waves were gaining in size and becoming more walled up. 

I suggested to Doug that we should move down to the Groin and try riding the rights. What a mistake. By now the tide had turned and the current was flowing at a rapid pace out of the lagoon. The channel still flowed up against the Groin wall and then made a hard right turn to flow along the shore of the beach. On the other side of the current the waves were peeling to the right. We paddled across a deep channel to arrive at a very shallow shore to quickly discover that the waves were breaking too fast and in too shallow of water. The bottom has become completely flat causing the north swells to wall up and break to the right but too fast to ride. Doug and I caught one wave there and paddled across the current to come in. It was time to call it quits. We were exhausted and had gotten some good waves at the first peak. 

When I was taking pictures from the seawall I had a good chat with “Bio-Diesel” Dan, a regular at Bolinas. Dan is a big man who drives a big bio-diesel pickup truck and makes his own boards. In our discussion I asked him how he could surf on a Thursday morning. He told me that he owns his own business and after taking care of initial assignments for the morning he could get a couple of hours to surf. I inquired about type of business. “Paper recycling,” he stated. He buys used paper from businesses and at his warehouse in Oakland, his crew separates the paper and bails it for shipping on trucks or cargo containers to paper pulp plants. “It’s now cheaper to ship paper to China in containers than it is to truck it to the pulp plants in Oregon.” Per Dan, the big shipping companies have lots of empty containers going back to China, thus they are very aggressive with discounts to get anything moving in the other direction. These days demand in China for paper boxes is very high. They are needed for packing all of those toys and electric stuff they ship to America. He also mentioned that 90% of all boxes in the United States are used for packing fruits and vegetables. Nowadays it only takes eight days for a container ship to travel to China and five days to truck something across the states at twice the cost. Interesting business I’m sure has a great future. 

All in all it was just another great morning in Northern California. 

 

 

March 4, 2008 Tuesday

Stinson Beach	Right out front
8:40 am to 10:15 am	Consistent 4’, sets 6’
High tide – 5.8 ft	No wind
Warm sunny day	Fast powerful waves

The morning buoy report looked good: 4.5 ft north swell at 10 seconds and a 1.2 ft south swell at 14 seconds. Since there was an early high tide (5.8 ft at 8:40 am) I thought that Stinson might be good. I parked by the Parkside Café and was putting the lens on my camera when Scott drove by. We had a good chat about Surfrider Foundation participating in David’s film festival in June. Then Doug arrived. 

“Bolinas must be flat for you to be here,” I said to him. 

“There’s nothing! Absolutely nothing! The tide is too high,” was Doug’s response. 

Nate, one of the owners of Proof Lab Surf Shop, and his girl friend came by on their way to check the surf. “How was Hawaii?” I asked. Nate then launched into an empathic five-minute description of surf paradise and his wonderful trip. They were at the North Shore during the big swells I caught in Ventura the week of February 20. Sunset, Pipeline, Backdoor, and Vezeyland, they surfed them all without having to rent a car. The breaks are so close together on the North Shore they rode bikes to get to them. They friend proceeded to suit up. Marty then drove up and he too had given up on Bolinas. I didn’t even bother to drive to Bolinas, I joined my friends to ride Stinson this morning. 

A little north of the main restrooms the waves were breaking left into a channel. That’s where Doug, Marty and I headed. We separated ourselves from four locals who were directly out front. After having ridden Bolinas for the past several months, stroking into Stinson waves is a challenge. They are bigger, steeper, faster and more powerful. All three of us had a confidence hurdle to over come. The waves were bigger than they looked from shore; consistent four-foot waves with sets overhead. One had to wait until the waves were cresting to catch them. Once into the wave you would hang at the top for a second and then drop to the bottom, turn quickly and try to keep ahead of the pounding white water. 

I did not make the first couple of waves I caught. Finally I got a good one, a big fast left that I rode nearly to the beach. That boosted my confidence. From then on I caught several good, sizable waves. Marty and I rode one long left together. We were ten yards apart when the wave came through, I was more into the peak, Marty didn’t think I would catch up to him, but due to the speed of the wave I quickly caught up to him, we continued down this four foot swell with Marty in the lead and me right behind him. On the inside the wave began to close out, Marty went up over the top and I quickly straighten out. We both rated this one as a “great wave”. 

After and hour or so, I caught a long, fast right wave. I was just north of the main restrooms when I caught the wave and south of them afterwards. The wave and its steep curl just kept going and going. I paddled straight out. This put me in the middle of the locals, who were all excellent surfers and who know this break very well. It’s intimating to be around guys who are always in position when the sets come, who calmly and effortlessly stroke into every wave and who always manage a great ride. I had to maneuver around them thus I didn’t catch another wave for several minutes. Meanwhile, the locals drifted to the north, because the peak was moving in that direction and Doug and Marty drifted south. We had reversed positions with the locals. 

I announced to Doug and Marty, “One more wave and I’m going in.” They too were ready to call it a day. A steep wave came, I turned and started paddling for it, the momentum of the wave picked up my board, I remember looking over the edge of a steep four foot drop, as I pushed on my arms to get up (this move is like doing a push-up), the heel of the palm of my left hand slipped off the rail of the board and WHAM my mouth slammed into the top of the board. I went head first over the falls and into the turbulence of the just broken white water. While swirling around under water I thought to myself, “That was bad!” When I surfaced, I immediately put my hand in my mouth to feel if all my teeth were still there. I could taste blood. Fortunately my teeth were ok. I spit into my hand and saw blood; I was bleeding on the inside of my mouth. 

“Are you alright?” Marty called. “No!” I answered. Marty helped me in. I was stunned. “It’s Tuesday, I’m at Stinson Beach, it’s ten o’clock,” I said convincing myself I didn’t have a concussion. Marty fetched me some gauze from a first-aid kit he keeps in his car. One of the local surfers who work at the Parkside Café obtained a small bag of ice for me to put on my lip. It was bleeding and swelling up. With my tongue I felt a sizable hole in my upper lip. Within a few minutes the bleeding had subsided and I was going to be ok. 

My left hand still had the bruise caused by the puncture wound from my skeg hitting me last Friday and now four days later I have a split lip. With two surfing accidents back to back, maybe I’m too old for this. 

No, let’s get serious. I’m having too much fun to ever quit.

 

March 3, 2008 Monday

Bolinas	Groin
9:30 am to 11:00 am	3’, sets to 4’
High dropping tide (5 ft at 9:00 am)	No wind
Warm sunny day	Good fun session

This should be a great week of surfing; the weather forecasts are predicting a period of high pressure with warm sunny days and little wind all week. The buoy report this morning was encouraging: 7.9 north swell at 14 seconds with an air temp of 51 degree and water temp of 52 degrees. 

First a quick word about water testing. Surfrider Foundation of Marin tests water at the local beaches for enterococcus, a type of bacteria caused by fecal contamination. We have testing equipment at the Branson School and biology teacher and surfer Jamie supervises a group of students to conduct the tests. Marty and I gather the water samples, and we have consistently provided samples for Bolinas and Stinson Beach this whole school year. 

At the end of January during a major storm the Mill Valley Sanitary District had two major sewage spills into Richardson’s Bay. Other sewage plants in the Bay Area have had similar accidents. The Chronicle and the Marin Independent Journal have been reporting everything about the spills and all the local politicians are publicly demanding for “heads to roll” and major fines. The local sanitary officials posted “Beach Closed” signs all along Richardson’s Bay and after a week removed them claiming the water was again safe. I began collecting water samples at Bay Front Park, which is directly in front of the Mill Valley water treatment plant, to include them with the testing of samples from Bolinas and Stinson. As Jamie put it, four weeks of tests from Bay Front Part have been “off the charts.” An enterococcus index reading of 140 MPN or higher is assigned a “Red” warning meaning “Very High Bacteria Contamination”. The first test was 1760 MPN and all others have been in the 400 MPN range, meaning all of them are in the unsafe RED category. 

Marty, a scientist and long time biology teacher, warned me about the dangers of handling contaminated water. Skin rashes, which I now have on my hands, are a common symptom. He insisted verbally and in emails that I get protective gloves, rinse the samples in clean water and wash my hands with sanitary soap. Listening to the expert I took his advice. This morning was my first gathering of samples with all the protections. There I was at 7:15 am in the morning with disposable surgical gloves on, bottle of clean water to wash the samples and a small bottle of anti-bacterial soap. Samples were collected, washed and carefully stored. We’re on to something here and are now prepared to continually test this sensitive area. I also collected a water sample at Stinson Beach before heading for Bolinas. 

Mary and Andy were watching the waves from the seawall when I arrived. They were waiting for the tide to drop in hope that conditions would change. Marty, Doug and a few others were at the Patch, which was small and barely breaking. No one was at the Groin, but I kept seeing these descent right peeling walls come through, which looked very similar to the good waves I got last Friday. Mary decided to go out at the Patch, I chose to go for the rights at the Groin and Andy elected to wait some more. 

As I was suiting up, Doug came up still in his wetsuit and board in hand. “Mary said you were going to the Groin. I’ll go with you. The Patch is just too slow.” We entered the water at the Groin wall, the outgoing current was strong and flowing parallel to the beach, we paddled across the current, which pushed us to the north, reaching the shallow sandy shelf where the waves were breaking. The waves were just like last Friday’s waves but a tad smaller: right fast breaking walls in shallow water. You could go a long ways in the curl but never make them; all of them would eventually closeout. The above photo shows the edge of the current, the shallow flat shelf and a nice right peeling wave. Both Doug and I caught several fun, short and fast curls. 

Professor Steve was enjoying the waves that morning. He mentioned that he had to go out today because he was taking a trip on Wednesday. “Where are you going?” I asked. 

Steve, who doesn’t say much, answered, “I’m going to a reading in New York.” 

“Are you going to read your stuff?” 

“Yes.” 

“Are you going to Columbia?” 

“No. St. Marks to a poetry conference. It’s kind of the high point for poets. They have been having these since the 60s.” 

Later I did a quick Google search on St Marks Poetry and came up with the Wikipedia entry: The Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church was founded in 1966 by the late poet and translator Paul Blackburn. The Poetry Project has been a crucial venue for new and experimental poetries for over four decades. 

Obviously this is a big deal. Steve also planned to spend an extra day in New York with his artist daughter. 

After hour and a half the waves became even more unmakeable and the out flowing current had picked up speed. We watched two fishing boats return home by heading in straight for the ramp, swing right close to shore to travel in the channel that now parallels the beach. They came within feet of the Groin pole and wall. Doug and I took one more and paddled in. From the beach I saw Doug losing ground to the strong current pushing him out. The current push him north and he finally managed to make it in. We both felt good about the session, the warm weather and the great exercise. 

It was just another beautiful day on the north coast.