June 30, 2008 Monday

Bolinas	Groin
8:30 am to 10:30	Consistent 2’ to 3’
Mid upcoming tide	Offshore breeze
High overcast	Fun session

“The linguini and shrimp was to die for. It was fabulous. Loren, I tell you that was the best meal I have ever had!” 

I was trying to concentrate on these great three-foot waves at the Groin and Doug was going on about the wonderful dinner he and his girlfriend had last night at the Coast Café in Bolinas. 

The south swell really had kicked-in today. Yesterday the Groin was three-foot, bumpy, walled and crowded. The Patch was better. Today the south swell was in. It was slightly smaller, clean, glassy, peeling left and not crowded. This morning’s buoy report had the swell at 2.6 feet at 17 seconds from the south (SSW at 209 degrees). The Patch looked good, but not near as good as the consistent fast left curls like the one above. 

I positioned myself at the north end of the Groin peak, straight out from the white lighthouse shaped structure posed at the top of the cliff. It is north of the Groin wall and south of the brown wood house that is slowly sliding down the cliff due to erosion. Four others were further south in front of the Groin and were having difficulty making the waves. At the north edge of the peak, where I positioned myself, the waves were makeable and I was the only one there. After a couple of close outs, I connected with a long, clean, fast curl. I had found the spot and caught one good ride after another. After a half hour, another surfer paddled out to where I was. He greeted me with, “I came out here because you are having the most fun.” I took that as a compliment. 

After an hour, Doug came out. He stated that he was coming out now instead of 7:00 am his usual time because he and his girl friend were spending a couple of days at the Sandpiper motel in Stinson Beach. He raved about the great dinner they had last night at the Coast Café. I told him here below the white lighthouse structure was the spot. We began trading waves, one good wave after another for an hour. 

After our session, Doug introduced me to his girl friend Terry, who is a psychologist and currently working as a high school counselor. We walked into town for coffee and chatted about the local restaurants of Bolinas and Stinson Beach. I presented to them the idea of a new blog, “Surfer Eateries,” a website that highlights those places that surfers go to after morning surf sessions, high-value, down-home places with good food that are near popular surf spots. The blog would include a picture of the restaurant, give the address, list the surf spot it is near, mention the owner or manager, describe the atmosphere, list main menu items and their prices, and give a rating on the quality of the food. People could add their comments on their experiences there and suggest other establishments to add to the site. Doug and Terry loved the idea and nominated the Coast Café as the first surfer eatery to put on the site. We then went off listing a ton of other places to include. A couple of days later, Doug told me that Terry like the idea so much that she is already drafting the entry for the Coast Café.  So with luck, we may soon have a new website of surfer reviews of good local high-value eateries. Wouldn’t that be a good idea?

 

June 29, 2008 Sunday

Bolinas	Groin & Patch
7:50 am to 10:20 am	Wave size
Mid – upcoming tide	Slight onshore breeze
High overcast – June gloom	Fun session

I surfed one hour at the Groin and then one hour at the Patch. The Patch was better. I should have been there from the start. 

I don’t surf on weekends, but today was an exception. I have been watching Stormsurf.com all week about the approaching south swell. Their prediction was this swell would peak at first light on Sunday and the tide would be right, a mid-upcoming tide. The rest of the week will be minus low tide in the mornings, thus Sunday was my best shot for waves. I’ll go early and beat the crowd. I loaded up the car the night before, set my alarm and the timer on the coffee pot for 5:30 am. Get up and go was my plan: up at 5:30 am, out the door by 6:00 am and in the water by 7:00 am.

I didn’t quite make it. I left the house at 6:20 am and entered the water at 7:50 am. The surf was not as spectacular as I had hoped. The Groin was two to three feet with sets to four feet and nobody was out at the Patch even though rideable waves were coming through.

The story of the day was the number of old friends that I encountered, “weekenders”, those who can only surf on the Saturdays and Sundays, those I rarely see anymore. 

When I was on the beach taking pictures, Ray the Petaluma fireman was just ending his session. I was dying to ask him if he was involved in fighting any of the 1000 fires that were currently burning through out the state of California. He mentioned that because he got to fight the San Diego fire for nine days last summer he was at the bottom of the call list. But now he was on the top because all the others had been called. The Petaluma department contributed one engine and crew. The engine has not returned for two weeks. At first they sent it to Santa Cruz, then moved it to Sonoma and it was now in Lake County. The truck stays but they bring in fresh crews via helicopter. It’s a busy time for all fire departments. Ray was planning to surf tomorrow if he does not get “the call”. 

I met Bio-diesel Ben suiting up. I hadn’t seen him in months. He was heading for the Patch. 

As I was suiting up John one of the owners of the 2-Mile Surf Shop came by. John is making a board for my son that is being glassed and will be ready next week. John asked me to collect my son’s old board which John used as a template, which I did. 

Kathy and Clark, the biology teachers, and a friend were walking up the Ramp. “The Dawn Patrol is leaving as I am entering the water,” I greeted them. They were at the Groin and got some decent rides. “There were eight people out there at 5:45 am,” they responded. The above photo is Clark on a good small curl. 

“That black van looks familiar,” I thought. Out stepped Ben my old work companion from Visa. I had just seen him at Pacifica last Thursday. He had his PJ’s on. “Ben did you sleep here last night?” I asked. “Yes to get a jump on the waves.” Ben also was watching the development of the south swell on the Internet. He too was suiting up to go to the Patch. 

Hank from Mill Valley showed up. Like me, he went out at the Groin and then moved to the Patch. I saw him sit way, way out there and connect on two set waves that he took right and went on and on and on. 

At the Groin I connected with Matt the knee boarder. He and I have been surfing at Bolinas for years, but since I retired I have rarely seen him. When I moved to the Patch, he decided to try the Seadrift side of the Channel. Later he told me that just he and one other guy were there and that they traded good right waves for an hour. Then the other guy left and Matt had it all to himself for another hour where he continued to score great right curls. Then a crowd showed up and Matt by now exhausted decided he had had his fill. 

Ann who drives the black jeep was out at the Groin. This woman has the surf passion. I have seen her at Bolinas every weekend for years and how she has improved. 

Robert the Larkspur carpenter was out at the Patch. He too sits way, way out there to connect with the big set waves. After some lengthy waits, I saw him catch a couple long rides. 

Andy and Claude paddled out to the Patch. I hadn’t seen Claude in the water since the week of the great right peak at the Groin last September. 

Andy, the Santa Rosa civil engineer, owns a condo in Los Cabos and I ran into him there a year ago March at the Costa Azul Surf Shop. I asked him if he had been to Los Cabos recently. He was there three weeks ago, Nine Palms on the east side of the Baja Peninsula was double overhead and he nearly drowned. He was caught inside when a huge wall of white water came at him, he bailed off his board, dove for the bottom, and the wave tumbled him good. He came up and another wave took him down. When he surfaced, he reeled in his board, got on it and in came another wall of white water. He tried to duck dive it, but the wave picked him up and sucked him down into the turbulence. Andy was doing cartwheels under water while hanging onto his board. The Patch was a piece of cake compared to this tale. 

I ran into Robin after my session. She inquired about the surf conditions and I told her I had better luck at the Patch. “I’m here with my twelve year old son he doesn’t want to put his wetsuit on.” 

“Robin, he doesn’t have the surf passion,” I responded. 

“Someday he will. You know how kids are. It’s like a switch being thrown. All of the sudden it will be the rage and I won’t be able to get out of water.” 

By now the fog had lifted, it was sunny and I contemplated how lucky I am. The day is beautiful, the waves are fun, and I am surrounded by companions who also appreciate these blessings.

 

 

 

June 26, 2008 Thursday

Pacifica	Linda Mar Ave.
9:10 am to 10:50 am	3’ to 4’, sets to 6’, occasional overhead
Mid dropping tide (2 ft at 9:00 am)	NW breeze
Sunny, warm and hazy	Good fun session

“Damn, there’s another hole in the bottom of my board.” I’m rinsing it off after an hour and a half session at Pacifica and noticed a fresh puncture in the bottom of my board about three feet from the nose. 

I came to Linda Mar because the conditions looked best here. Monday I went to Bolinas and due to an extreme low tide and a small swell there was no surf. The NW winds swells don’t reach into Bolinas. The wave prediction for today was 0 to 1 ft at Bolinas and 6 to 8 feet at Pacifica. When I arrived I saw consistent, bumpy three to four foot wind waves with sets of four to five closely spaced big walls. The crowd was located at the south end of the cove for good reason. Waves there were makeable whereas at the north end the waves were huge and closing out. At the very south end there was a definite left peak, that’s where I decided to go. 

After weeks of riding two to three foot gentle waves at Bolinas paddling out into five to six-foot walls is intimating. At first I was hesitant and highly selective. As I reflect back on this session I was proud of myself for over coming my fears. On my second wave, I connected with a long left wall, which built my confidence. I thought about the unique two-step combination of surfing that Steven Kotler identified in his book, West of Jesus. One, surfing consists of an adrenaline rush to catch the wave, especially big ones, and two Zen-like concentration needed to ride the wave. I also reminded myself to observe two key laws of surfing: watch what the locals are doing and study the pattern of the white water. I picked out one Hawaiian looking big guy on a soft-top longboard who sat way outside and caught all of the big set waves. He took off on huge walls that I thought for sure would close out, but they didn’t. This guy would drive down these waves for a long ways and kick out when they finally closed out on the inside. I also noted that he usually went left. The white water showed a definite left pattern. Even for waves that looked right broke left. The shape of the bottom was forcing all the waves to break to the left. Observing this built my confidence. I started taking all waves to the left regardless of where the peak was, and I moved inside and started taking off late as the waves were breaking.  I relaxed, felt more comfortable in the water and all the sudden I was catching one great, fast ride after another. 

Towards the end of my session, a big set came in. I paddled out, here was a six-foot wall cresting to the north, I turned around to go for it, scratched to get into it, dropped down the face as it was breaking, turned left, climbed to the top of the wave and screamed across a well formed face. All of the sudden I noticed a surfer on a short board paddling out. He screamed and I froze. I was locked in the curl, standing in the middle of the board where it is impossible to turn heading right for him. I leaned into the wave in an attempt to climb over the top of the curl, which helped decease speed, I dove over the top of the wave, the other guy bailed out and my board went over the top of his board. I didn’t think our boards hit. The other guy claimed he was ok, I apologized, and he glared at me and mumbled under his breath as he paddled off. As I am rinsing off my board I realize that our boards did collide and the new, neat, round hole looks like a stab wound from the sharp point of a short board. I already have eleven patched holes in the bottom of my board and this one is the 12^th. Maybe it’s time for a new one. 

I ran into my old Visa friend Ben when I was taking pictures of the surf. I was glad to see him. I asked him if he had a good session. He stated it was his 500^th. 

“I started surfing three years ago at age forty. I’m now 43 and my goal is 150 sessions a year,” Ben proudly claimed. That’s an ambitious goal I thought. That’s three sessions a week, two on the weekend and one during the workweek. Ben had to shower, dress and head for work.

After I dressed I met another work friend Roger for lunch. After a long illness, Roger had retired from Visa. Last summer I connected with him at a barbeque at a mutual friend’s house in Redwood City near Visa’s headquarters. There I learned that Roger lived in Pacifica. I promised him that the next time I went surfing at Pacifica I would give him a call and we would go to lunch. Well, after twelve months I finally delivered on this promise. We had a great time talking old times, saluting retirement and gloating that we no longer had to put up with all the pettiness, egos and politics that dominate modern corporations. 

After lunch I purchased a brisket of beef from Pacifica’s best boxcar outlet, Gorilla Barbeque. 

All in all it was a great morning. 

June 9, 2008 Monday

Bolinas	Patch
8:50 am to 11:15 am	2’ to 3’, occasional 4’
Low tide (0.2 ft at 10:15 am)	Slight NW breeze
Sunny, clear and warm	Fun session

“Nobody is here. I don’t believe it. Nobody is here.” 

There’s a two foot, twenty second south swell running, which comes right into Bolinas, and nobody is out. I pulled into the first parking spot and while sitting in my car I could see swells coming in off in the distance. This morning’s buoy report had north swells at six feet every eight seconds, 2.1 feet 190 degree south swell at twenty seconds and a NW breeze at nine knots. The California Central coast had a three-foot south swell at twenty seconds, thus the south swell is building. 

I walked down to the seawall to check it out. There was one surfer who had just finished his session walking by. 

“So how was it?" I asked. 

“Fun. I got some good waist high lefts out by the big rock.” He confirmed what I was seeing. It was low tide, most of the Patch rocks were exposed and long lines of waves were breaking beyond the outside rock. The Groin and the Channel were flat due to the strong current flowing out of the lagoon. 

I went up to the overlook to see if there were any waves on the Seadrift side. Just on the other side of the out-flowing current I observed some tempting long peeling rights. Maybe I should go out there. I didn’t do it because: that’s where Lee Fontan got hit by the shark in 2002 about this time of year, I’m by myself, and I would have to paddle through that strong current to get there. I’ll go out at the Patch instead. 

Back at the parking area, another retiree, who I have seen here several times before, was slowly driving by in his pick-up with his longboard in the back. 

“Hey, you going out?” He asked. 

“Yes, there are some good lefts by the outside rock at the Patch.” 

“Good, I’ll go out too.” 

Then Cathy from the Russian River area arrived. “You going out?” 

“Yes, the Patch looks good.” 

“Great, I’ll join you.” 

The waves weren’t spectacular but they were fun: gentle, long, long lefts that were breaking thirty yards beyond the outside rock. I caught several waves where I took off beyond the rock, swung left, went under white water which was breaking in front of me, climbed back into the swell, which would reform, went through a section, cut-back, let the wave reform again, went through another section, cut-back again and on and on I would cruise, gliding over patches of sea grass and would end up north of the rock outcropping of the Patch reef. Here the water was shallow, maybe two feet, but deep enough to keep cruising. I would turn around, make the long paddle back out beyond the outside rock, wait a couple of minutes and do it again and again. 

Cathy was out there on her Bolinas battle cruiser. She is about 5’ 1” with a stocky athletic build and she is riding a 10’ 1’’, four-inch thick tanker. Yes she caught a lot of waves

At one point I remarked to the other two, “Isn’t this ideal? Look at this. It’s warm, sunny, the sky is blue, the waves are consistent and fun and there are only three people out.” 

“Yeah, don’t wake me up, this must be a dream,” Cathy responded. She had blown off a client and had driven 90 minutes to get here. She wasn’t going to waste this opportunity. 

After two hours I had totally exhausted myself. My arms and shoulders ached from the long paddles out and my legs muscles were beginning to cramp. Time to go in. I didn’t want to but my body was telling me it’s time. It took me eight minutes to paddle in, that did it, but what a fun session and what a beautiful morning. I can’t wait to do it again.

 

June 7, 2008 Saturday

World Ocean Day	Wipeout Bar & Grill in Greenbrae
6:30 pm to 10:30 pm	Grant Washburn talk

“How long can you hold your breath?” was a question a young woman put to big wave rider, author and filmmaker Grant Washburn after the showing of his new video, Quest for Fear. 

At the June 6^th World Ocean Day celebration sponsored by Surfrider Foundation Marin County and the Wipeout Bar & Grill, Grant addressed the packed Wipeout Bar & Grill restaurant before showing his video and answered questions afterwards. Grant became a Mavericks regular in the early 90’s, co-produced the famed Mavericks documentary and has collaborated on several other Mavericks and surfing projects. He continues riding the big waves and for the last several years has been invited to participate in the annual Mavericks Surf Contest, which he placed fifth in this year’s contest last January. Physically Grant is impressive. He is big and looks like a NFL defensive end (Lawrence Taylor comes to mind): 6’ 5”, 230 lbs (my guess), big shoulders, large chest, and solid frame. He moves and speaks with an air of confidence, is relaxed, is easy going, friendly and articulate. 

“One guy breathed pure oxygen through a tube and managed to hold his breath for twenty minutes. But we are not breathing pure oxygen out there,” Grant responded. He went on to comment that when he first started riding waves at Mavericks he practiced holding his breath and can hold it for four minutes. But movement and heart rate burn oxygen and the fall often knocks wind out of you. Under water one has to be careful to preserve movement and to relax. Given all of that Grant claims he can hold his breath for about one minute. A critical decision under water is when to go to the surface. Ideally you want to wait until the turbulence has passed before going up. But recently Grant had a serious hold down where his inner voice told him to get to the surface even though the turbulence had not cleared. He barely made it in time. Grant continued explaining that you have to lower your heart rate before going for a wave. You can’t be excited and hyper when a wave takes you under. He mentioned lowering his heart rate several times. I gather Grant consciously works on this skill. 

In this year’s Mavericks contest the six finalists shook hands and agreed to share the prize money before entering the water for the final heat. This lifted the burden of competition and aggressiveness off of their shoulders and turned the event into pure surfing. Everyone was rooting for each other and the contestants had fun out there. I watched the contest at AT&T Park and I remember there was a set of seven huge waves and each finalist caught one, which made for a spectacular ending to a great contest. 

Grant’s talk, his Quest for Fear video and the evening in general underscored the global aspect of surfing. When Kate and I sat down for a glass of wine, Bruce Brown’s Endless Summer was playing on the restaurant’s numerous video screens. There was Robert August and Mike Hynson walking across the beach in Africa with hordes of little kids around them as they surfed those waves for the first time. This movie set off the worldwide quest for the perfect wave that led to the discovery of numerous new surf locations. Recently there has been a search for new big wave locations. Grant’s video depicts two of them: Mavericks and Dungeons in South Africa. Grant made seven trips to Capetown to participate in the annual Dungeons big wave contest; 10,500 frequent flyer miles each way. Mavericks can be a cold nasty place and so can Dungeons. The South Africans are becoming respected big wave riders. Jamie Sterling, one of the six finalists of this year’s Mavericks contest, is from South Africa. 

Grant also discussed film making. He still uses 16 mm and 35 mm film and not digital, which is not quite up to the quality of film when it comes to capturing motion. Location point is critical in filming. Filming in the water next to the action is the best location point but there are hazards. When focusing through a narrow aperture of a camera, it is easy to ignore the entire environment, such as dangerous situations of approaching sets of big waves. 

The Marin surf community showed up big time to see Grant and to support Surfrider. The restaurant was packed. People stood along the wall while Grant spoke. Grant sold all the books that he brought. Bob Partrite brought out the Wipeout Bar & Grill’s inventory of Grant’s book and sold that out also. The Marin surf shops and restaurants contributed prizes for the event’s successful raffle. 

All in all everyone had a great time, Grant enjoyed the evening and the benefit was financially successful.