February 20, 2009 Friday

Bolinas	Patch
9:15 am to 10:40 am	3' to 4', sets overhead
High outgoing tide	Slight onshore breeze
High clouds and sunshine	So - so session

Recession, drought, global warming and surfing

“So how is the hotel business?” I asked Hank as we were bobbing up and down in rough water at the Patch.

“Terrible,” he responded. “It’s really dropped off.”

“Tell me again, which hotel chain do you work for?”

“Ritz-Carlton.”

“I take it the businessmen trade has decline.”

“We’re also in the high-end leisure business and that has dried up,” he said. “The TARP program has not helped either. The President and Congress have told executives no more luxury hotels.” Hank is referring to the criticism the President has directed at CEOs of banks receiving government bailout money about excessive salaries, use of private jets, bonuses and conferences at resort hotels. From now on it’s Motel 6 all the way.

“So has your CEO taken a cut in salary?” I asked.

“I don’t know, but I can tell you that the rest of us are not getting salary increases or bonuses.”

“What is your position there?” I asked.

“I’m in charge of all the hotels in the western region from Denver to California,” he responded.

Wow, that’s an important position. He must be under considerable pressure to cut costs and increase revenue. Hank is an excellent surfer and I have known him for years. A few years ago he was temporarily transferred to the east coast; his family stayed here while he commuted across country. He was only able to surf during trips home. He’s back on the west coast and I see him often out at the Patch. His job does offer one excellent benefit and that’s Maui. Ritz-Carlton has a hotel on Maui in the Kapalua area near Honuloa Bay. Hank vacations and surfs there once a year. He told me that rental boards are terrible and this year he had ordered a custom board from a local shaper that it will be ready for his next trip in April.

I was glad to see him out here when I paddled out. After one week of rains and constant south winds the surface was rough and the currents strong. The swell spiked today, 8 ft at 14 seconds north swell combined with a 6 ft south wind swell. The north swell passes by Bolinas but the south comes right in, especially at the Patch. Wednesday I came here and didn’t bother to go out due to small waves and strong onshore winds. Today Stinson had big waves when I drove down the Panoramic Highway. Bolinas should be good I thought. There were four guys straight out from the ramp going for sizeable inconsistent wind swells that would jack up and break top to bottom. Two others were out at the Channel riding large right breaking close outs. Two groups were out at the Patch, one way, way out at the furthest peaks and another on the inside south edge of the reef going for the rights. Both groups were having problems catching the waves due to the inconsistency and the turbulence. None of these breaks looked good to me, but another storm was coming in tomorrow so I had to take advantage of the break in the weather. I decided to head out to the inside peak of the Patch.

“Looks like Salmon Creek to me,” said Doug, who lives in Petaluma and often surfs there. We were standing on the seawall checking out the waves. Salmon Creek is like Ocean Beach in San Francisco: big beach break, strong winds and currents and difficult paddles out. I watched Doug and Jim struggle to get out and then witnessed Doug coming down an overhead wall, getting an excellent ride. I met Kathy, the biology teacher, coming up the ramp after her session at the Patch. She was out at the far peak and connected on two “fabulous” rides. Everything else was so-so. Barry, who was dressing after his session, went out front of the ramp, said it was ok, nothing more, but he got into the water thus it was fun. Mary, who had just exited the water, said with little enthusiasm that it was all right. Earlier at high tide it was better and now it was bumpy.

The inside waves were strong, close together and constant. Paddling out won’t be easy. I waded out as far as I could, pushing my board over incoming white water. When it was chest deep, I jumped on my board and paddled hard. The incoming four-foot walls were relentless. I pushed through and ducked under one after another. After three I had an ice cream headache, which got worst with each additional wave. Finally with the help of a brief lull I punched through the shore break and into the calmer water of the Patch reef break. Half way to the peak I recognized Hank. Great I’ll head over there. Being an experienced surfer, Hank would have figured out today’s assortment of swells, peaks and currents to know the best take-off spot. Claude was further out. I got a side view of him coming down a good overhead wave. He mentioned that the waves were bigger at high tide making it more difficult to paddle out. He was glad that the outgoing tide had diminished the size of the waves. A set approached, I watched Hank position for a sizeable wave, stroke into it and coast into a long right ride. A few minutes later, Martha joined us. She too is an experienced surfer and managed to catch several good rides.

My first wave was my best ride. After watching Hank connect, I moved closer to the shallow point in the reef, waited until a sizeable peak was beginning to break, paddled hard and pushed myself over the edge of the wave. I coasted down a slow head high peak, went under white water sliding down from the top into flat water, cut back into the breaking part of the wave, pushed into the next building section and went down another sizeable section. Good wave. I traveled a long ways on that one. But that was it. All my following rides died after the initial drops. As the tide went out, the swells broke up into smaller less powerful ones, the wind picked up and the surface became choppy. After an hour I was ready to go in, but the shore break had become bigger and more powerful. How do I get in through that? A set approached, I positioned in front of a steep peak, stroked into it, turned left, dropped down a fast section and with speed pushed into an inside section that placed me close to shore. A wave broke behind me; I lay on my board, caught the white water and rode it to the shore. I made it in and that was easy.

After changing and chatting with the others, I walked into town to buy a coffee for the trip home. I ran into David, the owner of the Coast Café.

“David, I saw the picture of the Coast Café in the IJ last week,” I greeted him. Due to the drought, the Bolinas water district has mandated water rationing, 150 gallons per person per day. The photo showed a waitress serving a bottle of beer without a glass. The restaurant was conserving water by not offering glasses for bottled beverages and thus not having to wash them.

“Every little bit helps,” he replied.

“How’s the crabbing going this year?” I asked. David supplements his income by working on a friend’s crab boat during crab season.

“Terrible,” he replied. That was the second time today I heard this expression. “It’s worst than last year. We used to put out 200 pots and catch four to five crabs per pot. This year we’re lucky to get one. You do the math. At $5 per pound, it’s not worth it.”

He went on to explain that all of the crab in the stores was coming from Oregon. The Dungeness crab have moved north and there aren’t any left in the San Francisco Bay Area. David is convinced that it is due to global warming. The water is getting warmer and the crabs have migrated to cooler waters. But another phenomenon is occurring. The shrimp are moving in. In previous years, they would capture one or two shrimp in their crab pots, but this year the pots contain one crab and a half-pound of shrimp. David and his friend have experimented in catching shrimp with great success. Shrimp season starts in May and they plan to be ready. They are outfitting the boat with tanks and water pumps to keep the shrimp alive until they reach the docks in San Francisco. Live shrimp brings a good price.

“Will you serve them in your restaurant?” I asked.

“Yes, we’re working on recipes right now,” he said. “They’re delicious raw. They have a slight crunch to them, but we won’t serve them raw. We will lightly sauté them or stir-fry them. They will be good.”

Reflecting on the morning on the way home, we have a historical parallel here. During the Depression of the thirties, economic meltdown coincided with the Dust Bowl, a major drought in Oklahoma and Texas. Today we have collapse of the financial system, global warming and drought in California.

The recession is getting worst, California is in its third year of drought, they’re rationing water in Bolinas, the Dungeness crab are migrating to Oregon and the shrimp are moving in.

Thank goodness for surfing to get one’s mind off today’s woes.