December 30, 2011 Friday

Bolinas	Channel
9:00 am to 10:40 am	3' to 4', sets to 5', occasional overhead
Low tide	Slight onshore breeze
Fog, drizzle and cold	Good session

The waves at the Channel were good - clean fast peeling lefts. One hour into my session I connected on my best wave of the morning. The crowd was a consideration today - 30 people were in the water when I began my session and 30 people were in the water when I left. The surfers around me went for the first two waves of the set, leaving me alone and in position for a well-formed five-foot wall. I paddled hard and felt myself almost in the wave. I hung at the top looking over the edge of a vertical drop. It instantly reminded me of the videos I saw of the recent Rip Curl Pro surf contest held at Ocean Beach in San Francisco. I was amazed how the pro-surfers would hang at the tops of the waves with the noses of their boards sticking out of the water and then they would quickly jump up, drop down the steep faces and lock themselves under the lips of the curls. For an instant I felt this was happening to me. I jumped up, shifted my weight forward to push over the edge and dropped vertically down the face. I thought I was going to lose it. The nose of my board dipped into the water and bounced back up. I hung on and cut left at the bottom of the wave. From the momentum the board shot back up to the top of the curl, I leaned forward and again vertically dropped down the face and shot back up the top. I quickly regained control of the board, set the rail under the peeling lip and cruised through another steep and fast section. The wave continued building on the inside. I cut back, let the swell build up, leaned into the curl, climbed back to the top, cut back down, climbed back up - and up and down I went until the wave closed out inside the Groin wall. What a great ride! I had several other fast curl rides as well as several close outs this morning. The waves were right on the edge between incredible locked in the curl rides and blasting walls.

Everyone this morning stated that the waves have been consistently good all week. A series of west swells were driving right into Bolinas. Kevin and I came out here Monday, the day after Christmas, when waves were bigger and the crowd was thicker. We caught some incredible fast curls and got blasted on several hard breaking walls.

Several of the Bolinas regulars were here this morning. Mary was at the Patch and Francine went to join her. Hank was thinking Patch; he walked all the way down there, turned around and walked all the way back to the Groin to join us. Marty and David who rides the Becker board were already out at the Channel. Martha and I arrived at the same time and walked down to the Groin to check out the waves. She saw two good rides, decided that was all she needed to see and headed back to the car to suit up. Professor Steve and his four-year-old son Johnny were suited up and about to enter the water. Johnny had received a new little kid's soft-top board for Christmas and Steve was taking him to try it out. Yes, Johnny was excited.

Paddling out I said hello to Martha, David and Hank at the north edge of the Channel and continued out to the far peak to join Paul and Dexter. Dexter was on a classic longboard - I mean a real, made in the sixties, glassed on single fin, '9 6", sun-yellowed, beat to shit longboard. He claimed it was his first time ever on a heavy old classic. Well, he did fine. The board paddled fast and allowed him to catch all the waves. He could stroke into flat waves, jump up, position himself in the waves, drop down the faces and then cruise across the middle of the swells. When exiting the water, I looked out at the waves and watched Dexter, with his back to the wave, drop down an overhead wall, cut left, climb to the middle of the swell and glide across the face for several yards before the wave exploded around him.

After half an hour, Barry the management trainer and excellent surfer paddled out. I had not seen him in months. Following his normal pattern, he stroked out to the furthest peak at the Channel and patiently sat there waiting for the good set waves. His patience paid off, he caught at least one wave of every set. I asked him if he had been getting any waves lately. He said that he made it out for every big swell this season and that he was currently on a roll of surfing ten days in a row. To him the waves had been fantastic and he was capitalizing on the good consistent surf.

Today the water was cold. After and hour and an half, I was freezing, my hands were turning numb and my leg muscles were beginning to cramp up. Time to go in. I paddled around for another ten minutes before connecting with that elusive last wave, but it was a good one - a three-foot curl that went on and on, all the way inside the Groin wall. I looked back in time to watch David come down a spectacular wave. He dropped down the face of a head-high wall and with his back to the wave David stepped to the middle of his board, climbed to mid-swell and hung-on. He passed through one steep section, shifted his weight to let the inside curl build up, crouched down again and shot through another steep section. As the wave was collapsing near shore, David grabbed the outside rail and pulled himself out over the top of the wave. What a great ride - typical of today.

As I left the water, the waves were still good, the crowd was still pegged at thirty and I was freezing. Despite the cold and the crowd, it was a great morning.

December 14, 2011 Wednesday

Bolinas	Channel
10:15 am to 11:30 am	2' to 3', occasional 4'
Mid upcoming tide	No wind to slight onshore breeze
Sunny, clear and warm	Fun session

Correction: Lorenzo's Surf Journal has a correction.

"Loren, by the way I make my lunch every morning, not the night before," David who rides the Becker board said to me while paddling out to the Channel after a long ride. He was referring to the Surf Journal's September 21st entry that was posted on December 13th, which stated that David prepared a lunch every night before a surf session. His lunch is always the same - a cheese and lettuce sandwich, a piece of fruit and some carrot sticks. "Hey, I can't have stale cheese and wilted lettuce on my sandwich."

"Well, excuse me, I will correct that error," I said in jest. "David, tell me something. You make your lunch every morning, you live in Berkeley and drive an hour plus to get here and you usually enter the water between 7:00 and 7:30. You must get up earl." I asked as we were walking down the beach after our session.

"Four o'clock. I get up at four o'clock, putter around for an hour or so and leave the house at five thirty."

So here is my correction: to David surfing is as important as work. He is like a dedicated stockbroker who is up before sunrise to get the latest quotes from the New York Stock Exchange. David is up and out the door before sunrise to beat the wind and the crowd to the beach.

This morning was another pleasant surprise. I had no expectation of waves. The swell that came in last Friday was fading, and today's buoy reading was 4 ft at 11 seconds. Mill Valley was freezing with a low Tule fog that trapped the cold air at ground level. At the top of the mountain I broke through the fog into bright sunshine and warm air. It was ten degrees warmer on the ocean side of the mountain.

While suiting up I chatted with the early morning crew who had just finished their sessions. Stand-up guys Frank and Russ said that conditions were improving because it was warmer. They froze when they entered the water at 7:00 am. Marty and Hank confirmed that the waves were getting better from the push of the incoming tide. That's Marty in the above photo.

David, Jacek the tattoo artist and Francine were at the Channel when I entered the water. Francine caught one more wave and went in. A few minutes later Pete from Napa joined us. Thus the four of us had the Channel to ourselves for over an hour. I paddled out to the line-up, paused, looked around and took a deep breath. Conditions were ideal: here it was mid-December, the sun was out, the air was warm with no wind, a glassy surface, nicely formed two to three-foot left peeling waves and a friendly crowd. The waves were smooth, gentle and long. They weren't much to write about except that all of us caught several long rides that took us all the way to inside the Groin wall.

Pete proudly announced that his daughter had been accepted to Georgetown University - one of the nation's better schools. Pete has the double whammy of twin daughters who were seniors in high school and were applying to colleges. Obviously his daughters were doing well in school to be applying to the high-powered universities.

"Congrats," I said. "Now comes the hard part."

"Yeah, like paying for it!"

We will continue Pete's saga later. But for today, the sun was out, the scenery was beautiful and we exhausted ourselves in these small fun waves.

December 9, 2011 Friday

Bolinas	Patch
9:20 am to 10:40 am	4' to 5', sets overhead
High tide (6.1 ft)	NW cross wind to no wind
Sunny and cold	Great session

"Seas seven feet at twenty-one seconds," squawked the mechanical female voice of the NOAA weather radio. I couldn't believe it. "Seven feet at twenty-one seconds," I kept repeating to myself. "Oh today is going to be a good day." A new swell came in last night. Two days ago, the waves were flat and I didn't bother going out and Monday they were a weak barely rideable two feet.

No one was out at the Channel when I first saw the waves from the seawall at the base of the ramp. Expecting big waves, at first I was disappointed and surprised that the Channel was flat. The swells would come through but they wouldn't break, the water was too deep due to six-foot high tide as shown in the above photo.

Five Bolinas regulars were at the Patch: David who rides the Becker board, Marty, DB the Safeway checker and stand-up guys Russ and Frank. They were just sitting there. After several minutes, a set of long line waves came through and David connected on a good inside right, revealing that the waves had power.

While strapping on my leash before entering the water I watched DB skillfully come down perfectly formed head high right that continuously peeled in front of her, taking her from the far outside peak to ten feet from the shore. The waves were perfect: big, steep and fast; long lines that jumped up over an outside reef, curled over at the top, landed halfway down the swell, slid the rest of the way down and would continuous break to the right all the way to the beach. With such waves, everyone connected on several good rides.

While paddling over a set wave, from the side I watched Hans drop down an overhead face. From the back I could tell the white water was in front of him. He drove under it, got back into the swell, crouched down and cruised all the way into shore. Hans' nephew Troy got the ride of his young surfing life as he dropped down a head high wave, cranked a big turn at the bottom, climbed back to mid-swell, crouched down and hummed across a beautiful wall for fifty yards. On my first wave I took off late on a five-foot wall, cut right, climbed high in the curl and screamed across a well-formed face, cut-back to the let the wave build up and cut right again to fly down another section. After catching several rights, I connected on a good left. I dropped down a steep face, lean left at the bottom, the wave began to break in front of me, I leaned on my front foot to trim the board and sped along the bottom of the wave just behind the breaking curl for several yards until the wave jumped up and collapsed in front of me. It was a great ride.

All of us were puzzled that the Patch would break with perfection while the Channel didn't break at all. Surfers know not to question such things; they just flow with the conditions that the ocean presents. It was a great morning.

December 5, 2011 Monday

Bolinas	Channel
9:45 am to 10:45 am	2' to 3', sets to 3.5'
Mid outgoing tide	NW cross breeze to no wind to NW cross breeze
Sunny and cold	Exercise session

"Loren do you have a band-aid?" Ray the Petaluma fireman greeted me as I jumped out of my car this morning. He was holding a paper towel over a gash on his forehead.

"Better yet, I have a first-aid kit." I retrieve the kit that I always carry in my car as part of my surf equipment and handed it to Ray.

"Thanks, I usually have one in my car," Ray continued. "But on Thanksgiving I unloaded my car to carry six people and forgot to put it back." I was wondering why a fireman/paramedic wouldn't have a first-aid kit in his car.

"Ray what happened? Did you get hit by the skeg?"

"No I was going left (Ray is regular foot thus his back was to the wave) and the board got sucked up the curl, the rail turned up and I slammed my head on the rail. At first I thought I was ok and started to paddle back out. Then I wiped my forehead and noticed the blood. Then I came in."

"Ray don't tell Loren about your wound, he will write about it in his blog," Mary chimed in.

"I was thinking about taking a picture of it."

"Please no pictures. The last thing I want is more stitches." Ray pointed to a scare on his chin, but all I could notice was his bleeding forehead. "See twenty stitches from a previous surfing accident."

Frank the stand-up guy joined us. Frank is a retired fireman and thus now two professionally trained first-aid experts were conferring over the wound. "Boy you are going to have a bump with this one," Frank commented. Swelling now rimmed the gash on Ray's forehead.

"Thanks," Ray handed the first-aid kit back to me. "I'm going to the station to get some ice for this," and he jumped into his car and drove off.

The early morning crowd (Mary, Jaime the starving artist cartoonist, and stand-up guys Russ and Frank) had finished their sessions and every one of them complained about the cold. Mary had lost feeling in her hands and had difficulty turning the key to unlock the door to her car. The big winds this past weekend had stirred up the ocean and brought the cold water to the surface. With everyone complaining about the cold I decided to wear my gloves. Friday I didn't and my hands froze. Gloves were a must this morning.

Hans and I checked out the waves at the base of the ramp. Two surfers were leaving and only David who rides the Becker board was in the water. The waves didn't look good but the sun was out and the air was warming up. "I'm going to suit up and get some exercise," Hans turned to go back to his car and I walked down to the Groin wall to take some pictures. Jacek showed up and also decided to go out. "One hour," I thought to myself. "Join my buddies and get some exercise."

At first the surf looked good, but it deteriorated as the tide went out. The current began to flow out of the lagoon; it picked up momentum and quickly became a river. Jacek and I sat at the apex of the Channel peak hoping to connect on the set waves. But the current kept dragging us out. We continuously paddled in, stopped and within minutes the current had pulled us back out. No set waves appeared, and we froze paddling around and watching David and Hank who were inside and to the north catch the small inside waves. Jacek and I gave up and paddled in to join Hank and David.

Jacek managed to connect on two classic lefts - long line peeling curls with him crouched down mid-board, back to the waves, locked in with spray arching off the tops of the waves. David scored on a couple of long inside curls. He always has a knack of knowing where to line up. I paddled over to where he was and managed to connect of two long-left curls. But that was all. I spent most of the time fighting the current, paddling and missing waves and trying to keep my hands and toes warm. After an hour I was spent and freezing. Exercise was all that I accomplished this morning.

"How is it out there?" Another surfer, who I didn't know, pulled up, and jumped out of his truck while I was changing after my session.

"Pretty crappy," I responded. "The current is pouring out of the lagoon and the water is freezing." After he had checked out the waves I asked him if he was going out.

"No. Looks like a good day to practice the guitar."

"What about exercise to keep your arms in shape? You have to be ready for when the good waves arrive."

"No thanks. I have this problem with surfer ear. My ear canal is closing down due to the cold water." A condition I know all about. I could tell he had made up his mind and nothing was going to change it. I couldn't disagree - today was a good day to practice the guitar.

November 28, 2011 Monday

Bolinas	Channel
9:15 am to 11:00 am	2' to 3', sets to 4', occasional 5'
Mid upcoming tide	Offshore breeze to no wind to NW cross breeze
Sunny and cool with high clouds	Good session

Bolinas at its best -- a day that caught all of us by surprise. I hadn't surf for a week due to bad weather, Thanksgiving and Kate being off for the week. I was anxious for some waves, and I had no expectations since all the Internet sites had so-so predictions for this morning. But what a sight when I walked down to the Groin with my camera at the ready, David who rides the Becker board and Hank were trading one wave after another. That's David on a good one in the above photo with Hank paddling out. I hurried back to the car and suited up.

I had one wave that made my day. Towards the end of my session, I found myself twenty yards further out than the rest of the pack. I was following Jacek's technique of sitting outside and patiently waiting for the set waves - wait outside and paddle into the waves early, while they are still relatively still flat, jump up and push over the edge. Jacek wasn't here this morning but I imagined this was how he would do it. A set wave came through, it was cresting and I would have to take off late. I stroked into it, jumped up, hung at the top of the wave for an instant, then dropped down a head-high face, white water crashed in front of me, I drove underneath it and climbed high back in the curl. The wave jumped up and a perfect line formed in front of me. I stepped to the middle of the board, crouched down and shot through a fast section. The wave kept standing up, I stepped closer to the nose and was now a foot from the tip. The wave kept forming and I stood there frozen for what seemed to be thirty seconds. I shifted my weigh between my lead foot and back foot to maneuver up and down the face and on and on I went until the wave, which was now only a foot high, closed out near the shore. Another surfer saluted me with a raised fist for "good ride!"

That was my best ride of a day filled with one good curl ride after another. It was a good morning.

November 27, 2011 Sunday

Bolinas & Stinson Beach Open Studios

"How cool is this?" I thought to myself. I was sitting by a warm outdoor fire on a late Sunday afternoon with a beer in my hand shooting the breeze with five local artists. The occasion was the annual Bolinas & Stinson Beach Open Studios held every Thanksgiving weekend. I was here to see the latest works from my surf buddy, Jim Ellis, a retired carpenter turned sculptor of coastal and marine life. We were at the home and studio of stone carver Steve Lewis, who has a sizeable piece of land, modest house and two studio structures on Horseshoe Hill Road in Bolinas. For the Open Studios weekend, Steve offered to share his space with four other artists: Jim, painter Susie Allen de Baker, stone and wood sculptor Chris Fitting and carved and painted gourds artist Judy Stemen. Being Sunday afternoon and near the end of the show, all of them were in a good mood. Each one had sold one or more pieces and considered the weekend a success.

Jim proudly showed me his latest creations - life size ravens. Of course he also had his specialty pieces of woodcarvings of seals, whales and sharks. In his studio Steve had several of his incredible carvings of dolphins, whales and sea birds set in the sides of huge stones. When asked how he does it, Steve proudly showed off his array power tools for cutting and grinding stone. Susie had her landscape paintings hanging outside on the walls of the house and studios that surrounded the cut metal oil drum that served as our fireplace.

Later on I dropped in on the studio of painter and surfer Michael Knowlton in Stinson Beach. Michael was the curator of the Ground Swell art show sponsored by Surfrider Foundation Marin County. Having sold a couple of pieces, Michael was also feeling good. His studio was jammed with his paintings; there were at least thirty pieces hanging on the walls and a hundred large paintings stacked in the nooks and crannies of his modest workspace. The above photo is of one of Michael's recent works.

On the drive home I thought about the blood, sweat, tears and hours each one of these artists must put into their works. In my career as a manager of software projects, $100 to $120 per hour was the going price for professional consultants. Nowadays plumbers and auto mechanics charge $80 an hour and they are not getting rich. Given the countless hours these artists must spend on each piece, I estimate that they make about $5 an hour if that. They are not doing it for the money - they are doing it because they love it.

Click on the link below to check out my Open Studios photos.

Bolinas - Stinson Open Studios

November 16, 2011 Wednesday

Bolinas	Channel
10:15 am to 11:45 am	2' to 3', sets to 3.5'
Mid upcoming tide	No wind
On-the-deck fog	Good session

Fog was the story this morning.

"Often the wind is on the front edge of the fog," Hank said while changing after his session. "But once the fog is overhead the wind subsides."

Hank was right; that was what happened this morning. As I drove out of the forest on the Panoramic Highway I was greeted by a glorious sight of bright sunshine, blue sea and an on-the-deck fog bank a quarter of a mile offshore. I stopped at Stinson Beach to gather a water sample for Surfrider's water quality program. The sun was out and the fog was still offshore when I waded out into the surf to get the sample. Next I connected with Scott, the chairman of Surfrider Foundation Marin, in the Parkside Café. While we were chatting, the fog came in. Three people passed by bitching about the fog. "Where did this fog come from?"

A potentially glorious day had just turned to gloom. But the fog hung right of at the water's edge. The Bolinas Lagoon was sunny, the water was still and the birds and seals were out as I drove around it on my way to Bolinas. I hit fog again at Wharf Road in the center of town.

"You're going to tell me I'm too late. It was better two hours ago," I greeted Mary who had just finished her session.

"No, the fog was in, the fog went out and the fog came back in and the waves remained the same."

I stood at the Groin wall with my camera at the ready. The fog was thick and I barely could see the surfers out there. A shroud of whitish-gray hovered over the water. The whiteness prevented my camera from focusing. The automatic focus feature requires contrasting colors of lock onto an image. Only when surfers came within a few feet of shore could I take a picture. The above photo is Marty on a small shore break wave with Hank paddling out.

While suiting up Doug and stand-up guys Frank and Russ had just finished their sessions and had to jazz me about showing up at 10 am - "Gentlemen's hour." At the Groin wall, I ran into Jacek exiting the water, not a good sign. "Lousy waves, it's cold and the sun's gone." He waved to me and headed for the ramp.

I paddled out to join Pete from Napa and David who rides the Becker board. Just as I reached the line-up a set wave came in. David let me have it. At first I hesitated, then the wave jumped up - a gray-green glassy smooth wall pointing left. I swung around, dug hard three times and pulled into a fast left peeling three-foot curl. It was a good ride. The waves were definitely better than they looked. For an hour David, Pete and I had the Channel peak to ourselves. The fog had come all the way and as Hank had predicted the wind stopped, the surfaced glassed off and the waves improved. The incoming tide gave the waves an added push and the water depth and wave height combined to form a solid peak that allowed the Channel waves to connect with the inside curls near the Groin pole.

I then caught a good one. I thought the wave was going to close it but it didn't. I turned sharply left, climbed to the top of the curl and watched the smell build up in front of me. I stepped to the center of the board, paused and then stepped closer to the nose. Now I was in a paper-thin curl with my inside rail locked just below the lip. I just stood there and shot through a fast smooth section. What it great ride. Conditions held and I caught ten more similar nose rides.

David and Pete also connected on several good waves. I watched David drop into a perfect left that he rode for a long ways. I look back but lost sight of him. A few minutes later I saw him paddling out next to the Groin pole - he must have ridden that wave all the way to shore. Later he did the same thing on a long right wave. I didn't see him and thought maybe he had gone in. No he was paddling back out way inside near the Seadrift shore. While standing in waist deep water I watched Pete on a good one - crouched down mid-board with his back to the wave screaming across a glassy three-foot curl. He shot by me and continued on and on.

At 11 am, David went in. Imagine that the surf fanatic went in before I did. I stayed out for another half-hour, but the waves were starting to back off. Being exhausted and cold, I went in. Pete stayed out there for another thirty minutes and when he did finally come in, he reported waves had continued to deteriorate. But Pete and I agreed that today we had caught the best of it - even better than the waves of the early morning crowd. Despite the fog, it was a good session.

November 14, 2011 Monday

Bolinas	Channel
9:20 am to 11:00 am	2' to 3', occasional 4'
Mid upcoming tide	Offshore breeze
Sunny and cool	Fun session

Six surfers were bunched together at the one and only peak at the Channel when I arrived. The Patch was flat and nobody was out there. Bolinas regulars were in the bunch: Mary, Hank, Marty, and stand-up surfers Frank, Russ and Walt the photographer. The morning was beautiful: clear, offshore breeze, glassy with two to three-foot waves breaking at the Channel. I snapped a few shots of them gliding down these small, flat curls - that's Russ in the above photo on a good one. Beautiful morning, clean small waves and knowing that another storm was approaching mid-week, I had to go out.

By the time I suited up, all but Marty had exited the water and were back at their cars changing. What happened? Did I miss it? They all claimed that they had good sessions and of course it was better earlier. Hank and Mary assured me that there were still plenty of good waves.

Jacek the tattoo artist, Marty and two others were at the one peak when I paddled out. Jacek was on his eleven-foot, narrow, no-rocker paddling machine. As usual he sat way outside patiently waiting for the set waves and his patience paid off. With that board, he could paddle into mere bumps in the water and catch them. Once up, he would go straight staying high in the wave, step to the front of the board, crouch down and push himself into the swell. The waves would slowly form into nice curls, and Jacek would glide left across these picturesque faces while crouched in a tight ball with spray blowing back over his head.

After one long ride I stood in waist high water and watched Marty on a good one. He took off late on a four-foot wall, jumped up to his knees as the wave broke, rode the white water, leaned into wave, coasted back into the swell, jumped up to his feet and cruised down a well-formed inside curl for several yards. I too used the knee technique several times this morning with good success. The waves broke off fast. I would jump up to my knees, quickly turn the board and position myself in the curls without losing any precious seconds or momentum by standing up.

We caught plenty of waves and exhausted ourselves. After our session and as we were walking into town for coffee, Marty and I ran into Nick the former owner of the 2-Mile Surf Shop. Two years ago Nick purchased a small boat and obtained a license to fish for crabs. He was frustrated because today was opening day of the crab season and the fishermen were on strike over the price of crab. This happens every season. The fisherman wanted $3 a pound and the merchants were only paying $2. I'm sure this dispute would be quickly resolved because everybody knew there were tons and tons of crab out there. Nick suggested that we give him a call if we wanted any live crab. He would sell them to us at the fisherman's price.

What a great morning: beautiful scenery, offshore breeze, glassy surface, fun little waves, mellow crowd and the prospect of buying fresh Dungeness crab.

November 10, 2011 Thursday

THE DOCTOR IS IN -

"So Mary have many Surfrider calendars to you want?"

"I'll take two, no make that three."

That's Mary and I in the above photo being models for a photo shoot for our surf buddy Walt the photographer. We had to make small talk while Walt and two other guys snapped off hundreds of shots of us. I (the Doctor) pretended to demonstrate to patient Mary how the Boa Technologies' super new closure system functions on back braces.

Last week after a surf session, Walt asked me if I could help him out on a photography gig. Something came up and he had to act fast. He said that his client, Boa Technologies of Denver, CO, had called with an urgent request. They had planned an outdoor shoot of their new products, but a series of snowstorms in Denver cancelled their plans. Time was critical, thus they decided to shift locations where the weather was good - like the Bay Area. They called their buddy Walt for help. Walt managed to line up two locations, a public park in Mill Valley for outdoor shots and a doctor's office in Oakland. He also talked two older, healthy friends, Mary and I, to play models for a day.

At 9 am I was there at the park, Walt was setting up, Mary arrived and, the crew from Denver was unloading a ton of equipment from their rented van. The shoot was suppose to demonstrate how Boa Technologies' knee and back braces gave super support and didn't restrict movement. I wore a knee brace and Mary a back brace. We walked back and forth and threw a ball to Walt's dog in the grass field while Walt and the Denver crew snapped pictures. A small child and her caretaker showed up to play in the park and the Denver crew quickly talked them into participating in the shoot. Mary ended up pushing the little girl in the swing while wearing her back brace.

In the afternoon we drove to a medical office building in downtown Oakland for the doctor's office shots.

"Let's put a white coat on Loren and have him be the doctor." The leader of the Denver group, Clint, suggested to his companions.

"What? I thought I was going to be a patient." I objected.

"Loren, you'll be perfect. You look the part." It must be the gray hair.

A nurse loaned me a white lab coat and a stethoscope, and everyone commented that I definitely looked like a real doctor. After a long set at time, Mary and I faked doctor and patient for twenty minutes while Walt and the Denver crew took endless photos.

Afterwards, Mary commented how relaxed everyone was. She used to be an art director for a major corporation and conducted several of these kinds of advertising shoots. She remembered how stressful they were due to deadlines, tight time schedules and the expense of renting locations, equipment and hiring models. Today's crew was laid-back and easily went with the flow of things. At the end of the day everyone felt good about how things turned out. Later I asked Walt how the gig went. He said he turned over 200 photos to Boa Technologies and they loved them; it was just what they were hoping for.

Mary also mentioned how comfortable the back brace felt. Boa Technologies' product was its closure system - a new technique to correct the deficiencies of laces, buckles and Velcro straps. It consisted of a knob, spool and lace that allowed one to fine-tune or dial-in the correct amount of tightness. The company has teamed up with leading shoe and boot manufacturers to incorporate the Boa Closure system in ski, snowboard, hiking boots as well as running shoes. They were expanding to include their technique in knee and back braces, thus the urgency to get the advertising rolling. Mary, Walt and I felt they had a good product.

To sum up, I met a crew of good people, got to watch some professional photographers in action, helped out my friend Walt, got a free lunch and received a small stipend. It was a good day.

Maybe I should have been a doctor.

November 8, 2011 Tuesday

Bolinas	Channel
9:20 am to 11:00 am	2' to 3', sets to 4'
High tide	Slight offshore breeze to slight onshore breeze
Sunny with a cloud bank on the horizon	Fun session

"Jacek, tell me something," Jacek was suiting up to go out and I noticed two boards in his car. "When I get up I have to decide what beach to go to and at what time. You have to do the same, but you also have to decide what board to take. I have one board, thus there's no board decision. You have sixty surfboards and have to pick which ones to take. How do you decide?"

"Whatever one I feel like riding," he immediately responded without thinking about it. "Also, I only have thirty boards up here." Jacek was in transition from San Diego to San Rafael and still has thirty boards down south. He possesses all types of boards: long, short, thick and thin. This guy is a connoisseur of surfboards. For each one of his boards, he can tell you the shaper's name, the year it was made and its unique and special features.

His selection criteria surprised me; intuitition was his method. Now Jacek is an artist who makes his living doing tattoos. But like all artists he pays attention to the fine details. From someone so knowledgeable about surfboards and their designs, I expected a more analytical answer. Something like: with a 7 ft NW swell at 11 seconds from 280 degrees that would generate 4 ft peaks at the Channel at high tide, he would want "such 'n' such" board with "such 'n' such" rocker and thickness.

No analysis, just pure gut-feeling. He knew the conditions, he had read the buoy reports this morning on the Internet - similar as yesterday but a little smaller, and yesterday he had a great session and was hoping for more of the same. He chose his classic Gordon & Smith fish from the early seventies - 7 ft long, pointed nose, wide in the middle, thick (nearly 3 inches) and a VEE cut in the tail forming two points with a glassed on wood fin on each one.

"Well, did you pick the right board?" I asked him after our session. "I would think that a longer board would have been better given how flat and slow the waves were."

"With these waves, the board didn't make any difference," meaning that with a long or a short board the rides would be the same - nice drops on the take-offs into flat, slow forming shoulders.

Despite the waves I had a fun session. The weather was beautiful - sunny, warm, little wind, glassy surface and a well-formed peak at the Channel. I sat outside with Jacek waiting for the set waves. I realized after my first wave that the smaller waves had no punch and that only the set waves were worth riding.

"Here's one that's left or right," Jacek called as a set wave approached. "I'll take the left," I responded. It turned out to be my best ride of the morning. I had to dig hard to get into it. I barely pushed over the edge, but I hung at the top of the wave, jumped up and dropped down a steep face just ahead of the fast breaking lip. I cut back into the breaking part of the wave to let it build up again and turned into a small long curl on the inside.

Of course Jacek caught his share of good waves. No matter what board he is on, he always has that ability to paddle into flat swells and coast into the waves as they peak. David who rides the Becker board caught numerous waves. He sat on the inside, straight out from the Groin pole and connected on several good waves that lined up near shore. Francine was out there sharing the waves with David. She too caught several good inside waves.

All of us agreed that with the sunny weather, glassy conditions and friendly crowd, it was worth it.

October 28, 2011 Friday - Part 1

Surfrider Foundation Marin's 2012 Surf Calendar

The main thing on my mind this morning was the Surfrider Marin's 2012 Surf Calendar - a fundraiser for our chapter. Yesterday the two personal/test copies I ordered online from Tidelines arrived and they looked great. Above is a photo of the cover, "After the Rain" by Nick Allen. I was so excited. Today I was taking them to Bolinas show them off to the crew.

The calendar was my latest project and I had been working on it for a month. We did one last year that contained mostly my photos, and through our usual unorganized style we didn't get out it until February of this year, thus missing the holiday season when most everyone buys a calendar for the coming year. Though it was great, we didn't sell many and lost money on the project. This year we were determined to have the calendars ready to sell by Thanksgiving.

For three months I had solicited photos via Surfrider's monthly newsletter. Response was good - ten people (including three professional photographers) submitted 64 photos. I formed a committee to boil the selection down to the thirteen best images (twelve months and one cover). The committee of four consisted of photographers Nick Allen, Walt Denson, surf shop owner Will Hutchinson and myself. Via a few rounds of email voting the committee came up with its final selection - a good mix of five surfing shots, four photos of Marin's coastline and four ocean-theme paintings. Since we were going the sell the calendars, my next task was to obtain written permissions to use images. A task easier said than done. I spent hours blasting out emails tracking down the photographers and the artists for their permissions.

The Bolinas crew loved the calendar and I picked up orders for fifteen. Drew at 2-Mile ordered six. After my session I drove to Stinson to connect with Scott the chairman of the Surfrider Marin chapter. He loved the calendar and immediately started making suggestions for improving it - like including Surfrider meetings, beach cleanups and other events in the calendar portion of each month. He committed to getting me the dates for all meetings and beach cleanups. Scott also brought the legal question. Tidelines in their agreement section state that they own all photos submitted to them. We couldn't agree to that but we didn't want to delay production of the calendars. Our solution was to order the calendars and follow up with an email stating we don't agree with their rights provision.

While at Stinson I received orders from John who owns the Parkside Café and artist Michael Knowlton who was the curator of Surfrider's Ground Swell art show at the Bay Model. Luck was with me, photographer Clint Graves happened by and I was able to obtain his permission to use two of his photos that the committee had selected.

It was a good morning. Reaction to the calendar was encouraging. Scott and I were confident the calendar would sell and we agreed to order 100, which was a big investment for a small non-profit organization.

Update - as of January 29, 2012 we had placed a second order of 100 and then a third order for 50. We have sold over 230 calendars, given away ten free copies and only have a few left. Our calendar project has been a success.

October 28, 2011 Friday - Part 2

Bolinas	Channel and Groin
9:30 am to 11:30 am	3' to 4', occasional 5'
Mid upcoming tide	Slight offshore breeze to no wind
Sunny and warm - heat wave	Fun session

Meanwhile the surf today was fun. It was a beautiful sunny fall day with no wind, glassy surface, warm water with a three to four-foot peak at the Channel, and the Bolinas crew was there: Martha, Marty, David who rides the Becker board, Mark the archaeologist and Jacek the tattoo artist. That's Jacek on a good wave in the above photo with David paddling out.

Jacek told me he wanted one of the "clean-up" waves that came through once every ten minutes. He moved twenty yards further out from the rest of us, sat there, Buddha like, cross-legged on his board and paddled around with his hands. I caught a good left wave, paddled back out and wondered if Jacek would ever catch that "clean-up" wave. Then suddenly Jacek stopped sitting cross-legged, switched to the prone position and started vigorously stroking outside. Now all of us could see that a big set was coming and we too began digging hard for the horizon. A five-foot A-frame wave was forming outside and Jacek was in position. He could go either left or right. "If he goes right, he will run me over," I said to myself. "Please go left," I prayed. Jacek jumped up, stepped to the middle of the board, crouched down and cut to the left - dropping down a beautiful peak that slapped him on his left shoulder as he streaked along a fast left wall. I ducked under the white water of the breaking wave and lost sight of him. Moments later I looked and looked for him; finally I saw him - way, way inside on his knees paddling back out. It was a long ride.

Jacek became my indicator. I would sit ten to twenty yards inside and watch him closely. If he started paddling out, I would race outside. One time he was sitting cross-legged and began paddling out with his hands. Then he did it again, he switched a prone position and started vigorously stroking outside.

"There goes Jacek, a set must be coming," I yelled to David and began racing outside.

Now I could see that a big set was coming. The first wave was too small for Jacek; he let it go. I turned around and dug hard for it. The wave was breaking when I stroked into it. It was steep and I remained prone; I didn't want to lose time or momentum by standing up. I turned left, remained mid-swell and streaked through the first section. I jumped to my knees as the lip of the wave came over my head; I jumped to my feet, crouched down and screamed down a steep curl. I cut back into the white water to let the wave reform on the inside, turned left again and coasted down a long, mellow inside curl. I milked it as far as I could towards shore and ended up ten yards from dry sand. Like Wednesday I paddled to shore, walked around the Groin wall and re-entered the water - thus avoiding a paddle through a strong in-coming current. Now I had the pattern down - watch Jacek, pick out a large set wave, ride it all the way to shore and walk around the Groin wall to re-enter the water.

At eleven Jacek had to leave to get to the shop in the City by noon - good luck. The tide continued rising, the waves slowly died, the wind picked up and the crowd swelled. Even David the surf fanatic went in for lunch, leaving me outside with the beginners. After a long wait a set finally arrived. I caught the white water of a four-foot wave, bellied it into swell, jumped up, shot down a nice curl, cut-back, pushed myself into the forming shore break, cut across a two-foot curl and drove the nose into the white water of the collapsing shore break wave. I ended up just steps away from the sand. What a nice ending to a fun session.

October 26, 2011 Wednesday

Bolinas	Channel and Groin
9:30 am to 11:00 am	Consistent 3' with sets to 4'
High upcoming tide	Slight offshore breeze to no wind
On-the-deck fog to patchy sunshine	Fun session

As I was walking to the beach with my camera in hand, Jacek came up the ramp from checking the waves with a Thermos in one hand and sipping coffee with the other. I gestured to him by putting both hands out palms up to ask, "Well?" I then switched to the thumbs up and down gesture. He responded with one hand out, palm down rotating it side to side to say, "So - so."

"I'm going out, there's something at the Channel," Jacek greeted me when he was within earshot.

"Good!"

I wanted to walk down to the Groin wall for some close-up pictures, but the high tide had waves pushing up against the retaining wall of the house on the south side of the ramp. I moved to the overlook above the Groin. Six surfers were at the one peak at the Channel. Out there were David who rides the Becker board, Marty, Doug and stand-up guys Frank and Russ. Due a thick on-the-deck fog I could barely see them. The sun reflected through the fog creating a bright gray wall. My camera could not focus on anything. The automatic focusing feature requires contrasting colors to lock onto an image, and this morning there weren't any. I tried taking a couple of pictures with minimal success - as you can see in the above photo. But from what I could see, the waves didn't look very good.

"Creighton how was it?" He had just come up the ramp after his session. "It was ok."

"Ok? Is that all?"

"Yes, just ok. Small but clean and glassy."

That was all the encouragement that I needed. I came here yesterday and didn't go out. A stiff, cold onshore wind put an ugly chop on the water. At least this morning it was glassy and besides I needed the exercise.

"Jaime, I heard an hour of your show last night." I greeted Jaime as he was toweling off after his session at the Patch. "It was good to hear you on the air again." He hosts Faultline - two hours of music and a few comments by Jaime every Tuesday evening from 8:30 to 10:30 pm on West Marin Radio, KWMR. He had taken a month off due to his surgery. The surgery was a success and Jaime was back in the water and back on the air. If you haven't heard his show, I highly recommend it.

"Jaime, with the show ending at 10:30, you must not get to bed until midnight."

"No, I was in bed by 11:15 last night."

"But you live in Fairfax and the station is in Point Reyes Station."

"True, but it only takes 25 minutes to get to Fairfax." I had this image of a bolt of lightning flashing out of the studio and streaking down Sir Francis Drake to Fairfax.

"There are two things I'm very organized about - my music and my surfing. I woke up this morning at six and was out of the house by 6:15 and was in the water by seven." That's certainly more organized than I am.

Out in the water David warned me about the incoming current. "I paddle and paddle and don't get anywhere." I remember that yesterday about this time a strong five-knot river flowed into the lagoon.

The waves were picturesque - beautiful emerald green walls that would break with some force, peel in both directions and would immediately die. Jacek sat way outside and could connect on the set waves when they jumped up at the apex of the peak. But he couldn't stay in them after the initial break. I experienced the same thing. I came down two beautiful left faces, immediately cut back into the white water and pushed my weight forward to stay in them. On one wave that worked, on the other the wave just petered out.

Matt was north and inside of the pack and was having some success at the peak near the Groin pole. Sometimes with a good north swell and a high tide the famous Malibo peak appears - Malibu like small right curls that break inside the Groin wall. I paddled over there to join Matt. He commented that he was exhausted fighting the strong incoming current and that he rode a wave all the way in, got out and walked around the Groin wall to re-enter the water. Sitting next to Matt a good set came through. Matt took the first wave and I caught the second one that was a decent right curl. Following Matt's lead, I rode it as far as I could towards shore, got out and walked around the wall instead battling the current to get back out to the line-up. For the next half-hour, Matt and I continuously caught small inside waves and walked around the wall to avoid the current.

After an hour and a half, I was exhausted and went in. It was a good morning. I had that glow of satisfaction from healthy exercise and fun waves.

October 23, 2011 Sunday

San Francisco	Ocean Beach - 21st Street
10:00 am to 11:30 am	3' to 4', sets from 5' to 6'
Mid upcoming tide	Stiff offshore breeze
Sunny and warm - heat wave	Good session

Saturday afternoon son Kevin called to tell me about the great surf session he just had at Ocean Beach and asked if I wanted to join him in the morning. Now I hate Ocean Beach, the place is dangerous, the currents are terrible, the waves are rough and the paddle outs can be impossible. But the swells were down - four feet at seven seconds - weather predictions were for heat wave conditions and it was an opportunity to surf with my son, so I said yes.

Kevin was right. Sunday morning the weather was great - Indian Summer heat wave with offshore east winds - and the waves were just my size, reasonable 4 to 5 ft peaks with occasional overhead waves spread all along the two mile stretch of the Great Highway. The frequency of the sets was spaced such that I could wait for a lull and easily paddle out. The waves were excellent, A-frame peaks peeling in both directions. Being a Sunday, warm weather and fun waves you would expect a big crowd, but the hundred surfers in the water were spread across twenty or more peaks. Kevin and I connected with several fast thick long curl rides in both directions. One of the Bolinas regulars, Captain Kip, paddled by and said hello. He continued north to the next peak. From a distance I saw him skillfully come down three overhead set waves.

The story this morning was the strong south current. We entered the water at 21st Street at the north end of Ocean Beach near the Park Chalet and the north windmill. Twenty minutes later we were straight out from the newly restored south windmill at the intersection of Lincoln and the Great Highway. We started paddling north until the next set came through.

"Dad, we could just not worry about the current and let it take us south, ride a wave in and walk back along the beach. I've done that before out here. That way we don't waste our energy constantly battling the current."

"Good idea. Let's do it."

But we didn't do it. At that moment, the closest peak was north of us so we paddled over there to wait for the next wave. We both caught waves and paddled back out to the north peak. Two or three times we talked again about just letting the current take us, but we never did it. There was that nagging compulsion to compensate against the constant pull to the south. For the next hour we broke our strategy by constantly paddling north in a vain attempt to regain our original position. So we exhausted ourselves by steadily paddling against the current and despite our efforts we ended up a quarter mile down the beach at the south windmill when we exited the water.

Take a close look at the right photo above. When I arrived and saw the big crowd on the beach I thought they were having a volleyball tournament. Walking by the crowd on my way to the surf, I realized they were playing soccer. They were having a beach soccer tournament - ten short thirty-yard fields (my estimate) with five players on a team. Note that the white poles in the above photo are soccer goals. There must have been over twenty teams in all age groups from little kids to old guys who still thought they were young kids - somewhat like us retired souls who still surf. But everyone was having fun. Parents lined the fields enjoying the play of the younger teams. From a parent's point of view, what a great activity - their kids were outside, in the sunshine, on the beach burning up millions of calories endlessly running back and forth in the deep sand. That's what a beach is for.

The parking lot was full, hundreds strolled while others roller skated along the strand, a major sand soccer tournament was in progress, little kids built sand castles at the water's edge, and Kevin and I along with countless other surfers scored some fun waves. It was a great morning.

October 21, 2011 Friday

Tasu - Fishing Boat aground at Seadrift

"That boat is still there. They haven't pulled it off the beach," I said to myself as I drove down the Panoramic Highway above Stinson Beach. "I'm in luck. I still can get some photos of it."

When driving to Bolinas last Friday (October 14) I could see far in the distance a boat stuck of the sand at Seadrift. At first I thought it was a catamaran. It appeared to have two white hulls with a mask in between them. From the water at the Channel, we could see that something was stuck in shallow water at Seadrift about ten to fifteen houses in, but we could not make out the details. A coast guard helicopter hovered overhead. From our angle the object looked like a floating crane - brown wood barge with a crane boom sticking straight up. At the end of our session a surfer knee paddled over from Seadrift with a grin on his face.

"It's a fishing boat that has run aground, and guess what? The Coast Guard refuses to pull him off the beach because their price exceeds the limit on his credit card. Can you believe that?"

Come Monday, the boat was still there, same on Wednesday. By now I figured out what I was seeing - it was a commercial fishing boat, listing at a near forty-five degree angle with its radio antennae and fishing watchtower pointing towards Bolinas.

Thursday, the Marin IJ had a photo and a brief story about the boat: Owner and captain Greg Ambiel of the 48 foot fishing vessel, Tasu, ran aground in the shallow waters off Seadrift and could not navigate the boat back out to sea. After hours trying to go back and forth, he gave up and waded to shore. Local residents came to his aid and helped him to call the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard refused to come because no one's life was endangered. Coast Guard Lt. Liezi Nicholes stated that their smaller stations, such as the one as Horseshoe Cove, the closest station, do not send help unless human life is at risk. They forwarded his distress call to a salvage company that required a $10,000 deposit for a private tow. Captain Ambiel had a $2000 limit on his credit card and no boat insurance. The next day he had to pay $8,300 to remove the fuel to prevent pollution of the beach and the waters.

The local residents were not pleased that the Coast Guard refused to help Greg pull his boat off their beach. "It's very frustrating that a man lost his livelihood because some government agency that gets paid by the taxpayers wouldn't come out," said Stinson Beach Fire Chief Kenny Stevens.

So this morning - a week later - the boat was still there, the surf at the Channel was barely breaking, even though six of the Bolinas regulars were out there, and thus I had my chance to take some close-up shots of this boat. I figured that my exercise this morning would be to hike down the beach from the Stinson Beach Park to the boat, take some pictures and hike back. It was a long hike - it took me forty minutes to get there - the boat ran aground near the entrance to the lagoon. All in all I spent a couple of hours hiking to the boat, taking several photos and hiking back - a pleasant walk on the beach on a high overcast morning.

Click on the link below to view my photos of the fishing boat Tasu.

Tasu Aground

October 19, 2011 Wednesday

Bolinas	Channel
9:30 am to 11:00 am	2' to 3', sets to 3.5'
Mid dropping tide	Offshore breeze to NW cross wind
Sunny with high fog on the horizon	Fun session

I almost didn't go out.

I stood on the Groin wall with my camera at the ready and waited and waited for the four surfers, two stand-up guys and one kayak to catch anything. The surfers were Marty, David who rides the Becker board, Francine and Jacek the tattoo artist. Frank and Russ were the stand-up guys. The waves were infrequent and weak, but due to the stiff offshore breeze they had excellent shape. If you were in the right spot you could connect on a long left curl. But I didn't see anyone catch anything. Finally a set came through and Russ connected on a decent wave. That's him in the above photo.

Standing there waiting for someone to catch another wave, my mind wandered off to all the nagging obligations that were piling up back home. I could be paying the bills, cranking out a couple more surf blogs or working on the Surfrider's 2012 calendar - another project of mine that has to be done by next week.

I moved to the overlook above the Groin to get a better look. Jacek scored! He glided into a set wave, cut left, crouched down and grabbed the outside rail and hummed down a perfect curl. He stalled a second, the wave built up and he leaned into the curl and turned into another nice section.

"What am I waiting for?" I said to myself. "Get out there, get some exercise, go out for an hour; I can do those other chores later."

"Just tell me it's getting better," I greeted Frank and Russ as they were changing after their session. They gave me the usual jazz about lunch time and gentlemen's hours.

"For you, it's always getting better," Frank chimed in. I waved and hurried to the beach.

I stayed out for an hour and a half, caught several small well-formed curls, exhausted myself and had a great time. Of course it was worth it; the obligations can wait.