April 4, 2011 Monday

Bolinas	Patch
8:50 am to 10:30 am	1' to 2', sets to 3'
Low upcoming tide	Slight offshore breeze
Sunny clear morning	Exercise session

Marty and I stood at the base of the ramp looking at a flat ocean, Marty in his wetsuit and board in hand and me with the camera at the ready. The view was discouraging. Two surfers were at the Groin, and they sat and sat there. We never saw them catch a wave. Five surfers were at the Patch including Mary, Jaime the starving artist cartoonist, David who rides the Becker board and stand-up guys Russ and Frank. We saw Mary catch three waves. She had it figured out, the take off point, timing and board speed to coast into these tiny waves. That’s her in the above photo maneuvering around the rocks of the Patch reef. The others tried for waves but missed all of them.

“I guess I’ll go to the Patch,” Marty said with a disappointed look. The Internet data for this morning was not good: 10 ft NW swell at 10 seconds, basically a big wind swell, only a small slice of it wrapped into Bolinas. As Marty paddled out I walked down to the Groin for a closer look. By the time I got there, one surfer had exited the water and was wrapping his leash around his shortboard. The other was leaving and walking across the mouth of the Channel towards Seadrift. There were no waves, only ripples.

“Russ, please tell me it was great!” I had suited up and headed to the ramp. Russ had just come up it.

“An hour and half ago it was better, two feet, clean and long rides. Frank and I were the only ones out. But now it is funky. The waves are flat but the conversation is good.”

Russ had nailed it. I paddled out to the Patch to join Mary, Marty, Jaime and David. The waves were small and breaking way inside in shallow water over the Patch reef. The conversation was good and the morning was beautiful: warm, clear, patches of kelp floating on the surface, exposed rocks inside, high clouds overhead and plenty of low flying cormorants. After paddling around for an hour Marty and I headed in. Of course it was great to be out in the water, and we hoped for better conditions on Wednesday.

April 3, 2011 Sunday

Stinson Beach	Central
10:00 am to 11:00 am	4' to 6', sets overhead
Low upcoming tide	Stiff NW cross wind
Sunny with high clouds	Brief exhilarating session

Memorial Paddle Out for Charles McGlashan

“I want to thank all of you who put this together. This is perfect. Charles would have loved this.” Carol Misseldine, Charles McGlashan’s wife, said with a crack in her voice, mist in her eyes and a smile on her face. Dressed in a wetsuit, she stood in a circle of family, friends and supporters. That’s her on the right in the above picture accompanied by her sister, niece and dog Bonnie. Half of the crowd also wore wetsuits prepared to enter the water and the rest there to participate in the event.

Last Monday, Marin County Supervisor Charles McGlashan had suddenly passed away of a heart attack after a weekend of skiing in Lake Tahoe. His death sent a shock wave across the county. Our environmental champion was gone. He had battled for four years to get the plastic bag ban passed, a favorite issue of Surfrider Foundation Marin. That was one of many environmental issues that he fought for. Charles had the political ability to bring people together to get results.

After Carol’s words, the group headed for the water. Twelve of us waded out into the rough waves and freezing water, and we paddled out a short distance beyond the shore break but far inside of the huge walls breaking outside. With difficulty we formed a loose circle. Due to constant in-coming waves and choppy water, we could barely hang on to each other. Maureen, Charles’ assistant, swam out and treaded water, the rest hung on to each other. We said a short tribute to Charles and David of Shark Films tossed a Hawaiian lei into the surf. Our circle quickly broke up with experienced surfers heading outside and the rest moving inside to ride white water.

The waves were big, end-to-end six-foot walls collapsed into torrents of white water. We all struggled to get out. I turned around and rode soup hoping the wave would reform, but it didn’t. I pulled out near the shore and noticed the current had pushed me north and into a channel. With a lull between sets, I managed to get outside to join Julie the Bolinas local, David and Hank on his brand new custom made board. A set of huge walls approached, I scratched to get over them; I rolled the first one, pushed through the second one and turned and caught the white water of the third one. The wave had force and I sped towards the shore and dove off just before the shore break. I grabbed my board and headed up the beach to join the others. It wasn’t a great surf session but we all felt the exhilaration of being out in the freezing water, being humbled by the elements, thinking about why we were here and feeling a sense of accomplishment for just doing it. On the beach, spirits were high; this was what Carol and those close to Charles needed to charge their batteries to carry on.

Will, one of the owners of the Proof Lab Surf Shop in Mill Valley, was today’s hero. On Tuesday, the day after Charles died, Will emailed me stating that Charles was a surfer and a good friend of the ocean. Scott the chairman of Surfrider Marin confirmed that Charles and Carol often vacationed at Stinson Beach. We agreed that a paddle out was a good idea and with the help of Maureen, Charles assistant, the word spread from there. The email network went into high gear via Surfrider’s membership, Proof Lab’s email list, broadcast emails from John a lawyer friend of Charles and Shark Films’ Facebook page.

Will also showed up with a truck stuffed with twenty soft-top surfboards and wetsuits. Seeing the surfboards, Carol’s niece wanted to go out. Will had a wetsuit just her size. That did it, Carol’s sister had to join her daughter. Then Carol had to get into the spirit of the event and suited up also. Maureen grabbed a wetsuit and participated by swimming out there. Will brought a stand up board for tandem surfing. He took out Carol’s niece to catch some soup, then Carol’s sister and then Carol. They all loved it. Maureen claimed she was going to take up surfing. She was a swimmer as a young girl and now she was ready to leap into surfing.

Maureen and two girls from Drake High hung on to pick up plastic on the beach. She related in an email the next day that she wandered a good mile north and all along the way she encountered petals from the lei. At a late breakfast at the Parkside Café with her family, Carol had the ends of the lei draped around her neck as she thanked Scott and I for the paddle out.

It was a magical morning. Rest in Peace Charles.


Charles McGlashan Memorial Paddle Out