July 29, 2011 Friday

Pacifica	Linda Mar - out front
8:30 am to 10:00 am	3' to 4', sets overhead
Low upcoming tide	Offshore breeze to west cross breeze
High fog to bright sunshine	Good session

"You really had a good session. I saw you. You caught one great wave after another. I got photos of your last ride. Here, take a look." I turned on my camera and stepped through the last four shots that I had taken. I was talking to Hinde (hee-day) a Japanese surfer who I shared waves with this morning at Linda Mar. "You are good. You managed to hang five on at least twenty waves."

"I started learning to walk the nose a couple of years ago and now I'm practicing it for the contest."

"Contest? Are you signed up for next week's Kahuna Kupuna contest?"

"Yes, I'm in one of the youngest groups, the fifty year old group." This contest was for forty and older surfers.

"I'm in the contest too, but in an older group. I'm sixty-six years old."

"OOOOOOh," Hinde said putting his hands together and bowing out of respect for his elder. I knew I like this guy. That's Hinde on his last ride in the above photo.

A new NW swell had come in this morning and the waves were bigger and more powerful than Wednesday (July 27) when I was here last. Again south winds and my determination to practice for next week's contest compelled me to return to Linda Mar. A pronounced channel had formed just north of the main bathrooms causing all the waves at the peak out front to break to the left. Most of the waves were slow and mushy due to the depth of the channel. While paddling out through the channel after a slow flat wave, I looked down the line to see Hinde streaking down a fast breaking left with his left foot firmly planted on the nose of his board. "That's what I want," I said to myself. "How does he do it?" From then I paid attention to what he was doing and mimicked him. Hinde sat inside of the main crowd and waited for the sets, the ones that looked walled or looked like they would break to the right. Hinde knew that the deep channel caused all the waves to break to the left. Thus by taking off on the walls or the ones that were peaking north of us, he would drop into steep, left peeling curls. I did the same and managed to connect on several good waves. All this happened in the last forty-five minutes of my session. The quality of these rides turned a so-so session into a good one.

Sam, a Bolinas regular, was out there this morning riding that classic longboard that he made. He had a good session also. Sam likes to sit outside and go for the big ones. Every twenty minutes or so, a set of big overhead walls would come through. Sam would be on them, making classic elevator type drops and then hanging on, as a ton of white water would engulf him. Sam told me that Bolinas had not been good for several days. He lives in Oakland and thus has to make that critical decision as the leaves the house of which break to go to. After a long drive there's no correcting a bad decision. He told me he studies the Internet the night before and decides where to go before he goes to bed. That way, he just jumps up in the morning and heads out without any hesitation or second guessing his decision. We both agreed that he made the correct decision this morning.

After an hour and a half, my arms were feeling it, the wind had picked up, the crowd had swelled and surf camps were in session, time to call it a day. Sam and Hinde were still out there. I hurried changing, grabbed my camera and managed to snap some good shots of both of them. Again as I turned onto the Great Highway near Sloat Ave on my way home, overcast, wind and chop greeted me. I gloated with the satisfaction of having made the right decision that resulted in a good surf session at sunny Linda Mar.

July 27, 2011 Wednesday

Pacifica	Linda Mar - South end
8:15 am to 10:15 am	3' to 4', sets head high
Mid upcoming tide	Offshore breeze to onshore breeze
On the deck fog to bright sunshine	Fun session

This morning I decided to head to Pacifica. Why Pacifica? South wind. The conditions favoring Linda Mar were: a four-foot NW swell, Linda Mar is a north facing beach and the north swells head directly into the narrow cove; an upcoming tide (4 ft at 11 am), Linda Mar breaks best at high tide; and a three-knot south wind that would blow offshore there. Also on my mind was the upcoming Kahuna Kupuna surf contest. Jack the Dave Sweet team rider, who enters this contest every year, reminded me the other day to send my money in. We entered the contest last year, had a great time and placed second and third in the “Legends” division (65 to 69 year olds). The contest was in two weeks and I needed to get in a couple of sessions in to get familiar with the feel of the waves.

What a good decision. Ocean Beach was a mess, strong onshore wind, chop, white caps, crumbly waves and no one out. A dense on-the-deck fog greeted me at Linda Mar, but the wind was offshore and the waves were clean. Standing on the shore with camera in hand I could barely see the surfers in the water and could not make out the conditions of the peaks. I asked a young shortboarder who had just exited the water about his session. He stated he was at a good right peak half way between the Taco Bell and the south bathrooms. I walked down there and saw a gaggle of six surfers bunched together, but I still could not see the quality of the waves.

I decided to head for the left peak that is always at the very south end of the beach. I paddled out and only one other surfer was out there. Ten surfers were at the peak to the north. After missing a couple, I caught a small, slow left wave. After coming down the face, my board hit the brakes and I tumbled off. Kelp, I had hit a patch of kelp. Sea grass was hanging on my arms and shoulders when I surfaced. The whole south end was thick with kelp and sea grass. On my next two attempts, the kelp wrapped around my feet and arms preventing me from paddling when I turned to go for the waves. A few minutes earlier the other surfer had moved to the peak north of us. No wonder no one else was here. After struggling with the thick kelp, I too moved north to join the crowd at the next peak.

After a frustrating hour I finally figured out the waves. By then the fog had lifted and hung on the horizon, the sun broke out, the sky was a deep blue and the crowd had grown. I sat inside, waited for the sets and took off when the waves were breaking. The smaller waves were flat, slow and difficult to catch. The late take-offs on the four to five-foot waves were steep, fast and challenging. If my timing was good, I dropped into a fast curl that held up. Often I was too late and merely plowed down into a ton of white water. The water and sunshine were warm, the crowd was mellow and my arms felt strong. I after each ride I quickly paddled back out for another one.

A young shortboarder paddled from the north to our peak. I could tell by how cleanly he moved through the water that he knew what he was doing. He was riding an old beat to crap thick green board with a pointed nose and fish tale. A big wall came through and with two strokes he was on it while I paddled over the wave. I looked back to see him drop down the face, disappear, shoot back up to the top, cut back and trim down the face. I was right; he was good.

Back out in the line-up I heard him grumble about having to go to work. “Is work getting in the way?” I asked.

“Yes, and it’s just starting.”

“Where do you work?”

“There,” he said pointing to shore where a surf camp was just starting. Twenty little kids in camp tee shirts sat of the beach listening to a camp leader.

“Surf camp instructor. What a great job working with little kids. You must be a hero to all those little guys.”

“Yes, it’s a great job and I love it.” And with that he caught a wave and rode it all the way to shore. After my session, I saw him with his white “Instructor” shirt on surrounded by ten excited little surfers. He smiled and gave me a wave as I walked by.

Back at the car, the ambassador of Linda Mar, Greg Cochran, had parked next to me and was suiting up to go out. Greg won the Legends heat that Jack and I were in at last year’s Kahuna Kupuna contest. I assured him that I would be in this year’s contest. Greg showed off his new board, a Harbour, 9’ 8” epoxy foam, single fin, beveled nose beauty. He claimed that it was strong and light and insisted that I pick it up, which I did, a 9’ 8” board that only weighed 15 pounds. On such a paddling machine, Greg will be impossible to beat.

While driving out of the parking lot, I nearly ran over Don Holm, a Bolinas regular and Kahuna Kupuna contestant. Don had signed up for the contest and he assured me that our other friend John Fordice would be there also.

The above photo was taken on the deck of the Taco Bell that sits on the beach at Linda Mar. I’m not a fan of Taco Bell but their 7-Layer burrito was awfully good, but the main benefit of this establishment was its location. The view from the deck was fabulous: bright sunlight, fog on the horizon, blue sky, surf camp to the south and a hundred surfers spread across the peaks to the north.

As I turned onto the Great Highway on my trip home, the sky was overcast, the fog was drifting in, the chop and the whites caps were still there and no one was out. Linda Mar was definitely the correct decision this morning.

July 18, 2011 Monday

Bolinas	Channel
9:15 am to 11:15 am	Consistent 3', sets to 4', occasional 5'
Low upcoming tide	Slight onshore breeze to no wind
Sunny with high clouds, fog bank on the horizon	Good session

I had no expectations for waves this morning. Stormsurf had predicted that it would be flat all week, and the buoy forecast for San Francisco had ocean swells pegged at three feet for the next five days. This morning's reading was 4 ft at 9 seconds. Only positive was that the 4 ft was a combination of a 2 ft NW swell at 6 seconds and a 2 ft south swell at 14 seconds.

I seriously contemplated going to Linda Mar because the SW breeze would be offshore there. Instead I opted to go to Bolinas to hang out with my friends and if there were no waves I would go for a jog on the beach at Stinson. I put an extra pair of socks and a T-shirt in my bag for jogging. But what a pleasant surprise when I arrived at Bolinas, the waves were decent. Cazadero Cathy, who was suiting up, claimed the waves looked good and that David who rides the Becker board, Jaime the starving artist cartoonist and Frank the stand-up guy were at the Patch. From the base of the ramp I saw them out there. But at the Channel I watched a perfect four-foot wave peel left and no one was out there. One surfer was at the Groin going for the fun shore-break waves.

I walked down to the Groin to take some pictures. As soon as I saw those clean, glassy peaks at the Channel, I knew where I was going. The one surfer at the Groin was Paul and he was having a grand time. Three-foot walls would come through, and Paul would stroke into them late, jump up, cut left, crouch down, grab the outside rail and hang on until the waves broke over him. In the few minutes I was there, I saw him catch at least five such waves. That's him in the above photo locked into a clean small curl. When I paddled out I asked him if he had tried the Channel. He said no because he wanted to work on riding small fast curls. I caught one of those shore-break waves and for a brief second I was locked the curl before the wave closed out in front of me. After that I headed out to the Channel.

Being the only surfer out there I didn't have any reference point on where to line up. I started in the middle of the Channel and worked my way back towards the Groin. The waves were beautiful: fast, clean, left peeling curls, but they were difficult to catch. The flat swells would jump up when they hit the shallow sandbar fold over and collapse. I had a frustrating first hour, by the time I coasted into a wave and stood up the wave had already broken several yards in front of me and the ride was over. Conditions changed in my second hour, the tide came up, increased the water depth and waves began to hold up and became easier to catch. The set waves were more forgiving, meaning they had shape, were flatter on the take-off and allowed for an extra second to jump up and position oneself on the wave, the larger the waves, the better the shape.

I caught one wave that made my whole session. I was sitting outside when a big set came through. I let the first two go by while the others in the water went for them. The third and largest wave was right in front of me. I paddled hard, caught it, jumped up, cut left and hung at the top of the curl. The curl stood up, I turned more into the wave and was nearly parallel to it. Some young surfer started to take off in front of me, I intimidated him by barreling down the line right at him, fortunately he quickly pulled back and I shot by barely missing him. Now I was firmly locked in the curl, standing three-quarters the way up on my board, and I stood there frozen for several yards. Some short-boarder tried to drop in on me; I didn't move, the nose of my board went under his as he hung at the top of the wave. He panicked and backed off and I went on. On and on I cruised until the wave died a few feet from the Groin wall. This ride made my day.

The crowd filled in as the waves improved. At first as was by myself, then another longboarder joined me and he also had difficulty catching the waves. A few minutes later a second longboarder on a classic old board with no booties or leash joined us. This guy knew what he was doing and soon caught several long rides. Next the two guys I nearly ran over on my best wave came out, and David and Rob paddled over from the Patch. Per David, they had used up all the waves at the Patch and decided to move to the Channel. As usual David connected on several set waves. Paddling out I watch Rob come down a well-formed wall. Later, Shu-Shu joined us. I had not seen her in months. She too managed to connect on several good ones.

After two hours my arms were giving out, crowd had picked up, summer surf camp started and soon twenty campers on soft-top boards were going for the small inside waves and having a ball. It was time to go in, besides I wanted to save some of my strength for another day this week. I chatted with Shu-Shu as I walked back to the ramp. With eight-year-old twins who were on summer break, she didn't have much time to surf and was thankful for her good session this morning.

I looked back at the Channel, a perfect peak was peeling in both directions, twenty-five surfers were in the water, the wind had dropped, the surface had glassed off, the sky was blue, a few wisps of fog drifted over hills behind Stinson and a fog bank sat on the horizon preparing to march back in. I thought to myself, "This is it, Bolinas at its best."

July 13, 2011 Wednesday

Bolinas	Patch
9:30 am to 11:00 am	3' to 4', sets to 5'
Mid upcoming tide	Stiff NW cross breeze
Misty drippy fog	Fun session

After yesterday’s good session and with the south swell still running I was anxious to get back to Bolinas. I got up and went to the computer to check the latest conditions and there waiting for me was an email that Mary had forwarded to me. It was from Novato Pete’s daughter Sami with the sad news that Pete had taken his own life. I was stunned. I didn’t know what to say or do. One of our own, one of the tribe that we surfed with everyday had ended it all.

It seemed fitting that Bolinas was shrouded in a blanket of dripping fog when I arrived. Several of the crew were there with sad expressions and words of disbelief: Mary, Jaime the starving artist cartoonist, Jack the Dave Sweet team rider, Ray the Petaluma fireman, and standup guys Frank and Russ. I had no idea that Pete was hurting. Some of the others knew he was going through hard times. But we all agreed that when Pete was in the water he seemed happy, happy to be there, to be out in the elements and to be with us. He was a quiet guy who enjoyed the challenge of the waves and his surfing skills were improving with every session. A couple of months ago he got a new board that he loved and his abilities soared on his new stick. Sami had mentioned in her note that surfing and our friendship had sustained him.

Out in the water Matt paddled over to me, “did you hear the news?”

“Yes, Mary forwarded an email to me.”

“I can’t believe it.”

“Neither can I.”

Jacek the tattoo artist stopped by when paddling back out to the lineup. “Did you hear about Pete?”

“Yes.”

“How sad. I was just getting to know him.”

The surf was good just like I had hoped, but the gloom of the fog and news of Pete put a damper on the morning. One of the positives about surfing is that for a brief hour or two it removes you from your daily cares. Being in the elements with the water and the waves, you have to concentrate on the here and now thus your pressing worries and concerns are temporarily suppressed as you live in the moment of the next wave. As I entered the water my thoughts shifted to the conditions, the peaks, and the incoming waves. The Internet surf predictions were correct: a three-foot seventeen second south swell resulting in three to four foot long line waves at the Patch. The inside rights I enjoyed yesterday were firing this morning. A young short boarder trimmed across one perfect curl after another. He would take off goofy-foot (right-foot forward) with his back to the wave, quickly switch stance to left foot forward to face the wave and walk the nose as the wave stood up, that’s him in the above photo. On my first wave I connected on a good right wave. It was slow but it went on and on until it collapsed onshore in one-foot of water. From then on I managed to stroke into several long lefts and right waves.

Like yesterday Matt had another good session. He too managed to connect on both long rights and lefts. Near the end of my session I was sitting inside when a set came through. Matt was at the peak and stroked into a four-foot wall as it was breaking. He jumped up, cut right and hummed down the face right pass me. I paddled over the wave, looked back and saw Matt crouched down streaking across one of those perfect inside curls. This was just one of several good rides he caught this morning.

Jacek also had a good session. As usual Jacek sat way outside and waited and waited for a big set. His patience paid off; he saw a set coming and positioned himself at the peak. He stroked into a five-foot wave, as did a standup surfer. Jacek was deep in the pocket and streaked along the bottom of the swell as the standup surfer hung at the top of the wave about to drop over the edge. In a flash Jacek went under the standup guy, which spooked him causing him to flop backwards off his board. Jacek calmly continue on cruising down this beautiful wall. Later after a good ride I was standing in chest-high water and watched Jacek catch the wave of the day. He was again way outside and north of the pack when a set came through. Jacek connected on a head-high wall; he smoothly dropped to mid swell, stepped to the middle of the board, stood erect and trimmed across a perfectly formed wave. He headed right for me. The wave stood up, he stepped to the nose and passed within ten feet of me. Here he was on the nose of his Patch specialty board: an eleven-foot, narrow, pintail, no rocker javelin. I continued paddling out. A couple of minutes later I looked for him. He was starting his long paddle back out to the lineup, ten feet from shore and a good two hundred yards down the coast.

After an hour and a half I was exhausted and went in. With the session over the thoughts of the day returned. The waves were fun and I had a good session, but my mind wandered back to Pete as I drove home.

“Pete looked what you missed.”

July 12, Tuesday

Bolinas	Patch
9:00 am to 10:30 am	3' to 4', sets to 5', occasional 5'
Mid upcoming tide	Stiff NW cross breeze
Overcast to patchy sun	Good session

I hadn’t surfed for twenty-five days (since June 16) and was anxious to get back into the water. Why so long? Kate and I took a ten-day trip to Martha’s Vineyard and New York City. We returned on Saturday July 2nd, went to a friend's barbeque on Sunday and stayed home on Monday because it was the Fourth of July holiday. Tuesday July 5th I headed to Bolinas for some waves and to see my friends. I traveled from bright sunshine in Mill Valley to cold on-the-deck fog in Bolinas. No body was at the beach, not even the surf fanatic David who rides the Becker board, conditions were terrible: fog, south wind, four-knot current coming out of the lagoon and a six-inch swell. I didn’t bother going out. These conditions lasted all week.

The stats on the Internet were excellent this morning, 3 ft south swell at 17 seconds, five-knot NW wind and an upcoming tide. All the parking spaces were taken when arrived at Bolinas. David's car was in its normal spot with his board gone. He was in the water that was a good sign. From the seawall with my camera in hand I saw six surfers at the Channel and a much larger crowd spread across the Patch. The south swell was in and both breaks had sizeable waves.

Jaime the starving artist cartoonist and Jack the Dave Sweet team rider had just finished their session. Of course they reported that I had missed it; the waves at the Patch were perfect an hour earlier. They had connected on several head-head bombs at the outside peak that went on forever. But as the tide came up the waves had gone flat, infrequent and difficult to catch.

I walked down to the Groin for a closer look. The set waves were slightly over-head, steep vertical walls that peeled left. The six surfers out there had trouble making them. They would drop down these steep faces and then the waves would bury them in a ton of white water. The exception was Josh the Bolinas fisherman. I saw him catch three great waves. Josh rides the waves on his knees and thus doesn't lose any time or momentum standing up. He would stroke into a peak, quickly jump to his knees, lock the inside rail under the lip of the curl and shoot down the line. That's him in the above photo on a good one.

Since I hadn't surfed in awhile I decided to go for the mellow waves at the Patch. While walking to the break with my board in hand I met Hank and Dan exiting the water. Hank assured me that there were still some waves left. I asked them where they went, inside or outside. All over they said, conditions would change and they would move with the changes.

From the shore I watched one skilled, tall, thin young surfer hang five, yes a real five toes over the nose, on a three-foot inside curl. Within a few minutes he repeated this feat and continued repeating it all morning. Wow I would try for that. My strategy was to sit inside, within the foam of previous waves and go for the inside rights. My strategy worked. On my first wave I watched two guys way outside paddle for it and miss it. The swell kept coming and building. I went for it as it was feathering at the top, glided into it, turned right, stepped to the middle of the board and trimmed down a long well-formed curl. What a good start to my session. The skilled young surfer and his buddy dominated the peak, but they shared the waves with the rest of us.

Though the bottom was causing the waves to break right, I did connect on one good left. The incoming swell stretched across the impact zone and was cresting. I stoked into it as it was breaking, jumped up, turned left, dropped down a head-high face, and leaned into the wave at the bottom. I could see the swell forming in front of me, if I only could get under the white water and back into the curl. I stood just behind the center of my board, the wave was breaking over the nose, and I sped along the bottom just behind the breaking curl. On and on I went. I finally managed to climb back into the swell. I stepped to the middle of the board and sped through a long inside section until the wave finally died near shore. I had traveled a long ways and ended up in sand north of the Patch reef. It was a long paddle back to the line-up but what a great wave.

Matt was out at the furthest peak and when the sets came through he would connect. I could tell it was him by his unique style. While paddling out I noticed that Matt had moved further out and to the north to be by himself. The next time I saw him he was crouched down screaming across an inside curl north of the Patch reef. Matt later exclaimed that he had a great session. Lucky for him, he was between projects at work. What perfect timing, a good south swell arrived between job assignments.

A stand-up surfer, who I had never seen before, had an outstanding session. He caught everything and milked them all the way to shore. He would be the furthest guy out waiting for the big sets. Time and time again, he would stroke into a set wave, fade left to let the wave build up, swing right into a well-formed wall and then cruise on and on until the wave crashed onshore. Near the end of my session I was sitting on the inside peak trying for the fast peeling rights of the shore break. Several times I saw this guy come blazing by on his big stand-up board riding it like a shortboard. He even hung five a couple of times. He was out there when I entered the water and was he was still there when I left. After my session I changed, went into town for a coffee, returned to the seawall for one last look at the waves. This guy was still there and still screaming down the fast shore break curls on his big stand-up board.

After an hour and a half, the wind was picking up and my arms were spent, time to go in. I caught a good right that I worked into the shore break. I looked around to watch a shortboarder come down another perfect shore break curl. I couldn't stop yet; I had to go for one more. I paddled back out and caught two more great inside curls. What a perfect way to end a good session.

Boy, did it feel great to be back in the water.