August 30, 2011 Tuesday

Bolinas	Channel
9:00 am to 10:30 am	1' to 3', sets to 3.5'
Mid upcoming tide	Stiff onshore breeze - south wind
Overcast	Fun session

I was determined to go out this morning. Barbara was coming to do her cleaning thus I had to get out of the house, plus I was meeting with a couple of work friends for lunch at 12:30. I could squeeze in a normal session, be out of the water by 10:30 and on the road by eleven to connect with my friends. I was on a roll with several recent surf sessions, I had just come off two good outings this past weekend at Surfers' Point in Ventura, my conditioning had improved and I wanted to keep momentum going. Also, a big south swell was on its way, all the Internet sites predicted the swell would arrive tomorrow; maybe the first remnants of it were in this morning. But the early buoy readings were not good: 6 ft NW swell at 7 seconds and no south swell.

Only David who rides the Becker board and Ray the Petaluma fireman were in the water when I arrived at Bolinas. The parking lot was nearly empty. They were on the Seadrift side of the Channel going for the small fast peeling rights that were breaking in one foot of water. A south wind was blowing and the surface was on the verge to turning to white caps. It didn't look inviting.

Jeff the Bolinas local was standing on the seawall at the base of the ramp checking out the surf. I asked him if he was going to go out.

"Look there's a rideable left," I said. "With the tide coming up, it will get better."

"Where's that swell I keep hearing about?"

"It's supposed to arrive tomorrow."

"And it will be here for a few days, right?"

"Yes, like through the weekend."

I took a few photos at the Groin where the birds were more interesting than the surf - the above seagull struggled trying to consume a small starfish. When walking back to the car to suit up, here came Jeff, wetsuit on and carrying two boards, a longboard and a shortboard.

"So you're bringing your quiver," I commented referring to his two boards.

"No I have more boards," he paused, thought and began counting on his fingers. "I have twelve, no fourteen. That's right, I have fourteen boards. You never have enough," and off he headed to the beach.

Out in the water, Jeff patiently sat at the apex of the Channel peak on his longboard. While paddling out I watched him skillfully come down a well-formed three-foot curl. He caught several more good ones and then disappeared. I assumed that he was having a short session. No way, ten minutes later he was back out at the far peak on his shortboard. He managed to connect on several more good waves on this board, despite the flat longboard type waves.

Rob was also out in the water. He stuck to the inside and north of the rest of us. Several times I watched him cruise across these small walls, crouched down holding onto the outside rail. David had moved over to the Channel peak while Ray remained on the Seadrift side. David as usual caught wave after wave. He had a good sense of where the peaks were. He sat further inside but closer to us than Rob. David managed to catch one wave of every set. Jeff and I sat out at the furthest peak waiting for the sets. This strategy worked. The waves were better than they looked. They were "soft" as Hank would say - meaning flat on the take-off - giving us ample time to get up and into the wave. I connected on several nice, smooth left curls.

For an hour the four of us had the waves to ourselves. Later on a couple more surfers came out, but we had already soaked up the best of it. The wind picked up, the tide kept coming in, the water depth increased and the waves died - time to go in. From the beach David and I noticed that the peak had moved in. When we went out the peak was a good fifty yards out from the Groin pole. When we exited the water, the peak was even with the pole.

The water was warm, the sun had broken through the cloud cover and we had connected on some fun waves. Yes it was worth it.

August 28, 2011 Sunday

Ventura	Surfers' Point
7:00 am to 8:00 am	3' to 4', sets to 5'
Mid upcoming tide	Slight onshore breeze
On the deck fog to patchy sun	Fun session

Surfrider Foundation California Conference

I had one brief hour to get in some waves before the conference started. At 6:15 am I was on the strand in front of the Crown Plaza Hotel with my camera in hand checking out the surf at Surfers' Point in Ventura. It was still dark and a low on the deck fog blotted out the waves, it was too dark to take photos. Through the fog I watched the silhouette of a woman longboarder cruise down a nice four-foot wave. The waves had picked up from yesterday - I had to go out.

Yesterday was wind slop - two to three-foot bumpy, short-ride waves. Friday Scott, the chairman of Surfrider Foundation Marin, and I drove 350 miles to Ventura listening to constant "tap-tap-tap" of the strap of my board bag beating on the roof of my car. After that ordeal, I was determined to put my board in the water.

We came to attend the Surfrider Foundation California Conference, a gathering of all the Surfrider chapters in the state. The conference was held in the Crown Plaza Hotel that is located on the water at the end of California Street, next to Ventura's famed C Street. What a perfect venue for a Surfrider conference. There was nothing special about the hotel; it had all the amenities for a successful conference - a large conference hall, decent rooms with good views, and passable restaurant and bar. The hotel's main attraction was its location - just steps away from Surfers' Point, an excellent point break that receives all swells.

The fog lifted while I suited up, the sun came out and being Sunday so did the crowd. Twenty surfers were bunched around the first peak closest to the hotel, but most of them were attendees of the conference that I had met yesterday. Tony from Huntington Beach was out there. Tony was about my age and has lived in Huntington Beach all his life. We had a great discussion last night at the Surfrider social reminiscing about Tin Can Beach - the deserted stretch of beach between Seal Beach and Huntington Beach where anyone could camp. The state has since cleaned it up and renamed it Bolsa Chica (small bag) State Beach. I paddled out and said hello to Alan from the San Luis Obispo chapter. Alan runs his chapter's website. I quickly caught a long right wave and knew I was in for a good session. In that short hour, besides jockeying around the other surfers I managed to drop into a head-high right and later locked into a good left curl. I pushed it to the limits, waiting to the last minute to get out of the water, get changed, shower and grab some coffee and a bowl of granola before the conference started.

While sitting outside between sets I looked at the far point to see the results of the City of Ventura's beach restoration project. The highlight and main take-away of this conference was Ventura's reclaiming of its beach. In 1989 the city built a bike path and parking lot along the coast using giant boulders and concrete rip-rap. In 1992 the popular bike path was destroyed by a giant storm, extreme high tide and pounding waves. The city fathers were ready to bring in tons of rock to build a two-mile seawall to rebuild the bike path and to block the impact of erosion. In stepped Surfrider Foundation and others civil groups to propose alternatives. The local Surfrider chapter formed over this issue.

Fortunately Paul Jenkins, a young civil engineer, surfer and Surfrider member, took up this cause. He presented a history of the restoration and conducted a tour of the restored areas for the attendees of the conference.

"To me, the answer to this problem is simple." Paul recounted his first conversation with the city fathers in 1993. "All you have to do is tear down that Matillja Dam and let the Ventura River restore the natural sand to the beach." The Matillja Dam, which was build in the 1930's, sits seven miles up the Ojai Valley and prevents the water flow and silt of the Ventura River from running down to the sea. The ocean continuously ate away at the coast and with no new sand moving in, all the beach sand was removed. The seas then began eroding the land. Through the persistent work by Paul, Surfrider and other concerned citizens, a new approach was forged and after seventeen years of effort they completed the first phase last month.

The restoration project took a "managed retreat" approach to move all human structures away from the coast and let the natural forces run their course. They pushed back the bike path and parking lot 65 feet. In the process they removed all the surface asphalt and the underneath rocks and rip-rap, graded the whole area to a depth of eight feet and filled it with small cobblestones and covered them with tons of fresh sand. This created a natural barrier to the ocean. Erosion eats away at the sand and cobblestone instead of sandstone cliffs. The next phase will take down the dam and let the slit return to the beach. Over a three-year period, they will slowly remove pieces of the dam to gradually release the years of silt that had accumulated behind the dam.

The Ventura Beach Restoration has become of model on how to do it. For example, San Francisco has an erosion problem at the south end of Ocean Beach at Sloat Avenue. One lane of the Great Highway has washed away and a nearby sanitary pumping station is threatened. The public works department requested "an emergency" permit from the Coastal Commission to dump several tons of boulders on the affected area. The Commission denied their request and insisted they come up with a long-term solution. Surfrider, other stakeholders and the city have formed a committee to draft a master plan to deal with the erosion situation. Surfrider is proposing a form of managed retreat. We'll have to watch this one closely.

August 24, 2011 Wednesday

Pacifica	Linda Mar - out front
8:30 am to 10:00 am	3' to 4', occasional 5'
High upcoming tide	No wind
Overcast to sunny	Fun session

After our session Hank and I had a coffee at Starbucks and discussed things in general. Hank had a fun session. He called the waves "soft" and I called them flat on the take-offs. There was a channel north of the "Pump House" (a new term we heard today from a local for the main bathrooms and showers. In this building behind the restrooms are some gigantic pumps used to push drainage water out to the ocean). We agreed that the channel shaped the waves; it forced all the waves to break to the left.

Commenting on his good session, Hank said he could take off, turn left and if on a good one, he could stay in the curl all the way to the beach. Near the end of our session I had drifted to the south end of the peak while Hank remained at the north end on the edge of the channel. Within a few minutes Hank connected on five good ones. He would pull out near the shore, paddle through the channel back to the line-up and be greeted by another good wave. He would immediately turn around and stroke into the next one. The second of these five was his best ride this morning. He hummed down a long four-foot curl all the way to the sand.

All the elements had come together this morning at Linda Mar: clean three to four foot peaks, no wind, glassy smooth surface, warm and crystal clear water, and an upcoming tide. Only negative was the crowd. The parking lot was nearly full when I pulled in at 7:45. The word was out on the Internet - Ocean Beach was choppy from strong onshore winds creating poor conditions, thus the OB crowd had moved to Linda Mar.

Hank commented that the channel we enjoyed this morning was often there. We speculated that maybe the drainage pumps were digging it out. However, most likely the pumps are located near the natural drainage of the canyon that extends from the hills behind Pacifica to several hundred yards out into the bay. Similar to the holes at Stinson Beach, the Linda Mar channel is permanently there and the movement of the sand determines the channel's impact on the waves.

My son Kevin's work schedules allows him to get in a brief surf session on Wednesdays. We agreed to meet at Linda Mar at 8:00. Last Wednesday we met here and the surf was terrible. But this morning we scored. To my surprise while waiting for Kevin, Hank pulled in. The three of us suited up and headed for the peak on the south side of the channel.

In his forty-five minute session Kevin connected on some good waves. As I paddled over a set wave, Kevin quickly turned and stroked into it. From behind, I watched him cruise just ahead of the breaking curl for several yards. On and on he went pulling out as the wave collapsed on the shore. Kevin repeated this on at lease three more waves.

The crowd was a problem as it always is at Linda Mar. When I arrived there were two groupings - one south of the channel going for the lefts and the other on the north edge going for the rights. Our strategy was to paddle out through the channel and head for the north peak because there were fewer people there. By the time we stroked out there the crowd at the north peak had disappeared, reason: the north peak had disappeared. So we drifted over to the south peak and within a few minutes all three of us had scored on decent left waves, thus we decided to stay at the crowded south peak.

My crowd strategy was to sit way outside and go only for the set waves, that way I could claim right-of-way. My strategy sort of worked. Two other surfers, who were good, had the same strategy. I was constantly jockeying around them. On my best wave of the morning I terrorized two others. On a set wave, I jumped up, cut left and hung at the top of the wave. A shortboarder was taking off in front of me. I leaned into the curl, dropped half way down the face and drove the nose of my board under the nose of the his board as he hung at the top of the wave. Seeing me, he quickly pulled back and I shot by him. A moment later a girl took off in front of me and was cruising down the shoulder. I was high in the curl barreling down on her. I pulled up next to her and tapped her rail with mine to let her know I was there. I then briefly stalled allowing her to pull out of the wave. I then cut back and dropped into the shore break and hummed across one more section before the wave closed out on shore.

At Pacifica, the south and west winds pushed the cloud cover out to sea allowing the sun to break through and to turn up the heat. Finally it felt like summer and it felt good.

August 18, 2011 Thursday

Bolinas	Channel
9:30 am to 11:00 am	3' to 4', sets to 5'
Low upcoming tide	Stiff onshore wind
Overcast	Fun session

We were into several days of strong south swells. The weather guys on the local TV stations had mentioned due to "strong storms in the south" there would be a week of long-period south swells.

Yesterday the Internet sites reported a 3 ft south swell at 17 seconds and mild NW winds - perfect for Bolinas. But I had made plans with son Kevin to meet at Linda Mar for a before work surf session. Linda Mar is a north facing beach that breaks best at high tide with north swells - south swells don't get in there. Yesterday Pacifica was terrible: low tide, stiff onshore wind, crumbly two-foot walls and twenty surfers bunched together at the one and only peak. While I sat there waiting for Kevin, I kept thinking that Bolinas must be good. Kevin arrived and we immediately decided to head south to find better waves. Montara was the same story - blown out small walls. We headed further south to Kelly Ave in Half Moon Bay - it wasn't any better. We ended up having breakfast at a good family-run coffee bar "Get In Here" in downtown Half Moon Bay. An email from Marty that afternoon confirmed that Bolinas was great and I had missed it.

The south swell was still pumping this morning (3 ft at 16 seconds) and I wasn't going to miss it. The crew was in the water when I arrived at Bolinas. Jaime the starving artist cartoonist and DB the Safeway checker were out at the Patch. Eight surfers were bunched together at the Channel, including David who rides the Becker board, Marty and Matt. The waves looked good - three to four feet fast peeling lefts, maybe a little too fast due to the low tide. But I knew the waves would improve as the tide came up, thus I decided head to the Channel.

The south wind had picked up and had put a texture on the water when I paddled out but the waves still looked good. I saw Marty drop down a good wave, chatted briefly with Matt and then paddled out to the far peak to join David, who said hello and then took off on a fast three-foot peak. The waves were difficult to catch. The swells would jump up when they hit the shallow sand bar. On my first wave I came down a slow left that was gradually building, then it went vertical and sucked out in one foot of water and sent me flying.

Given my good session last Monday, my strategy was to take off when the swell was still flat, be up and going to drop over the edge when the waves jumped up. So I paddled out to the furthest peak at the Channel, sat outside and waited for the set waves. This strategy worked and I managed to connect on several fast-peeling waves.

One wave made my whole session. The crowd was an issue - ten of us were bunched together at one peak. I saw in the distance that a big set was approaching and I paddled out to meet it. I was thinking I would go for the third wave of the set. Let the crowd scratch and fight over the first two and leave the third one for me. I paddled further out, a four-foot wall was in front of me, and no one else had followed me out, and I found myself alone as the first wave of the set began to crest. I could tell by the drawing out of the water that this wave had some power. It also consisted of a wind swell on top of a ground swell and was definitely pointing left. "I'll go for it." I turned and dug hard. Everyone else was a good ten to twenty yards inside of me and was frantically paddling out. I stroked into the wind swell, that gave me a moment to get up and angle left before dropping over the edge of the ground swell. Down a vertical face I went, I drove under some white water sliding down from the top and climbed back into the swell. I stepped to the middle of the board, stretched out my lead foot (right foot) to gain some speed, shot through the first section, shifted my weight to my back foot to stall just an instant and then leaned into the curl to shoot through the second section. The curl kept unfolding in front of me and I worked up and down the face to stay in the wave. On and on I went until the wave finally closed out near the Groin pole.

While paddling out I watched Rob from Dogtown cut down a fast inside curl. Last Monday, I saw him do this twice - both were nice long rides with him firmly locked in the curls. Today Rob was on his new board, which he showed to me before we entered the water. He had just picked it up Tuesday, rode it yesterday at the Patch and was extremely pleased. It was a John Moore Mystic 9' 6" pintail with a beautiful yellow finish. He claimed that he could catch more waves with this board than on his old ten-foot board, and he was anxious to see how it performs in the curls at the Groin. Now he knows, and so do I; it performed beautifully in today's fast peeling waves.

After an hour and a half the waves were becoming flat due to the incoming tide, the crowd had swelled and the surf-campers were entering the water. Time to go, but what a fun session.

August 15, 2011 Monday

Bolinas	Channel
9:00 am to 11:00 am	2' to 3', sets to 4'
Low upcoming tide	Slight onshore breeze to no wind
Sunny & warm with wisps of high fog	Good session

Bolinas at its best: sunny, warm water, no wind, small mellow crowd, up coming tide and consistent fast peeling left curls. Everybody connected on several good rides.

The tide had just turned when I arrived at Bolinas this morning. Dexter the Bolinas local, Jacek the tattoo artist, Hans and I were at the seawall checking the surf. Mary and Russ the stand-up guy were at the Patch going for the mellow waves (that's Surf Journal speak for flat and slow). Mary caught a good one. She took off just past the exposed outside rock and faded left. I could tell she wanted to let the wave build up and then swing to the right. However, the right never formed, the wave kept building to the left, and Mary skillfully stayed in the left curl for several yards - it turned out to be a good long left wave. That's Mary on this wave in the above photo. Russ also caught a long ride by taking off just past the outside rock.

Three surfers were on the Seadrift side of the Channel going for the rights, including David who rides the Becker board. The Groin was too shallow - fast peeling lefts breaking in one foot of water. I watched a couple of sets come through that were rideable. I had no doubt that with the tide coming up the waves would improve.

Jacek decided to join the three on the Seadrift side, Hans decided to join Mary and Russ at the Patch and Dexter and I went for the lefts on the Groin side of the Channel. Thirty minutes later all of us were at the Groin going for the lefts. The upcoming tide killed the waves at the Patch, so Hans paddled over to the Channel to join Dexter and me. Jacek slowly drifted over from the Seadrift side to sit at the apex of the left peak at the Channel.

At first the lefts were breaking too fast. In my first two waves by the time I stood up the rides were over. I would be at the bottom of the waves stuck in white water watching perfectly peeling curls breaking off ten yards in front of me. To save time and momentum I would remain prone or jump up to my knees. I executed my Josh the Bolinas fisherman imitation. Josh rides on his knees and is good at it. He can lock into the curls and get barreled. I finally connected on a good one. I stroked into a nice shaped curl, jumped up to my knees, cut left, leaned on my hands to put my weight forward and cruised through the initial section. Once back out on the shoulder I jumped to my feet and sailed down another nice section.

Dexter had a similar technique. Again to save time and not to lose momentum, he would jump up into a squat about two feet from the tailblock, grab the outside rail and hang on through the first section until he was back into the swell and then he would jump up to his feet. One time Dexter and I took off on the same wave. I was a good twenty feet to the south of him. I stroked into the wave, jumped to my knees, cut left, but did not make it through the section. I stayed on my knees, leaned into the white water hoping to work back into the swell. From that position, I had a perfect view of Dexter locked in the curl. He was in a deep one-knee squat in the back quarter of his board with his back to the wave and the lip of the curl slapping his right shoulder. On and on he went in that position shooting across the bottom of the wave until it finally collapsed in a wall of water in front of him. A few minutes later I saw him do it again. I was standing in waist deep water after a good ride when Dexter took off on a four-foot wave. Again he jumped up into a squat, grabbed the outside rail and streaked along the bottom of the wave never quite climbing back into the swell. On the inside when the wave ran into deeper water, Dexter jumped to his feet to finish the ride.

Jacek and David also connected on several good waves. I saw Jacek streak down a good four-footer from the back. His head peeked about the fast breaking curl as he cruised on and on to the inside near the Groin pole. A set wave came through and I paddled over it as David stroked into it. Once over the wave, I looked back to see David from the waist up moving across the swell. As he went, he picked up speed as the back of the wave became more vertical. He flew on until the wave hit the deep water in front of the Groin pole.

Rob from Dogtown was back out in the water. He sat out last week due to a pulled groin muscle from playing tennis. This was a warning to all us surfers, tennis can be dangerous to your surfing health, don't do it. He told me he had gone out a couple of times and each time his leg felt better. From what I saw Rob was back to 100%. He sat north and inside to distance himself from the crowd. Twice while paddling back out to the line-up, I saw Rob locked in the curls, his back to the waves, streaking just ahead of two fast breaking curls. Those rides looked so good I decided to join Rob at the end of my session and managed to a catch a couple of similar waves.

Mary had paddled back out with her waterproof camera strapped to her arm. Of course I vainly thought she was out there to take pictures of us. No way. She was working on a new art piece and was taking photos of the surface for texture and color.

As the tide continued coming in the waves flattened out, the onshore wind picked up, the surf campers entered the water and David reminded that it was lunch time, thus it was time to go in.

"Just another beautiful morning in Marin," David said imitating a common ending sentence of the Surf Journal.

"And it was Bolinas at its best," I added.

August 10, 2011 Wednesday

Pacifica	Linda Mar - out front of the Pump House
8:30 am to 9:15 am	4' to 5', sets overhead
Mid upcoming tide	Offshore breeze to stiff NW cross wind
Patchy sun with a fog bank on the horizon	Frustrating session

My frustration was mounting and I was determined to catch one of the big ones this morning. A large set wave with a definite right angle was cresting in front of me. I turned and dug hard to catch it but didn't quite get into it. I felt the wave pick me up, I looked over the edge and the nose of my board was out of the water hanging at the top of the wave, when suddenly out of no whereas my son Kevin came across the wave under me. I was hanging at top a good two feet above him as he shot by me. He sailed on for several yards locked in the curl of a fast breaking wave. It was a beautiful sight looking down on Kevin as he sailed by with the bright sun reflecting off the water and spray from an offshore breeze blowing into my face.

Watching Kevin on that wave was the highlight of this morning's frustrating session. We were at Linda Mar in front of the Pump House for a brief before work session. The tide was still on the low side, the waves were a consistent four to five feet with sets overhead (6' to 8') and walled. In the forty-five minutes we were out there I only caught three waves. I dropped down a head-head left, hung on as it broke in front of me, tried to push back into the swell as the wave began to reform, but it quickly died in the deep water channel north of the Pump House. I stroked into a big right wave, dropped down the face, briefly hung in the curl as the wave closed out in front of me. After paddling around for a long time trying to position for a rideable wave, I stroked into a big wall, jumped up in time for the vertical, straight-down elevator ride to the bottom. I bounced around as I rode out the white water to the shore.

After the practice sessions I had recently and riding the rough waves during the Kahuna Kupuna contest, I thought I was ready to handle the big Linda Mar walls. I certainly have the skill to catch them, drop down the face and to straighten out. This session was going to be my morning to conquer the big walls. But it didn't happen. Seeing those huge walls of water that stretched for one end of the beach to the other, I just couldn't do it. I froze. Call it age, call it caution or call it plain old fear, I couldn't muster the courage to throw myself into those waves. I spent most of my session scratching over the outside sets and then moving back in to connect with the smaller waves. One of these days, maybe when conditions are better, I'm going to drop down those big Linda Mar walls.

Despite our frustrations, Kevin and I were glad we went out and planned to meet here again next Wednesday.

August 8, 2011 Monday

Tribute to Novato Pete

On July 12th, Novato Pete left us. His death shocked all of us. One of regulars, one of the tribe, one who loved the waves, was gone. As a tribute to our companion and friend, below are references to Pete from the Lorenzo's Surf Journal. Thanks to Russ the stand-up guy for the above photo of Pete at the Patch.

January 7, 2011 Monday
I saw Jeff from Mill Valley connect on a fast four-foot curl at Robinson’s Reef. That looked inviting. I met Creighton toweling off as I walked back to my car. He had a great session at the Groin, lots of fast curls. I passed Doug as he poured warm water, which he had brought from home, over his head. He too reported that the Groin was great. After suiting up and walking to the beach, I met Novato Pete who had a good session at the Patch. I chatted with Russ who had a good standup board session at the Patch. Mary walked up and stated that the waves were good everywhere and that I couldn’t go wrong no matter where I went.

February 11, 2011 Friday
Judging from the cars Mary, Novato Pete and stand-up regulars Frank and Russ must be in the water… I walked down to the Patch to take some pictures. Mary and Pete were sitting inside. Rocks were beginning to peek above the water. With the tide going out, soon all the rocks would be exposed. The waves looked small and weak, but Mary caught three nice inside curls in the ten minutes that I was standing there…Just my luck, while suiting up the wind picked up and all my friends came in. I passed Randy on my way to the Patch. On my way out Mary and Pete caught waves and paddled in.

February 23, 2011 Wednesday
“It must be flat for all of you to be standing around,” I greeted Jacek the tattoo artist, Jeff from Mill Valley, Novato Pete and Mary.

“There’s not much there,” said Pete. “Maybe when the tide turns.” David with wetsuit on and board in hand walked by and announced he was going for it. Pete and Jacek went to check out the waves and Jeff and Mary continued practicing strumming techniques on their ukuleles.

“Well are you going to do it?” I asked Jacek and Pete when they returned. “There are a couple of waves out there. I’m going,” Pete said. Jacek decided to pass… The waves were tiny and with all of us bunched together at the only peak, we constituted a crowd. There was David, Jeff, Mary, Novato Pete and stand-up guys Frank and Russ.

Pete got the best ride this morning. He was at the apex of the Channel peak when a good set wave came through. He stroked into it, angled left, locked the rail under the lip of the curl, crouched down in the middle of the board and cruised a long ways before the wave finally closed out on the inside in front of the Groin wall. A few moments later while paddling out, I saw Pete do it again on his next wave. Pete was riding his brand new Johnny Rice longboard. He showed it off to us back at the cars. It was beautiful: 9’ 4” in length, three stingers, one single large fin, wide in the nose and 3 1/8 inches thick. Pete’s previous board was 8’ 6” and now on this longer paddling machine he was catching everything he tried for. Pete loved it.

March 14, 2011 Monday
Six surfers were out at the Patch including Bolinas regulars Marty, Novato Pete, Hans and standup guys Frank and Russ. The Patch was smaller than the Channel, mellow and low keyed…I paddled out to join Marty and Pete…Pete moved around from peak to peak with some success but ended up with Marty and I at the outside rock…Pete, Marty and I had this peak ourselves. For an hour we shared the waves and hooted each time one of us dropped down a well-formed peak. I felt great being out in the water again, connecting with a couple of waves and conversing with my friends. It was just another beautiful morning in Marin.

May 18, 2011 Wednesday
The south swell had arrived; well-formed three-foot waves were peeling at a peak between the Channel and the Groin. Jacek, David who rides the Becker board and Novato Pete were out there… I paddled out to the line-up and saw some nice looking peaks coming through…In the short time I was out there, the others connected on some good waves…Next time I was paddling back out to the line-up, I saw Pete drop down the face of a four-foot wall with his back to the wave, crouched down on one knee on the back half of the board, holding the outside rail, screaming along just ahead of a fast breaking left curl.

August 8, 2011 Monday
That image of him streaking down the line was forever implanted in my mind. That is how I remember him.

Rest in peace Novato Pete.

August 6, 2011 Saturday

Pacifica	Linda Mar - north of the Pump House
10:30 am to 11:00 am	3' to 4', sets overhead
Low tide	Stiff onshore wind
Patchy sun with a fog bank on the horizon	Frustrating session

Kahuna Kupuna Surf Contest

"Greg, look over there to the left, it's low tide and we could almost walk out to the waves," I said to Greg Cochran pointing to a stretch of sand out that extended out to the breakers as we waited to enter the water for our heat in the Kahuna Kupuna contest.

"No, don't do that, you'll get killed over there. The channel is over there to the right. We have been going out there all week." Linda Mar is Greg's local break, he surfs here everyday and knows the break. Who was I to question his advice?

The horn blew and we hustled into the water to paddle out to the line-up. I followed Greg, and he was right, we easily made it out through the rough breakers. Once outside we waited for the next horn to start our heat. This was my second time entering this contest and the same five guys that were in the "Legends Division" (65 - 69 yrs) last year had returned: Greg Cochran, Jack Ellis (the Dave Sweet team rider), John Fordyce, Gary Silberstein and myself. The surf was terrible, if it wasn't for this contest I would never had gone out - low tide, stiff onshore wind, chop everywhere, consistent three to four foot walls with sets overhead. The contest was a sprint; we had fifteen minutes to catch three waves.

The horn blew to start out heat. From that point on, I was so focused on catching waves I didn't notice what was happening to the others. I didn't hesitate and paddled for everything that was catchable. I missed my first two attempts. Then I stroked into a sizeable wall and dropped down the face of a head-head right, the wave began to line-up, for a brief moment I thought I was into a good wave, but I was over anxious, nervous and slipped off the back of the board. I scrambled to get back onto my board to paddle through an incoming set of waves. I paddled over the first one and was greeted by a massive wall that was breaking in front of me. Just my luck, caught inside. I rolled to get under the torrent of white water coming at me. The force of the wave ripped the board out of hands and push me down into its washing-machine turbulence. I felt my leash go taut and pull on my ankle. Thank goodness for leashes.

I struggled to surface, grabbed the leash and reeled in my board. I wrapped my arm around my board and turned towards the incoming waves. There was Jack dropping down the face of a head-high wave coming right at me. That's him in the above photo. Look at it closely. Jack skillfully threaded the needle between John and me. That's John in the orange jersey on the left struggling to get back out and I am on the right in the green jersey.

Once back outside, I paddled around for what seemed to be forever to position myself for another wave. I finally caught a left wall, dropped down the face and the wave collapsed in front me. I rode the white water hoping the wave would reform, it didn't and I pulled out near shore. The horn sounded signifying five minutes left. Now I was trapped in a hole where the current was pushing me in. I fought hard but could not get back outside. With little time left, I turned and caught the white water of a huge wall the crashed ten yards in front of me. I worked the white water to the shore. The horn blew ending our heat. At least I had caught three waves. I walked up the steep bank of sand feeling disappointed in my performance. Like last year, I had such hope of doing well, but as it turned out, I was lucky to catch three waves.

"Loren, I think Jack won!" Jaime the starving artist cartoonist excitedly exclaimed to me. "He caught more waves and bigger waves than Greg." Jaime and his wife had traveled to Linda Mar complete with beach towels, blankets and beach chairs to watch us compete. I had no idea how the others had done. Greg was favored having won it several times before and because he's excellent surfer.

"Loren, I think I won," Jack stated when he walked up to greet Jaime and me. Jack was feeling good about his performance. "And I hit Greg out there." Coming down another wall as Greg was paddling out, Jack was heading right at him, Greg had to bail out and Jack ran into his board. Both boards ended up with dings - in their new boards, Greg's favorite 9' 6" Harbour and Jack's new Bluecoil board.

All five of us felt good for having competed and vowed to do it again next year. The results were announced that night at the contest dinner, which I didn't go to but Jack did. The next day I received an email from Jack announcing the results: Jack 1st, Greg 2nd, me 3rd, John 4th and Gary 5th.

Thanks to Jaime for taking pictures with my camera during our heat. Below is a link to my photos. A professional photographer, Debbie Durham Cissna took pictures of all the heats. Check out her photos via the second link below. The photos of our heat are 108 to 115.

When you look at all the photos, there's no doubt that Jack won. He caught and skillfully cruised down four sizeable walls of water. I'm determined to try again next year and I'm going to follow Jack's lead. This year, Jack spent Friday at the Beach House hotel that is located across the street of the north end of Linda Mar. At 7:45 am in the morning he was in the water catching a few waves to tune up for the contest. That's what I'm going to do. By riding some waves before my heat I will get a feel for conditions and more importantly run off some nervous energy and be more relaxed for my heat.

Just wait until next year.

Lorenzo's photos

Debbie's photos

August 3, 2011 Wednesday

Pacifica	Linda Mar - out front
8:00 am to 9:00 am	Consistent 4', sets overhead
Low tide (8:40 am)	Stiff west cross wind
Patchy sun with a fog bank on the horizon	Frustrating session

Humbled! I only caught three waves in one hour. This was suppose to be my final tune-up for the Kahuna Kupuna Surf Contest this coming Saturday. The contest rules called for at lease three rides in fifteen minutes. By this morning's performance I would be skunked.

I had made arrangements to meet son Kevin here for a before work session for him and contest practice for me. If I wasn't in this contest I would have never gone out - the surf was terrible. Kevin and I were discouraged watching wall after closed-out low-tide wall crash on the beach. Kevin suggested going to Montara; he had two good sessions there last week. No, I was here to practice for the contest. I don't get to choose the time of day, tide or peak; the contest officials decide that. The contest runs the entire day, thus I could be surfing at low tide with strong onshore winds and chop. I had to be prepared for anything. So we stayed here and headed out for a short one-hour session.

At 7:20 am I arrived at Linda Mar and only one surfer was out front and conditions looked bad. I grabbed my camera and headed towards the south end. Three surfers and a boogie-boarder were at a peak just past the Taco Bell. The surfers were beginners and didn't catch anything. The boogie-boarder knew what he was doing and connected on one steep curl after another. That's him in the above photo.

Kevin arrived and we suited up and headed out front. Then the frustration started. I walked out as far as I could then a big set came in. Linda Mar has the unique feature of multi-wave sets - like ten or more in a row. I stood there holding the nose of my board and pushing through wave after wave. A lull finally came and I quickly paddled out to join Kevin.

I watched Kevin sail down a head-high wall for a brief second before the wave detonated around him. I tried for several waves and missed them all. They were deceptive and difficult to catch. They would crest and start to feather at the top but would just keep coming and building. I knew I had to take off late, right when the wave was breaking. Easier said than done. I would stare at these walls that stretched across the entire impact zone. It's tough to build up the courage to stroke into an obvious wall that offers no direction - the only direction was straight off. I finally caught one - a head-high left. I dropped down the face, cut left, rode for a brief second and straightened out as the wave collapsed around me.

Kevin and I drifted inside to catch the smaller waves, risking being caught inside when the big sets came. On my second wave I was inside and an outside set came through. The first wave was big but the second wave was bigger, and I knew I could never make it over the second one. I turned around quickly and dug hard to catch the first one. I felt the wave lift me up, I turned right, skimmed across the top of the wave for several feet until it started to break in front of me, I turned to straighten out and hung on through a vertical-elevator drop down an over-head wave. I made it, and I survived.

I scratched into one more wave, which was similar to my first one. By now it was time for Kevin to head off to work and I went in with him. As Kevin changed into his Silicon Valley business casual attire, Hank pulled into the parking lot. He jumped out, said hello and then waved to David who rides the Becker board as he headed with board in hand for the water. Hank said that Bolinas was awful due to strong south winds, chop and fog. He couldn't believe how sunny it was at Linda Mar. After changing I walked down the beach to watch Hank and David. They too were into frustrating sessions - having difficulty catching the waves and dropping straight down big walls when they did catch one. Now I didn't feel so bad. All of us Bolinas guys struggle with those huge Linda Mar walls.

I set down the details of this session while having breakfast at Denny's across the street from the beach. Denny's ultimate skillet breakfast of two eggs and roasted vegetables was healthy and filling. What a good way to end a frustrating session.

August 1, 2011 Monday

Bolinas	Channel & Groin
9:15 am to 10:45 am	2' to 3', sets to 3.5'
Low upcoming tide	Offshore breeze to no wind
Overcast to patchy sun	Exercise session

"Rob, what are you doing playing such a dangerous sport as tennis when you should be saving it for surfing?" Rob was standing at the Groin wall nursing a pulled groin muscle that he injured last Friday and thus was not going out today.

"I should have stopped and let the other guy have the point instead of lunging for it and pulling my leg muscle." Thus he was staying out of water for a few days to let his leg heal. Rob kept saying that the waves would get better as the tide came in. He pointed to the out-going current, noted how fast it was and stated that surf was better yesterday in the afternoon.

"Do you live here in Bolinas?" I asked.

"No I live in Dogtown." Rob had recently moved there and was renting a small cabin. The population of Dogtown is 37, so I suggested that he keep an eye out for two of the town's famous residents: Doris Ober who wrote the Dogtown Chronicles and her husband Richard Kirschman who initiated the Coastal Coin program.

We watched David who rides the Becker board and Marty catch a couple of decent rides. They were half way between the Groin and the Channel. The waves were small, peeling to the left, breaking in very shallow water. The waves at the Channel were breaking too fast to ride. Ray was on the Seadrift side going for the rights. He caught one waist high wall and could only go straight off. I got pictures of them; that's David in the above photo on a short but sweet ride.

I had no expectation of waves this morning. When I arrived Kathy the biology teacher had just come back from purchasing a coffee in town. She was waiting for conditions to improve. Hank and son Clint pulled up. They didn't bother checking the surf; they suited up and headed for the Patch. Mary, Jaime the starving artist cartoonist, Dexter the Bolinas local and stand-up guys Russ and Frank were way outside at the Patch, several yards beyond the exposed outside rock. The surface was perfectly smooth and all of the rocks of Patch reef were exposed. And there they sat and sat between sets to finally scratch for a few flat slow waves.

I decided to go out at the Groin to join David, Marty and Ray who had moved back to the Groin. The surface was plate-glass smooth. We hadn't seen glassy conditions here in months. Meanwhile the waves were breaking too fast to make them and they were also difficult to catch. My best wave I took on my knees. There was a moment on the take off where I could jump to my knees. The lip of the curl was eye level and I ducked under the lip to shoot through the first section, but I didn't make the second one.

The waves improved as the tide came up, but not by much. Towards the end, I caught two decent small curls. When walking back to the ramp after my session I looked back and the waves were beginning to peel perfectly in both directions. I had gone out a couple of hours too soon.

Back at the cars Marty gave me a copy of Sublime, a British magazine with an article by Marty's formal student, Will Kennedy. A couple of months ago Will conducted telephone interviews from London with both us about surfing. The magazine featured California with a series of short pieces showing the vitality of California, despite all its economic problems. The article with Marty and I was about seniors who are still surfing. It contained a full-page close up picture of Marty and quotes from both of us. After today's so-so waves, what a nice ego boost to see one's words in print.