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.

October 14, 2011 Friday

Bolinas	Channel
9:20 am to 11:00 am	2' to 3', sets to 4'
Mid upcoming tide	No wind
Sunny and warm - heat wave	Fun session

"Jacek, what's that? A kneeboard?" He was waxing up a small thick, pointed nose, double tailed board. It looked brand new. Jacek has a quiver of sixty boards, and depending on conditions he often brings a different board to the beach. This board looked like the one that Chuck the local kneeboarder uses.

"No, I stand up on it. Here check out my other one." He pulled out another similar small board out of his car. "Both shapers were protégés of Skip Frye. These boards originated in San Diego. They are CLASSIC FISH boards," he proudly announced. Ship Frye was a renowned shaper from San Diego in the sixties. Both boards had two points in the tail with a big Vee between them and six inch glassed on wood fins positioned on each point. They were also thick (nearly 3 inches) and wide - 22 inches.

"Jacek, this board looks brand new." It didn't have a mark on it. "No it's not." He flipped it over and pointed to the year penciled in the stringer along with the other dimensions. "See, 2004! It's seven years old, but it has hardly been used."

Jacek certainly didn't have any problems riding his fish. He did his usual thing of sitting at the furthest peak and waiting for the sets. The waves were small, flat on the take-off and peeled continuously to the left. To me these were longboard waves. Jacek waited until the waves were cresting, then he dug hard with his head hanging over the tip of the nose, jumped to knees when the waves picked him up, pushed the nose over the edge to insure he was in them, jumped up to his feet and then cut up and down the curls as if he was on a skateboard. Yes he had no problems with this board. That's him in the above photo on his fish.

Back home after my session I looked up "fish" in Matt Warshaw's The Encyclopedia of Surfing: Stumpy, blunt-nosed surfboard design invented by San Diego kneeboarder Steve Lis in 1967, featuring low-rocker and a split tail and later adapted for stand-up surfing that was recognized as a small wave speed machine. Jim Blears of Hawaii used a 5' 10" fish to win the 1972 World Champions - held in sloppy surf in San Diego. In 1976, Australian world champion Mark Richards modified the design to produce a version of the twin-fin that became a surf world best seller.

The weather was the story today - a classic October Indian Summer day - heat wave, clear skies, warm water (57 degrees), no wind and tabletop glassy smooth surface. Only negative was the red tide. The water had that Te Java ice tea look. It was the same red tide that has been hanging around for the last two weeks. The swell was 5 ft at 12 seconds, which resulted in two to three-foot waves at the Channel. While taking photos I watched David who rides the Becker board and Marty catch some nice clean left curls. Mary and Mark the archaeologist were on the far side of the Channel going for the rights. No one was at the Patch.

Back at the cars, Hans was changing after his session at the Patch. He had a great time and had it all to himself. He didn't understand why no body else out there with him. Work had kept him from surfing for a couple of weeks and it felt great to be back in the water and his arms were feeling it.

I paddled out to join Professor Steve and David at the north edge of the peak. Both of them immediately caught waves. I looked outside and a set was approaching. I stroked into the second wave, jumped up to my knees, leaned on the nose to push into the wave, jumped up to my feet and cruised down a long mellow left curl. What a good start to my session.

The regulars were out there and all of them glided into several mellow waves. Marty caught his share. David as usual just continuously paddled into one wave after another and was still out there when I exited the water. Francine sat on the inside and connected on several waves. Mark drifted back over to our peak and cruised down several long lefts.

Annette and her partner were out there on their stand-up boards. These two know what they are doing and they were all over the place. They drifted over from Seadrift, riding waves all the way. Today conditions were ideal for stand-ups - gentle, flat take-off waves, frequent sets and long rides. They worked their way over to the apex of the furthest peak to join Jacek, drifted over to our peak for several waves and then reversed course. When I exited the water they were a half-mile down the beach at Seadrift.

What a beautiful day. After an hour and a half I ran out of gas and went in. Mary and Marty were back at the cars. After three-hour sessions they were talking about going out again. It was just talk; they didn't do it. But it was that kind of day that makes you consider staying out all day.

October 12, 2011 Wednesday

Bolinas	Patch
10:20 am to 12 noon	3' to 4', sets to 6'
Mid upcoming tide	Slight onshore breeze to no wind
Sunny and warm	Good session

The NOAA weather radio announced this morning at 6 am that the Point Arena buoy was 15 ft at 17 seconds and the San Francisco buoy was 7 ft at 17 seconds. Those were Maverick's size swells. Also the wind was NW at 5 knots and the water temperature was 58 degrees. The weather had changed. Monday a small front came through and shrouded the whole coast with dense fog, south winds and drizzle. I went to Bolinas and didn't bother going out and went for a jog at Stinson instead. But today high pressure had settled in, the cloud cover was gone, the sun was out, the wind had died and the swell was big. My hopes were up for some good waves.

From the overlook above the Groin, fifteen surfers were bunched together at the only rideable peak - half way between the Channel and the Groin. The waves were big and closing out. I watched one surfer after another drop down an overhead faces into a ton of white water. I didn't recognize any of them and it didn't look inviting.

From Terrace Road I saw fifteen surfers spread across several peaks at the Patch. The waves were smaller and mellow. Several of the Bolinas regulars were there. David who rides the Becker board, Shu-Shu and Martha were going for the rights on the inside. That's David on a good one in the above photo. Marty, Mary, and DB the Safeway checker were 50 yards north going for the lefts and Ray the Petaluma fireman, Russ the stand-up guy and a few others were outside at the furthest peak. All the rides were slow, gentle, long and infrequent. But that looked like a lot more fun than the pounders at the Channel; I would head for the Patch.

David and Marty had started at the Channel and had moved to the Patch. Marty told me that the waves were powerful and that he was humbled. Marty and a shortboarder took off on the same wave and collided causing a side fin on the shortboard to snap off. Both were cordial, no angry words were spoken, but it was then that Marty decided to move to the Patch where he had a great session. David mentioned that he got skunked at the Channel due to the number of shortboarders. Like Marty, David paddled to the Patch where he connected on numerous good waves. Ray usually goes out to the Channel and often over to the Seadrift side to be by himself. This morning he arrived before dawn, couldn't see a thing and thus followed Russ and DB out to the Patch.

Next to me while suiting up was Leonard from Santa Rosa. He introduced himself. Like me he was retired and about my age. He hadn't surfed in six months and was anxious to get back into the sport. He told me about the old days of growing up in Marin. He graduated from Redwood High and the College of Marin and rented a room on Brighton Avenue in the sixties to surf and go to school - in the days before wetsuits, booties and leashes. We entered the water together and hung out at the same peak. For someone who hadn't surfed in six months, Leonard connected on several long rides. Afterwards he felt great about his session.

The waves were good but not exceptional and at first I floundered around and the crowd impacted wave selection. After an hour things improved: the crowd left, I don't why, the wind stopped and the surface glassed off. Suddenly only four of us were out there - Lea, Leonard, one other guy and myself.

The other guy, who was an older gentleman about my age, had a great session. He sat twenty yards further outside and patiently waited on his big, thick, no-rocker paddling machine for the big sets, where he managed to catch all the big ones. I was amazed at how he could get that big board moving to push into these waves just as they peaked. He would fade into the peaks, swing into the curls when the waves broke and would coast down the faces for a long ways. He did this time and time again. Lea also had a good session. She is a Bolinas local and knows the Patch well and has that instinct to anticipate where the waves are peaking, and today the peaks were moving around. Several times she stroked into sizeable waves, skillfully dropped down the faces, cut back into the breaking part of the waves and swung around into reforming curls.

I started out slow but towards the end of my session I began to connect. After an hour and a half my arms were beginning to feel it. I figured I would go for some rights to work my way in. I was sitting inside of the others when a beautiful set wave came through. The others didn't go for it, thus I swung around quickly and dug hard to get into it. The wave picked me up; I jumped to my knees and leaned on the nose to push the board into the wave. I jumped up to my feet and looked down the line of a perfectly forming head-high wave. I cut right, climbed high in the wave, stepped to the middle of the board and trimmed through the first section. I cut back, stalled for an instance to let the wave build up, swung right again and flew down another section. The wave jumped up and broke in front of me, I crouched down, planted my feet and hung on while I drove under the white water and climbed back into the swell. The wave stood up again and I locked my inside rail under the lip and flew down another fast section. I cut back and the wave died ten feet from shore. What a great way to end a session.

October 7, 2011 Friday

Bolinas	Patch
8:30 am to 10:20 am	Consistent 3' to 4', sets overhead
High tide - 5.3 ft	NW cross breeze
Sunny and clear	Good session

"Loren, your face is all red and you're bloodied. What happen?" Jack the Dave Sweet team rider noticed my wound as I was changing after my session. Marty and Mark the archaeologist were also curious.

"I got clobbered on my last wave. Often I would catch the white water to get into the waves while they reformed. A big wave broke in front of me and I turned and stroked into the white water. It was big and buried me. I was traveling along at great speed, I jumped to my knees, tried to maneuver over to the swell, and as I went to stand up my hand slipped off the right rail and the board turned upright and my jaw slammed into the rail."

I didn't tell them, but it hurt. I was stunned and immediately checked to insure all my teeth were there. I wiped my jaw and had blood on my hand. Time to go in.

"You're the second one to do that today," Jack exclaimed. "Doug did it too. He had this big gash under his eye. But it was the same thing - his hand slipping off the rail as he was jumping up."

"Well you guys are always razzing me about too much wax on my board. But see, I didn't have enough."

"No, you got that wrong. You just need to put it in the right spots." That was Jack getting in the last word. I rub wax on my board before every session and never clean it off, thus I have a two-year build up of dirty black and gray wax covering the deck of my board. However, there were two places with little wax, right where my legs wrap around the rails when sitting waiting for the waves. Those two spots, which are located at the midpoints of both rails, are where I place my hands when jumping up.

Once home I exchanged emails with Doug about his experience. Here's a summary of what he went through this morning.

Scott who only surfs on Wednesdays and Doug were alone on the Seadrift side of the Channel scoring on lots of chest to shoulder high rights. After an hour Scott said he needed to get to work and was going to take one more and go in. Doug concurred. Scott connected on a long left that took him all the way in to the Groin area. Doug caught another good right and decided to go back out to connect with a left. A good size wave came through and Doug paddled at an angle to get into it. As he moved to stand up his left hand slipped, the board rotated and his face slammed into the rail. There was blood all over his board, and since he was alone 400 yards from the Groin pole he couldn't assess the damage. When he reached the parking lot, Scott, Russ, Mary and Dan checked him out. He had a two-inch laceration on his right cheek. With the help of a car mirror, Doug opened up the cut to clean it out. He thought that he could get by with a couple of butterfly bandages, but it would not stop bleeding. By the time he got back home in Petaluma, it became evident that as soon as he took the pressure off the wound, the blood would start flowing again. Doug went to the Kaiser emergency center where they did him up with eight stitches and told him to stay out of the water for a week.

In Doug's own words, "Thank God, it was my last ride. It would have really been irritating to have something like that ruin a good session." Spoken like a true surf warrior.

By the way, the surf was good today. Both Doug and I had good sessions. I was out at the Patch where a few overhead sets came through. That's Jack in the above photo on a good inside curl at the Patch.

October 3, 2011 Monday

Red Tide Hits Marin

The surf this morning at Bolinas didn't look inviting so I kissed it off and went for jog on the beach at Stinson. All along the beach from the park to Seadrift, the water was a murky red-brown. The red tide was in and it was thick. We have seen the red tide for a couple of weeks now. After my run, I went back to the car and got my camera and took a few pictures. The red tide was especially prevalent near the main parking lot of the park. At home I jumped on Google to learn more about this phenomenon. Here's what I found.

Wikipedia - definition: common term for a phenomenon known as an algae bloom. The algae phytoplankton are single-cell plant-like organisms can form dense visible patches near the water's surface. The dinoflagellates or diatoms species of phytoplankton contain pigments that vary in color from green to brown to red. When the algae are present in high concentrations, the water appears discolored, often a reddish-brown color. Harmful algae blooms are those that produce natural toxins (Karenia brevis most common marine algae of this type) or deplete dissolved oxygen in the water, both of which can kill marine organisms, coastal fish, birds and mammals.

Occurrences of red tides are usually seasonal resulting from coastal upwelling or natural movement of ocean currents. The growth of marine phytoplankton requires relatively warm water and the availability of nitrates and phosphates, which can be abundant in agricultural run-off as well as in coastal upwelling zones.

Thread Starter 9/2/11 (a publication for the serious sports fisherman): A large number red abalone and sea stars deaths have been reported, the California Department of Fish and Game said yesterday. The department has confirmed reports of dead sea creatures in Bodega Bay, Russian Gulch, Fort Ross, Timber Cove and Salt Point State Park since Saturday (8/27/11). The deaths coincide with a local red tide bloom and calm ocean conditions, which may be the reason for the invertebrate die-off. An exact number of deaths has not been reported, however abalone fishermen are advised to contact a doctor if they feel sick.

The Press Democrat 9/15/11, "State Cancels Sonoma Coast Abalone Season" by Sam Scott: The California Fish and Game Commission has ended the abalone season in Sonoma County, more than two months before its scheduled conclusion. The emergency decision follows the death of an untold number of shellfish, which began washing up on local beaches on Aug 27. Scientists suspect the die-off of abalone, chitons, sea stars and other invertebrates resulted from an explosion of plankton that bloomed around the time the deaths began. It remains unclear if the red tide suffocated or poisoned the animals. But the results have been stark. This week state divers reported that 30 percent of the abalone found in samples taken in Fort Ross area were dead, as were 25 percent of the abalone at Timber Cove and 12 percent at Salt Point.

"There were more abalone dead on the rocks than I have ever seen on the water," said Bill Mashek, a local diver of 30 years. "The population has been devastated. Further hunting is only going to devastate it more."

The emergency closure is limited to Sonoma County. Waters off Mendocino, Marin, Humboldt, and Del Norte counties remain open through Nov 30, the normal end of the season.

Central and Northern California Ocean Observing System (CeNCOOS) website: Breaking News! Major bloom of toxin producing dinoflagellate, Gonyaulax spinifera, documented in Bodega Bay and surrounding coastal areas between Pt Arena and Pt Reyes in late August through early September. The bloom is possibly continuing in some areas of the north coast as of 9/22/2011. This type of bloom is very uncommon and the impacts of the toxin (called yessotoxin) on marine life and people using the ocean are uncertain. Partially coinciding with the bloom was a huge die-off of marine life from approximately 8/20 - 9/4. Apparently limited to invertebrates, dead abalone, crabs, urchins, chitons and seastars washed ashore on north coast beaches in large numbers. It is still unclear whether the algal bloom is linked to the die-off. Other potential causes for the die-off include viruses or bacteria.

CeNCOOS is one of eleven regional associations within the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) around the nation dedicated to the support of science in the service of marine ecosystem health and resource sustainability.

Marin IJ 11/27/11 "Spread of Toxic Algae Blooms a Growing Concern" by Peter Fimrite. (Thanks to Marty for broadcasting this article to the Bolinas regulars). Marine scientists are trying to find out why previously unknown blooms of toxic algae are suddenly proliferating along the California coast, killing wildlife and increasing the risk of human sickness. The mysterious blooms have recently been bigger and have occurred more frequently than ever before; an alarming trend that a team of scientists led by UC Santa Cruz is attempting to figure out.

"It is a huge problem for wildlife," said Raphael Kudela, a professor of ocean sciences at UC Santa Cruz and the lead scientist for the study, which began last week. "We've seen a lot more of what we consider unusual events. It's not always the same organism, but new things keep cropping up. The million-dollar question is: What exactly is the change in the environment that these things are linked to?"

The danger was disturbingly apparent starting in August when a deadly red tide killed tens of thousands of abalone, sea urchins and other mollusks along the coast in Sonoma and Mendocino counties.

Scientists will deploy an array of sophisticated ocean-monitoring technology, including robotic gliders, a network of underwater sensors and satellite observations, during the five-year, $4.3 million study. The project shoved off using an $800,000 grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Scientists will also try to determine whether climate change is having an effect on the size, frequency and location of deadly algae blooms. "We can't say for sure that it is tied to something like climate change," Kudela said, "but it does seem to be spreading globally, so something is changing, and we are trying to find out what that is."

Algal blooms are already known to be relatively common in the coastal waters of Oregon, Washington state and Canada. Recently, though, unusual toxic algal blooms have also been detected in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Alabama, South Carolina, Florida, in Chesapeake Bay and the Gulf of Maine, according to researchers. Future outbreaks may be unstoppable, Kudela and others admit, but they hope the study will eventually help them develop a computer model that will predict blooms before they have a chance to cause havoc in the marine environment.