November 28, 2011 Monday

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

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

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

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

November 27, 2011 Sunday

Bolinas & Stinson Beach Open Studios

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

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

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

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

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

Bolinas - Stinson Open Studios

November 16, 2011 Wednesday

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

Fog was the story this morning.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

November 14, 2011 Monday

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

November 10, 2011 Thursday

THE DOCTOR IS IN -

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Maybe I should have been a doctor.

November 8, 2011 Tuesday

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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