May 29, 2012 Tuesday

Bolinas	Channel
9:20 am to 10:30 am	2', sets to 3'
Mid outgoing tide	Slight onshore breeze
Sunny with high clouds	Exercise session

"About forty-five minutes ago I saw two sharks swimming just offshore here. Thus I'm not going out." The young surfer pointed out to the shore break at the base of the ramp as he delivered his warning to Walt the photographer and I. This surfer, who I have seen before in the water here, was a big guy -- about six feet tall, large frame, about 220 pounds and with several tattoos covering his arms.

I had just returned taking a few photos of stand-up surfers Annette and Loki. They both had dropped into a couple of nice four-foot waves at the Groin. That's Loki in the above photo. Seeing their rides, I had decided to suit up and join them.

Walt was suited up with his stand-up board next to him. He sat cross-legged on the sand meditating before going out. Walt's wife Davie is a yoga instructor thus Walt takes his yoga seriously and I didn't want to disturb him. So I asked the young surfer if he was going to go out. That was when he delivered his warning. Walt broke his concentration with the mention of the word SHARK.

"I saw something moving in the water and then I saw their fins," the young surfer demonstrated the fin size with his hands. "They were BIG, two of them, right off the shore here. They swam north towards the Patch. I followed them trying to capture them on the video of my cell phone. They were so close I thought I could step into the water and touch them. The water went out and I got a glimpse of their bodies, and they were BIG. I swear one was longer than I am. Thus I plan to stay out of the water today."

So here was an interesting situation. Walt was ready to enter the water, I had decided to suit up and go out and here we were just given this warning that two sizeable sharks were seen swimming ten feet from shore. I had no doubt that this young guy had seen something and he was spooked.

So what did Walt and I do? WE WENT OUT! Why? Because we wanted to. Sharks don't hunt and eat humans and the probability of a shark attack is like getting hit by lightning -- they rarely happen -- but they do occur.

Fortunately we did not see the sharks and nothing happened. But I did think about it several times out in the water. Being on a yellow longboard and floating on the surface, I doubt that a shark would mistake me for a seal. But what about standing in the water? The current coming out of the lagoon was fierce and we had to constantly paddle south to remain in the impact zone. My technique to combat the current is to stand up in the water to prevent the current from pushing me around. I was about to stand in the water, but then I thought about the shark and hesitated. But the current was so strong I wasn't catching any waves, so I chanced it. I paddled over to the middle of the Channel and stood in chest high water waiting for the waves. It worked, I caught several waves and fortunately nothing happened.

Meanwhile, the surf was so-so, nothing to write about. Jacek the tattoo artist and a friend came out and a few minutes later Pete from Sonoma joined us. Of course Jacek scored on several waves and rode them all the way in. Pete's daughter had just been accepted to the University of San Diego, the Catholic university where my sister-in-law is a professor of Shakespeare. He was excited about making several trips south to visit her and to hit all the great surf spots around San Diego.

After an hour the current became too much for me, I bellied a wave all the way to shore and called it a day. By now the wind had died and the sun had warmed up the air. It became a beautiful Marin summer day - AND THERE WERE NO SHARKS.

May 18, 2012 Friday

Bolinas	Channel
9:40 am to 11:10 am	2' to 3', sets to 4'
Mid upcoming tide	NW cross breeze
Sunny and warm	Fun session

"Well so are you going out?" Frank the stand-up guy asked as I came back from taking photos at the Groin.

"Yes. It looks like fun -- nice clean knee-high, old man curls. Yes I'm going."

Check out the above photo. This guy had the Groin wired. He sat way inside, away from the crowd and within ten minutes he caught five knee-high curls and walked the nose on every one of them. The forecast had predicted 7 ft NW wind swell at 9 seconds combined with a background 1.2 ft south swell at 17 seconds. Nice small curls on a sunny and warm day.

"Hank, it looks like fun out there." Hank and his wife Gail had just finished their session.

"Yes it was. A little texture on the water, but clean, nice waves."

"How was the water temperature?"

"Not bad. I would say 50 to 51 degrees." That doesn't sound real warm, but considering how cold it was Wednesday, it had warmed up a tad.

"Jeff the economy must be turning around because I haven't seen you in months." Jeff the contractor had just walked up the ramp after his session. Last year when the construction industry had tanked, Jeff was often in the water on weekdays.

"Yes, work has picked up, the waves were small and I got some good exercise." He quickly changed and headed off to a job site.

While I was suiting up, Hans drove by, saw me and pulled a U-turn to park next to me.

"What happened to your boy?"

"You mean Scott Thompson? He just flamed out."

For a brief period I was in Scott Thompson's organization at Visa before he left to join Paypal. He worked his way up the ladder to become Paypal's CEO. This past January he was hired as Yahoo's CEO to save the company. Yahoo had been slowly sinking the last few years due to the growth of Google and Facebook. Hans stages management presentations and had conducted a couple for Scott Thompson and Paypal. Last week some irate Yahoo stockholders forced Scott to resign because he had falsified a college degree on his resume.

"Hans, what an idiot he was. He didn't need that degree reference on his resume. Yahoo had hired him based on his work experience. But this whole incidence is a reflection on his character. If he lied on his resume, he could lie about other things."

"The guy was a zero. He didn't do anything and he never spoke to the troops. How does a guy like that get to the top?"

"Hans, they lie, cheat and steal."

"I think you are right." And off he drove -- You just heard the opinions of a couple of disgruntled corporate warriors, who now surf to maintain their sanity.

Marty, David who rides the Becker board and Susan who always wears sunglasses in the water were at the Channel peak when I paddled out. A few minutes later Mark the archaeologist joined us. A good set wave came through, I looked around, and no one was going for it. I quickly turned around and stroked into it as the white water was sliding down from top of the wave. I jumped up, leaned into it, drove left and climbed into the middle of the swell. The wave stood up and a well-formed wall lined up in front of me. I stepped to the middle of the board, crouched down, glided down the line, cut back into the white water and forced myself over the edge of the reforming inside curl, cut left again and cruised through another section. The wave broke ten yards in front of me, and the inside curl was coming towards me. I dropped down the face and had some speed. My mind flashed on executing a classic big kick-out to end my ride, just like I used to do as a kid. I cut sharply left, stomped on the tail-block and swung into the wave. My board popped up and came flying right at my face rail first. I quickly blocked it with my arm. Afterwards while paddling back out, I realized I was lucky; had I not blocked the board, the rail would have gone right into my nose. That was the last time I tried that maneuver.

"Where in Mexico did you go?" I asked. Susan had mentioned that she had just returned from a surf trip to Mexico.

"The East Cape and it was great. Four to seven foot waves -- a size I could handle -- warm water, glassy smooth and offshore winds. We also went to the Pacific side where there were no waves."

I knew exactly what she was talking about. The East Cape is the Sea of Cortez side of the tip of the Baja Peninsula at Los Cabos. I have been there. When a south swell is running the East Cape can be ideal. The prevailing westerly winds are offshore, the water is always warm and the south swells flow right into the Sea of Cortez forming beautiful peeling rights at several point breaks. I have no doubt that Susan had a great time.

All of us caught several good waves, and after an hour and a half a crowd of beginners on soft-top boards entered the water, the wind had picked up and a chop began to impact the shape of the waves. Time to call it a day. I moved inside, north of the beginners and connected on three good shore break curls before exiting the water.

To finish a great morning, Marty and I had a good discussion of current events over coffee and muffins sitting in the sunny patio of the Coast Café.

May 16, 2012 Wednesday

Bolinas	Channel
10:00 am to 11:00 am	Consistent 3', sets to 4'
High tide (4.1 ft at 10 am)	Slight NW cross breeze
Overcast	Fun session

"Be sure to be here Tuesday or Wednesday!" Russ the stand-up guy emphatically told me Monday as he was driving off. He stated that conditions were going to change and that Tuesday and Wednesday would be "primo" surf days. A strong south swell was coming in and the wind would turn northwest. That was good news because conditions on Monday were terrible - no swell, south wind, and a choppy blown out surface. I didn't bother to go out.

Russ was right. This morning at 6 am the San Francisco buoy reported 4 ft swells at 17 seconds, 10 knots north wind and 53-degree water. Stormsurf.com had the swell as a combination of NW wind swells at 7 seconds mixed with a 2 ft south swell at 17 seconds. The result was a clean, left peeling peak at the Channel with a slightly textured surface.

I arrived at 9 am and the early morning crew was leaving. I passed Jaime the starving artist cartoonist and Mary on the road coming into Bolinas. DB the Safeway checker was packing up her car, as was Don my Kahuna Kupuna surf contest buddy. Russ had already left for the day.

One glance and I knew I was going to the Channel. Marty, Hank and one other surfer were at the Patch. The waves looked slow and with the high tide were dying in the deeper water. I headed to the Groin to take some photos. David who rides the Becker board, Phil, two other surfers and one stand-up guy were at the Channel. So was Bill in his white kayak. After a long wait a set of good-looking waves came through. There were two peaks: one at the Channel and the other straight out from the Groin pole. This peak was appealing when a couple of "Malibo" rights appeared and the lefts looked steep and fast as they peeled across the front of the Groin wall. That's one of the other guys on a good right in the above photo.

"Hank how's the water temperature?" Marty and Hank returned from their session at the Patch while I was suiting up.

"I don't know what happened. But it must have been that wind last night because it is definitely colder than yesterday." Marty confirmed Hank's statement. The water was cold, thus I took their warning and wore my gloves and I was glad that I did.

Only David and Phil were at the Channel and both of them caught waves as I paddled out to the far Channel peak. But they returned to the other inside and to the north peak. I knew that David always had a good sense about waves conditions and take-off points. My first couple of waves were ok -- nothing special. After a half-hour I figured it out; the waves were flat on the take-off and thus difficult to catch. I moved inside and over to join David. A young woman on a huge longboard paddled out to the far peak. I watched her as a set approached. She paddled for the first wave and missed it. I quickly turned around and stroked into it as the wave broke. I jumped up, cut left, drove under the white water and climbed back into the swell. The wave built up again and I cut across the face through the inside section and hung on until it closed out twenty feet in front of the Groin pole.

Now I had the pattern down -- wait inside and north for the big sets, take off as the waves were breaking and position for a good curl ride when they reformed near shore. I managed to connect on five such waves in the last thirty minutes of my session. The woman surfer had a good session. I was surprised by how easily she caught the waves. She sat way outside and to the south of David and I, and thus became my indicator. Whenever she moved further out, I knew a set was coming and I would get ready to jump on the wave when she missed it. But she only missed one, and I had to wait and hope there was another wave in the set.

At 11 am the wind was picking up, the water felt colder and the current starting pouring out of the lagoon. David agreed with me that it was lunchtime.

"Heat sounds nice right now," David said. One more wave and we would go in. I was in luck; a set wave came through. I dropped into a head-high curl, drove under some white water, climbed back into the swell as the wave jumped up. I leaned into the wave, stepped to the middle of the board, crouched down and cruised through a steep section. The wave kept building and I kept driving across the face until it closed out near shore. What a perfect ending to a good session. David was on the wave behind me.

"Time for my lettuce and cheese sandwich and the car heater," David said as he waved good-bye and drove off.

It was just another great morning in Marin.

May 2, 2012 Wednesday

Bolinas	Channel
9:50 am to 11:00 am	2' to 3', sets to 4'
High dropping tide	Stiff, cold NW cross wind
Sunny with high clouds	Fun session

I stopped at the Parkside Café this morning to chat with Scott the chairman of Surfrider Marin. As I was about to leave, "Loren, don't run off, I have something for you." He stepped around the corner into the dining room and came back with a flat square box.

"Here, for your birthday." He handed me a dozen freshly made donuts by Maxine and the crew at the Parkside. They make them every morning and were they good. "Hand them out to the crew at Bolinas."

Scott knew that today was my birthday because he had it marked in his calendar. He grabbed a sugar one and wished me a happy birthday. I thanked Maxine and headed off to Bolinas. I had a grand time handing out donuts to my surfing buddies.

"Ray, have a donut, it's my birthday." Ray the Petaluma fireman was lacing up his shoes after his session as I pulled up. I wouldn't accept any diet nonsense. Every surfer needs a shot of sugar after a surf session.

Jaime and Mary had just walked up the ramp dripping wet and boards in their hands when I forced a couple of donuts on them. Russ the stand-up guy gladly accepted one. I received some diet talk from Frank, but with a slight twist of the arm he took one. Don my Kahuna Kupuna Surf Contest buddy grabbed one as he was heading to the beach with his board and his dog. I pushed one onto Hank as he was drying off after his session. Some other guy was suiting up nearby, someone I didn't know, but I offered him one and he gladly accepted it. Walt the photographer took one while he was trying to warm up after being in the freezing water. Marty was the only one who refused to have a donut after surfing. Donuts were off my diet. I managed to give most of them away, I had diet concerns also, but I did eat a chocolate one on my drive home, and was it good.

From the 2-Mile Surf Report for May 2nd - Favorable conditions at the moment - 60 degrees, sunny, light wind, and small waves peeling throughout the area. Channel: 4-6 people with fun thigh plus high waves peeling left and right off the middle of the Channel. Tide is dropping thus get it while you can.

The San Francisco buoy reported 7 ft NW swell at 9 seconds with a 2 ft south swell at 15 seconds and NW winds gusting to 27 knots.

I walked down to the Groin to take some pictures. The waves were better than they looked. Twelve surfers were out at the one left peak at the Channel. That's Paul in the above photo on a good set wave. After Mary and Jaime left, no one was out at the Patch. Others at the Channel were: David who rides the Becker board, Marty, Paul, Jeff the Dillon Beach boat mechanic, Shu-Shu from Dogtown and my Kahuna Kupuna Surf Contest buddies Don and John the architect.

I paddled out to join the crowd and managed to catch four good fast lefts. I saw one guy lock into a really good ride. He was inside and north of the rest of us and he knew what he was doing. I was standing in waist high water after a great ride, a set of good waves were coming through. This guy watched an approaching wave; it had already broken at the Channel and was peeling across the impact zone. He hung there, swung around and with one stroke was into the curl as the wave was breaking. He skillfully kneeled down in the center of the board, hung onto the outside rail and sailed down the steep face just in front of the fast peeling wave. I wish I had a camera.

Met my old surf companion Mark the plumber in the parking area after my session. He was chatting with another guy about his old red panel truck. I mentioned to Mark that I remembered seeing that truck and him in 1988 - over twenty years ago. He said that was the year that he bought the thing from his uncle. He still has it, and it still runs.

1988 was the year that I got back into surfing when my son Kevin (then 12 yrs) bought his first surfboard and I joined him. After surfing Stinson several times we discovered Bolinas and I loved it. At that time Mark, Eddie and their leader and great surfer Pat were regulars at the Channel every weekend. Pat would stay out for hours; he would knee paddled from peak to peak, catching the biggest wave of every set and smoothly cruise down one big wall after another. Mark would show up with his 12' ft paddling machine that barely fit in his beat-to-shit red panel truck. This threesome worked hard during the week - Mark being a plumber on large development projects, and Pat and Eddie were stonemasons. They would surf for hours in the mornings and then heft a few at Smiley's in the afternoons. After a few years the group broke apart. Pat had a stroke and couldn't surf anymore, Eddie got a new job and drifted north and Mark now spends most of his surfing hours at Dillon Beach. I asked Mark about Pat. Mark hasn't seen him in a couple of years. Pat's girl friend, Shelly, won't let anyone near him.

I miss Pat and wish him the best.