January 30, 2014 Thursday

 

Kona, Hawaii (the Big Island)	Kahalu'u Park
9:50 am to 11:20 am	3' to 4', occasional 5'
Mid dropping tide	NW cross breeze
Beautiful warm sunny Hawaiian day	Fun session

As soon as I dropped down the three-foot face on my first wave and looked down the line of a blue-green swell of crystal clear water, I gasped, "This is Hawaii."   I sailed along under a feathering lip, staring at the rocks below until the wave died on the inside. What exhilaration – a beautiful peak that peeled in both directions, 80 degree water, no wetsuit, just board shorts, a rash guard and reef booties cruising through clear water over lava rocks and bright yellow fish darting between them, with a high volcano in the distance hovering overhead and only five mellow surfers out there. I knew I was in for a good session.

Kate and I were on a six-day trip to the Big Island of Hawaii. The occasion was the wedding of my good friend Brad to Pat that occurred last Sunday. A reunion of sorts, I have known Brad since the first grade and our grammar school buddy, David O was there also. Twenty-five others traveled over here, including Brad's three children from previous marriages, to join in the celebration. After Sunday, Kate and I had a ball exploring the island. Of course I was thinking about surfing and was determined to surf at least once just to claim that I had surfed in Hawaii.

We left early on Saturday (Jan 25th), the day after the Mavericks surf contest. The Hawaiian Islands receive the same big Alaskan swells that hit Mavericks. High surf was hitting the Kona coast (NW corner of the island) when we arrived. All along the eight-mile stretch of the Ali'i Drive, the main road along the water through Kailua-Kona, big waves were pounding the beaches. The locals were challenging the big swells at several breaks including Kahalu'u. The waves were intimidating – big pounders smashing into jagged lava rocks. Our hotel put up high surf warning signs and closed the path along the ocean side of the hotel. On Monday we went tide pooling at Kahalu'u on a reef protected by a breakwater. The tide pool was fun, but I kept watching the surf break just north of the breakwater. The waves were big – ten feet, breaking top to bottom peeling to the left. Shortboarders were connecting on some fabulous rides – two to three feet overhead and screaming ahead of rapidly collapsing walls. Not for me.

Today was my last chance to surf because tomorrow we were leaving. Fortunately everything came together. Each day the surf had decline and was now down to four to five feet, more my size. Yesterday Billy, the driver and tour director (one person doing both roles) on our tour to the Volcanoes National Park, mentioned in his endless spiel about the island that he surfed.

"Do you surf?" Billy asked me at the Black Sand Beach. "I can set you up. I have friends. Let me make a call," and off he walked with a cell phone to his ear. He came back in a few minutes. "Here, call Dom," Billy shot off at machine gun speed. "He rents surfboards at Kahalu'u. Take down this number. He has everything, he will set you up, and he runs the Kona Surf Company."

At 7:30 this morning I called. No answer. The phone switched to a message service for the Kona Surf Company, but a recorded female voice broke in saying the message queue was full and I couldn't leave a message. Great. Kate and I just went there and sure enough there was a black pick-up truck with six sponge boards stacked in the back and KONA SURF COMPANY painted on the door.

"Are you Dom?" I asked a young Hawaiian bounding across the road.

"No, but I'm just as good. I'm Jay."

Jay had the solution for me, a nine foot Surf Tech Soft Top board – epoxy core under a soft exterior, $20 for two hours or $30 for all day. I did $20. Jay told me about the currents and pointed to John out at the break, "He's at the right spot." Jay also loaned me a pair of reef booties. I was embarrassed to admit that I had left mine in the hotel. I had purchased them especially for this trip last week at Proof Lab for $50.

Kate took the above photo with her iPhone just before I entered the water. That's the break on the outside. I paddled out to the line-up and said hello to John, who was about my age and was regular at this break. He told me to line up with the rocks of the breakwater and with the small painted church on shore. It proved to be good advice. I watched John take off on a classic blue-green A-frame peak. He glided across the top of a right peeling shoulder, cut back and then turned into a reforming long curl. That was how it was done. A friend of his, another regular, took me under his wing and we shared waves together. He rode a thick foam sponge board and swore by it. He caught the most waves and got the longest rides. I followed his lead and connected on several good waves.

In a little over an hour I caught ten waves. The take offs and the initial drops reminded me of San Onofre and the line ups on the shoulders reminded me of the Patch. About 11 am I began to work my way in, my arms were feeling it, but I was not exhausted and I was facing a Patch like long paddle in. Kate and I traveled back to our hotel where I jumped into the pool. To my surprise, the hotel's heated pool was colder than the ocean. I ended my session sitting in the hotel's spa. Nothing like jets of hot streaming water to relax one's shoulders and arms. For the rest of the day I had that surfer's glow – an overall relaxed feeling from strenuous fun exercise in a beautiful environment. Now I could say that I had surfed the Big Island. 

January 22, 2014 Wednesday

 

Bolinas	Patch
10:00 am to 11:10 am	3' to 4', sets to 6'
Low upcoming tide	Slight onshore breeze
Sunny and warm	Fun session

Not a holiday but still a big crowd. With seven surfers out there, the Channel, like last Monday, was clean, head-high, peeling left, but coming over too fast. No body had a decent ride. That's one of the brief Channel rides in the above photo.

The Patch was all over the place, smaller than Monday but breaking way out there. Four surfers and two stand-up were sitting a 100 yards beyond the outside rock. The waves were sizeable and soft, big walls where white water would slowly slide down from the top into a long line of white foam that would reform and break again on the inside. I saw David, who used to ride the Becker board, catch a set wave, angle right across a big face, straighten out letting the wave reform and then turning into a nice clean inside curl. That did it, the inside rights, like last Monday, was my call for today.

The old crowd was there this morning: John the Surfrider webmaster, Hans the management trainer, Mary, Susan who always wears sunglasses in the water, David, Hank, Steve the Bolinas local, Barry the management consultant, Russ the stand-up guy and Jeff the Dillon Beach boat mechanic.

While putting my camera away, Jeff pulled up. I hadn't seen him in months.

"Jeff, with this swell Dillon must be huge." Jeff lives at Dillon Beach.

"It's great, but I have been surfing so much I'm tired so I had to come here."

"With this good weather, you must be busy." I was referring to all the Valley types that pull boats down to Dillon to go fishing and need boat repairs, and with the sunny weather that's what is happening.

"Yes I have a ton of work waiting for me, but I took off the whole month of January and have been surfing everyday. There have been lots of waves and no wind at Dillon. I had to come here to slow down."

Jeff and I entered the water together and we exited at the same time. I sat on the inside and Jeff was further out. Several times I saw him skillfully high in a big wall, crouched down mid-board, calmly trimming across the face of a head high wave. Jeff is in excellent condition and was all over the place – outside north of me, outside south of me, right next to me and on the inside going for the right curls.

"Jeff, the last time I saw you, you were working on another hollow wood surfboard. Did you finish it?"

"Yes I did. It's right here." He had brought it with him but chose to ride a normal foam board today. He showed it to me and of course it was another beautiful piece of work – 9' 3", 22" wide, single lamented old style glassed in fin. The core of the board is hollow, lamented wood fastened to a wooden lattice frame forms the bulk of the board. This one had 200-year-old small grain redwood (purchased at the wood yard in Dogtown) for the outside rails and balsa wood down the center, all perfectly put together.

"Jeff, as I have said before, this is a work of art and should be in your house as a coffee table or hanging on the wall."

"No, no. This is a surfboard and is used as one."

I was putting on my shoes as David walked by dripping wet and board under his arm.

"David, it's 11:35, a half hour later than your normal session. You're cheese sandwich will be melted by now."

"No, no. It will be perfect."

Today was another four hours plus session for him. A half-hour into my session (around 10:30) I watched him paddle into a flat wave. "He will never catch that," I thought to myself. But with extra effort he glided into it, cut towards the peak, cruise under some white water back into the curl and on he went. He had been in the water of three hours when he did that. I could never do that. I would be too exhausted.

Barry was toweling off as I walked by. He came over to say hello. I hadn't seen him in months. With a grin from ear to ear, he had to tell me about his good session. Barry was at the Groin going for the fast breaking curls.

"On my first wave the curl was right there," putting his hand a couple of inches above his head. "I crouched down and felt the lip slapping the back of my head. I didn't do anything; I froze and let my board do it. I came out onto the shoulder, eased up slightly, turned into the shore break and stepped to the nose. At that point, I knew I was in for a great session."

"Barry, earlier at the Groin I didn't see anyone make a wave. Everyone would drop down the face, turn at the bottom of the wave and get buried."

"That's because they are all over too far. You know you have to move away from the peak to find the shoulder. But what a great time I had, and there were only five guys out there and all of them were nice." It sounded ideal to me and knowing what a good surfer Barry is, I had no doubt that he ripped it up this morning. 

January 20, 2014 Monday

Bolinas	Patch
9:50 am to 11:10 am	3' to 5', outside sets overhead
Mid upcoming tide	Slight onshore breeze
Warm and sunny	Fun session

Martin Luther King Holiday

Coming in was an adventure today. After an hour I began to work my way in. The tide had come up and set waves were pounding the north seawall. I caught white water of a big wave that propelled me to shore, near the trunk of the large tree that came down in 1997 during the El Nino winter. As water pulled away from the wall, sand appeared, thus I thought I could make it running in front of the wall instead of going over the top and down the crude wood rungs of the ladder on the south side. I started to run in front of the wall, a surfer was coming in the other direction and he was buried by an incoming wave. I turned around, went back and waited for a lull. Then I took off again and didn't make it. A big wave came in, crashed against the wall, shooting water several feet in the air and caused three feet of backwash to rush back out to sea taking me with it. Fortunately I still had my leash on. I grabbed the nose of my board and dove into the white water of the next incoming wave, jumped on the board and paddled like mad to get outside of the next wave. I paddled around the rest of the wall and came in at the Playpen, (a patch of beach between the two seawalls). That was more adventure than I needed.

I went surfing today despite being a holiday. I knew it would be crowded — a holiday, warm weather and a big swell (per Stormsurf - a fading Gulf of Alaska swell, 6.5 ft at 15 seconds). I had to park halfway to the 2-Mile Surf Shop at 8:30 am.

Only a few surfers were in the water — a surprise given the number of cars and people on Brighton Ave. I couldn't make up my mind where to surf, the Channel or the Patch. I spent a long time taking photos at both locations. Channel looked clean, good fast peeling left, but a little too fast. As I stood there watching, no one got a good ride. Surfers dropped down the faces and were buried as they tried to cut left at the bottom of the waves. Brief one to two second drops and the ride was over. The Patch was all over the place. Furthest sets broke way out there and a few stand-up guys were on them. The rest were randomly spread all over entire area.

David the local art teacher who swims in the ocean every morning estimated that the water was 50 degrees. I always ask his opinion of the water temperature when I see him. Robert the Oakland fireman walked by after his session. He rolled his eyes when I asked him how it was. "Temperamental, but fun."

I walked up to Terrace Road to the overlook above the Patch. Yoshi, the owner of Umi's in San Rafael, was sitting in his car checking out the waves. He too couldn't decide between the Patch and the Groin. Yesterday about 2 pm he got some good inside curls north of the Groin wall. He decided to go for that again and drove off.

David who used to ride the Becker board and Hank were way out there in the middle section about half way to the furthest peaks. I could see David's snow-white hair and figured that Hank was next to him — Hank's car was parked at the tennis court. David managed to connect on a sizeable wave and rode it all the way into the shore break — a good ride. But most of the time those two sat there waiting for a decent wave. Most waves broke further outside of them or way inside.

I zeroed in on a group of three surfers who were connecting on the inside rights of a consistent peak that broke over the rocks of the Patch reef and continuously peeled right over the sand bottom on the inside. I watched one guy connect on a fast curl near the shore, that's him in the above photo. The waves left a clearly defined "V" of white water, being above on Terrace Road I could clearly see it. The place to be was the apex of that V. I decided to head there and to watch the pattern of the white water for positioning.

While walking down the ramp with my board in hand, I met Hank coming in the other direction. He had a good session and said the waves were sizeable, powerful and fun. "Stay close to the outside rock and you will be fine."

David had moved to the inside peak when I paddled out. He always has a good feel for where the waves are. I watched him closely. The sea was rough and bumpy with constant up and down motion. The waves were a combination of large wind swells on top of big ground swells. When the two came together, a sizeable wave with plenty of force would jump up. David would wait until the wind swell was about to break before paddling for a wave. He would take off on the top peak, go straight and then drop over the edge of the ground swell. That's how it was done and I followed his technique. David caught several waves doing that.

Big set waves would break outside creating a wall of white water that would dissipate as the swell reformed and break again on the inside. Several times I paddled into the white water and managed to maneuver into the curl of the reformed wave. These were my best rides. One time, a large wave broke a few yards in front of me and I turned to catch the white water. It picked me up and threw me bouncing forward. I jumped up to my knees and hung on. David was paddling out and I was heading right for him, I steered back into the peak of the wave and barely missed him. I continued bouncing along, the wave reformed and I was still on my knees when it broke a second time. I jumped to my feet but the wave immediately bucked me into the water. That was my largest wave and I considered myself lucky.

Later, David and I took off on a similar wave together. It broke outside and we paddled into the white water, caught it and bounced along while it reformed. I jumped up, cut right and look down a head-high wall that held up. David was ten yards behind me. The wave walled up and broke several yards in front of me, as the breaking part of the wave came towards me, I swung around and started going left. David pulled out of the wave and I managed to trim along a nice left peeling wall on the inside. It was one of my best rides.

After exiting the water and walking across the south seawall, I could see that the full force of a warm weather holiday was in. Thirty surfers were spread across the Channel and Groin, I still didn't see any of them on good rides and more surfers were streaming down the ramp. Cars were circling Brighton Ave looking for parking. A guy stopped by me and asked if I was leaving. "Another twenty minutes," I told him. He drove off and reappeared a few minutes later. "I'll wait," and double parked his car next to mine while I changed out of my wetsuit, put on street clothes, strapped my board to the top of my car and dashed off to use the facilities before taking off. It was a good twenty minutes.

Due to the crowd I couldn't park to buy coffee or dash into 2-Mile to chat with Drew and Jaime. Despite that it was another good session.

  

January 10, 2014 Friday

 

Bolinas	Patch
10:15 am to 11:20 am	2' to 3', sets to 4'
Mid dropping tide	Slight offshore breeze to no wind
Sunny and warm with high wispy clouds	Disappointing session

I had high expectations for some good waves this morning. All week the beach crowd was talking about an approaching swell for Friday. Last night the NOAA weather radio had 5 ft at 15 seconds at the San Francisco buoy and this morning it was 8 ft at 14 seconds, west swell with light winds. Yesterday Kevin tried to talk me into going with him to Santa Cruz today. I waffled because a trip to Santa Cruz is an all-day event. When I heard that the swell had come up, I was convinced that it would be good at Bolinas — nice clean waves and no crowd for a good session at my local beach. I called Kevin at 7 am to talk him into joining me for a half-day session at Bolinas. He didn't buy it. He had looked at the web-cams for Pleasure Point and the Hook and the surf looked epic. He was going to Santa Cruz.

All the parking spaces were filled on Brighton Ave in Bolinas, a good sign. I got the last spot.

"So, how was it?" I asked Frank the stand-up guy who was toweling off.

"It's ok. But it was better earlier."

"Doug how was it?" He too was changing after his session.

"When we first went out, we caught some great rights at the Channel, head-high and fast. But as soon as the tide turned and the current starting coming out the lagoon, it died."

Ray the retired Petaluma fireman confirmed Doug's assessment. "It was better earlier."

From the seawall at the base of the ramp, I saw two surfers and two sweepers (stand-up surfers) at the Channel. The current had created a well-defined path of ripples through the middle of the break. With the tide going out I figured that it would just get worst.

The white lines of a set showed some promise at the Patch. Six surfers were out there, including Mary, Hank, Mark the archaeologist and Susan who always wears sunglasses in the water. I patiently stood there with the camera ready watching the infrequent waves. Finally a rideable wave came through; Hank caught it, dropped down a four-foot face and turned into a soft shoulder. He hung on, but the wave did not build up and slowly died on the inside. Then another set came through, bigger than the previous one, and a surfer on a wave-ski connected on a good left. That's him in the above photo. Watching his good ride convinced me to head to the Patch, to be out there with my friends and to drop into some neat little left waves.

It didn't happen. While I was suiting up Mary, Mark, Hank and Susan got out of the water. I chatted with all of them. "Yes, there are some good waves left, but they were better earlier," Hank informed me.

What a disappointment. The above photo turned out to be the wave of the day. I didn't see anything as rideable in the one hour that I was out there. I caught a small left that slowly propelled me forward. I milked it for all its worth and cautiously stepped off into six inches of water. With the outgoing tide, the water had become shallow and the larger rocks were exposed. Going left was no longer an option. After a couple of other slow waves, I moved way inside and south to go for the inside rights. I had some luck with a couple of shore break waves that had broke right and held up for a few brief seconds. Then it went flat again and after paddling for and missing several waves, I called it a morning and came in.

The waves were disappointing, but as always the exercise felt great and it was another beautiful morning in Marin. 

January 6, 2014 Monday

Bolinas	Channel
9:30 am to 10:30 am	1' to 2', sets to 3'
Low tide	Slight offshore breeze
Overcast with patchy sunlight	Exercise session

I almost didn't go out today. Forecast was a 3 ft NW swell at 12 seconds with light NE winds. After two good sessions at Stinson I was hopeful for another good day. At Brighton Ave only two cars were parked by the tennis court - not a good sign. Discouraged, I didn't bother taking my camera to check out the waves. No one was in the water at the Patch or the Channel. I walked down to the Groin for a closer look. In five minutes, I saw four decent left curls break. That was one of them in the above photo, which I took with my iPhone.

Back at the cars, Russ the stand-up guy and his friend Pete were suiting up.

"Russ, you're going out? There's not much there."

"Yes, we drove all this way thus we're going to do it." Russ and Pete live in Vallejo.

"Good I will join you."

There was nothing special about these waves. All of them were small, slow and mushy. But it was good exercise, and a day in the water is always a good day.

  

January 4, 2014 Saturday

Stinson Beach	South of the Lifeguard Tower
12 noon to 1:30 pm	3' to 4', sets to 6'
High tide (6.2 ft at 1 pm)	No wind to slight onshore breeze
Warm and sunny	Fun session

After our good session on Thursday, Kevin and I were hoping for the same today, so we returned to Stinson again at high tide and again we were not disappointed. The waves had doubled in size — a constant 3 to 4 feet with sets to 6 feet. The big ones were classic Stinson end-to-end walls, lines that stretch across the entire beach and folded over from top to bottom in one big explosion.

The big ones intimated me, but Kevin convinced me that the channel just south of the lifeguard tower was still working and that by waiting for the sets to pass we would have no problems paddling out, and he was right. By the time I suited up Kevin had been in the water for fifteen minutes (I'm slow). I stood in chest high water with my arm wrapped around the nose of my board and ducked under five waves of white water before the set let up. Then I jumped on the board and sprinted outside. I had to do this maneuver a few times today, but quickly got used to it.

"Dad, go for the in-between waves, the big ones close out," Kevin greeted me when I finally got out there.

While standing in waist high water, I watched Kevin come down a classic wave. He glided into a head-high wall, calmly set his rail in the middle of the swell, stood firm in the middle of his board and shot down a blue-green glassy wall all the way to the shore.

Seeing that and with the strategy of going for the in-between waves, I connected on a few memorable and powerful curls. My last wave was my best ride. I took off late on a clean left breaking wall, dropped down the face, climbed back up to the top of the wave, stepped to the middle of the board, hummed across an ever-forming left curl that finally collapsed on the sand and I stepped off in knee-deep water.

Again we agreed that today was another great start to the New Year. 

January 2, 2014 Thursday

Stinson Beach	South of the Lifeguard Tower
10:00 am to 11:30 am	2' to 3', sets to 4'
High tide (7.1 ft at 10:40 am)	No wind
Warm and sunny	Fun session

First Session of 2014

Son Kevin and I were on our first surf session of the year, heading for Stinson or Bolinas. We came out of the forest on the Panoramic Highway and got our first glimpse of the sea. There was no white water at Bolinas. I mean zero, zip, nada; not at the Channel where there is always some white water or at the Patch. Surf forecasts were for a small NW swell with a "King" high tide (7.1 ft). Within two seconds, Bolinas was out and Stinson was our only choice.

At Stinson the waves looked like fun: small clean glassy curls, mixed in with a few larger close out walls. Jim the Stinson carpenter turned sculptor was sitting on the beach checking out the waves. I hadn't seen him in months. Jim grew up in Stinson and is an excellent surfer, but due to a shoulder separation he couldn't go surfing and was facing a few more months for recuperation. He pointer out that waves were good, especially at the peak just south of the lifeguard tower. We agreed.

While suiting up I thought that the conditions were perfect for me. I haven't surfed in three weeks and my arms were weak, the waves were "fun" size, small, glassy and good shape (no fear factor), and the weather was warm and sunny. I knew it was going to be a good session.

The waves didn't disappoint — frequent clean peelers breaking left and right. Catch a wave, paddle back out and immediately stroke into another one. With no wind, the surface was glassy smooth and no body else was out there. "Where is everyone? Where are the locals?" We couldn't believe it. The nearest surfer was 300 yards north of us. We had a great time. What a perfect start to the New Year.

The Searches

Two incidents of searches occurred today -

A tall thin stranger approached me as I was walking down the beach with my board before entering the water. He looked stressed and nervous. He asked if I had surfed here long — about 25 years I responded. He then requested that I keep an eye out for a bracelet that he had lost. He was visiting Stinson and went body surfing yesterday. He recalled that his bracelet felt loose, and sure enough after being pounded by a set wave, it was gone. He mentioned that the bracelet was special, made personally for him by a Buddhist monk in Viet Nam. He searched and searched yesterday and continued looking this morning. He posted notices all around the park offering a $175 reward.

"You just learned a hard lesson my friend," I said to him and pointed to my ring finger. "I always take my wedding ring off before surfing. The cold water causes the skin and fingers to contract. Thus you can't wear jewelry into the water."

I don't think he appreciated my comments. When we exited the water he was still searching and stopping others to inquire if they had seen it. Note - as of January 16th, one of his notices was still posted on the concrete slab in front of the showers.

All during our session, a huge red Coast Guard helicopter flew overhead — back and forth, up and down, out to sea and back again. They were obviously searching for someone in the water. They didn't fly over land or close to the cliffs. It must have been for someone who went overboard. After an hour a Coast Guard boat showed up and anchored a hundred yards offshore. Whatever they were looking for, they did not find it. We could still hear and see the helicopter as we changed out of our wetsuits.

"Kevin, this is a good application for drones — air-sea recues." With small inexpensive pilotless aircraft, the Coast Guard could launch fifty of them, cover a much wider area and keep the search going for a longer period of time. Each one could beam its video to a central site where a small crew would view them, all this at less cost. This will happen soon.

Kevin and I agreed, today was a great start to the New Year.