Lorenzo's Surf Journal

January 6, 2012 Friday

2012-01-06T13:12:00.006-08:00

Son O Sea Wooden Surfboards

Marty rushed up to my car as I was putting on my shoes after my session at the Patch, "Loren come quick and bring your camera, Jeff is putting his board away. Now's your chance to get a picture of it."

He was referring to Jeff the Dillon Beach boat mechanic's wooden surfboard that he made. Now Jeff is a craftsman. Last year he had emailed me 'work in progress' pictures of the hydrophane boat that he built (another sport of his is racing small hydroplanes at 100+ mph). From his photos it was clear that he was a master wood craftsman. A few months ago, he casually mentioned that he was building a wood surfboard and periodically Marty and I would inquire about his progress. Recently someone mentioned that Jeff was out in water with his beautiful new wood board and that it was stunning. Jeff was out at the Patch this morning on his new board. I saw him from a distance. He was way outside with Jacek the tattoo artist at the furthest peak going for the big sets. I was sure it was him that I saw coming down some overhead set waves. Now I had a chance to see his unique board.

"Jeff wait. Let me take a picture of you and your board."

There it was lying in an unzipped board bag. Jeff proudly showed it off: classic longboard shape, wide nose that comes to a point, eight-inch squaretail with a single removable nine-inch bamboo Wingnut fin. That's Jeff with his new board in the above photo. Check out the woodwork - laminated old redwood and Alaskan yellow cedar, formed around an interior wood fame that consists of ribs glued to a central spar and covered with 4 oz fiberglass and epoxy resin with a high gloss finish. Dimensions - length 9' 4", width 22" and 3" thick and weights 20 pounds.

The first detail I zeroed in on was a metal valve flush with the wood near the nose. It looked like a small stem valve of a tire. "What's that? Is that to drain water out of the board?"

"No, that's for air. You know the board is hollow and the air inside can heat up and expand."

"Jeff you told me before that you purchased the wood from that guy in Dogtown."

"That's Robert Buckenmeyer. He collects big pieces the old wood and stores it there in Dogtown." I have heard from other woodworkers, like Jimmy the Stinson Beach wood carver and Doug the carpenter that the grain of old redwood (200 yrs) is very tight, easy to work with and buffs and varnishes to an incredible finish. Jeff traded boat repairs with Robert for the wood. Robert claimed that the redwood was rescued from a demolition of an old building in Novato that was built in the 1920's and that the Alaskan cedar came from a demolition of an old pier in Vallejo that was built in the 1930's. Jeff re-sawed and milled the wood timbers himself at his shop in Dillon Beach.

"Jeff, this board is so beautiful, I would hang this on my living room wall as a work of art. Aren't you afraid that you will put a hole in this, run into a rock or someone else will accidentally clobber you?"

"Already have," he calmly said. "I was out at Dillon on a fairly sizeable day and was ready to come in. So I rode one all the way to the beach, connected with the shore break, thinking I could go right up to the sand and step off. I stayed in the curl, the wave sucked out and I dropped straight down into dry sand and busted the nose of the board." He then explained how he patched the broken nose by laminating new redwood strips on the end of the board, reshaped the nose and glassed over it. Jeff kept pointing at lines to note where the patch went. I swear I could not see anything that suggested that the board had been repair. His patch job was perfect.

"So how does it ride?"

"It rides great. I'm really proud of how well this board performs."

"Do you have a label on this board? A signature, something that says you made it?"

"Yes I have." He rolled the board over and there written in script:

SON O SEA - Wooden Surfboards

Being from Southern California where everything has Spanish names I thought his logo was "San Osea" - you remember Saint Osea - the famous early Californian priest who forced hundreds of Indians into Christianity?

"No. That's Son of Sea. S-E-A are my mother's initials and she's the one that introduced me to the sea."

Later, via email I asked Jeff how he became interested in building a hollow wooden board. As he said in his response, it's a long story but here is a summary:

Several years ago Jeff was searching Craig's List for a good used longboard. Being a fan of the old stuff, an ad for a classic balsa and redwood-chambered board caught his eye. He began researching wood boards and discovered that several old surfers were building classic wood boards. He was blown away by the beauty and varying construction methods. He thought that maybe he could build his own.

More research led him to Brad Tucker and Jack Young of Wood Surfboard Supply who sold wood surfboard kits. Jeff's timing was good. Brad and Jack were just starting their company. Jeff had several phone conversations with Brad, who was impressed and interested in Jeff's wood-framed hydroplane boats. Brad wanted someone to prototype one of their designs and thus he sent Jeff the template for what today is their 9' Cruiser model. Jeff incorporated a couple modifications to the design - added a few inches of length, squared the tail and reduced the concave in the nose - and crafted one beautiful board.

The website for Wood Surfboard Supply (www.woodsurfboardsupply.com) had an interesting historical detail worth noting here - Over 75 years ago Tom Blake patented the first hollow wooden surfboard. With the advent of foam cores the surfing industry took another direction. But with today's modern tools, techniques and materials surfers are going back to their roots. Discover what surfers have found - wood surfboards have beauty, flex, glide and personality that cannot be matched by a foam board.

Jeff certainly agrees with that last statement and would encourage you to build your own. Per Jeff, it's not that difficult. By the way, he is busy building another one; one based on his design.

Click in the link below to see photos taken by Jeff and Marty of Jeff's SON O SEA - Wooden Surfboard.

Jeff's Wooden Surfboard

January 4, 2012 Wednesday

2012-01-04T10:58:00.003-08:00

Bolinas	Patch
10:20 am to 12 noon	2' to 3', sets to 4'
Mid outgoing tide	No wind
Sunny and warm	Good session

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday was foggy and cold. Today the fog was gone, the sky was bright blue, the sun was out and the air was warm. The waves had changed also. Yesterday they were bumpy, uneven and powerful. Today the swell had dropped in half (6 ft at 12 seconds) and had cleaned up. Powerglide, old man waves, my favorites - long clean lines, glassy smooth, consistent, easy going rides, no fear factor and no crowd.

Like yesterday the Channel waves were shortboard classics - steep, fast peeling curls - a little too fast for us old longboarders. Again Nate the co-owner of the Proof Lab Surf Shop in Mill Valley was out there ripping it up. That's him in the above photo on a good one. Marty caught a couple of fast rides and then was humbled by several hard-breaking close outs. He recommended that since the tide was dropping that I head for the Patch.

The early morning Bolinas crew was exiting the water when I arrived. I was late due to collecting water samples for Surfrider's water testing program. Stand-up guys Frank and Russ caught several waist long ones at the Patch. Jack the Dave Sweet team rider praised the clean lines at the Patch and insisted that I go there.

Jack then proceeded to entertain us with photos of his latest duck hunting trip and his vigorous detailed description on the best method for butchering them. He then pulled out a picture of this huge goose that he had bagged - six foot eight inches wingspan and weighted 12 plus pounds after it was dressed. He had his favorite butcher smoke it for him.

When I entered the water six surfers were at the far north end of the Patch at the area know as Green Africa (I don't know why it is called that). No one was at the middle peak or the south edge of the reef. Thus I was facing the long paddle to join the others. Paddling out over Robinson's Reef (inside edge of the Patch reef), a temping wave came through that I couldn't resist. I turned around and stroked into it. I was up and cruising right across a well-formed swell when I had to cut around the exposed inside rock and then weave through several shallow spots. The wave died and I gingerly dismounted in six inches of water. "What am I doing?" A few months go I clobbered my head on a rock in this same location. It was a good ride but why take the chance of landing spread eagle on the rocks. I paddled north, around the Patch reef to join the others.

After a few minutes, two of the surfers headed south to the middle peak. The remaining ones were beginners and were way, way on the inside, and they too soon exited the water. There I was all by myself. The closest surfer was fifty yards to the south and a few moments later he too was gone.

For over an hour I had the north peak to myself. I caught one long, clean left wave after another. I couldn't believe my good fortune; this was ideal - blue sky, sunny, warm, no wind, glassy conditions, long three to four clean waves and no one else in the water. And to think that due to the frustrating session I had yesterday that I almost didn't go out this morning.

January 3, 2012 Tuesday

2012-01-03T12:59:00.004-08:00

Bolinas	Patch
9:30 am to 11:00 am	3' to 4', sets overhead
Mid dropping tide	Slight offshore breeze to no wind
Low dense fog to high fog	Frustrating session

At 6:00 am the NOAA weather radio reported a big swell (10 ft at 16 seconds) and a dense fog alert for the entire Bay Area including the coast. From Mill Valley I drove through fog up to the Panoramic Highway and then broke out into bright sunshine over the mountain. On the other side a blanket of on-the-deck fog covered the entire Stinson-Bolinas bay from the shore to the horizon. I descended back into fog at the outskirts of Stinson and remained locked in it all the way to Brighton Ave in Bolinas.

From the seawall I could barely make out the few surfers who were at the Patch. The gray-white background prevented the automatic focus feature on my camera from functioning. But I could faintly see that the waves were big, bumpy and unclean, and I watched Mary connect on a long head-high left wave.

At the Groin, ten surfers were bunched together on the north edge of the Channel peak. I could barely see the waves, but they were strong, big, fast peeling lines. I aimed my camera at the Groin sign to obtain some contrast in color so that it could focus. Then I would swing slightly to the left and hope the camera could pick up a surfer coming down a wave. Luck was with me. As you can see in the above photo I captured a good shot of the size and shape of the waves. I also caught Nate the co-owner of the Proof Lab Surf Shop in Mill Valley locked in a head-high curl near the Groin wall. The Channel waves were shortboard classics - steep and fast walls - definitely not good for us old longboarders, thus I decided to head to the Patch to join Mary, Hank, Jaime the starving artist cartoonist, David who rides the Becker board and Ray the Petaluma fireman.

Again as I was entering the water the early birds were coming in. Mary exited while I was strapping on my leash. Ray had already gone in. Dexter paddled in after Mary. I chatted briefly with Jaime as he was working his way in. I watched Hank catch a wave and then continue paddling to shore. Only David the surf fanatic remained out there. The regulars did report that they had good sessions. Ray connected on several long powerful rides. Earlier at high tide, the backwash reflecting off the cliff put a large bump in the impact zone. While paddling out one backwash wave picked him up by surprise and pushed outside to the line-up. It was larger that the waves he rode in. Mary had a good session. She worked herself north to separate from the crowd and connected on several good left rides. Jaime was more cautious and hung on the south side of the impact zone to go for the rights. He was glad to be back in the water.

The waves were a frustrating combination of wind swells on top of ground swells with a sideways wind chop rippling through the path of the ground swells. The peaks were inconsistent and all over the place - to the north, then straight out front and then to the south. The wind swells caused the waves to jump up and break, but only on the top. One had to push over the edge of the ground swell to get into the waves. On my first wave, I stroked into one that was breaking, dropped down a steep face with considerable speed, the wave broke and then it died. I didn't have enough momentum to push into the reforming ground swell. Break and die, brake and die was the story of my session this morning. The waves had to be breaking for me to catch them. On one I dropped down a head-high peak with great speed, coasted out in front of the wave, my momentum died, and I glanced back to see a wall of waist-high white water bearing down on me. The foam hit the back of my board, my feet shot straight up and I plunged into the turbulence - typical of this morning's waves.

After an hour and a half of frustration, the cold was setting in. I caught a sizeable wave, took it in as far as I could and started paddling toward shore trying to catch another wave, which never happened. David followed me in a few minutes later. I was glad to be out of the cold water and hoped for a better day later this week.

December 30, 2011 Friday

2011-12-30T14:53:00.003-08:00

Bolinas	Channel
9:00 am to 10:40 am	3' to 4', sets to 5', occasional overhead
Low tide	Slight onshore breeze
Fog, drizzle and cold	Good session

The waves at the Channel were good - clean fast peeling lefts. One hour into my session I connected on my best wave of the morning. The crowd was a consideration today - 30 people were in the water when I began my session and 30 people were in the water when I left. The surfers around me went for the first two waves of the set, leaving me alone and in position for a well-formed five-foot wall. I paddled hard and felt myself almost in the wave. I hung at the top looking over the edge of a vertical drop. It instantly reminded me of the videos I saw of the recent Rip Curl Pro surf contest held at Ocean Beach in San Francisco. I was amazed how the pro-surfers would hang at the tops of the waves with the noses of their boards sticking out of the water and then they would quickly jump up, drop down the steep faces and lock themselves under the lips of the curls. For an instant I felt this was happening to me. I jumped up, shifted my weight forward to push over the edge and dropped vertically down the face. I thought I was going to lose it. The nose of my board dipped into the water and bounced back up. I hung on and cut left at the bottom of the wave. From the momentum the board shot back up to the top of the curl, I leaned forward and again vertically dropped down the face and shot back up the top. I quickly regained control of the board, set the rail under the peeling lip and cruised through another steep and fast section. The wave continued building on the inside. I cut back, let the swell build up, leaned into the curl, climbed back to the top, cut back down, climbed back up - and up and down I went until the wave closed out inside the Groin wall. What a great ride! I had several other fast curl rides as well as several close outs this morning. The waves were right on the edge between incredible locked in the curl rides and blasting walls.

Everyone this morning stated that the waves have been consistently good all week. A series of west swells were driving right into Bolinas. Kevin and I came out here Monday, the day after Christmas, when waves were bigger and the crowd was thicker. We caught some incredible fast curls and got blasted on several hard breaking walls.

Several of the Bolinas regulars were here this morning. Mary was at the Patch and Francine went to join her. Hank was thinking Patch; he walked all the way down there, turned around and walked all the way back to the Groin to join us. Marty and David who rides the Becker board were already out at the Channel. Martha and I arrived at the same time and walked down to the Groin to check out the waves. She saw two good rides, decided that was all she needed to see and headed back to the car to suit up. Professor Steve and his four-year-old son Johnny were suited up and about to enter the water. Johnny had received a new little kid's soft-top board for Christmas and Steve was taking him to try it out. Yes, Johnny was excited.

Paddling out I said hello to Martha, David and Hank at the north edge of the Channel and continued out to the far peak to join Paul and Dexter. Dexter was on a classic longboard - I mean a real, made in the sixties, glassed on single fin, '9 6", sun-yellowed, beat to shit longboard. He claimed it was his first time ever on a heavy old classic. Well, he did fine. The board paddled fast and allowed him to catch all the waves. He could stroke into flat waves, jump up, position himself in the waves, drop down the faces and then cruise across the middle of the swells. When exiting the water, I looked out at the waves and watched Dexter, with his back to the wave, drop down an overhead wall, cut left, climb to the middle of the swell and glide across the face for several yards before the wave exploded around him.

After half an hour, Barry the management trainer and excellent surfer paddled out. I had not seen him in months. Following his normal pattern, he stroked out to the furthest peak at the Channel and patiently sat there waiting for the good set waves. His patience paid off, he caught at least one wave of every set. I asked him if he had been getting any waves lately. He said that he made it out for every big swell this season and that he was currently on a roll of surfing ten days in a row. To him the waves had been fantastic and he was capitalizing on the good consistent surf.

Today the water was cold. After and hour and an half, I was freezing, my hands were turning numb and my leg muscles were beginning to cramp up. Time to go in. I paddled around for another ten minutes before connecting with that elusive last wave, but it was a good one - a three-foot curl that went on and on, all the way inside the Groin wall. I looked back in time to watch David come down a spectacular wave. He dropped down the face of a head-high wall and with his back to the wave David stepped to the middle of his board, climbed to mid-swell and hung-on. He passed through one steep section, shifted his weight to let the inside curl build up, crouched down again and shot through another steep section. As the wave was collapsing near shore, David grabbed the outside rail and pulled himself out over the top of the wave. What a great ride - typical of today.

As I left the water, the waves were still good, the crowd was still pegged at thirty and I was freezing. Despite the cold and the crowd, it was a great morning.

December 14, 2011 Wednesday

2011-12-14T15:10:00.000-08:00

Bolinas	Channel
10:15 am to 11:30 am	2' to 3', occasional 4'
Mid upcoming tide	No wind to slight onshore breeze
Sunny, clear and warm	Fun session

Correction: Lorenzo's Surf Journal has a correction.

"Loren, by the way I make my lunch every morning, not the night before," David who rides the Becker board said to me while paddling out to the Channel after a long ride. He was referring to the Surf Journal's September 21st entry that was posted on December 13th, which stated that David prepared a lunch every night before a surf session. His lunch is always the same - a cheese and lettuce sandwich, a piece of fruit and some carrot sticks. "Hey, I can't have stale cheese and wilted lettuce on my sandwich."

"Well, excuse me, I will correct that error," I said in jest. "David, tell me something. You make your lunch every morning, you live in Berkeley and drive an hour plus to get here and you usually enter the water between 7:00 and 7:30. You must get up earl." I asked as we were walking down the beach after our session.

"Four o'clock. I get up at four o'clock, putter around for an hour or so and leave the house at five thirty."

So here is my correction: to David surfing is as important as work. He is like a dedicated stockbroker who is up before sunrise to get the latest quotes from the New York Stock Exchange. David is up and out the door before sunrise to beat the wind and the crowd to the beach.

This morning was another pleasant surprise. I had no expectation of waves. The swell that came in last Friday was fading, and today's buoy reading was 4 ft at 11 seconds. Mill Valley was freezing with a low Tule fog that trapped the cold air at ground level. At the top of the mountain I broke through the fog into bright sunshine and warm air. It was ten degrees warmer on the ocean side of the mountain.

While suiting up I chatted with the early morning crew who had just finished their sessions. Stand-up guys Frank and Russ said that conditions were improving because it was warmer. They froze when they entered the water at 7:00 am. Marty and Hank confirmed that the waves were getting better from the push of the incoming tide. That's Marty in the above photo.

David, Jacek the tattoo artist and Francine were at the Channel when I entered the water. Francine caught one more wave and went in. A few minutes later Pete from Napa joined us. Thus the four of us had the Channel to ourselves for over an hour. I paddled out to the line-up, paused, looked around and took a deep breath. Conditions were ideal: here it was mid-December, the sun was out, the air was warm with no wind, a glassy surface, nicely formed two to three-foot left peeling waves and a friendly crowd. The waves were smooth, gentle and long. They weren't much to write about except that all of us caught several long rides that took us all the way to inside the Groin wall.

Pete proudly announced that his daughter had been accepted to Georgetown University - one of the nation's better schools. Pete has the double whammy of twin daughters who were seniors in high school and were applying to colleges. Obviously his daughters were doing well in school to be applying to the high-powered universities.

"Congrats," I said. "Now comes the hard part."

"Yeah, like paying for it!"

We will continue Pete's saga later. But for today, the sun was out, the scenery was beautiful and we exhausted ourselves in these small fun waves.

December 9, 2011 Friday

2011-12-09T12:47:00.000-08:00

Bolinas	Patch
9:20 am to 10:40 am	4' to 5', sets overhead
High tide (6.1 ft)	NW cross wind to no wind
Sunny and cold	Great session

"Seas seven feet at twenty-one seconds," squawked the mechanical female voice of the NOAA weather radio. I couldn't believe it. "Seven feet at twenty-one seconds," I kept repeating to myself. "Oh today is going to be a good day." A new swell came in last night. Two days ago, the waves were flat and I didn't bother going out and Monday they were a weak barely rideable two feet.

No one was out at the Channel when I first saw the waves from the seawall at the base of the ramp. Expecting big waves, at first I was disappointed and surprised that the Channel was flat. The swells would come through but they wouldn't break, the water was too deep due to six-foot high tide as shown in the above photo.

Five Bolinas regulars were at the Patch: David who rides the Becker board, Marty, DB the Safeway checker and stand-up guys Russ and Frank. They were just sitting there. After several minutes, a set of long line waves came through and David connected on a good inside right, revealing that the waves had power.

While strapping on my leash before entering the water I watched DB skillfully come down perfectly formed head high right that continuously peeled in front of her, taking her from the far outside peak to ten feet from the shore. The waves were perfect: big, steep and fast; long lines that jumped up over an outside reef, curled over at the top, landed halfway down the swell, slid the rest of the way down and would continuous break to the right all the way to the beach. With such waves, everyone connected on several good rides.

While paddling over a set wave, from the side I watched Hans drop down an overhead face. From the back I could tell the white water was in front of him. He drove under it, got back into the swell, crouched down and cruised all the way into shore. Hans' nephew Troy got the ride of his young surfing life as he dropped down a head high wave, cranked a big turn at the bottom, climbed back to mid-swell, crouched down and hummed across a beautiful wall for fifty yards. On my first wave I took off late on a five-foot wall, cut right, climbed high in the curl and screamed across a well-formed face, cut-back to the let the wave build up and cut right again to fly down another section. After catching several rights, I connected on a good left. I dropped down a steep face, lean left at the bottom, the wave began to break in front of me, I leaned on my front foot to trim the board and sped along the bottom of the wave just behind the breaking curl for several yards until the wave jumped up and collapsed in front of me. It was a great ride.

All of us were puzzled that the Patch would break with perfection while the Channel didn't break at all. Surfers know not to question such things; they just flow with the conditions that the ocean presents. It was a great morning.

December 5, 2011 Monday

2011-12-05T13:12:00.000-08:00

Bolinas	Channel
9:45 am to 10:45 am	2' to 3', sets to 3.5'
Mid outgoing tide	NW cross breeze to no wind to NW cross breeze
Sunny and cold	Exercise session

"Loren do you have a band-aid?" Ray the Petaluma fireman greeted me as I jumped out of my car this morning. He was holding a paper towel over a gash on his forehead.

"Better yet, I have a first-aid kit." I retrieve the kit that I always carry in my car as part of my surf equipment and handed it to Ray.

"Thanks, I usually have one in my car," Ray continued. "But on Thanksgiving I unloaded my car to carry six people and forgot to put it back." I was wondering why a fireman/paramedic wouldn't have a first-aid kit in his car.

"Ray what happened? Did you get hit by the skeg?"

"No I was going left (Ray is regular foot thus his back was to the wave) and the board got sucked up the curl, the rail turned up and I slammed my head on the rail. At first I thought I was ok and started to paddle back out. Then I wiped my forehead and noticed the blood. Then I came in."

"Ray don't tell Loren about your wound, he will write about it in his blog," Mary chimed in.

"I was thinking about taking a picture of it."

"Please no pictures. The last thing I want is more stitches." Ray pointed to a scare on his chin, but all I could notice was his bleeding forehead. "See twenty stitches from a previous surfing accident."

Frank the stand-up guy joined us. Frank is a retired fireman and thus now two professionally trained first-aid experts were conferring over the wound. "Boy you are going to have a bump with this one," Frank commented. Swelling now rimmed the gash on Ray's forehead.

"Thanks," Ray handed the first-aid kit back to me. "I'm going to the station to get some ice for this," and he jumped into his car and drove off.

The early morning crowd (Mary, Jaime the starving artist cartoonist, and stand-up guys Russ and Frank) had finished their sessions and every one of them complained about the cold. Mary had lost feeling in her hands and had difficulty turning the key to unlock the door to her car. The big winds this past weekend had stirred up the ocean and brought the cold water to the surface. With everyone complaining about the cold I decided to wear my gloves. Friday I didn't and my hands froze. Gloves were a must this morning.

Hans and I checked out the waves at the base of the ramp. Two surfers were leaving and only David who rides the Becker board was in the water. The waves didn't look good but the sun was out and the air was warming up. "I'm going to suit up and get some exercise," Hans turned to go back to his car and I walked down to the Groin wall to take some pictures. Jacek showed up and also decided to go out. "One hour," I thought to myself. "Join my buddies and get some exercise."

At first the surf looked good, but it deteriorated as the tide went out. The current began to flow out of the lagoon; it picked up momentum and quickly became a river. Jacek and I sat at the apex of the Channel peak hoping to connect on the set waves. But the current kept dragging us out. We continuously paddled in, stopped and within minutes the current had pulled us back out. No set waves appeared, and we froze paddling around and watching David and Hank who were inside and to the north catch the small inside waves. Jacek and I gave up and paddled in to join Hank and David.

Jacek managed to connect on two classic lefts - long line peeling curls with him crouched down mid-board, back to the waves, locked in with spray arching off the tops of the waves. David scored on a couple of long inside curls. He always has a knack of knowing where to line up. I paddled over to where he was and managed to connect of two long-left curls. But that was all. I spent most of the time fighting the current, paddling and missing waves and trying to keep my hands and toes warm. After an hour I was spent and freezing. Exercise was all that I accomplished this morning.

"How is it out there?" Another surfer, who I didn't know, pulled up, and jumped out of his truck while I was changing after my session.

"Pretty crappy," I responded. "The current is pouring out of the lagoon and the water is freezing." After he had checked out the waves I asked him if he was going out.

"No. Looks like a good day to practice the guitar."

"What about exercise to keep your arms in shape? You have to be ready for when the good waves arrive."

"No thanks. I have this problem with surfer ear. My ear canal is closing down due to the cold water." A condition I know all about. I could tell he had made up his mind and nothing was going to change it. I couldn't disagree - today was a good day to practice the guitar.

November 28, 2011 Monday

2011-11-28T16:03:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-27T13:00:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-16T12:51:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-14T12:05:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-10T12:05:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-02T11:40:00.000-07:00

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.

October 28, 2011 Friday - Part 1

2011-10-28T16:07:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-28T14:53:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-26T12:48:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-23T19:57:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-21T16:48:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-19T11:25:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-14T12:10:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-12T11:20:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-07T10:49:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-03T13:11:00.000-07:00

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.

September 28, 2011 Wednesday

2011-09-28T12:28:00.000-07:00

Bolinas	Groin
10:00 am to 11:30 am	4' to 5', sets overhead
Mid upcoming tide	Onshore breeze to no wind
Sunny and hot - heat wave	Fun, yet frustrating session

With a Maverick's size swell during a heat wave, I had high expectations for waves this morning. The NOAA weather radio reported 14 ft NW swells at 15 seconds - that's big enough to cause Maverick's to break. The radio also forecasted 85-degree high for San Rafael, the closest location they list to Marin's beaches. Now I was excited - hot, sunny, no wind and a big swell. Bolinas should be good and it will be crowded. With big swells, Ocean Beach and Salmon Creek close out, thus the regulars at those beaches come to Bolinas. All the parking spots around the tennis court were taken, and I had to park half way to the Post Office.

Fifteen surfers were out at the Channel and Groin going for big, overhead hard breaking lefts. Waves crushed riders once they dropped down the faces. The Patch also had fifteen surfers, including Bolinas regulars Mary, Jack the Dave Sweet team rider, Marty and Hank. Unlike the Channel, surfers at the Patch were spread across several peaks, but the waves were slow with no push behind them and with the tide coming up the Patch waves would become slower. Thus I decided to head to the Groin.

Heading back to the car after taking pictures, I ran into Ray the Petaluma fireman after his early morning session.

"Ray how was it?"

"Too many idiots and not enough waves," Ray had a frustrating session. "What's this 'on your left, on your right?' What are they doing on my wave?"

While suiting up, Frank the stand-up guy drove by, stopped and rolled down the window."

"Frank, what's the report?"

He shook his head, "When we first arrived it looked great and we got all excited. But the waves were bumpy and infrequent. But I think it is getting better." Frank also had a frustrating session.

Rob, Mr. Throwback, and his good friend Greg were suiting up across the street. I hadn't seen Rob in a long time.

"Rob, Stinson Beach must be closed out for you guys to come here."

"You've got that right. How are the waves?"

"The Channel waves are great, but so is the crowd." We walked down the beach together and while I strapped on my leash I told them my strategy to go for the fast inside waves at the Groin.

"I like that idea, keep it quiet," Rob commented as we entered the water. "Boy the water is warm."

"It's colder than Monday. I think the big waves are stirring up the bottom." What was I doing? Here I was talking to Mr. Throwback, a time warp from the sixties. Rob and I have similar backgrounds. We both grew up in the South Bay of Los Angeles. Rob learned to surf at Hermosa Beach in the early sixties and here in 2011 he has not changed. There he was bald headed with no wetsuit, no booties, no leash, riding a sun-yellowed beat to shit longboard with one big glassed on fin. The only protection against the cold was his faded Aloha trunks. He calmly jumped to his knees and paddled out to the line-up. I saw him several times at the furthest peak stroking into overhead waves.

Over twenty surfers were in the water when I paddled out and I didn't recognize any of them except Jacek the tattoo artist. He was on a medium size board with a pointed nose and pintail and no leash. He paddled over to say hi. Work called thus he was working his way in. He was having a great time. A good size wave came through and he was on it. I watched him closely. He waited to the last moment before paddling for the wave. A little wind swell jumped up on top of a ground swell. He stroked hard two to three times and coasted down the wind swell, gained momentum and then dropped over the edge of the ground swell. "That's how it's done," I said to myself. Catch the top portion of the wave - a technique I executed several times this morning.

I struck to my plan to go for the inside line-up at the Groin and thus avoid the crowd. I had minimal success. On my first wave I dropped down a head-high face, cut left, climbed back into the swell. The wave stood up and I thought I was in for a fast curl ride. But I was headed straight for the Groin pole. With a six-foot high tide the Groin wall was submerged and the Groin pole stood erect in the impact zone. I dove off to avoid hitting the pole and the surge carried me a long way in. When I surfaced I was ten yards on the north side of the pole looking straight at it. My board was floating on the surface on the south side of the wall. Thinking I was above sand, I put my feet down and 'klunk' they hit concrete. I was standing on the Groin wall.

Thus started my love affair with the Groin pole. Every wave I caught guided me directly to the pole. I took off on a big wall, dropped down an overhead face, leaned sharply into the wave and kept a razor's edge ahead of the hard breaking curl. Locked in the wave, I looked up and I was heading right for the Groin pole. "I'm going to hit it." I quickly cut back into the breaking part of the wave, dove off and ended up five yards inside the pole and a few feet from the wall. I tried to compensate by paddling north of the pole to catch waves. But the strong waves and the incoming current pushed me toward the lagoon. By the time I caught a wave I was south of the pole and cutting left again right towards the Groin wall. This happed at least five times.

After my session, I stopped at Stinson Beach to check the waves there. Standing outside the Parkside Café, I ran into John the owner who also is an excellent surfer. He looked like he had just exited the water - messed up hair, dried salt on his face and a wet surfboard in the back of his pick-up truck.

"John, did you surf this morning?"

"Yes, I was at the Channel in Bolinas."

"I was there at the Groin and I don't remember seeing you there."

"No, I was there. Didn't you hear me? I was the one hollering for joy on the Seadrift side. We caught wave after wave at the Channel and took them all the way to the third house at Seadrift." Needless to say, John had a great session.

September 26, 2011 Monday

2011-09-26T13:20:00.000-07:00

Bolinas	Groin
9:30 am to 11:00 am	Consistent 3' to 4', sets to 6'
Mid upcoming tide	No wind
Sunny and warm	Good session

When I arrived, I went up to the overlook above the Groin and couldn't believe my eyes. Conditions were perfect: sunny with blue skies, no wind, table-top glassy surface, sunlight reflecting off the faces of the waves, up coming tide, beautiful four-foot left peeling waves and only three surfers in the water - Marty, Hank and David who rides the Becker board. I didn't even bother to check the Patch, even though I knew that Mary and stand-up guys Frank and Russ were out there.

The season had definitely changed to fall - the best time of the year in the Bay Area. The fog was gone; yesterday's rain had cleaned up the air and put a crispness in the air. September is also the best time of the year for surf - warm weather and Indian Summers that shift the wind to offshore and the first north swells from Alaska arrive. Today fit that pattern. The NOAA weather radio reported 7 ft NW swells at 11 seconds and only a 5 mph NW wind, which translated to no wind at protected Bolinas.

I paddled out to the Groin to join David, Marty and Hank. Jacek the tattoo artist had come out and sat further out at the apex of the Channel peak. Everyone was excited about the conditions and the atmosphere was mellow. I sat there and watched each one of them connect on a good clean wave. On my first wave I stroked into a waist high peak, jumped up, cut left, climbed high in the curl, walked three-quarters of the way to the nose and stood there while I cruised through a long continuous peeling curl. I cut back to let the wave build up on the inside, which it never did. The wave died inside the Groin wall.

That wave established the pattern for this morning. I would sit outside waiting for the sets; pick out a good one and stroke into it. All the waves had beautiful shape. I would quickly turn left, get high in the wave, lock the inside rail under the lip, step to the front quarter of the board, stand there while cruising through a well-formed section, and finally cut back into the breaking part of the wave, turn left again and hope that the inside section would reform, which it seldom did. The waves would die way inside the Groin wall, meaning I was facing a long paddle back out to the line up. To avoid the incoming white water, I would paddle towards the Groin pole and then out and around the impact zone. This was a long circular route, but it was effective. After a few of these long paddles I could feel it in my arms.

Marty and Hank, who had entered the water at 8 am, caught several good long rides and headed in. David could not believe how good it was and thus put in one of his marathon four-hour sessions - 7:30 to 11:30 am. He was in constant motion the whole time - catch a wave, ride it all the way in, take the same circular long paddle back out to the line-up and then do it again - non-stop for four hours.

Pete from the Wine Country joined us. Due to a recent job change he was back to surfing one day a week, and he happened to pick the perfect day. He too caught several good waves. While paddling out, I watched Pete drop down an overhead face, cut left and scream along the bottom just ahead of the breaking part of the wave.

Before entering the water while suiting up, Jacek pulled up. I reported that conditions looked good. He went down the ramp to check out the waves. When I check the waves, I'm trying to decide where to surf: the Channel, the Groin or the Patch. Jacek does the same, but he also has to decide which board to ride. The man with the quiver - he owns 60 boards and comes to the beach with two or three boards in his car.

"The Channel looks like fun," he said as he selected his 9' 6" nose rider. After a few rides, he paddled over to Seadrift to go for the rights. Three stand-ups and one longboarder were over there. An hour later he came drifting back to the Channel.

"How are the waves?" he asked.

"They're beautiful," I answered. Jacek paddled for a big set wave, jumped up and hung at the top before screaming down the line of a fast peeling wall.

"I think I'll go in for a shorter board," he said a few minutes later.

"Careful, though the shape is beautiful, the waves are a tad slow," I warned him. He went in and a half hour later as I walked to the ramp after my session, here came Jacek with a shortboard under his arm.

"The waves are still good," I said.

"What a beautiful day," and off he headed to the Groin. I was sure he connected on several inside fast curls.

This morning the high tide was 6 ft at 11 am. For the first time in months, the incoming waves were hitting the retaining wall of the house on the south side of the ramp. I had to wade through waist deep water to get back to the ramp. Earlier when I went down the ramp on my way out, I noticed a six-inch ledge formed by the water digging away at the sand at the base of the ramp. On my return trip, the ledge was now two and half feet high. I couldn't step over it. I had to put my board down and crawl over the ledge - just another sign of fall, the ocean had started removing sand from the beach.

September 21, 2011 Wednesday

2011-09-21T12:44:00.000-07:00

Bolinas	Groin
10:00 am to 11:30 am	1' to 2', sets to 3'
Mid outgoing tide	Slight onshore breeze
On-the-deck fog	Exercise session

I had my hopes up that the first NW swell of the season had arrived this morning and I would be out in the beautiful sunshine like we had yesterday going for four to five-foot fast peeling lefts at the Channel. It didn't happen. Swell had dropped significantly to 3.3 ft at 11 seconds, which resulted in similar but smaller, weaker and less frequent waves. As I drove out of the forest on the Panoramic Highway, I peered out at a thick blanket of on-the-deck fog that covered the Stinson-Bolinas Bay. The fog was so thick that I could not see the Patch from the base of the ramp and the automatic focusing feature on my camera could not focus due to everything being grayish-white from the fog. I did manage to take a couple of shots at the Groin when surfers rode in close to shore. That's Hank in the above photo completing a decent ride a few feet from the Groin pole.

I met Mary coming out of the water from the Patch when I went back to the car to suit up. She reported the waves were ok but infrequent and she was tired from yesterday's session. Frank and Russ, the stand-up guys, were back at the cars.

"Frank, did you have your fog horn on this morning?"

"You know when you launch from the ramp on days like today, after paddling a short while, you have no idea where you are." Frank and Russ could not see the shore and thus had no bearings as to location. They decided to start paddling for shore. After a minute or two they could faintly see Mary riding a wave on the inside section of the Patch.

I paddled out to the Groin to join David who rides the Becker board, Hank, Mark the archaeologist, Jacek the tattoo artist, Rob from Dogtown, Matt and a few others. All of us grumbled that the predicted first north swell of the season had not arrived. We jockeyed around for a couple of hours in these small weak waves without any rides worthy of mentioning here.

"Mark, when do you take off for the Aleutian Islands?" Mark was about to leave on a ten-day trip to Alaska on a job assignment.

"Tomorrow."

"Are you taking your wetsuit?"

"No. I have too much work to do." The other day he mentioned that this was the best time of the year for weather and that there was a surf break near by. The reality is that the weather is always severe in the Aleutians. Continuous forty to fifty-knot winds over a thirty-six hour period that produced thirty-five foot seas generated our much-anticipated swell.

"Be sure to send us an Aleutian Islands weather report."

"Will do."

"David, what kind of sandwich did you make for today?" It was approaching lunchtime. Yesterday David told me he packs a lunch every morning before each surf session and then eats it during his hour-long journey back to Berkeley.

"Same sandwich I always make. Swiss cheese and lettuce."

"That's all? No meat?"

"It's the carrot chaser that makes the meal." No wonder he was in such great shape. He surfs for three to four hours, four to five times a week and only eats Swiss cheese and lettuce sandwiches and carrots for lunch. Now there is a health regiment.

When I got home I went online to Stormsurf to see what happened to that swell. Stormsurf predicted the swell would hit at 10 pm tonight and that early tomorrow morning the swell would be 7.5 ft at 15 seconds from 299 degrees with only 1 to 5 mph NW wind. Being an optimist and wanting to believe their forecast, I'm planning to be out there early tomorrow.

September 20, 2011 Tuesday

2011-09-20T09:43:00.000-07:00

Bolinas	Channel
8:50 am to 10:30 am	2' to 3', sets to 3.5'
High dropping tide	No wind
Bright, sunny and warm	Fun session

Beautiful weather - that was the story of today. A beautiful day and the waves were inconsequential. I was going out no matter what - clear blue sky, warm air, warm water, no wind, glassy smooth surface and small nicely formed peaks coming through the Channel. Last week all the weather guys on television were forecasting a heat wave; something we haven't seen in months. Summer was a no-show this year - just constant "June Gloom" from May through August, three months of overcast, cloud cover and on-the-deck fog at the beach. September first rolled around and things changed. Starting from this past weekend we jumped from gloomy spring to sunny fall weather.

With super beach weather, I made plans to surf Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and the swell predictions looked good also. Per Stormsurf, the Gulf of Alaska had awakened and the first NW swell of the season was coming in today and would last through the weekend. The NOAA weather radio was warning boat owners that a storm in the East Pacific was sending large long period swells our way. The buoys reported 7 ft swells at 12 seconds. My hopes were up. But maybe the swell was a little too north because the waves at the Channel were a disappointing two to three feet with long waits between sets.

Six surfers were bunched together at the only peak at the Channel including David who rides the Becker board, Jaime the starving artist cartoonist, Doug, Rob from Dogtown and Mary. No one was at the Patch. Despite the wave size, the other factors were good: clean, glassy, and well shaped; I had to go out.

Since the waves were small and gentle, it was a good day for conversations. "So Jaime, this is it!"

"Yes, the operation is tomorrow." He was going in for some surgery that would keep him out of the water for a month. One day in the hospital and four weeks convalescing. We didn't have to worry about him sitting around, because he has several art projects that he was working on.

"Mary, thanks for forwarding the Groundswell poster to your friends." Surfrider Marin had organized an art show of surf, sea and coastal art at the Bay Model in Sausalito. Mary has two fantastic paintings in the show.

"Doug, it's do or die time for the Giants."

"You've got that right! They have to win all nine of their remaining games." The San Francisco Giants were currently on a winning streak and still had a slim chance at a wildcard spot for the playoffs. They were three back of Atlanta and St. Louis in the wildcard chase and four behind Arizona for the lead in the West.

Jacek came out on one of his smaller boards, sat way outside and managed to connect on one wave of every set.

"Can you believe that guy? He was paddling right in front of me." Jacek was annoyed by a younger, but big surfer who lacked the proper surf etiquette. Jacek was paddling for one of the few decent three-foot waves when this guy angled over and started paddling in front of him. Jacek had to pull back when this guy caught the wave.

"Jacek, you just have to take off. Let him know you are there. As Nuke LaLoosh, the Tim Robbins character in the movie Bull Durham would say, 'you have to announce your presence with authority!'"

This guy frustrated me also. Twice he took off in front of me, but I got back at him. A good set wave came through, and I turned to go for it. I noticed that our friend who was a good twenty feet down the line started paddling for the wave also. Being in the steep part of the peak, I was up early and going. I locked my rail under the lip, gained some speed and was heading right for him as he stroked into the wave. I was on him in a second and ran the nose of my board under his outside rail as he hung at the top of the wave. He saw me, got spooked and grabbed his rail, which pulled him up and out of the wave, while I glided on. Jacek and I didn't see him again after that.

"Hey David, it's almost lunch time." I shouted to him after an hour and a half in the water. My arms were spent and I was ready to go in.

"Loren, it's beautiful, there aren't any surf camps in the water and I'm not cold." I took that to mean he was ready to continue on for another hour or so. I went in and changed, and thirty minutes later David came walking by dripping wet with his board in his hand. "It's lunch time."

"You live in Berkeley, what do you do for lunch?"

"I have a sandwich in the car."

"You make a sandwich the night before, right?"

"Yes, it's just like going to work. I put together a sandwich, a piece of fruit and some carrots." Now there's a real shift in attitude - surfing has taken on the same importance as work. He prepares his after-surf lunch every night, just like he used to do for going to work. But I bet you that David has a lot more fun now going surfing than going to work.

Everyone agreed; the weather was so nice that it didn't matter what the waves were doing. It was fun just being out there.

September 19, 2011 Monday

2011-09-19T14:31:00.000-07:00

Memorial Paddleout for Novato Pete - Part 2.

Today I found an outpouring of feelings about yesterday's celebration for Pete in this morning's emails. Here are a few. Thanks to Mary for preserving them and for the photos.

*********************
I stayed behind just to relish the moment, the flowers in the water, the beauty and to take more photos. To make the experience even more amazing, the two bottlenose dolphins, ("Flipper") had been swimming back and forth behind us the whole time. Apparently they are uncommon this far north, but there have been sightings recently. As I was sitting there, they approached close enough for me to hear them breathing. They hung out with their dorsal fins and entire back exposed. I couldn't help but think of Pete and his love of nature, and his talk of coming back as a Peregrine falcon.
Mary
*********************
Such a gorgeous day, and quite a contrast to many of the stormy days I’d also spent surfing with him. But I’ll probably remember him like this. Besides his interest in mushrooms, as Jacek mentioned, he also noticed wildflowers. Periodically he would mention different flowers he would see on a hike, or driving to the beach. During some of the last times I spent with him, and the initial burst of Spring flowers had faded, he had said that there seemed to be a new flush of flowers happening. He thought it might have to do with the early summer rain that we got. I asked if one of the flowers looked kind of like a poppy with four pink petals (it did). I let him know that it was a Clarkia, and was commonly called “Farewell-to-Spring”. I picked some north of Mt. Tam a couple days after he left us, and floated them off today. Farewell to Pete.
David
*********************
The tribute was really sweet, funny and sad but the most amazing thing for me besides us all sharing our stories and getting to know a few people on a much deeper level was after we paddled back to the beach. My husband, myself and Windy stood and watched two dolphins going back and fourth in the background where our circle was. They did this for about 10 or 15 minutes, they we're very purposeful going back and fourth, seemingly stopping and raising their backs towards the sun. I really feel it was Pete letting us know he is ok and he really appreciated our circle of love in our surfer family.

After we all went downtown for coffee and sharing stories, Dennis and I went back to the beach. And lo and behold a majority of the flowers we put out in the ocean washed up in a beautiful pattern along the beach where we gathered before the paddle out. I was struck by upwelling of emotions and just enjoyed it with my eyes and my heart. Peace,
Cazadero Cathy
*********************
I was in Chicago this weekend and spent an hour at 10 central time Sunday morning meditating for Pete and knowing the paddleout was happening. I have read the emails and seen the pictures that have been circulated. Pete might be surprised but I am sure he would be happy that he is responsible for bonding the AM Bo crew in a rather extraordinary way. He was an important part of the tapestry and always will be.
Hank
*********************
It was a grand morning, indeed. Crying, longing and laughing.... talk about the proverbial emotional roller coaster! The ocean, the beach, Bolinas and especially YOU ALL would often have me recounting certain day’s events at the beach and I would shake my head finding myself laughing aloud to things done or said that morning. There are many and I’m sure all of you will recognize these and have even more of your own; Dexter's many moods and hair styles, Russ' constant 'coaching' to Frank and Frank's obvious mute button to Russ' running commentary, Ray's standing in the line-up at the Channel, Marty's kind and helpful answer's to my often ignorant nature questions, Mary's beaming face on completing a particularly excellent ride (don't ever play poker, Mary... you can't hide the Royal Flush), Jack's boundless energy in and out of the water, Loren (aka Lorenzo) documenting our morning shenanigans and finding some surf in the 'Gentleman's Hour', DB’s glowing stoke NO MATTER what the weather or conditions, David's daily Pepper Ridge Farm 'Milano' cookie ritual (two only), Mark's hilarious and sharp wit, Hank's casual cool surfing and gentlemanly behavior, Bridget's daily surf session count, Drew sneaking out for a few waves before he has to man the counter back at the shop, Hans with the 'Gash-Nose' blue board, Cathy (Legs) driving in the middle of the night just to catch a few waves with her pals in the morning, Jacek's amazing skill, wry grin and cool board collection, Doug's gruff stoke, Rob’s pensive and positive attitude, and so much more. Thank you ALL for being there, not only at Pete's memorial but for every morning at Bo where we all met, share waves and our lives. You see, I feel that with Pete’s passing, as a group we’ve become a bit closer and with that I feel like the luckiest guy around. It’s all of this! The faces, the sayings, smiles, stories, tears and beauty.... Like a sunny, glassy morning with the swell popping just right, with ALL of you in the line-up…. Well, heck…I'll most definitely take it with me when I go. Thanks, you guys. You're the greatest! See you kids in the water soon.
Jaime
*********************
Dear Mary,

Sami (Pete's daughter) had forward us your email and link to the YouTube paddle out.

Thank you so much for sharing your incredible day you had in memory of my brother Pete. I'm only sorry I couldn't be there to share with you his life, his friendship, and his love we all had for Pete. Most important, my deepest thanks to you and to all his friends for loving Pete the way you did. He often spoke so highly with affection for his surfing and biking groups. Our family finds peace knowing he had such an incredible "friend family" community.

What a blessing for you all that the dolphins showed up when they did. We too had a nature experience of large birds (probably hawks) soaring overhead when we spread his ashes on Mt. Tam. God is good!

It is with deepest appreciation to all of you.

With love and gratitude,

Sue Jones (Pete's sister)

September 18, 2011 Sunday

2011-09-18T16:00:00.000-07:00

Bolinas	Straight out from the ramp
8:00 am to 10:00 am	2' to 3', sets to 3.5'
Low tide	Slight NW cross breeze
Bright and sunny	Memorable

Memorial Paddleout for Novato Pete - Part 1.

The fog that had oppressed us for the last few days was finally gone, the sun was high in the sky and sky was blue. The weather had turned for Pete.

This morning we - the Bolinas regulars and friends of Pete - gathered for a paddleout in his memory. Pete had passed away on July 12th, his family had spread his ashes at the top of Mount Tamalpais (one of Pete's favorite biking destinations) last weekend and today his surfing companions were going to celebrate his life.

All of us had talked about holding a paddleout from the moment we heard about Pete's death, and now we were finally going to do it. All of us wanted to do it. Mary had quietly taken charge of bringing the celebration together through countless emails inviting every one to come and to spread the word. She also had conversations with Frank the stand-up guy and Mark the archaeologist for their assistance. I have participated in a few paddleouts before and had a notion of what to expect. I had received Mary's email with the basic directions: location - Brighton Beach Bolinas, the time - eight am, and the directive to be ready to enter the water at that time.

I arrived at 7:30 and several of the regulars were already suited up and others were getting ready. With board in hand I marched down the ramp to the beach. Mark, who has participated in paddleouts before, took charge - good for him. He directed everyone to lay their boards on the sand diagonally pointing to the water in two rows with ten to twelve-foot spacing between them. Everyone stood by their boards and when we had all gathered, Mark directed us to enter the water two at a time - one from each row. As a procession, we entered the water in pairs forming a long continuous line of surfers slowly paddling at out sea. Thirty surfers entered the water and two of Pete's biking buddies stood on shore watching the celebration. Fortunately, the ocean in front of the ramp was flat and calm and we easily proceeded out about fifty yards from shore. By Mark's direction we formed a large circle, holding hands and awkwardly bobbling up and down. Mary pulled out her waterproof camera and took a few pictures.

Frank the stand-up guy now took charge. He explained that we were here to celebrate Pete's life and that each of us if he or she felt like it could say a few words about Pete. Frank started off with his own words. Over an hour, everyone - all thirty of us - cited a memory or trait about Pete. The praises were too numerous to repeat here, but one thought came pouring through - Pete had more friends than he realized.

"And thank you Pete for lifting the fog," the last person completed his words. Everyone that had paddled out with flowers threw them into the middle of the circle, while the rest joyously splashed the water. "Look at the dolphins," as if on cue, two bottlenose dolphins surfaced twenty yards out from us and began happily diving and surfacing in a circle. "Let's go surfing and ride one for Pete." We all turned and began paddling to the Channel. I could only imagine what the six surfers at the Channel thought when they saw thirty surfers heading right for them at the one and only peak that morning. Our spirits were high and we had a grand time playing around in the small weak waves of that morning. And guess what? The dolphins followed us.

But something spiritual happened in that circle. As we held hands, looked at each other and expressed our feelings about our Pete, we came together. After the ceremony, I heard conversations about we're friends, companions, a community, a family and a tribe. The emails the next day talked of coming together, taking care of each other and being thankful for the companionship.

Pete, in your own wacky way, you have brought us together. Thank you. We all now realize we are a community, and you are still part of it.

Rest in peace, Peter Weiss.

September 14, 2011 Wednesday

2011-09-14T13:18:00.000-07:00

Bolinas	Channel & Groin
10:00 am to 11:40 am	3' to 4', sets to 6'
Mid upcoming tide	NW cross breeze
Fog, overcast and misty	Good session

I was sitting at the peak midpoint between the Channel and the Groin as a sizeable set approached. Nine of us were bunched together in tabletop glassy conditions. I patiently let the others go for the first two waves and now I was in position for the third one -- a four-foot perfectly formed left. I stroked into it, cut left, drove underneath white water sliding down in front of me, climbed back up to the middle of the swell, set my inside rail under the lip of the wave and flew down the line in front of a fast breaking curl. I cut back, turned left into an inside section and hummed down another fast section. The wave finally died just inside the Groin wall. What a great ride.

I paddled out around the peak and over to the line-up. I had planned to rest a bit before going for another one, but in came a well-formed left wave, I looked around, and no one else was going for it - I couldn't believe it. I waited to the last moment and since nobody was going for it, I quickly turned around, dug hard three times and coasted into another great wave - one as good as the last one. That was how this morning's session went: catch a good wave, paddle back out, wait a few moments and stroke into another clean, fast one.

I knew there could be waves this morning. I had a good session Monday and was hopeful of a repeat performance. The NOAA weather radio reported 6 ft swells at 15 seconds with 3 ft of the 6 being SW swells at 16 seconds. The NW winds were strong at Bodega and Point Reyes, but they were offshore at Bolinas. Thus conditions looked good: 3 ft south swell, offshore winds and an upcoming tide.

I parked in the last available parking spot at the tennis courts, meaning the word must be out on the Internet that the surf was up. From the base of the ramp I saw six surfers at the Patch and ten at the Channel. I walked down to the Patch with my camera to take some shots of Jaime the starving artist cartoonist, Jack the Dave Sweet team rider and Dan. They were camped on Robinson's Reef going for the good inside rights. Within a few minutes each of them connected on two or three good inside curls. I walked up to the overlook above the Groin to checkout the waves at the Channel and the Groin. The sets at the Channel were clean, peeling continuously left and sizeable, maybe peeling a little too fast. With his unique knee riding style, Josh the Bolinas fisherman connected on two long, fast curl rides. Jacek the tattoo artist, Marty and Scott who only surfs on Wednesdays, also caught good rides in the few minutes that I was standing there. With the tide coming up, those waves would become more rideable, thus I would head for the Channel.

Jacek greeted me with a big grin when I paddled out. He was having a grand time. He claimed that he got barreled a few minutes earlier. He was locked in the tube and watched the lip folding over his head for twenty feet in front of him. Last Monday Jacek was riding a 9' 6" nose rider and hung five in both directions. Remember that Jacek owns sixty boards and chooses the one that best fits the conditions. Today he was on a short board. I told him it was too short. "No way!" he answered. On this little thing, his riding style changed to up and down turns. After a long ride and while standing in chest high water near the Groin pole, I got a good view of his last ride. Jacek came flying down a head-high wall that was quickly peeling across the impact zone. He looked like he was riding a skateboard going up and down the walls of an empty swimming pool. The wave finally closed-out in front of him, he straightened out and rode the white water all the way to the shore.

Chuck the Bolinas local who rides a kneeboard was out there. He is an excellent wave rider who likes to move around and take off at the very last second. So I had to keep an eye on him to stay out of his way, which resulted in frustration on my part. Sets would come through and Chuck would paddle towards the peak like he was going for the waves, only to paddle over them at the last moment. I would hold off thinking he was going for them. Finally I just ignored him and went for anything that looked good. I did get a great side view of Chuck on an excellent wave. He shot through the initial curl, climbed back to the top of the wave, dropped quickly to the bottom, turned sharply left with his hand holding the outside rail, he leaned into the wave while white water pounded his shoulder, shot back into the curl, climbed to the top again, dropped to the bottom, back to the top, dropped down again and on and on he went.

On such a good day, why was I entering the water at 10 am? Today was the first day this season that we were collecting water samples for Surfrider Foundation's water testing program. That and taking photos and chit chatting with the crowd in the parking area was my excuse. Nevertheless I had a good session, I totally exhausted my arms and body and felt that glow of satisfaction for the rest of the day.

September 12, 2011 Monday

2011-09-12T12:26:00.000-07:00

Bolinas	Channel & Groin
9:00 am to 11:00 am	2' to 3', sets to 4'
Mid upcoming tide	No wind to NW cross breeze
Fog to patchy sunshine	Good session

A young woman who I didn't know had just suited up and was about to head for the ramp as I pulled up.

"How does it look out there?"

"Ankle baiters! But it's beautiful - glassy smooth and clean little waves."

She was right - there was no wind and the surface was tabletop smooth. Three surfers were at the peak between the Channel and the Groin, and Ray the Petaluma fireman was on the Seadrift side of the Channel going for the rights. Jaime the starving artist cartoonist and stand-up guys Frank and Russ were at the Patch. I had my camera at the ready but the surfers at the Channel didn't catch anything. After several minutes one guy finally connected on a well-formed left and cruised all the way to the Groin wall. The waves were better than they looked. I had no expectations this morning. The buoy report read 2 ft NW swell at 10 seconds combined with a 2 ft south swell at 14 seconds. Per Stormsurf the south swell was building and would peak tomorrow afternoon and last into Wednesday.

"Ray, I heard on the radio that there's a big fire down south. Did they send any of your company there?" Ray had just returned to his car while I was suiting up.

"No. That's in Kern County and they have lots of equipment there. The fire started by lightning."

"There's been lightning around the Bay Area which has started several fires. Did you get called?"

"No. Yesterday I climbed the Transamerica Tower in the City."

"What was the occasion?"

"As a memorial to the firemen lost in New York on 9/11, we scaled the Transamerica building." Yesterday was the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorists attack and there were memorials all across the county.

"How tall is it?"

"Forty-five stories. We did it twice to accomplish ninety stories like the guys did on 9/11 and I'm beat."

"Did you do it with sixty pounds of gear on your back?"

"No, they wouldn't let us enter the building with our packs on. But we had everything else on. We climbed forty-five stories, took an elevator back down and went up again. It was hard."

"I would get sick doing that. Did anyone get sick?"

"Yes, one guy threw-up and it sank up the stairwell for several floors."

Ray paused and then continued, "I was surprised at the number of white hats going up the stairs - that's the fire chiefs. I carried the badge number of one of firemen who perished on 9/11. I didn't know him, but I was familiar with his station. When I finished I rang the bell for him. Everyone carried a badge number and the bell rang 364 times."

I could tell that Ray was proud to have participated in this ceremony.

While paddling out I thought the waves were looking good. My first wave was ok - a smooth, long, but slow left. As the tide came up the waves improved and I clicked on a good one. I took off late on a four-foot wall, turned left and slid under white water of the breaking wave. Once back in the swell, the wave lined up perfectly. I climbed high in the curl, stepped to the middle of the board, crouched down and cruised. I froze my position and watched the spray come off the top of the curl while the wave peeled on and on in front of me. Finally it died ten feet inside the Groin pole. That was the first of five similar waves.

Jacek sat of the outside waiting for the set waves and connected on one good one after another. He had his nose rider board and managed to plant his foot on the tip of the nose of his board at least five times coming down perfect left curls. For an hour four of us had the Channel peak to ourselves. After two hours the wind picked up and my arms were spent - time to go in. But what a pleasant surprise, I had no expectations and paddled out to ideal conditions: glassy smooth surface, warm sunshine breaking through the fog, a small mellow crowd and consistent three to four-four left peeling waves.

September 7, 2011 Wednesday

2011-09-07T14:40:00.000-07:00

Bolinas	Channel & Groin
8:00 am to 10:00 am	2' to 3', sets to 4'
High tide	No wind
On the deck fog to patchy sunshine	Fun session

Hank summed up this morning's session this way, "the morning was so beautiful the waves were secondary." The on-the-deck fog lifted putting a mist on the water while the sun broke through in spots creating an array of blues and grays on the glassy smooth surface as the same perfect peeling left waves that we had yesterday continued onto today.

I had such a good session yesterday and was hoping to do it again this morning. I left the house early and arrived at Bolinas at 7:15. The fog was thick, Mary was suited up and heading for the Patch, but due to the fog she didn't know if there were any waves. Jaime the starving artist cartoonist was already out there.

"How was the Patch yesterday?"

"It was great. There were waves and only Matt and I were out there. I don't understand why no one else was out. It was great without crowd considerations. I could move to any peak and take off without worrying about anyone else."

After this morning's session she gave the same report. "Yesterday it was just Matt and I. Today it was just Jaime and I and there were plenty of waves."

As Marty and I walked down the beach to the Groin, I saw Rob cruise down a nice four-foot wall. I knew I was into another good session. On my first wave I hung high in the curl, stepped to the middle of the board, stuck out my right foot for a cheater five nose ride and just cruised across a nice clean section.

Marty caught several good ones. After one of my rides, I was standing in waist deep water near the Groin pole and watched Marty connect on his best ride of the morning. He hung at the top of a four-foot curl, dropped down to the bottom, swooped back up to the top and hung there just below the lip of the wave before dropping down the face and trimming a long way to the Groin wall.

Professor Steve was out there having another one of his brief half-hour sessions before heading off to teach class at Mills College in Oakland. Steve went in and Hank came out. Slowly the crowd swelled to nine and because there was only one peak we were bunched together. But the crowd was mellow and everyone caught their share of waves. Bolinas regulars were there - Jeff the Dillon Beach boat mechanic, Rob from Dogtown, Hank, Marty, Scott who only surfs on Wednesdays, Jacek the tattoo artist and Shu-Shu the mother of two from Dogtown. Shu-Shu had connected on several good ones yesterday and had to come out this morning for more of the same.

As usual Jacek scored on several good waves. Today he was riding a 9' 2" thick in the nose board built seven years ago for his wife. She hasn't surfed in a couple of years, thus Jacek has claimed her board. He sat way outside and further south than the rest of us at the apex of the Channel peak. And as usual he had the ability to paddle into set waves while they were still flat. I watched him closely on one of his longest rides. A sizeable set wave approached, Jacek dug hard five to six times and glided into the wave while it was still flat. He jumped up, turned left and with his back to the wave crouched down and grabbed the outside rail as the wave feathered over his head. He streaked down the line just ahead of the breaking wave, stood back up, stalled for a brief second and cruised through another section. A few moments later I noticed that he had caught another wave way on the inside and was heading right along the contour of the north bank of the Channel and ended up close to the boat ramp at the end of Wharf Road.

My last ride was a good one. After two hours my arms felt like they were going to drop off my body - time to head in. I moved in to catch the good inside curls close to shore. A set wave came through and I stroked into it. I remained prone to insure I was into the wave and then jumped up to my knees and shot under the initial break. Next I jumped up to my feet, leaned into the curl, climbed high in the wave, crouched down and cruised. The wave kept building in front of me. I dropped into the inside curl and was heading right for the Groin pole. But I could see that I had room to cross in front of the wall. I leaned into the curl again and shot pass the front of the Groin pole and dove into the white water as the wave broke on the sand. When I surfaced my board was sitting on the top of the wall. Since I ended up three feet from dry sand - and the wall, I decided to call it a day.

Hank, who had just exited the water, was standing on the beach and saw my ride. "I thought we were going to lose you."

"Hey, no sweat. I knew I could make it."

"What a good way to end your session."

September 6, 2011 Tuesday

2011-09-06T13:25:00.000-07:00

Bolinas	Channel & Groin
9:00 am to 11:00 am	3' to 4', occasional 5'
High dropping tide	Slight cross breeze to no wind
Fog to patchy sunshine	Good session

I thought that remnants of last week's good south swell would still be hitting Bolinas, and I was right. Hank gave serious considerations of going to Linda Mar in Pacifica but decided as he was leaving his house in Mill Valley to head for Bolinas instead, and was he glad he did. Out in the water Hank and I gloated about how ideal it was: no wind, glassy smooth, warm water, small mellow crowd (only six surfers) and beautiful three to four-foot left peeling waves.

"Dexter, I bet you were in Santa Cruz during last week's big south swell," I commented to Dexter as we walked down to the Groin for me to take some pictures. He often goes to Santa Cruz and has just started taking some classes on construction there.

"I went to the Hook last Wednesday and Thursday. There were five hundred professional photographers on the cliff and the break was filled with professional shortboarders. I only caught three good waves. The rest of the time I went for the scraps because the pros were on every decent wave - they dominated the break. On Friday I got more waves and had more fun at the Patch."

We watched David who rides the Becker board, Marty and Professor Steve catch one decent well-formed left after another. The photo conditions were ideal: with the high tide they rode the waves right up to the beach, and I had Jacek's big 400 mm lens on my camera. That's Professor Steve on a good one in the above picture. Don't worry, he didn't hit Marty on this wave, but he did come close.

When Dexter and I headed back to the cars to suit up, Shu-Shu was coming down the ramp with her board in her hand. She stared at the Patch, looked at the Groin and then looked at us with that "what's the call" expression on her face. Without saying anything, I pointed to the Groin and off she went.

On my first wave I took off late, jumped to my knees, shot through the first section, then jumped to my feet, the wave built up again, I leaned into the curl, stepped to the middle of the board, crouched down, shot through a second section, cut back and turned left again into a third section. What a great way to start a session.

Hank had his new big paddling machine out there. He would sit outside, wait patiently for the sets, and would connect on one big one of every set and cruise all the way to the Groin wall. After our session I asked him how he would describe the waves - "fun, just plain fun." I would describe them as smooth. There was that "swoosh" sound as you dropped down the face and a "swoosh" sound when you cut back.

David had another one of his good sessions. He was in the water when I arrived and connected on five good curl rides while I was taking photos on the beach. He continued catching one good wave after another. Two hours later when I exited the water, he was still there. He told me he entered the water at 7 am - just another four-hour session. How does he do it?

Shu-Shu also had a good session. To avoid the crowd she sat way inside and caught the small fast curls that peeled right up to the Groin wall. After an hour the waves started to die. The current coming out of the lagoon quietly pushed us outside without us realizing it and knocked down the waves. While Hank, David and I paddled around wondering where the sets went, Shu-Shu was connecting on one good inside curl after another. Every time I looked towards the shore, there she was streaking across another waist-high curl.

I followed her lead and moved inside. I dropped into a string of four small fast peeling lefts. Soon David and Hank moved inside also. After two hours my arms were spent - I had to go in. My last wave was a good one. I dropped down a head-high wall, climbed high in the curl and shot through a steep section, cut back, turned into an inside section that kept building right up to the sand north of the Groin wall. What a way to end a good session - just five steps from dry sand.

September 2, 2011 Friday

2011-09-02T13:02:00.000-07:00

Bolinas	Patch
9:00 am to 10:30 am	3' to 5', sets overhead
Low upcoming tide	Slight onshore breeze to no wind
Low fog to sunny and warm	Good session

After yesterday's good session I knew the word would be out on the Internet. The south swell was peaking today, the wind had dropped and everybody knew it. I emailed Marty to be there early due to the crowds, even though the low tide would turn at 8:30 and the waves would be better two hours later with the upcoming tide. The buoys reported an incredible 5 ft south swell (190 degrees) at 20 seconds. Let me summarize: biggest south swell in years on a Friday before a three-day holiday with lots of sunshine in the forecast - yes it would be crowded.

All the parking places around the tennis court at Bolinas were taken at 8 am. I drove around the block and ended parking halfway to the post office and I didn't recognize any of the cars. Twelve surfers were bunched at one peak between the Groin and the Channel. From the overlook, I could see lines of swell marching in. The surfers struggled to get into the waves - they were hard to catch. When they did stroke into these walls, they would drop down overhead faces and would immediately be buried in a ton of white water. In the ten minutes I stood there, I didn't see any one get a decent ride.

Thirty surfers - that's right 30, I counted them - were spread across the Patch. The swell was definitely in and had cleaned up from yesterday. From Terrace Road, I could barely see the furthest group of surfers - specks on the horizon. I estimated they were at least 500 yards out to sea. A big set came through and these lines of water filled the horizon. I watched two brave souls streak down an overhead peak. The waves were big, fat, clean and rideable - no bump like yesterday. Mary and Jaime the starving artist cartoonist were at the middle peak half way out there. I watched both of them connect on overhead waves. The waves were "soft" meaning flat on the take-offs and forgiving, and would reform on the inside for a second nice curl. My strategy was set - I would head for the middle peak to join Jaime and Mary.

While suiting up, Doug drove by, stopped and rolled down his window to say hello. "Doug, this weekend is do or die for the Giants. They have to sweep the Diamondbacks." Doug is a big Giants fan.

"You got that right." He shook his head in frustration, the Giants were sinking like a stone and the D-Backs were coming on strong.

"Doug, where did you go out?"

"I went out at the Channel, caught two great lefts and that was it. I was the first guy out there - I had it all to myself. After my second good wave, I looked at the beach and I swear ten shortboarders were paddling out. I moved over to the Seadrift side to join Creighton. These huge waves were coming through and breaking in one foot of water. Well, I would like to stay longer but I have to go to work." Doug had retired from thirty years of teaching a couple of years ago, but continues doing small construction jobs and off he drove.

The middle peak was a long ways out there. I had to entered the water at the first seawall instead of at the Patch reef due to the big shore break. I paddled out to join David who rides the Becker board, Mark the archaeologist, Martha, Rob from Dogtown and numerous others who I didn't recognize. Yesterday's strategy of catching the white water and working the waves while they reformed didn't work today - I couldn't push into the reformed waves. I watched Martha stroke into the initial break of a wave at the middle peak. She turned into a nice right curl, cutback, let the wave build up and swung right again into a fast curl.

"That's how it is done." I moved over to join her and immediately caught a good left with a decent curl. On my next wave Martha and I collided. I was sitting at the middle peak watching an approaching swell build. It jumped up and was about to break. I quickly turned around, stroked into it, turned left and here was Martha coming right. We hit - the nose of my board went over the top of hers. The boards became entangled and I dove over the top of them. Fortunately, no harm no foul. I had decided to go for a wave at the very last instance without looking around and didn't see Martha going for the same wave. For the rest of the session I paid close attention to what was going on around me.

A few minutes later Mark and I score on a good wave together. We took off on the same peak; I went left and Mark went right. I sped down a head-high curl toward the breaking part of the wave, and swung around right into a reforming steep right curl. Mark was ten yards in front of me, the wave broke in front of me and Mark continued in the curl. I swung around left into a nice reforming left curl and worked that curl until it broke on shore. Mark did the same on the right side. I ended up in waist high water fifteen feet from shore and looked for Mark - he was twenty yards south in knee high water carrying his board to begin the long paddle out to the line-up, how about that - two long rides on one well-formed wave.

Like yesterday, the stand-up surfers were having a field day. From a distance I watched one guy stroke out on his knees. I knew I had seen him before. He was the one with the Hawaiian style and who was good. As I got closer I knew it was him. Pure Hawaiian, he was on his knees, butt resting on his heels, hand firmly positioned just above the head of the paddle, three strokes on one side, then switch hands and three strokes on the other side. The guy caught everything he went for, cruised down the faces, cutback, turned back into the wave, cut up and down the face and crouched down mid-board to shoot through the curls. He was the furthest one out there and caught at lease one if not two waves of every set. I sat there and admired his big drops, sweeping turns and locked in the curl rides. Twice he hung five - true hanging five with toes (he didn't wear booties) wrapped over the nose of his board - which was not easy to do on a thick stand-up board.

After surfing two hours yesterday and one and a half hours today, my arms were spent. Both sessions required a lot of paddling - long paddle out to the middle peak, long paddles back out to the line-up and continuous moving around to position for the peaks. While I rested between sets I looked around. "This is ideal," I thought - warm sunny day, no wind, warm water, and a five foot twenty second south swell rolling in. It doesn't get any better than this.

September 1, 2011 Thursday

2011-09-01T11:31:00.000-07:00

Bolinas	Patch
9:40 am to 11:40 am	3' to 5', sets overhead
Low upcoming tide	Onshore breeze to no wind
High overcast to patchy sun	Good session

Boy was I looking forward to today - a big south swell arrived yesterday and would last through the weekend. All the Internet sites had predicted this swell a week in advance. Stormsurf labeled it Strong #S7 - meaning the seventh major south swell of the season. The swell began south of New Zealand near the Ross Ice Shelf, and sustained winds of 50 to 65 mph (hurricane speed) had generated 50 ft swells aimed at Peru and Chile with remnants of energy on the great circle that runs through California. Surline warned that the waves wouldn't be that huge, but the force behind them would be significant, thus novice surfers should take caution. The NOAA weather radio put out a special weather advisory that a long period swells would cause big waves, especially at south facing beaches. The National Park Service send out a broadcast email to the citizens of Stinson Beach warning of dangerous surf and rip currents for the Labor Day holiday weekend. This morning Kahuna Mike of the Riviera Waveriders sent out an email with photos of ten-foot crushing walls at Torrance Beach in Southern California. Torrance is a normal beach break that seldom has waves over six feet. The swell hit there yesterday.

This morning's buoy report had 7 ft 7 second NW swell and - get this - 3 ft south swell at 20 seconds. I was excited. This was it. The big swell had finally arrived and I was ready - and so was everybody else. All the parking spots were gone at 8:30 am. Someone had just pulled out and I quickly grabbed his place. Long faces of disappointment greeted me as I jumped out of the car. All night south winds had torn up the waves. Doug and Creighton had just exited the water and groused about the bump, the chop and the rough texture of the surface. Hank was suiting up but wasn't optimistic. Mary and Paul headed for the water hoping for the best. Marty had planned to be in the water at seven and out in an hour to make it to his eye doctor appointment. The disappointing conditions prevented him from even going out.

"David, you're late," I gestured to my watch to as David who rides the Becker board was heading to the beach. He usually was in the water by 7:30 am. Like others this morning, he was waiting for the tide to turn before going out.

From the overlook above the Groin, I watched two surfers scratch for four to six-foot bombs that exploded in one foot of water. At Terrace Road I saw twenty surfers spread across several peaks at the Patch. The swell was there but the waves were not clean. With a strong swell I expected to see long lines that stretched across the entire Patch reef - no way. Instead there were numerous peaks of crumbling waves randomly spread across the entire Patch impact zone. A couple of surfers and three stand-up guys were a mile out there at the furthest peak - mere specks on the horizon. Small groups of surfers were located at various peaks - one group was half way out there going for set waves that had reformed. Mary caught one of these waves and then she paddled out way outside and a few minutes later was back at the halfway peak. Another group was near shore going for a sizeable and challenging shore break. In the above photo that's Dan letting a wave build up before turning into a fast curl.

"What a disappointment. I was hoping for better waves," I commented to Brandon from Fairfax who was also checking the waves.

"I have learned to never have any expectations. That way I'm never disappointed." That was certainly a difference take on today's waves.

Susan who always wears sunglasses in the water pulled up with her board in the car. She too was disappointed. She said yesterday it looked terrible, but she went out anyway and it was terrible. She was determined to try again today.

Mary had moved back to the halfway peak to join David. I decided I would join them because these two always know where the best take-off point is. The shore break consisted of strong sizeable walls that pounded on the sand. Wading out, I tossed my board over the top of some incoming white water. The power of the wave popped my board up and right into my face. It slapped me in the nose and it hurt. I rubbed my nose and there was blood on my hand. Great, I had a bloody nose and I had just entered the water. I shook it off - don't panic. I paddled out to join Jeff the Dillon Beach boat mechanic.

"What happened?" Jeff asked gesturing to my nose. It was still bleeding. Fortunately the blood was coming from the outside of my nose, a scrape and not internal. Within ten minutes it stopped, but I did have a swollen nose at the end of my session.

I paddled further out to join Mary. She mentioned that she tried for the far outside peak but couldn't do it. The waves were too constant for her paddle through them, plus the rides weren't that good. Our strategy was to catch the white water of the outside set waves and ride them into reforming waves near shore. This strategy worked. On my first wave the peak showed some left. I stroked into it as it was breaking, jumped up quickly, dropped down a steep fast left curl, stalled slightly to let the wave build up again and cruised across a steep inside curl. I knew I was over the rocks of the Patch reef and heading into shallow water. When I saw water boiling around the rocks I pulled out. What am I doing? I already had bloodied my nose and was risking landing spread eagle on the rocks, but what a good ride. With the tide coming up the water got deeper. I ended up catching four more steep left curls into the shallow water of the Patch reef. The rights were good also. I paddled into the soup of a big outside wave that was reforming. The force of the wave was strong, I was buried in white water, I jumped up to my knees, leaned on my hands to push my board over the edge of the reforming curl, jumped up to my feet, cruised down a head-high right shoulder, and on and on I went until I pulled out as the wave collapsed on the sand.

After an hour Matt paddled out. He was working and took a break to get in some waves. The good news was that he was working. He also took up the catch white water strategy, which he did with great success. Later he told me that on his last wave he caught white water of a huge wave, it reformed and he screamed across a head-high wall all the way into shore. From a distance I saw Susan on a good one. I could tell it was her - goofy foot, feet spread apart and arms held high. She was way to the north and outside of us as she dropped down a head-high peak, turned left and cruised on and on down a beautiful wall.

After two hours my arms were spent, but the waves were getting better - the wind had stopped, the surface glassed off, the waves got bigger and cleaner and the crowd had swelled, but I had to go in. Again I caught white water of a set wave that was big and had some force. The wave reformed and I kept cutting back to stay in it and ride it to shore. The wave stood up and I cruised across a four-foot curl that kept unfolding in front of me. I pulled out over the top as the wave broke on the sand. What a great way to end a good session.

August 30, 2011 Tuesday

2011-08-30T12:47:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

"It's supposed to arrive tomorrow."

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

"Yes, like through the weekend."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

August 28, 2011 Sunday

2011-08-28T14:45:00.000-07:00

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

Surfrider Foundation California Conference

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

August 24, 2011 Wednesday

2011-08-24T14:49:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

August 18, 2011 Thursday

2011-08-18T13:15:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

August 15, 2011 Monday

2011-08-15T15:28:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

August 10, 2011 Wednesday

2011-08-10T11:47:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

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

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

August 8, 2011 Monday

2011-08-08T21:54:00.000-07:00

Tribute to Novato Pete

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rest in peace Novato Pete.

August 6, 2011 Saturday

2011-08-06T13:01:00.000-07:00

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

Kahuna Kupuna Surf Contest

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Just wait until next year.

Lorenzo's photos

Debbie's photos

August 3, 2011 Wednesday

2011-08-03T14:18:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

August 1, 2011 Monday

2011-08-01T11:37:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

July 29, 2011 Friday

2011-07-29T11:11:00.000-07:00

Pacifica	Linda Mar - out front
8:30 am to 10:00 am	3' to 4', sets overhead
Low upcoming tide	Offshore breeze to west cross breeze
High fog to bright sunshine	Good session

"You really had a good session. I saw you. You caught one great wave after another. I got photos of your last ride. Here, take a look." I turned on my camera and stepped through the last four shots that I had taken. I was talking to Hinde (hee-day) a Japanese surfer who I shared waves with this morning at Linda Mar. "You are good. You managed to hang five on at least twenty waves."

"I started learning to walk the nose a couple of years ago and now I'm practicing it for the contest."

"Contest? Are you signed up for next week's Kahuna Kupuna contest?"

"Yes, I'm in one of the youngest groups, the fifty year old group." This contest was for forty and older surfers.

"I'm in the contest too, but in an older group. I'm sixty-six years old."

"OOOOOOh," Hinde said putting his hands together and bowing out of respect for his elder. I knew I like this guy. That's Hinde on his last ride in the above photo.

A new NW swell had come in this morning and the waves were bigger and more powerful than Wednesday (July 27) when I was here last. Again south winds and my determination to practice for next week's contest compelled me to return to Linda Mar. A pronounced channel had formed just north of the main bathrooms causing all the waves at the peak out front to break to the left. Most of the waves were slow and mushy due to the depth of the channel. While paddling out through the channel after a slow flat wave, I looked down the line to see Hinde streaking down a fast breaking left with his left foot firmly planted on the nose of his board. "That's what I want," I said to myself. "How does he do it?" From then I paid attention to what he was doing and mimicked him. Hinde sat inside of the main crowd and waited for the sets, the ones that looked walled or looked like they would break to the right. Hinde knew that the deep channel caused all the waves to break to the left. Thus by taking off on the walls or the ones that were peaking north of us, he would drop into steep, left peeling curls. I did the same and managed to connect on several good waves. All this happened in the last forty-five minutes of my session. The quality of these rides turned a so-so session into a good one.

Sam, a Bolinas regular, was out there this morning riding that classic longboard that he made. He had a good session also. Sam likes to sit outside and go for the big ones. Every twenty minutes or so, a set of big overhead walls would come through. Sam would be on them, making classic elevator type drops and then hanging on, as a ton of white water would engulf him. Sam told me that Bolinas had not been good for several days. He lives in Oakland and thus has to make that critical decision as the leaves the house of which break to go to. After a long drive there's no correcting a bad decision. He told me he studies the Internet the night before and decides where to go before he goes to bed. That way, he just jumps up in the morning and heads out without any hesitation or second guessing his decision. We both agreed that he made the correct decision this morning.

After an hour and a half, my arms were feeling it, the wind had picked up, the crowd had swelled and surf camps were in session, time to call it a day. Sam and Hinde were still out there. I hurried changing, grabbed my camera and managed to snap some good shots of both of them. Again as I turned onto the Great Highway near Sloat Ave on my way home, overcast, wind and chop greeted me. I gloated with the satisfaction of having made the right decision that resulted in a good surf session at sunny Linda Mar.

July 27, 2011 Wednesday

2011-07-27T16:51:00.000-07:00

Pacifica	Linda Mar - South end
8:15 am to 10:15 am	3' to 4', sets head high
Mid upcoming tide	Offshore breeze to onshore breeze
On the deck fog to bright sunshine	Fun session

This morning I decided to head to Pacifica. Why Pacifica? South wind. The conditions favoring Linda Mar were: a four-foot NW swell, Linda Mar is a north facing beach and the north swells head directly into the narrow cove; an upcoming tide (4 ft at 11 am), Linda Mar breaks best at high tide; and a three-knot south wind that would blow offshore there. Also on my mind was the upcoming Kahuna Kupuna surf contest. Jack the Dave Sweet team rider, who enters this contest every year, reminded me the other day to send my money in. We entered the contest last year, had a great time and placed second and third in the “Legends” division (65 to 69 year olds). The contest was in two weeks and I needed to get in a couple of sessions in to get familiar with the feel of the waves.

What a good decision. Ocean Beach was a mess, strong onshore wind, chop, white caps, crumbly waves and no one out. A dense on-the-deck fog greeted me at Linda Mar, but the wind was offshore and the waves were clean. Standing on the shore with camera in hand I could barely see the surfers in the water and could not make out the conditions of the peaks. I asked a young shortboarder who had just exited the water about his session. He stated he was at a good right peak half way between the Taco Bell and the south bathrooms. I walked down there and saw a gaggle of six surfers bunched together, but I still could not see the quality of the waves.

I decided to head for the left peak that is always at the very south end of the beach. I paddled out and only one other surfer was out there. Ten surfers were at the peak to the north. After missing a couple, I caught a small, slow left wave. After coming down the face, my board hit the brakes and I tumbled off. Kelp, I had hit a patch of kelp. Sea grass was hanging on my arms and shoulders when I surfaced. The whole south end was thick with kelp and sea grass. On my next two attempts, the kelp wrapped around my feet and arms preventing me from paddling when I turned to go for the waves. A few minutes earlier the other surfer had moved to the peak north of us. No wonder no one else was here. After struggling with the thick kelp, I too moved north to join the crowd at the next peak.

After a frustrating hour I finally figured out the waves. By then the fog had lifted and hung on the horizon, the sun broke out, the sky was a deep blue and the crowd had grown. I sat inside, waited for the sets and took off when the waves were breaking. The smaller waves were flat, slow and difficult to catch. The late take-offs on the four to five-foot waves were steep, fast and challenging. If my timing was good, I dropped into a fast curl that held up. Often I was too late and merely plowed down into a ton of white water. The water and sunshine were warm, the crowd was mellow and my arms felt strong. I after each ride I quickly paddled back out for another one.

A young shortboarder paddled from the north to our peak. I could tell by how cleanly he moved through the water that he knew what he was doing. He was riding an old beat to crap thick green board with a pointed nose and fish tale. A big wall came through and with two strokes he was on it while I paddled over the wave. I looked back to see him drop down the face, disappear, shoot back up to the top, cut back and trim down the face. I was right; he was good.

Back out in the line-up I heard him grumble about having to go to work. “Is work getting in the way?” I asked.

“Yes, and it’s just starting.”

“Where do you work?”

“There,” he said pointing to shore where a surf camp was just starting. Twenty little kids in camp tee shirts sat of the beach listening to a camp leader.

“Surf camp instructor. What a great job working with little kids. You must be a hero to all those little guys.”

“Yes, it’s a great job and I love it.” And with that he caught a wave and rode it all the way to shore. After my session, I saw him with his white “Instructor” shirt on surrounded by ten excited little surfers. He smiled and gave me a wave as I walked by.

Back at the car, the ambassador of Linda Mar, Greg Cochran, had parked next to me and was suiting up to go out. Greg won the Legends heat that Jack and I were in at last year’s Kahuna Kupuna contest. I assured him that I would be in this year’s contest. Greg showed off his new board, a Harbour, 9’ 8” epoxy foam, single fin, beveled nose beauty. He claimed that it was strong and light and insisted that I pick it up, which I did, a 9’ 8” board that only weighed 15 pounds. On such a paddling machine, Greg will be impossible to beat.

While driving out of the parking lot, I nearly ran over Don Holm, a Bolinas regular and Kahuna Kupuna contestant. Don had signed up for the contest and he assured me that our other friend John Fordice would be there also.

The above photo was taken on the deck of the Taco Bell that sits on the beach at Linda Mar. I’m not a fan of Taco Bell but their 7-Layer burrito was awfully good, but the main benefit of this establishment was its location. The view from the deck was fabulous: bright sunlight, fog on the horizon, blue sky, surf camp to the south and a hundred surfers spread across the peaks to the north.

As I turned onto the Great Highway on my trip home, the sky was overcast, the fog was drifting in, the chop and the whites caps were still there and no one was out. Linda Mar was definitely the correct decision this morning.

July 18, 2011 Monday

2011-07-18T12:25:00.000-07:00

Bolinas	Channel
9:15 am to 11:15 am	Consistent 3', sets to 4', occasional 5'
Low upcoming tide	Slight onshore breeze to no wind
Sunny with high clouds, fog bank on the horizon	Good session

I had no expectations for waves this morning. Stormsurf had predicted that it would be flat all week, and the buoy forecast for San Francisco had ocean swells pegged at three feet for the next five days. This morning's reading was 4 ft at 9 seconds. Only positive was that the 4 ft was a combination of a 2 ft NW swell at 6 seconds and a 2 ft south swell at 14 seconds.

I seriously contemplated going to Linda Mar because the SW breeze would be offshore there. Instead I opted to go to Bolinas to hang out with my friends and if there were no waves I would go for a jog on the beach at Stinson. I put an extra pair of socks and a T-shirt in my bag for jogging. But what a pleasant surprise when I arrived at Bolinas, the waves were decent. Cazadero Cathy, who was suiting up, claimed the waves looked good and that David who rides the Becker board, Jaime the starving artist cartoonist and Frank the stand-up guy were at the Patch. From the base of the ramp I saw them out there. But at the Channel I watched a perfect four-foot wave peel left and no one was out there. One surfer was at the Groin going for the fun shore-break waves.

I walked down to the Groin to take some pictures. As soon as I saw those clean, glassy peaks at the Channel, I knew where I was going. The one surfer at the Groin was Paul and he was having a grand time. Three-foot walls would come through, and Paul would stroke into them late, jump up, cut left, crouch down, grab the outside rail and hang on until the waves broke over him. In the few minutes I was there, I saw him catch at least five such waves. That's him in the above photo locked into a clean small curl. When I paddled out I asked him if he had tried the Channel. He said no because he wanted to work on riding small fast curls. I caught one of those shore-break waves and for a brief second I was locked the curl before the wave closed out in front of me. After that I headed out to the Channel.

Being the only surfer out there I didn't have any reference point on where to line up. I started in the middle of the Channel and worked my way back towards the Groin. The waves were beautiful: fast, clean, left peeling curls, but they were difficult to catch. The flat swells would jump up when they hit the shallow sandbar fold over and collapse. I had a frustrating first hour, by the time I coasted into a wave and stood up the wave had already broken several yards in front of me and the ride was over. Conditions changed in my second hour, the tide came up, increased the water depth and waves began to hold up and became easier to catch. The set waves were more forgiving, meaning they had shape, were flatter on the take-off and allowed for an extra second to jump up and position oneself on the wave, the larger the waves, the better the shape.

I caught one wave that made my whole session. I was sitting outside when a big set came through. I let the first two go by while the others in the water went for them. The third and largest wave was right in front of me. I paddled hard, caught it, jumped up, cut left and hung at the top of the curl. The curl stood up, I turned more into the wave and was nearly parallel to it. Some young surfer started to take off in front of me, I intimidated him by barreling down the line right at him, fortunately he quickly pulled back and I shot by barely missing him. Now I was firmly locked in the curl, standing three-quarters the way up on my board, and I stood there frozen for several yards. Some short-boarder tried to drop in on me; I didn't move, the nose of my board went under his as he hung at the top of the wave. He panicked and backed off and I went on. On and on I cruised until the wave died a few feet from the Groin wall. This ride made my day.

The crowd filled in as the waves improved. At first as was by myself, then another longboarder joined me and he also had difficulty catching the waves. A few minutes later a second longboarder on a classic old board with no booties or leash joined us. This guy knew what he was doing and soon caught several long rides. Next the two guys I nearly ran over on my best wave came out, and David and Rob paddled over from the Patch. Per David, they had used up all the waves at the Patch and decided to move to the Channel. As usual David connected on several set waves. Paddling out I watch Rob come down a well-formed wall. Later, Shu-Shu joined us. I had not seen her in months. She too managed to connect on several good ones.

After two hours my arms were giving out, crowd had picked up, summer surf camp started and soon twenty campers on soft-top boards were going for the small inside waves and having a ball. It was time to go in, besides I wanted to save some of my strength for another day this week. I chatted with Shu-Shu as I walked back to the ramp. With eight-year-old twins who were on summer break, she didn't have much time to surf and was thankful for her good session this morning.

I looked back at the Channel, a perfect peak was peeling in both directions, twenty-five surfers were in the water, the wind had dropped, the surface had glassed off, the sky was blue, a few wisps of fog drifted over hills behind Stinson and a fog bank sat on the horizon preparing to march back in. I thought to myself, "This is it, Bolinas at its best."

July 13, 2011 Wednesday

2011-07-13T09:44:00.000-07:00

Bolinas	Patch
9:30 am to 11:00 am	3' to 4', sets to 5'
Mid upcoming tide	Stiff NW cross breeze
Misty drippy fog	Fun session

After yesterday’s good session and with the south swell still running I was anxious to get back to Bolinas. I got up and went to the computer to check the latest conditions and there waiting for me was an email that Mary had forwarded to me. It was from Novato Pete’s daughter Sami with the sad news that Pete had taken his own life. I was stunned. I didn’t know what to say or do. One of our own, one of the tribe that we surfed with everyday had ended it all.

It seemed fitting that Bolinas was shrouded in a blanket of dripping fog when I arrived. Several of the crew were there with sad expressions and words of disbelief: Mary, Jaime the starving artist cartoonist, Jack the Dave Sweet team rider, Ray the Petaluma fireman, and standup guys Frank and Russ. I had no idea that Pete was hurting. Some of the others knew he was going through hard times. But we all agreed that when Pete was in the water he seemed happy, happy to be there, to be out in the elements and to be with us. He was a quiet guy who enjoyed the challenge of the waves and his surfing skills were improving with every session. A couple of months ago he got a new board that he loved and his abilities soared on his new stick. Sami had mentioned in her note that surfing and our friendship had sustained him.

Out in the water Matt paddled over to me, “did you hear the news?”

“Yes, Mary forwarded an email to me.”

“I can’t believe it.”

“Neither can I.”

Jacek the tattoo artist stopped by when paddling back out to the lineup. “Did you hear about Pete?”

“Yes.”

“How sad. I was just getting to know him.”

The surf was good just like I had hoped, but the gloom of the fog and news of Pete put a damper on the morning. One of the positives about surfing is that for a brief hour or two it removes you from your daily cares. Being in the elements with the water and the waves, you have to concentrate on the here and now thus your pressing worries and concerns are temporarily suppressed as you live in the moment of the next wave. As I entered the water my thoughts shifted to the conditions, the peaks, and the incoming waves. The Internet surf predictions were correct: a three-foot seventeen second south swell resulting in three to four foot long line waves at the Patch. The inside rights I enjoyed yesterday were firing this morning. A young short boarder trimmed across one perfect curl after another. He would take off goofy-foot (right-foot forward) with his back to the wave, quickly switch stance to left foot forward to face the wave and walk the nose as the wave stood up, that’s him in the above photo. On my first wave I connected on a good right wave. It was slow but it went on and on until it collapsed onshore in one-foot of water. From then on I managed to stroke into several long lefts and right waves.

Like yesterday Matt had another good session. He too managed to connect on both long rights and lefts. Near the end of my session I was sitting inside when a set came through. Matt was at the peak and stroked into a four-foot wall as it was breaking. He jumped up, cut right and hummed down the face right pass me. I paddled over the wave, looked back and saw Matt crouched down streaking across one of those perfect inside curls. This was just one of several good rides he caught this morning.

Jacek also had a good session. As usual Jacek sat way outside and waited and waited for a big set. His patience paid off; he saw a set coming and positioned himself at the peak. He stroked into a five-foot wave, as did a standup surfer. Jacek was deep in the pocket and streaked along the bottom of the swell as the standup surfer hung at the top of the wave about to drop over the edge. In a flash Jacek went under the standup guy, which spooked him causing him to flop backwards off his board. Jacek calmly continue on cruising down this beautiful wall. Later after a good ride I was standing in chest-high water and watched Jacek catch the wave of the day. He was again way outside and north of the pack when a set came through. Jacek connected on a head-high wall; he smoothly dropped to mid swell, stepped to the middle of the board, stood erect and trimmed across a perfectly formed wave. He headed right for me. The wave stood up, he stepped to the nose and passed within ten feet of me. Here he was on the nose of his Patch specialty board: an eleven-foot, narrow, pintail, no rocker javelin. I continued paddling out. A couple of minutes later I looked for him. He was starting his long paddle back out to the lineup, ten feet from shore and a good two hundred yards down the coast.

After an hour and a half I was exhausted and went in. With the session over the thoughts of the day returned. The waves were fun and I had a good session, but my mind wandered back to Pete as I drove home.

“Pete looked what you missed.”

July 12, Tuesday

2011-07-12T11:37:00.000-07:00

Bolinas	Patch
9:00 am to 10:30 am	3' to 4', sets to 5', occasional 5'
Mid upcoming tide	Stiff NW cross breeze
Overcast to patchy sun	Good session

I hadn’t surfed for twenty-five days (since June 16) and was anxious to get back into the water. Why so long? Kate and I took a ten-day trip to Martha’s Vineyard and New York City. We returned on Saturday July 2nd, went to a friend's barbeque on Sunday and stayed home on Monday because it was the Fourth of July holiday. Tuesday July 5th I headed to Bolinas for some waves and to see my friends. I traveled from bright sunshine in Mill Valley to cold on-the-deck fog in Bolinas. No body was at the beach, not even the surf fanatic David who rides the Becker board, conditions were terrible: fog, south wind, four-knot current coming out of the lagoon and a six-inch swell. I didn’t bother going out. These conditions lasted all week.

The stats on the Internet were excellent this morning, 3 ft south swell at 17 seconds, five-knot NW wind and an upcoming tide. All the parking spaces were taken when arrived at Bolinas. David's car was in its normal spot with his board gone. He was in the water that was a good sign. From the seawall with my camera in hand I saw six surfers at the Channel and a much larger crowd spread across the Patch. The south swell was in and both breaks had sizeable waves.

Jaime the starving artist cartoonist and Jack the Dave Sweet team rider had just finished their session. Of course they reported that I had missed it; the waves at the Patch were perfect an hour earlier. They had connected on several head-head bombs at the outside peak that went on forever. But as the tide came up the waves had gone flat, infrequent and difficult to catch.

I walked down to the Groin for a closer look. The set waves were slightly over-head, steep vertical walls that peeled left. The six surfers out there had trouble making them. They would drop down these steep faces and then the waves would bury them in a ton of white water. The exception was Josh the Bolinas fisherman. I saw him catch three great waves. Josh rides the waves on his knees and thus doesn't lose any time or momentum standing up. He would stroke into a peak, quickly jump to his knees, lock the inside rail under the lip of the curl and shoot down the line. That's him in the above photo on a good one.

Since I hadn't surfed in awhile I decided to go for the mellow waves at the Patch. While walking to the break with my board in hand I met Hank and Dan exiting the water. Hank assured me that there were still some waves left. I asked them where they went, inside or outside. All over they said, conditions would change and they would move with the changes.

From the shore I watched one skilled, tall, thin young surfer hang five, yes a real five toes over the nose, on a three-foot inside curl. Within a few minutes he repeated this feat and continued repeating it all morning. Wow I would try for that. My strategy was to sit inside, within the foam of previous waves and go for the inside rights. My strategy worked. On my first wave I watched two guys way outside paddle for it and miss it. The swell kept coming and building. I went for it as it was feathering at the top, glided into it, turned right, stepped to the middle of the board and trimmed down a long well-formed curl. What a good start to my session. The skilled young surfer and his buddy dominated the peak, but they shared the waves with the rest of us.

Though the bottom was causing the waves to break right, I did connect on one good left. The incoming swell stretched across the impact zone and was cresting. I stoked into it as it was breaking, jumped up, turned left, dropped down a head-high face, and leaned into the wave at the bottom. I could see the swell forming in front of me, if I only could get under the white water and back into the curl. I stood just behind the center of my board, the wave was breaking over the nose, and I sped along the bottom just behind the breaking curl. On and on I went. I finally managed to climb back into the swell. I stepped to the middle of the board and sped through a long inside section until the wave finally died near shore. I had traveled a long ways and ended up in sand north of the Patch reef. It was a long paddle back to the line-up but what a great wave.

Matt was out at the furthest peak and when the sets came through he would connect. I could tell it was him by his unique style. While paddling out I noticed that Matt had moved further out and to the north to be by himself. The next time I saw him he was crouched down screaming across an inside curl north of the Patch reef. Matt later exclaimed that he had a great session. Lucky for him, he was between projects at work. What perfect timing, a good south swell arrived between job assignments.

A stand-up surfer, who I had never seen before, had an outstanding session. He caught everything and milked them all the way to shore. He would be the furthest guy out waiting for the big sets. Time and time again, he would stroke into a set wave, fade left to let the wave build up, swing right into a well-formed wall and then cruise on and on until the wave crashed onshore. Near the end of my session I was sitting on the inside peak trying for the fast peeling rights of the shore break. Several times I saw this guy come blazing by on his big stand-up board riding it like a shortboard. He even hung five a couple of times. He was out there when I entered the water and was he was still there when I left. After my session I changed, went into town for a coffee, returned to the seawall for one last look at the waves. This guy was still there and still screaming down the fast shore break curls on his big stand-up board.

After an hour and a half, the wind was picking up and my arms were spent, time to go in. I caught a good right that I worked into the shore break. I looked around to watch a shortboarder come down another perfect shore break curl. I couldn't stop yet; I had to go for one more. I paddled back out and caught two more great inside curls. What a perfect way to end a good session.

Boy, did it feel great to be back in the water.

June 16, 2011 Thursday

2011-06-16T10:45:00.000-07:00

Bolinas	Channel & Groin
8:40 am to 10:40 am	2' to 3', sets to 4', occasional 5'
Low upcoming tide	Offshore east breeze to no wind to stiff NW breeze
Sunny, bright and warm	Great session

Paper-thin curls, lots of them, and I locked my inside rail under the lip, crouched down mid-board and shot through perfect left peeling curls. Today was Bolinas at its best: bright sun, warm weather, offshore breeze to no wind, upcoming tide, glassy smooth, consistent beautiful little waves and only three of us on it: David who rides the Becker board, a young guy on a Dewey Weber longboard and myself.

Per Stormsurf south swell #4S (meaning the fourth major south swell of the season) was going to peak today (3.6 ft at 17 seconds) and then taper off Friday and Saturday. The weather guys forecasted today as the warmest day of the week. Despite the good predictions I was concerned about the wind. I came out here last Tuesday expecting a clean south swell and warm weather only to be greeted by on-the-deck fog, a stiff onshore wind, chop, white caps and lousy waves. This morning the San Francisco buoy read NW winds (305 degrees) at 15 knots. That was a lot of wind but the direction was right, meaning offshore at Bolinas, thus I had to check it out.

David and DB the Safeway checker were suited up as I arrived and were heading to the Patch. A few minutes later, Matt finished suiting up and went to the Patch also. From the base of the ramp I could see five more surfers at the Patch. With the minus tide and the south swell the crowd sat several yards beyond the exposed outside rock. I watched Jaime the starving artist cartoonist and Dexter the Bolinas local connect on a couple of decent waves.

So the Bolinas regulars were at the Patch, but to me the waves looked better at the Groin. From the ramp I saw several nice peeling left curls come through. I walked down to the Groin with my camera in hand and ventured out on a finger of sand that extended ten yards out into the Channel. What a photographer’s dream, that put me within a few yards of the break. I didn’t recognize the three surfers out there, but all three connected on some beautiful curls in the ten minutes that I was standing there. That was one of the better rides in the above photo. Look closely and note that this guy was riding a soft-top board. He caught one fast curl after another. The other two also locked themselves into the curls of these perfectly peeling left waves. After seeing these guys connect, my decision on where to go was settled. I chose the Channel.

By the time and suited up and entered the water, these three guys had left. Only the young longboarder on the Weber board was out there. A few minutes later, David paddled over from the Patch to join us. For nearly two hours, the three of us had the break to ourselves, we shared the waves and each of us caught countless fast, well-formed, paper-thin curls. We couldn’t believe that others did not come out and join us. On wave after wave I would jump up, cut left, climb high in the curl, step to the middle of the board, lock the inside rail under the lip, crouch down and trim down a beautiful curl until the wave finally closed out in shallow water. And as the tide came up, the waves improved. After two hours I was exhausted and went in.

Walking down the beach, I looked back to see David with his back to the wave, crouched down with the lip of the wave slapping his right shoulder. I mentally fixed the images of David’s ride and these perfect waves permanently in my mind for it was truly Bolinas at its best.

June 15, 2011 Wednesday

2011-06-15T10:28:00.000-07:00

Pacifica	Linda Mar - South End
8:40 am to 10:30 am	4' to 5', sets overhead
Mid upcoming tide	Onshore breeze
Bright sunny morning	Good session

Yesterday morning I read an email from Marty stating that we should venture to Linda Mar on Wednesday. We have talked about doing this for months but conditions never seemed right. The Internet sights were predicting the arrival of a new south swell and they don’t get into north facing Linda Mar. Tuesday I went to Bolinas with high hopes of warm weather and clean south swell waves. What a disappointment, Bolinas was shrouded in an on-the-deck fog with a stiff onshore west wind. The surf was terrible: small, blown-out, crumbly, weak and ugly. I didn’t bother going out. Conditions for Wednesday looked the same, so I responded to Marty that it was time to give Linda Mar a try.

Things didn’t look good as we drove down the Great Highway on our way to Pacifica. Ocean Beach was totally blown out, a stiff onshore wind howled and nobody was out. They had closed the southbound lands of the Great Highway at Lincoln due to sand blowing onto the roadbed.

We managed to get one of the last spots in a jammed parking lot at Linda Mar. The ambassador of Linda Mar, Greg Cochran, greeted Marty and me when we got out of the car. Greg is a long-time local, about our age, founder of the San Pedro Point Surf Club and the Kahuna Kupuna surf contest and a great surfer. He was glad to see us and explained the reason for all the cars and the crowd of surfers at the south end of the beach. The San Pedro Surf Club just finished a memorial paddle out for one of the two San Francisco firemen that perished fighting an apartment fire last week. Greg pointed out the fire trucks and people in uniform gathered in the parking lot. Out in the water we did encountered remnants of Hawaiian leis from the ceremony.

“Gentlemen when you check out the surf walk slowly, take your time, there’s no hurry,” Greg stated.

“You’re referring to the tide. It’s too low and we should wait until it comes up, correct?”

“Yes, nine o’clock is my recommendation. It will get better then.”

To my surprise while Marty and I were chatting with Greg, my niece Heather from Ventura appeared. She teaches fifth grade, the school year had just ended, and she was visiting her cousin Erin (also my niece). Heather was here at the beach to go surfing with my son Kevin. Just then Kevin walked up with his friend Wes. What a pleasant surprise. By the way Marty was Kevin’s biology teacher in high school and Kevin claimed that his constant encouragement pushed Marty back into surfing after he retired. We all suited up and headed for the south end.

The surf had some size. The north end must have been ten-foot plus and closed out. That’s why the crowd was bunched up at the south end. I counted sixteen surfers at the one decent left peak, and thus wave selection was hampered by the actions of the other surfers. The waves were wind swells on top of ground swells and the take-offs were flat. We had to wait until the wind swell was cresting, paddle hard, jump up and push straight off to drop over the edge of the ground swell. For us old guys, the waves were ideal, the flat take-offs gave us that extra second or two to get up and position ourselves before dropping down the faces.

I saw Heather get a good one. I have surfed with her several times at Surfer’s Point in Ventura and know that she is good. Looking back I saw her head streaking along in front of the breaking curl as she cruised a long ways before straightening out. Heather usually rides a 9’ 6” board, but this morning she was on Kevin’s eight-foot Becker, a Mike Gee longboard model. She told me that it was a lot smaller and thinner than what she was used to. But from the number of waves she caught, it didn’t slow her down.

Marty had a great session. The crowd didn’t phrase him; he paddled for everything and caught several of them. He told me that he connected on three great waves where he cruised down the faces, cut back, let the waves build up again, shot through the inside sections and snapped up over the tops as the waves broke. I too managed to connect on a couple of good ones. On one I was able to push into a steep shore break, scream across a fast breaking curl and then buried the nose in the white water of the breaking wave.

All morning there was a mass of brown foam floating on the surface. At first it was outside beyond the breakers. An hour later we were sitting in the middle of it and thirty minutes later it was washing onto shore. Biologist Marty thought it was caused by wave turbulence and seaweed out by the point, high protein water being stirred up. All I could think of was the number of times I had read about the sewage problems at Pacifica. Health officials often close Linda Mar after heavy run-off storms. So far as I write this, there were no signs of skin rashes, runny nose or burning eyes. Lets hope Marty was right.

I took the above photo from the deck of the Taco Bell that sits on the beach. Marty and I gave considerable thought to where to have lunch. Pacifica offers some good choices. Denny’s was across the street with all-day giant and reasonable breakfasts, and a mile north was Gorilla Barbeque. Once Guy Fieri on his Dinners, Drive-ins and Dives show featured Gorilla Barbeque, and since that show aired, the place has been jammed. Because it was such a beautiful, summer like day, we opted for Taco Bell where we could sit outside in the sun and watch the surf. The beach scene from the deck was entertaining: great surfers out front, a surf school to the south and a summer camp for little kids to the north.

We congratulated ourselves for making the good decision to come here. It was a beautiful morning.

June 10, 2011 Friday

2011-06-10T15:29:00.000-07:00

Bolinas	Channel & Groin
9:30 am to 10:50 am	2' to 3', occasional 4'
Mid dropping tide	Onshore west wind
Sunny with high clouds and fog on the horizon	Frustrating - exercise session

The weather guys had forecasted that Thursday (yesterday) would be the warmest day of the week and Stormsurf had predicted that the good south swell that I rode Wednesday would peak on Thursday. Thus with the warmest day and the peak of the swell, Thursday was the day to go surfing. My son Kevin and I agreed to meet early at Kelly Cove, the north end of Ocean Beach. Based on conditions we would decide to surf there or push on south to Linda Mar. Ocean Beach is not my favorite spot, in fact I hate it. But with the right conditions it can get good for longboards. Well the weather didn’t cooperate, our June gloom of overcast, fog, wind, chop and white caps had returned. Kevin and I made a quick executive decision to have breakfast at Java Beach (located at the end of Judah Street) and not waste our time chasing waves at Linda Mar, Montara, Kelly Avenue or points further south. Kevin had to go to work and didn’t have much time. What a good decision. Kevin had just attended a three-day conference on Computer Architecture, a conference he attends every year. Thus he gave me an interesting update on the current trends in computer design.

This morning I had high hopes of catching the end of the south swell. What a disappointment. The swell was gone and the west wind and NW wind swells had returned. Since the weather was warm and sunny, I decided to go out anyway. When I arrived at Bolinas and before I could suit up, all my friends had exited the water and were leaving. Jeff the contractor was toweling off. He had surfed the Channel and said it was ok, earlier. Doug and Jim the jazz guitarist were loading up Doug’s truck to leave. They went out at Seadrift, two houses in, and caught some good ones, earlier. Creighton had just put his board into the back of his truck and reported that Seadrift had some decent waves, earlier. When I returned from taking some photos Mary was putting away her board to go home. She had surfed the Patch and said it was better earlier and that now the waves had died.

Five surfers, who I did not recognize, were out at the Groin and the Channel when I walked down there to take some pictures. The waves looked like they had some potential. A few small fast, peeling lefts came through when I arrived at the Groin wall. One young longboarder was extremely good. He would run to the nose on every wave. Perfectly flat, mushy little crumblers and he would be hanging five as the wave broke in one foot of water. That’s him in the above photo.

I had a frustrating one-hour and twenty-minute session. The waves were difficult to catch and by the time I stood up they had collapsed in front of me. With the tide going out, I had to paddle against the current pouring out of the lagoon. It was like running on a thread mill. I would paddle hard and remain stationary. I didn’t move forward until the wave would pick me up. It was almost impossible to drop into them. My best ride I took lying down; I didn’t want to waste any time trying to stand up. I caught the wave, remained laying down, cut left, shifted my weight forward, ducked under the lip of the curl and flew out onto the shoulder. There I jumped to my knees and cruised until the wave closed out. I tried lying down on a larger wave and got clobbered. I cut left and leaned into the curl to gain speed. The wave jumped up, my inside rail dug into the curl, I hung on tight to my board and was sucked up the face and dumped into a ton of churning white water. I was lucky that my board didn’t hit me.

Just for exercise I paddled from the Groin to the ramp and called it a day. Despite the small waves and frustrating rides, it was worth it. What a beautiful morning: bright sunshine, warm air and water, seals swimming into the lagoon, pelicans diving for fish beyond the breakers and me with the satisfaction of another vigorous workout.