February 11, 2015 Wednesday

Jeff Clark

"Hey was that THE JEFF CLARK?" I asked an aging local surfer while standing on the bluff at Kelly Avenue.

"Yes it was!"

Jeff Clark is one of the most noteworthy and respected big wave surfers, famous for discovering Mavericks, the big wave reef break in Half Moon Bay, and surfing it alone for fifteen years from 1975 to 1990. He founded the Mavericks big wave contest and currently builds custom big wave surfboards at his Mavericks Surf Shop.

Kate and I made our first pit stop on our drive to Ventura at the Half Moon Bay State Beach at the end of Kelley Ave. We purchased an Annual Day Use Pass (something all surfers should have) from the park ranger in the entrance booth and then drove over to the main parking lot and restrooms. A few cars were lined up along the curb nearest to the bluff that over looks the beach and the waves. In the middle was a white van with "Mavericks Surf Shop" painted on the side.

"That's Jeff Clark's surf shop, I wondered if he is here?" I said to Kate, and he was. "Kate, that's Jeff Clark over there." He was zipping up his wetsuit and chatting with two other guys.

His board was lying on the grass near a picnic table. It was short, about 8 feet, thick (at least 4 inches thick) with lots of rocker and a sharply turned up nose, definitely not a big wave board. At first I thought he was into short boards, then I noticed the paddle laying along side the board. Jeff grabbed his board, saluted his friends and headed for the water. He was into stand-up surfing.

The waves had some size and the strong offshore east wind was holding up the curls and sending arches of spray back over the tops of the breaking waves. Kelley Ave breaks like Ocean Beach only closer to shore with big powerful peaks and lots of current. My son Kevin loves this place and I hate it. Six short-boarders and one other stand-up surfer were out there. I watched one of them connect on a big left peak. He screamed across the top of the wall in a tight crouch, the lip folded over him, on he went completely barreled until the wave smothered him in swirling white water.

We met John, one of the guys Jeff was chatting with. Like Jeff, he too grew up in Half Moon Bay and has known Jeff for years. He provided us with some interesting details.

"Yes that was Jeff. He's now into stand-up. With age and creaky joints, he took it up."

Per John, Jeff's father was into construction and constantly had Jeff and his two brothers moving material like rocks and lumber around, causing Jeff to grow up physically strong. The Clarks' house was close to the water, allowing Jeff to check out ocean conditions every morning. He and John took up surfing at an early age. Jeff was always going for the big ones. He was never afraid of them. John, like all us normal surfers, knew his limits. John and Jeff used to sit on the cliff above Mavericks and contemplate if those big waves were rideable.

John remembered being with Jeff out at Ross' Cove, the inlet just north of Mavericks. Jeff was always paddling further and further outside of the rest of them and was drifting towards the peak at Mavericks. I'm familiar with Ross' Cove. On a Mavericks day, you can see the Mavericks break from the cliff above Ross' Cove. My surfer buddy Randy, who I worked with at Visa, loved Ross' and told me of many encounters of double overhead waves.

One time Jeff took John and a friend on a Zodiac out to the Mavericks. Jeff jumped off the front while John and friend stayed in the boat, safely in the channel. Jeff paddled about 50 yards over to the impact zone. For Mavericks it was a small day, maybe 10 feet. They watched Jeff catch a few. This was John's first time being close to the break and to him it was huge.

He claimed that he went out to Mavericks once, got pounded on three waves and never went out there again. As he put it, "big wave surfing, either you have it or you don't. And I don't"

I'm with John – love to watch the big ones, but for me nowadays, it's old men, longboards and four to five foot waves.

John and I watched Jeff paddle out through the white water of some pretty big walls and take off on two waves – one right and one left. On the first one, Jeff cut right on a head high wave and easily cruised through the peak out to the shoulder. On his second wave, he did the same thing going left, having switched his stance (right foot forward) to face the wave the whole way.

"I read that Jeff was originally goofy-foot, but he taught himself to surf normal foot forward because most waves at Mavericks break to the right," I said to John.

"Not true! He always could switch stance, from the get-go." I thanked John for his interesting tales and wished him a long life of surfing.

Now two of my absolute heroes, Laird Hamilton and Jeff Clark, are stand-up surfers. Someday I'm going to have to give SUP a try.

January 30, 2015 Friday

Bolinas	Patch
10:15 am to 11:30 am	2' to 3', sets to 4'
Mid dropping tide	NW cross breeze to no wind
Air temp: 65 degrees	Water temp: 55 degrees
High thin fog to bright sunshine	Fun session

Today was my third time surfing this week – Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Surf, waves and weather were pretty much the same all three days, and for the third time I brought my dog Cali.

Last night I was tired and I had already taken the dog to the beach twice this week. I could have easily talked myself out of going this morning. But conditions were good and I had four good reasons for going:

1. Kate needed the time to write. She was under a publisher's deadline to complete her latest novel, thus four to five hours without interruptions from me or the dog would be a big help to her.

2. Beach weather – the Bay Area had fallen back into drought conditions. A stubborn high pressure ridge sitting off the coast of Oregon or over the desert in Arizona has blocked low pressure rain producing storms from the West Coast and has forced the jet stream to direct cold Artic air over the middle of the country, causing severe snow storms and record low temperatures. But here in California all this week it had been sunny and warm with persistent east winds, making for perfect beach days.

3. Decent swell – per this morning's buoy report: 7-foot north swells at 14 seconds. Today's waves would be the same as Monday and Wednesday's – consistent 2 to 4 feet.

4. Mid-dropping tide – low enough to take the dog to the sand. Lately at high tide, the water was crashing up against the retaining wall of the house on the south side of the ramp, blocking foot access to the beach.

Conditions looked good; I had to go. I should take advantage of these drought days: sunny, warm air, warm water, no wind, glassy surface and consistent old man size waves.

The regulars were out today:

Frank the stand-up guy and Ray the retired fireman were toweling off from their sessions when I arrived. Hank and I checked out the waves from the seawall and then surfed together at the Patch.

Mary was coming up the ramp after when I went to check the waves. We had not seen each other for a couple of months. She enquired about my health. At our ages, whenever you don't see someone for a while, one thinks there must be a health problem. I assured her that I was fine.

Jack the Dave Sweet team rider and Jaime the starving artist were sitting on the seawall sunning themselves after their sessions when I walked by with my board in hand. Jack had his new Mystic Patch board. Jaime also had a new board, a custom Michel Junod based on Jaime's classic old Hobie single fin longboard. He had taken his Hobie down to Michel and asked for replica. Michel was familiar with the model, knew the shaper of the original board and created an exact copy of it. Jaime was stoked and was now getting the feel for the board. That's Jaime and Jack in the photo above, with Jaime in the lead.

Rob, Mr. Malibu, was suiting up when I passed by to check the waves. He showed me his new board, a big one, 10-foot Pearson Arrow, 23 inches wide, 3 3/8 inches thick, square tail and a glassed in single fin. Of course he ripped it up. I saw him on countless small curls walking the nose, hanging five, switching stance and executing big cut backs. For him it was just another fun day. He was also here Wednesday and Thursday.

David who used to ride the Becker board was out there this morning, his third time this week. I surfed with him Monday and Wednesday. David has completely recovered from his shoulder operation and was back to three or more hour sessions. He enters the water at 8 am and exits around 11. Today he stayed out to 11:30. Three and a half hours of constant wave after wave and paddling from peak to peak. Yes he is in good shape.

Greg O, the Branson parent, was out this morning. In his fifties he has become a real surf animal and a regular at Bolinas. I always see him out to the furthest peaks.

Robyn from Fairfax, who I had not seen in months, was out this morning. I asked her about her surfing son, who started at UCSB (my alma mater) this fall. He was doing fine. Robyn sat way outside waiting for the big ones and I watched her drop down a couple of head-high walls.

Chuck, the Bolinas local, actually spoke to me today for the first time in the twenty years that I have surfed here. He is not the talkative type. I was taking photos of the Patch from Terrace Road, Chuck was checking out the waves from his small pick-up truck. I asked him if he was going out. He said yes, it was a beautiful day and he needed the exercise.

Chuck rides a kneeboard and he is good. I watched him duck under the curl on a set wave and thought maybe I should take up knee boarding. I'm having difficulty standing up, my legs are weak and I'm not agile anymore. Most of my best rides lately are on my knees. I have considered stand-up surfing, where you are already standing when you catch the wave. But handling and carrying those big boards is a hassle. Now kneeboards are small, not much bigger than a boogie board. I watched Chuck closely as he skillfully hummed down some nice curls. I could do that; I should check this out.

What a beautiful morning and a great week of surfing. It is always fun to be in the water on sunny days with your friends. 

January 2, 2015 Friday

Stinson Beach	Life Guard Tower
12 noon to 1:00 pm	2' to 3'
Mid outgoing tide (-0.5 ft @ 4 pm)	NW cross breeze
Air temp: 55 degrees	Water temp: 57 degrees
Sunny with high wispy clouds	Fun session

The waves at Stinson this morning were flat, gentle, easy to catch and forgiving. On my first wave I connected on a good left, the take off was flat and left plenty of time to get up. I jumped up to a squat but lifting my body to stand up didn't happen. My legs were too weak. I pushed hard to get up but fell off to the side.

I hadn't surf in 48 days, from November 14 to today. Marin had four weeks of rain, starting the day after Thanksgiving that produced over 20 inches of water and filled the Mount Tamalpais reservoirs. The Christmas crunch, short days, and cold weather contributed to not surfing.

After the rains, a high-pressure ridge formed offshore of California and Oregon, setting up same drought pattern we had last year. The Jet Stream bent around the high-pressure ridge and directed the severe storms from Alaska over the middle of the country, causing one of the coldest winters in years in the Midwest. Meanwhile, dry warm weather settled over the West Coast.

No exercise plus the high caloric days of the Holidays had made me lethargic and slothful. I was determined to break out of this malaise by going surfing. The NOAA weather radio reported 3-foot NW swells at 13 seconds. Bolinas was flat with no one out at either the Channel or the Patch. With a 6-foot high tide, I figured that Stinson could be decent.

Captain Kip was just pulling out after his session when I arrived at Stinson. He stated that the "holes" were in – meaning good peaks caused by different elevations on the bottom. The storms had moved out the sand, uncovering the hard sandstone with its various under water canyons. Kip got some good waves down at the Calles. He gave me a free tide chart and I sold him one of our Surfrider 2015 surf calendars. Then off to work he went.

Kip was right, there were peaks, small well-shaped waves, nothing spectacular and nobody was out. I picked the peak straight out from the lifeguard tower. That's it in the photo above. In an hour I caught six waves, which were nothing to write about. All were lefts; the bottom was forcing all the waves to break left.

After two months without surfing, I thought my arms would be out of shape. Wrong! I had no problems catching waves, easily stroked out to the line-up and could quickly paddled from peak to peak. The weak spot was my legs. I couldn't jump up. I would jump up to my knees, ride through the first section hoping for a moment to stand up. It only happened twice. The legs just didn't have the strength. Deep knee bend exercises begin tomorrow morning.

Being Friday after a holiday and with sunny weather, Stinson beach was crowded – the beach, not the water. Nobody was in the water except one other surfer who was 200 yards to the north.

After my session, I went to the Parkside Cafe to purchase coffee and bread (the best bread in Marin County). The snack bar was jammed. I ran into John the owner of the Parkside and I thanked him for buying 20 Surfrider 2015 calendars, which he sells at the restaurant and hands out to friends.

As I knew it would happen, after vigorous exercise in cold water, I felt great, my body was alive. That's why I surf.

November 14, 2014 Friday

Bolinas	Patch
9:30 am to 10:30 am	Consistent 3', sets to 4'
Low outgoing tide	Slight NW breeze
Air temp: 60 degrees	Water temp: 58 degrees
Sunny with high clouds	Fun session

"Here Loren, take it. It's yours, try it out."

Dripping wet after having just exited the water, Jack the Dave Sweet team rider shoved his brand new board into my hands. He has been telling me for weeks about this new "perfect Patch board" he ordered from John Moore of Mystic Surfboards. John knows the Patch from living and surfing in Bolinas and has been building custom surfboards for years. He and Nick started the 2-Mile Surf Shop. Thus with Jack's specifications and John's knowledge of the Patch, they came up with the ideal board for the Patch –

9' - 6" in length,

23 inches wide,

3 and 1/4 inches thick,

19 inches across the nose,

Square tail,

Airplane wing shaped rails with little taper from the center, and

Little rocker for fast paddling.

Per Jack, side fins slow down the board and are only needed on steep waves, which is not the Patch. For attaching the leash, Jack had John build up a bump of glass and resin in the tail block with a hole drilled through it tying the leash cord to the board. This avoids putting a hole through the board to insert a plastic plug for the leash cord. Over time the plug can loosen or pull out causing leaks between the glass and the foam.

Jack promised me he would let me ride it. He was convinced that I needed a board, and he was right. My borrowed 9' 4" Becker was showing wear with numerous cracks in the glass and ten patched dings. Also, with age, we older guys require bigger and easier to paddle boards. That's Jack with his new board in the photo above.

"Here, take it. Stay out as long as you want. I have some painting to do on the house above the Patch. I can watch you from there and know when you get out."

That did it. I'm going out. I didn't even check the waves or take any photos. I went straight back to my car to suit up.

Just my luck the waves were good. The parking lot was full when I arrived, someone pulled out and I got his spot. All indicating the waves were up. The morning buoy report was encouraging, 7-foot NW swell at 14 seconds. The end of a strong swell that came in last Sunday in front of a cold front that brought rain to Marin yesterday. The inside rights at the Patch were pumping.

I easily glided out to the line-up on Jack's fast paddling Patch board, and in an hour caught six long right curls. The board handled great. I paddled into every wave that I went for, quickly swung right, climbed high in the curls and cruised across continuously right peeling curls.

Jack greeted me as I came up the ramp after my session, and I had to agree with him that he and John had created the perfect Patch board.

November 10, 2014

Bolinas	Groin
9:20 am to 10:30 am	3' to 4', occasional 5'
Mid upcoming tide	No wind to slight onshore breeze
Air temp: 55 degrees	Water temp: 58 degrees
Low on-the-deck-fog to thick overcast	Fun session

I'm back! In a little over an hour I caught fives waves – all lefts and all good rides.

For the first half hour I paddled around mushy waves trying to get the feel of the conditions. The waves had force and were intimating. David who used to ride the Becker board was out there also. Two old wounded warriors. He was recovering from a shoulder operation and I from my surfer ear procedure and a bad cold. After six weeks out of the water my arms and legs were weak and my confidence was low.

I watched David closely and followed his lead. As always he looked in great shape and caught plenty of waves. One other longboarder was on the peak with us. A set came through, and he took off while I ploughed through the white water. The surge picked me up and washed me back several feet, and I felt a bump on my legs. This guy had wiped out and his board hit me. I was ok and so was he. No harm, no foul. It just added to my apprehension about this morning's conditions.

With no wind and a super low fog, the surface was perfectly glassed off when I finally caught one. Just as the wave was breaking I paddled hard and glided into well-formed four-foot wave. It was forgiving; building slowly and thus allowing me time to get to my feet. What a thrill to turn into a smooth wall of water and hear that "smoosh" sound while cutting across a perfectly glassed off face. The lip crested and broke in front of me, and with plenty of speed I drove under the white water and climbed back into the swell. The wave kept forming, I shot through the another section, cut-back, turned left again into the curl and hummed all the way to the shore break, pulling out over the top as it collapsed on the sand. I had surprised myself on how well I handled that wave. It was like riding a bicycle; the old form was back.

My confidence grew with each ride. I moved in to wait until the waves were breaking to go for them. One wave was feathering for several feet across the impact zone when I turned and started paddling for it. The wave picked me up, and I jumped up as it broke. With speed I drove along the bottom of the wave just a few feet behind the breaking curl of the wave. I attempted to drive under the white water to climb back into the swell. But it never happened. For several yards I powered just behind the curl until the wave jumped up for the shore break causing me to dive over the top as it broke on shore.

For over an hour David and I had the peak just north of the Groin wall to ourselves. The only other person in the water was a stand-up surfer a quarter mile south at a peak in front of the houses at Seadrift. He was constantly moving around and started paddling north. I thought he looked like our surfing buddy Kip the pilot boat captain. Soon he joined us and it was Kip. We chatted briefly and off he was again paddling south to the furthest peak at the Channel.

When I arrived this morning the on-the-deck fog was so thick I couldn't see the waves at the Patch or the Groin, and so couldn't take any pictures. I took the photo above after my session from the overlook on Terrace Road above the Patch when the fog had lifted a bit. Note the tide was higher, the waves mushier and the crowd had arrived. David and I had caught the best of it today. 

November 3, 2014 Monday - Part 2

Sunflowers

At first I went to Bolinas and it was virtually flat. When I jumped out of the car I spotted Frank the stand-up guy toweling off after his session. He gave me that "it's flat" hand gesture. He had gone out merely for the exercise. We had a good chat about grandchildren. Two weeks ago my daughter Allison gave birth to our first grandchild, Sebastian. Frank's daughter had just given birth to Frank's second grandchild. Frank and his wife were about to head to Southern California to visit them. He assured me that grandchildren become more fun and interesting as they grow. His older one is now 19 months, runs around the house and is beginning to form complete sentences. My little Sebastian can only eat, sleep and poop. I wished him a good trip and hopped back in the car to check out Stinson.

I stopped at the farm stand at the edge of town. I was thinking of buying some sunflowers for Kate.

"Are the sunflowers fresh?" I asked the guy who was unloading squash in the back of the stand.

"Picked yesterday and some this morning." Thus I met Ryan, one of the one proud founders of Gospel Flat Farms.

He proceeded to teach me what to look for in sunflowers. In the center of the bloom, there's a brown center that looks like a pincushion. This is where the seeds form. The bees pull out the pollen and leave a small "speck" (don't ask what the "specks" consist of) at the base of the stem of the petals near the center. With active bee pollination, these specks form a ring around the center of the flower. Thus the bigger the ring the longer the bloom has been open. Ryan told me to look for flowers with no ring or with just a thin ring. With that advice I picked out the freshest bunch there, as you can see in the photo above.

John, the excellent surfer and owner of the Parkside Cafe in Stinson Beach, arrived with an empty produce box in his hand. He was there to buy vegetables for the restaurant. I introduced him to Ryan and informed Ryan that John bakes the best bread in Marin County. John loaded up his basket and had a good "farmer's" discussion with Ryan about the produce.

I hopped back into the car and headed for Stinson Beach to go surfing for the first time since my ear operation. As usual, it was a great day in Marin. 

November 3, 2014 Monday - Part 1

Stinson Beach	Right out front
10:15 am to 11:00 am	2' to 3', occasional 4'
High dropping tide	No wind, glassy smooth
Air temp: 65 degrees	Water temp: 61 degrees
Sunny with high clouds	Fun session

In 45 minutes I caught three waves and missed dozens of them. All three I rode on my knees, two to the right and one to the left. On my first wave I jumped up to my knees, turned the board to the right, cut high in the curl, hung there for a couple of seconds as the wave formed into a suck-out wall and over the falls I went – straight down free fall into swirling white water. I was proud of myself for hanging onto the board. My next two waves weren't any better, and with the tide going out and the waves walling-up I called it quits.

Though my session was a bust, I had a good time. Reason: this was my first time back in the water since September 11 – 53 days! On September 15 Dr. Agbayani operated on my Surfer's Ear; a hospital procedure where he put me out and literally chiseled off the bone material that had built up in my left ear canal. The recovery required three weeks of staying out of the water, keeping my ear dry and taking eardrops and antibiotic pills. During this period I caught a nasty cold that would not go away. When Dr. Agbayani gave me the ok, I didn't feel like going into the water due to the cold – drained of energy, aching joints and overall blahs.

After another couple of weeks, I went to my local doctor to get some relief. He put me on a five-day regiment of antibiotics, which meant I had a bacteria infection. I asked him if I could have caught this infection from the hospital. He didn't think so because my ailment didn't affect my ear. I wasn't convinced. Twice I have gone to Marin General for operations and twice, after three weeks, have come down with internal bacteria infections.

Why was this day special? The antibiotics worked, I felt much better, the weather was warm and sunny and the swell was small – perfect for getting back into shape. As has happened numerous times before, there's nothing like vigorous exercise, warm sunshine and a dose of cold water to shake a cold. After this session I felt great. The cold was gone and I was back.