May 29, 2009 Friday

Pacifica	Linda Mar
9:00 am to 10:30 am	1' to 2', sets to 2.5'
Low tide	Stiff offshore - cross breeze
Patchy high clouds, fog on the ridge	Exercise - fun session

Marty and I were having a coffee on the deck at Taco Bell after our “exercise session” at Linda Mar. This Taco Bell has a fabulous location, right on the sand overlooking the beach and break at Linda Mar. Three young women arrived all in wetsuits, one carrying a soft-top surfboard, one sitting in a wheelchair and the other pushing the chair. Two of them had to lift the wheelchair with occupant over the small rocks on the edge of the beach. This was not a normal wheelchair, but one used in wheelchair races with three wheels: two balloon bicycle tires in the rear, and one small wheel in the front. They pushed their handicapped friend to the water’s edge, lifted her out of the chair and set her on the surfboard. One also climbed onto the board and the two of them stroked out to the tiny waves tandem style.

The handicapped woman was paralyzed from the waist down and had limited movement in her arms. Her companion managed quite well maneuvering the board. They paddled back and forth for exercise and then straightened out to catch a wave. The waves were small and they caught some white water, rode it up to the sand, fell off, and frolicked in the shallow water. They took pictures of themselves sitting in the water. All three had a great time. This had to be the best therapy for the one confined to a chair. The surf movie Step Into Liquid had a similar sequence. Rob Machado took his life long friend, who was paralyzed due to a surfing accident, out surfing at Cardiff by the Sea. Rob pushed him into waves; his friend had enough upper body movement to position the board in the wave and to buzz down some steep curls. The guy loved it. As he joyfully stated, it was the best form of therapy.

The other sight Marty and I enjoyed from the deck of Taco Bell was the whales. Way out to sea we could see spouts of spray blown into the air by the surfacing whales. It was good to see them. I haven’t seen whales in years, but this year I saw whales close to shore at Stinson Beach (see April 16 posting) and now several were here at Linda Mar. When I arrived this morning I stood at the wall behind the showers to take some photos of the surf.

“Are you shooting surfers or whales?” a woman next to me asked.

“Surfers,” I replied.

“There are whales out there,” she said. “Watch, you can see their spray.” She was right. I spotted several of them within a few minutes.

“The whales are migrating north,” she continued. “The mothers bring their babies into this bay to rest. They rest here to build up stamina for the long migration north. They’re here also to avoid the orcas who will kill the babies.” I have no idea if what she said was true, but it made a good story to explain the appearance of the whales. All through our surf session and afterwards we observed the spouts of spray from the whales.

Why am I here in Pacifica? The surf prospects on the Internet were terrible: three-foot wind swell at seven seconds. The June Gloom had arrived early this year. Growing up in Southern California, the worst month for weather was always June when the fog, overcast and onshore winds arrived and hung around all month. This phenomenon, which we called the June Gloom, occurred along the entire coast of California. But this year it has arrived early: fog, no swell and cold south winds causing the worst May for surf I have seen in years. But yesterday Marty sent out an email glowing about the 3’ to 5’ waves at Linda Mar, good rides, offshore breeze, sunshine and a friendly crowd. He invited all of us to join him tomorrow. Why not? South winds ruin Bolinas and Stinson, but they create good conditions at Linda Mar, a north facing beach.

I awoke this morning to fog and wind in Mill Valley. Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, I saw white caps from the bridge out to the horizon. The flags at the toll plaza were straight out from onshore winds. Why am I doing this? At Ocean Beach conditions were better, the south cross winds didn’t impact the shape of the waves, but there was no swell.

At Linda Mar conditions were decent. This was the only spot where the waves were rideable. Offshore winds held up the small curls. Six surfers were at the one and only peak along the entire cove. Marty was one of them, thus I decided to join in. The peak formed over a sandbar and the lefts broke into a deep channel. Well-shaped promising waves would die once one reached the channel. I took several of them expecting the curl to build up again on the inside. They never did. After an hour I finally realized that the rights were breaking into shallow water and had much better form. The peak was consistent; it broke straight out from a pole of a volleyball court. This became my marker. The strong south wind was blowing us north. I would sit outside and within a few minutes would have drifted a 50 yards north and be in the middle of the channel where the waves didn’t break. Marty and I were constantly paddling south to align with the pole. By moving south and concentrating on the rights I connected with four small decent curls within a ten-minute time span.

I mentioned to Marty it was time to go in. “Why?” he asked. “We’re having fun and there’s no crowd.” Well that changed quickly. At 10:00 am several more surfers came out. It was like a shift change, and all of them bunched with us at the only peak. Then we knew it was time to go in.

Despite the small waves, Marty and I agreed it was a fun session, good exercise, warm water, and beautiful sights with physical water therapy and migrating whales.