September 30, 2010 Thursday

Reading The Unseen (Offstage) Hamlet by Stephen Ratcliffe

A couple of months ago I was sitting out at the Groin between sets when Professor Steve paddled out.

“Loren, my book came out yesterday.”

“Good news. Now I have to order it. How does it look?”

“Great!” Steve and I have chatted about his book on and off for the past few months. Steve has a PhD in literature from UC Berkeley and is a tenured professor at Mills College specializing in Shakespeare and poetry. He is also an avid surfer who tries to get into the water and the waves everyday. Last year he surfed 355 days and is heading for even more this year. He also writes a short poem everyday and posts it on his blog Temporality. The last two lines give his glimpse of ocean conditions. He told me he was writing a book on Hamlet, a treatise on all the offstage action. For a couple of weeks he was stressed about finishing the manuscript to meet the publisher’s deadline. He obviously made it.

Steve had chosen to go with Counterpath Press instead of a large publishing company. He felt Counterpath was more writer centric and would publish his book in paperback at a reasonable price. The big publisher wanted to produce a hardbound tome for college students.

“Are you going to do any readings?”

“I already have. Yesterday to my class at Mills.”

“How did it go?”

“Good. I had film clips from the Olivier and Branagh films. The movies can show offstage action whereas live performances cannot. Both of those movies do a great job with the ghost of Hamlet’s father with flashbacks to depict the poisoning of Hamlet’s father in the garden.” Steve is referring to the two best movie versions of the play: Laurence Olivier’s 1948 version is considered the epitome performance of Hamlet himself and the 1996 Kenneth Branagh’s production includes every line of the play and is thus four hours long.

“Loren use that link I gave you for the publisher, Counterpath. You can order it through Amazon but they keep a large percentage of the price. The publisher makes more money if you order it directly from them.”

I followed his advice. That evening I ordered Steve’s book from the publisher and in one week it arrived. I went for total Hamlet immersion. The only time I read the play was in college, but I have seen it performed on stage and in movie versions, namely the Mel Gibson and Kenneth Branagh versions. To refresh my memory of the story I rented the Branagh movie from Netflix, watched all four hours of it and then read Steve’s book.

Reading the Unseen is a tribute to words, Shakespeare’s words. The book focuses on action not seen by the audience, events that occur offstage but are described on stage through dialogue. All we have are words, but the genius of Shakespeare is his ability to vividly and movingly depict these events using only words. The play Hamlet has plenty of on stage action: poisonings, sword fights, a play within a play and appearances of ghosts. Shakespeare has to include several offstage events because they are significant to the plot of the story. Steve goes into depth on these speeches. They happen quickly, fifteen to thirty seconds of dialogue, the audience barely notices their importance, but Steve delves into the words, their meanings, sounds and symbols to prove how in such a short space Shakespeare brings these distant events to life. As Steve puts it,

How the words, words, words in these speeches work to make physically absent things imaginatively present; how they show us action we don’t actually see; how what is concealed from us is essential both to the play and to our lives in this world – beyond which lies the ultimate unknown, that ‘undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns.’ (Preface pg xii).

Hamlet’s letter to his friend Horatio is our first hint of Hamlet’s transformation from his oscillation between self-doubt and outrage to total resolve for revenge. He was sent to England with his two childhood friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. In the play, Horatio reads Hamlet’s letter, but in the movie versions and in some play productions Hamlet’s voice is used. Via the words of the letter, Hamlet announces that he is returning, describes discovering his uncle’s real intent and has more to say about his companions Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

When he returns Hamlet explains in detail to Horatio and to the audience just what happened on the voyage. Steve points out that within a few lines Shakespeare can compress action that would be time consuming and impossible in act on the stage. In the middle of the night Hamlet crawls into Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s quarters, finds the letter from his uncle that his companions are carrying to the King of England, sneaks back to his cabin and reads it. Hamlet’s uncle requests that the King of England execute Hamlet. Hamlet cleverly replaces the original letter with his own version. From that point on, Hamlet expresses to Horatio that he is determined to destroy his uncle.

The murder of Hamlet’s father as told by his father’s ghost delivers a detailed description of how the murder occurred. From this brief but powerful speech, Steve notes the effectiveness of the rhythm and the repetition of certain sounds and phrases. The speech cleverly shifts from a string of three first person possessive pronouns to second person:

Brief let me be. Sleeping within my orchard,
My custom always of the afternoon,
Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole
With juice of the cursed hebona in a vial,

From simple description “my” to “thy uncle” implies that Hamlet by this blood relationship is involved in this murder and must avenge it.

Steve points out that through words the ghost describes what cannot be acted on stage: the impact of the poison on the internal body. This “leperous distilment” quick as mercury spread through all the natural gates and alleys of the body where it immediately coagulated like milk curds causing a loathsome crust. Shakespeare uses the word “bark,” at first I thought the passage meant to bark like a dog. No, the term is used to describe the power of the poison. Here bark is a verb meaning to form the bark of a tree (i.e. “to bark”). What nasty stuff. This poison causes one’s insides to coagulate like the bark of a tree.

Gertrude’s description of Ophelia’s death does not confirm whether Ophelia committed suicide or accidentally fell into the river and drowned. Ophelia, daughter of the king’s consul, Polonius, sister of Laertes and object of Hamlet’s love, was driven to despair and insanity. Gertrude, the queen and Hamlet’s mother, announces the death of Ophelia, an offstage event. Fourteen lines delivered in fifteen seconds, Steve dissects this passage carefully, point by point, to prove that Shakespeare intentionally obscures whether the death was an accident or a suicide. In her insanity, Ophelia had taken up the making of garlands. She was trying to hang one on a limb of a willow tree that grew at an angle over a stream. The branch broke; Ophelia fell, at first her shirt held her afloat until soaked with water it pulled her down. Gertrude is ambivalent, what happened to Ophelia is doubtful, did she jump or did she fall? Gertrude gives details that only an eyewitness would know unless the tale was fabricated. Did Gertrude see Ophelia fall? Did someone else see it and report it to Gertrude? And if someone witnessed the event why did they not attempt to rescue Ophelia? The play does not answer these questions. As Steve points out this is another incident of the doubt and ambiguity that runs through out the play.

The last chapter is about Shakespeare himself. Like the offstage action of Hamlet where all we have are words, little is known about the Shakespeare, his life, his friends, his loves and his personal events; all we have are the words that he wrote. But from the beauty of his works, he was a true genius.

I hope I have whetted your appetite. May I suggest an immersion in Hamlet? Rent the Branagh movie, watch it, yes all four hours of it, then read Steve’s book noting all the important offstage events and then watch the Branagh movie a second time. I can guarantee that your attention will perk up and you will focus and clearly hear all the passages that Steve describes and you will enjoy their significance to the story.

Steve, thanks for the book, I enjoyed it. Four STARS out of five on the Lorenzo Scale of Excellence.

To order Steve’s book:
Reading the Unseen: (Offstage) Hamlet by Stephen Ratcliffe, (Denver: Counterpath Press, 2010).
Counterpath Press

Check out Steve’s daily poems blog
Temporality

September 29, 2010 Wednesday

Bolinas	Patch
10:00 am to 11:30 am	3' to 4', sets to 5'
Low upcoming tide	No wind to slight onshore breeze
Low on-the-deck fog to high fog	Good session

Coming back up the ramp after checking out the surf I saw Barry the management team builder sitting in the driver’s seat of his truck in his trunks.

“Barry how was it?”

“I got clobbered.” I could see he was pain.

“What happened?”

“I was paddling out and some surfer took off where he should never be taking off. He came right at me and hit me.” He pointed to a three-inch gash in his pectoral muscle. The nose of the other surfer’s board hit him with full force. Keep in mind Barry was wearing a 4mm wetsuit and through this the impact left this ugly abrasion.

“I can’t lift my arm.”

“Are you going to have someone look at it?” His wound looked serious to me.

“No. I don’t have any insurance.”

“Barry there’s insurance and there is health. If you need help, get it.”

“I do have a policy with a $5000 deductible. I have to be dying before I go to a doctor.”

“You should have this X-rayed. You may have broken a bone.”

“Nothing is broken. It’s just the muscle. I’m off to ice it down.” With that he started his truck and drove off.

Barry’s incident proved that the waves were pumping. Internet predictions for surf were good: six to eight foot NW swells at 16 seconds for the next five days. This morning the buoys read 8 ft swells at 14 seconds from the west at 280 degrees, meaning they would be coming directly into Bolinas. The entire Northern California surf community had read these predictions. The parking lot was full when I arrived; it was mid-week, a normal work day, the schools were in session and Bolinas was jammed.

Check out the above photo. The fog was thick; on-the-deck fog shrouded the entire Stinson-Bolinas Bay. Martha informed me to forget taking any pictures this morning due to fog. She had just walked down to the Patch and couldn’t see anyone in the water but she knew people were out there. She planned to hang around until the fog lifted. I walked down to the Groin. Through the fog I could barely see a gaggle of twenty surfers bunched together at one peak. The waves were glassy three to four foot fast breaking lefts. Every wave had at least two people on it, and nobody was making them. Twenty surfers tightly packed into one peak going for close out waves did not look appealing.

I walked down to the Patch to check it out. Don my surf buddy from the Kahuna Kapuna surf contest was stretching on the beach about to go out. If a good surfer like Don has selected the Patch, who am I to argue? Walking back up the ramp I met Jack the Dave Sweet Team rider. He was suited up, board in hand, heading to the beach and announced that he was going to the Patch because there are too many surfers at the Groin. Two of the best surfers I know chose the Patch over the Groin, thus the Patch was the call this morning.

I paddled out to join Martha, Don and Jack at the inside right peak. In came a sizeable wall, I thought it was going to break, but it didn’t, it just kept coming in and building. Don calmly stroked into it as it was cresting. He smoothly drifted towards the peak, swung around right as a four-foot wall formed in front of him; he stepped to the center of the board, crouched down and cruised across a perfectly formed section. Paddling on his knees, Jack stroked into a five-foot peak, calmly dropped down the face, then cruised across a right peeling line, cut-back, turned into the shore break and hummed across a fast inside section.

The inside rights were the call today. A bigger crowd sat way outside and north of us, but the four of us dominated the inside peak and had a great time. The swell was strong, the sets were consistent and the bigger waves would stretch across the entire impact zone and would form into fast, long right peeling curls. The sets looked like they were going to break way outside, but they didn’t. They just kept pushing forward and they always broke to the right. Don had it figured out. He would take off late on walls that looked like they were going to collapse in a fifty-foot sheet of water. But they didn’t, they held up and time and time again he screamed across steep inside sections. These conditions lasted all morning. Don picked off the biggest waves of each set, Martha was right behind him and I got my share.

“Don, why did you decide to come to Bolinas this morning?” I asked back at the cars after our session. Don is an expert surfer thus I expected some sort of analysis, a studying of conditions of the Internet then the selection of the break with the best conditions. He lives in Oakland thus he has to decide where to head when he walks out the door. From Oakland the time to Santa Cruz and Bolinas are about the same and it’s less for him to go to Linda Mar in Pacifica. Don gave me a non-analytical answer:

“I wanted to take my dog.”

A tired but happy dog sat in the back of his Vanagon. His answer was logical. He wanted to run his dog on the beach and the best and only surf spot where dogs can run free is Bolinas. Because of his dog he came to Bolinas. He had no idea what the surf conditions were and he was surprised by the good waves and the amount of people in the water.

September 27, 2010 Monday

Bolinas	Groin
8:40 am to 11:00 am	Consistent 3' to 4', sets to 6'
Low upcoming tide	No wind, zero, zip, nada!
Low fog to bright sunshine, heat wave	Good session

The morning began with on the deck fog that was so thick my digital camera could not focus on the faint images of surfers coming down well-shaped waves at the Groin. The fog lifted and after my two-hour session in the water Marty and I went up the overlook above the Groin for a last look before we left for the day. The bright sun was out, great for taking pictures. Over thirty surfers were out going for some spectacular waves. By pure luck I caught the above surfer barreled at the Groin. The wave completely covered him; he held on and cleanly came out of the tube to sail on for another fifteen yards. Do you know this lucky surfer? I don’t. Let me know if you do.

I had high expectations for waves. All the Internet sites had predicted the first Gulf of Alaska swell of the season. It arrived on Friday, built up over the weekend and peaked this morning: 8 ft NW swell at 14 seconds. All the elements fell into place; strong swell, hot sunny day, warm water (56 degrees), no wind and an upcoming tide.

When I left Mill Valley it was sunny. Coming out of the forest above Stinson I was greeted by a shroud of low-lying fog that covered the entire Stinson-Bolinas Bay. I stood at the Groin wall with my camera at the ready but I could not see the surfers out in the water. My camera could only focus on the Groin pole. Busting out of the mist came Yoshi in his distinctive crouch, mid-board flying across a three-foot face in front of the Pole. I saw another surfer coming down an inside wall; he straightened out, rode soup all the way to the shore, jumped off and came in. It was Jack the Dave Sweet team rider, and at 8 am he was coming in.

“Jack how was it and why are you coming in?”

“I have been out for an hour and a half. The waves are good, head-high bombs that break in two feet of water. I’m coming in due to the crowd. There are a lot of aggressive bodies out there, short boarders who are dropping in on everybody.” Jack went on and on about the disrespect of the younger ones, the non-Bolinas types. “The Bolinas locals are fine, they share the waves. But these other guys don’t.” Despite the crowd Jack had a good session. “Lots of incredibly fast left curls.” Jack had to hustle off to his local house-painting job. He hoped get out again in the afternoon.

I suited up and headed for the ramp. Barry the management team trainer was toweling off after his session.

“Barry how was it?”

“It was great. You can’t believe how beautiful it was. Sitting out there watching guys drop down the peak with the mist and fog mixing with the sunlight. Seeing them tucked under the curl with the gray background and the sun reflecting through the curl, incredible.”

The fog was beginning to lift when I entered the water and I could finally see the crowd. The story this morning was the crowd. At 8 am on a Monday morning all the parking spaces at the tennis court were occupied. Again the power of the Internet reigned. Surfers from all over Northern California knew the swell was up and the wind was down. I was the 12th person at the peak when I entered the water. At eleven when I got out, thirty-four surfers were spread across the Channel and the Groin. All the cars this morning told me that all the other breaks were closed out and Bolinas was the only rideable spot. No wonder there were so many surfers I didn’t recognize this morning and all of them were good. That makes a big difference. Good surfers can see the sets coming, position themselves for the good waves and with excellent timing stroke easily into any wave they go for. Creighton who regularly surfs Dillon Beach mentioned that Dillon was huge thus he came here. Doug told me that yesterday he surfed Dillon, only caught two waves and both were overhead monsters. He was here today to connect with more manageable waves. I had no doubt that all the other popular breaks (Salmon Creek, Dillon, Ocean Beach and Linda Mar) were too big and thus the crowd came here.

I paddled out to join Marty, Jeff the contractor and David who rides the Becker board. They had been out for an hour and had located the edge; that spot between the initial break and the long inside curl. The short boarders that Jack alluded to were at the Channel peak and dominating the waves. With the speed of their short boards some could make the initial section and continue cutting up and down the face all the way to the inside break near the Groin pole. However, most of the time they screamed down fast walls and were buried by the power of the exploding waves.

David as usual had it figured out. He sat north and inside of the crowd. Time after time I watched him locked in the curl of a three or four-foot wall cruising a long way before the wave finally closed out near the Groin Pole. Marty had a good session. Paddling out I saw him drop into a four-foot shoulder, turned left into a well-shaped left peeling wave and on and on he cruised to the inside shore break near the Groin wall. Jeff had his short board and sat on the inside to pick off the waves that the rest of us passed up. His strategy worked and he connected on several good waves.

I finally connected on a good one. I took off late, dropped to the bottom of a head-high face, turned sharply left, climbed back into the swell, stepped to the middle of the board to pick up speed, stepped closer to the nose, leaned into the wave and climbed higher in the curl. For a brief couple of seconds I had that hanging on a vertical wall sensation as I trimmed along locked just below the lip of the curl. I cut back and maneuvered into the inside section near the Groin and pulled out as the wave broke in two feet of water. What a great ride and I caught at least five more just like it.

It was a good session. I stayed out for nearly two and a half hours, which was a long time for me. The elements had come together: consistent good waves, sunny weather, no wind and warm water. Only negative was the crowd. Despite that it was another great fall morning in Marin.

September 24, 2010 Friday

Bolinas	Channel
8:40 am to 11:00 am	1' to 3', occasional 4'
Low upcoming tide	No wind, zero, zip, nada!
Bright sunny day, heat wave	Fun session due to the weather

Here it was the third day of fall and summer had finally arrived; bright sunshine, warm water and glassy conditions, I loved it. The beautiful day and crystal clear water were the story for today. The waves were small and weak but due to the sunny weather and an ocean surface of glass we had to go out. The buoys reported 3’ to 4’ NW swell at 14 seconds. Stormsurf was predicting that the first Gulf of Alaska swell of the season would arrive this afternoon. The swell would build over the weekend and peak on Monday at 10 ft at 14 seconds. I had hoped that the swell might arrive a little earlier, but it didn’t happen.

I paddled out at the Groin peak to join David who rides the Becker board, Marty, Martha and Mark the archaeologist. The lefts were small, difficult to catch and had no force. I started eyeing the rights on the Seadrift side of the Channel. Two surfers were there and one of them aggressively paddled on his knees. That must be Jimmy the Stinson carpenter turned artist. I drifted towards the Channel and so did Mark and David. Soon the three of us were at the apex of the Channel peak where we could go right or left. It didn’t make any difference because it was slow in both directions. We drifted further south and mingled with the other two. Yes it was Jimmy and he managed to catch all the decent right waves.

At first I was frustrated with the rights. I had to wait until the waves were breaking to catch them. I would drop to the bottom, lose all my momentum, turn right and the waves had already broken several feet in front of me. To get a decent ride I had to paddle at an angle, get into the wave early, jump up quick and cut to the right before dropping to the bottom. I finally connected when I decided to sit way outside and wait for the sets. The smaller waves were too slow and no fun. A set approached, knowing that the sets usually had four to five waves, I let the first wave go and paddled further out. The second wave looked good but I could see a bigger one beyond it. I went for that one. Good move. A perfectly shaped four-foot right wave formed in front of me. I was on the edge between the initial peak and a long shoulder. I stroked into it, cut right, dropped mid-way down the face, cruised through the first section, cut-back to push into a reforming wave, turned right again and trimmed across a fast inside face. It was my best ride of the day.

The water was crystal clear on the inside curl; so clear that I could not see the swell. All I saw was the ripples of sand across the bottom. It was an eerie sensation to be moving along and not see the wave. I had not had this sensation since surfing at Tavarua in Fiji ten years ago. At Cloudbreak the waves break over an open ocean coral reef that have no sand and thus nothing is suspended in the water and it’s crystal clear. I remember riding four-foot waves there where I could not see the faces of the waves; all I saw was coral and small tropical fish darting ahead of me. Here I was this morning again cruising along and only seeing the rippled sand pattern on the bottom. Everyone this morning marveled at the clarity of the water. Sitting outside we could look down five to six feet and clearly see crushed seashells, empty crab shells and starfish sitting on the sand bottom. The ripple pattern on the bottom was the same pattern one sees on the beach after a big wind, the Lawrence of Arabia effect.

Martha pointed out that the topography of the beach had changed. The sand had moved. The Groin wall was buried from the base of the cliff to the water’s edge. Across the entire beach was an embankment, a five-foot slope from the top to the bottom. The ocean currents had moved around an incredible amount of sand. The lower third of the ramp was covered. Last January all the concrete and the steel rebar that supports it were exposed. And two years ago so much sand had washed out to sea that water from the lagoon flowed under the Groin wall. But today, everything was buried.

The waves were so-so, but the bright sunshine, glassy surface, crystal clear water and sand patterns made for another interesting morning at the beach.

September 20, 2010 Monday

Bolinas	Groin
8:50 am to 11:00 am	2' to 3', sets to 4'
High upcoming tide	No wind
Low fog to patchy sun	Good session

Bolinas at its Best

For one hour, David who rides the Becker board, Walt on his stand-up board and I had the Groin peak to ourselves. All the conditions had come together: remnants of last week’s south swell (3 ft at 14 seconds), a pulse of a small swell from the Gulf of Alaska (3 ft at 15 seconds), a low hanging fog that was holding the wind down, super glassy surface, consistent three foot fast left peeling waves and only three of us on the peak.

The low thick fog made seeing the waves difficult. The grayness of the fog blended with the grayness of the water. Only when the waves were cresting could we see them and get in position to catch them. I learned quickly that the sets appeared as large solid black lines coming through the fog. Due to the fog I couldn’t see the cliff or the houses at the mouth of the lagoon, thus when a solid black line appeared I would paddle out and position myself based on the first wave of the set and pick off one of the following waves.

Good move. A black line appeared through the fog, I paddled out and north to meet the incoming set. I took off late on the second wave, hung at the top, turned sharply left, the wave was lining up in front of me, the lip was feathering and about to come over, I stepped to the middle of the board, crouched down and cruised through the initial section. The wave continued to set up; I stepped closer to the nose, stood erect and glided through a second section. The wave continued to setting up, I inched closer to the nose and by shifting my weight between my leading right foot and back left foot I worked the board up and down the face and on and on I went until it finally sucked out and collapsed within a few feet of the Groin pole. What a great ride.

I turned around and standing in waist-high water I watched Walt on a good one. He was locked mid-swell of a four-foot wave, mid-board; he crouched down with his paddle waving behind him like a flag and hummed down a wave identical to mine. He shot by me and cruised on and on finally popping over the top when the wave collapsed on shore. Another great ride. Walt had a great session. He recently had taken up stand-up surfing and was quickly getting the hang of it. I watched him come down three more fast lefts like the first one. These were steep fast curls that were difficult to ride on a large stand-up board, but Walt handled it with aplomb.

In this hour I caught another six good left curls. After one I looked around and here came David planted perfectly a fast left curl. David caught a ton of waves. Every time I looked towards shore there was David near the Groin pole paddling back out after another long ride. One time David and I took off on the same wave. I was at the peak taking off late and David was ten yards north taking off on the shoulder. The wave had some speed and within a couple of seconds I caught up to him. We were both shooting down a steep curl. I came up right behind and below him. I locked the inside rail of my board within a foot below his. The wave continued on, David saw how close I was and pulled out even though he didn’t have to and I traveled on for another twenty yards.

David has the surf passion. He told me he had entered the water at 7:30, and at 11:30 after I had dried off and changed into my street clothes David finally walked up the ramp after four hours in the water. I could never do that.

Walt snapped a couple photos of David and I in the water with his Go-Pro water-proof digit camera. He told us that he was onto a new personal project of taking pictures of the 50 and 60-year-old surfers. Walt is a professional photographer and a friend had suggested that he take up a personal project just for the fun of it, something to expand his horizon. So he decided to document and photograph the story of the older surfers. He promised to let us see the results when he had something that meets his professional standards.

My last wave was a good one. I had been out for two hours and was thinking I would take one more and go in. By now six more surfers had moved in on our peak, the fog had lifted, the sun was out and I was jockeying around for position. I saw a set coming and paddled out while the others stayed put. A powerful wall was approaching, the others were inside and I was in position. I turned, stroked into it, dropped to the bottom and turned left into a head-high wall. The wave broke over the front of my board, I stood firm, leaned into the wave and pushed towards open swell but didn’t quite make it. For the rest of the wave I sped across the bottom standing erect watching the lip of the wave curl over the front of my board. I froze and stood at the bottom of the wave one step from the tail block screaming along for several yards. The wave finally closed out in front of me, I straightened out and milked it all the way to the shore. What a good ending to a good session.

September 13, 2010 Monday

The Jeff Akers Story

After our two-hour session and going into town for coffee, Marty and I walked down the ramp for one last look at the surf before taking off for the day. The swell had surprised us. All the Internet sites had predicted 2 to 3 ft NW swell and no south swell. But a good south swell greeted us this morning and it seemed to be building as the tide came in. No one was out at the Channel and four were out at the Patch. As we chatted, three times sets of beautiful three-foot long peeling lefts poured in at the Groin. All the sites were predicting a strong south swell, one from a gale off of New Zealand, for the end of this week. Marty and I made plans to be here on Friday in anticipation of bigger and more powerful waves.

We walked up the ramp and at the top stood Jeff the Dillon Beach boat mechanic leaning on a pair of shinny new aluminum crutches.

“Jeff what gives?” I saluted him. “I hope you have a good story for all of this. Something like going over the falls of a twenty-foot wave.”

“No. Only a boat accident.”

“Boat accident? Details please.” Then Jeff in his most matter-of-fact way launched into this elaborate tale of being thrown out of a speedboat at 80 miles per hour. Through a series of back and forth questions we pulled the details of accident out of him. Here’s a summary. Jeff is an outboard motor mechanic thus I was not surprised to hear that boating is his hobby. In fact, he builds boats; one-man wood hull outboard motor hydroplanes and races them. He had entered a major speedboat regatta, the American Power Boat Association Outboard National Championships held in Oroville CA with his newly built boat Trinity. Trinity is pictured above. This was only his second time racing this boat. He was in second place, closing in on the leader going about 80 miles an hour when he hit a small bump of water. In an instant, the nose of his boat went down, it pearled, and he flew over the top and into the air.

“Did you skip like a rock across the surface.”

“No, I cart wheeled three times and slammed into the water. A friend got pictures of it: the nose of the boat pushing a mound of water and me cart wheeling over the surface.” His wife, parents, children and close friends were there and saw it all.

Jeff’s injuries were significant. The impact knocked him out, caused a concussion, tore his leg out of the hip socket, broke his right femur and cracked three ribs. They rushed him the hospital where he spent two days in the intensive care unit. Other than leaning of crutches, this morning Jeff looked fine, alert, healthy, strong and mobile.

“What kind of rehabilitation do you have to do?”

“I have to go back in a couple weeks for an MRI. Main concern is my leg. We have to see if it reset in the hip properly. They don’t want me putting any weight on my leg. Meanwhile I’m going to physical therapy twice a week.”

“Was the boat totaled?”

“Most people would call it totaled. But since I build boats I can put it back together.”

“Are you going to let him go back to building and racing boats?” I said to Jeff’s wife. She just rolled her eyes. Jeff injected that he had been thinking about making surfboards for a long time and now might be a good time to start.

“I take it you are not working. You cannot work on boat engines without standing on your leg.”

“Yes, I’m not working. But I had to get down here just to see the waves and hear and smell the ocean. As soon as I can put on a wetsuit I will be back out there. I might not be able to stand up but at least I will be able to paddle around.” The surf passion still burns within him. He was determined not to let a little boating accident keep from enjoying the water and the waves.

Fast-forwarding, I’m happy to report after two months, Jeff is back in the water. I’ve seen him three times since and to me the accident has not impacted his surfing skills or his desire to be out in the water. Jeff claims that he still has difficulty pivoting on his right leg and that he is only 80% recovered. Jeff is the type who heals quickly, thus I’m confident that in another month he will be 100% recovered. Below is a link to photos of Jeff’s boats, check them out.

Jeff's Boats

September 3, 2010 Friday

Bolinas	Channel
9:20 am to 11:20 am	2' to 3', sets to 4'
High dropping tide	Slight onshore breeze
High fog	Fun session

Twenty surfers were spread across the Channel at 8:30 in the morning. What gives? This is Bolinas, not Southern California. Friday before a three-day weekend drew a crowd. The regulars were out there: Mary, Marty, Mark the archaeologist, Novato Pete, Susan who always wears sunglasses in the water and Russ and Frank on their stand-up boards. Half were on the Groin side of the Channel for the lefts and the rest were on the Seadrift side going for the rights. The waves had the same great shape as Wednesday but were a little smaller.

Yesterday Marty sent out a glowing report of small, good waves on the Seadrift side, glassy conditions and a small crowd. His account got me excited for some good waves today. Surf forecasts on the Internet were so-so: 4 ft NW swell, no south swell, upcoming tide and little wind.

“The water is warm, 56 degrees,” David called to me as he rode by on his bicycle after his morning swim. Warm water was good news. David is an art teacher at the Bolinas School, sells concrete Buddha statues at the entrance to town and travels to Burma once a year for religious studies and to pick up statues. As he put to me a couple of weeks ago, David lives a simple life. Every morning, and I do mean every morning year-round, he rides his bike to the beach, strips down to his trunks and goes for a swim in the ocean, thus he is an expert on the temperature of the water. It wasn’t important that he was accurate. Last week he said it was 53 degrees. So today it was warmer. I thought it was closer to 60 degrees, similar to the warm water I felt last month in Ventura. The hot days heat up the water in the shallow lagoon and ebb flow at low tide drains it out to the Channel.

Marty, Mark and I sat at the apex of the peak at the Channel. The wait between sets seemed like an eternity. But when a set did arrive, four to five good waves would appear out of nowhere. Patience was the name of the game this morning. Tired of waiting, we would often move inside to catch the smaller waves; then a set would approach and we would be out of position. Despite all this moving around, all three of us managed to connect on some good waves.

“Mark what are you working on these days?” Mark does archaeological studies for a large engineering firm. His studies become part of the environmental impact reports for large construction projects.

“I’m still working on the Eureka airport thing.”

“You still writing the report?” Mark often surfs in the morning and then writes his reports at home.

“No, we’re wrapping it up. I have to meet with the FAA and some state agencies to get their concurrence.”

“Are the Native Americans fighting your study?” Mark’s studies report on digs at building sites for evidence of ancient Indian villages, especially burial grounds.

“No they are on my side. I have a good working relationship with them.” That was good news.

An older surfer paddled out. He was about my age, long graying hair, thin on top, big mustache, sun tan face and he knew what he was doing. A set came through, I paddled out to meet it and he stayed put. I turned, paddled hard for the first wave and missed it. He calmly waited and just before the wave broke he stroked twice, jumped up and flew down a four-foot wall.

“How’s your book coming?” Mark asked me.

“Good. I’m looking for an agent to help me sell it. Do you know any agents?”

“Only James Bond.”

“No, a literary agent.”

“You have written a book? What is it about?” The older surf paddled over to join our between sets conversation.

“Outsourcing.” I quickly explained about being laid off because my job was moved to India, how they had let us know four to six months in advance and about my keeping a journal and writing it up.

The older surfer had a similar tale about his job changing at a time when it was too late to switch to a new occupation. He was in the printing business and due to the Internet his business was drying up. They used to do two million pieces a year and last year they only did 65,000. He had graduated from Cal-Poly in graphic design and in his day Cal-Poly had a major printing facility. He went back recently and all the equipment was gone. The school now only has classes in packaging.

“You have to change your business plan, you know, reinvent yourself.”

“No way! I’m 63. I can’t reinvent myself. I’ll hang on a little longer and retire.”

He mentioned he grew up in the San Diego area and learned to surf down there.

“Where did you surf in San Diego?”

“A place called Swami’s.”

“Swami’s! I know Swami’s. I was just down there a couple of weeks ago. The SELF-REALIZATION FELLOWSHIP temple. I didn’t surf there but I did go out at Cardiff Reef.”

“I know Cardiff. There are so many good spots around there.” He ticked off a list of ten of them, places I never heard of and then commented on the crowded conditions and how nice it was here. He grew up on 4th Street in Encinitas Beach. Swami’s is located at the south end of Encinitas and Cardiff is a mile south of that.

“If you grew up there then you must know the best bakery in the world: VG’s Donuts and Bakery.” VG’s is located in Cardiff by the Sea.

“VG’s, of course I know VG’s! I love their donuts. We use to go there all the time.” Suddenly we had an instant bond. A bond not over a surf spot such as Cardiff, a favorite break for both of us, but rather over a donut shop; the best one on the California coast.

Meanwhile the waves were good, small, well formed and mellow. The weather was in transition. Yesterday was the hottest day of the year, today the temperature dropped ten degrees and the fog had returned. The NOAA weather radio had issued a fog alert for this morning, meaning low laying fog with visibility down to a hundred feet. It wasn’t that bad at Bolinas, but it was great to see that the fog, our old friend, the Bay Area Air Conditioner, had returned.

September 1, 2010 Wednesday - Part 2

Jim Ellis - artist

Out from Seadrift Jimmy the Stinson Beach artist came knee paddling out. Pete and I were scoring on some good rights on the Seadrift side of the Channel when Jimmy joined us. I had not seen Jimmy for months. He grew up and still lives in Stinson Beach, is my age, a retired carpenter who has taken up wood sculpturing and is an excellent life-long surfer.

“Jimmy, how are you? I haven’t seen you in months. Where have you been? And the rights are real good right here.”

“I’ve been carving wood. But I was here last week.”

It was good to see him. We both scored big last week with the good south swell. Jimmy surfed the rights on the Seadrift side while I went for the lefts at the peak between the Channel and the Groin.

Jimmy just had a showing of his art at the Stinson Beach library and he managed to sell a couple of pieces.

“Any other shows coming up?”

“Yes, an open studio here in Bolinas with two other artists, Steve Lewis an awesome stone carver and Suzie Allen DeBaker an incredible painter.”

“When?”

“The Friday, Saturday and Sunday after Thanksgiving at Steve’s place, 75 Horseshoe Hill Road. I’m carving some small pieces now. Every artist has to have some bread and butter pieces. You know, small things that are affordable.”

“What are you making?”

“Detailed carvings of abalone shells.”

“What kind of wood do you use?”

“Thin grain old growth redwood.”

“You’re talking about ancient redwood, aren’t you? From trees that were over two hundred years old.”

“Yes and it’s very hard to find: old bridge structures, old railroad ties and old pier pilings.”

I mentioned to Jimmy that I was in the Livewater Surf Shop a couple of weeks ago and saw his carving of a great white shark, which hangs on the north wall and his panoramic mural of Stinson Beach that hangs high on the east wall. The above photo is Jimmy’s mural.

“I did that one in 1975. Do you want to hear the story behind that one?”

“Yes.” Jimmy then launched into the story of his thirty five-year old painting. I presented it here in his words from the best that I can remember them.

“Do you remember the Sea Witch Café? It used to be in that center with the Post Office. Well the owner asked me to paint some local scenery and to include his menu. The only available space was a 20 inches by 16 feet blank wall behind the counter. I started painting the local symbols of Stinson and realized I would never spoil this by painting the menu over it. So I finished it without the menu, just sticking to the scenery and told the owner there was no menu. He exploded. He was pissed. There was no other place to put the menu. He yelled and ranted. I told him to just look at it. I would take it back if he didn’t like it and it would not cost him a thing. Well he looked at it, he loved it, he bought it and put it in that 20 inches by 16 feet space. And it sat there for years until the Sea Witch went out of business.

“He ended up using a small space to the left, about 3’ x 3’ for the menu and the prices. Of course he used another artist to paint that. I felt a little bad about that but reasoned at twenty-five that it was a victory for all art and artists. I sold it to him for $350, which I thought was a lot of money. I got a lot of kudos from the locals and I think their business improved because people would go in for coffee or lunch to sit down and look at the painting. Kirby Ferris, original owner of the Livewater Surf Shop, old time local, friend and excellent surfer, bought it and hung it in the shop. It still hangs there today. Thanks to Kirby the painting remains on public display instead of in someone’s living room. I even like to look at it now and then myself.”

Livewater has changed hands since then and the new owners, Pete and Brenna, have kept Jimmy’s mural hanging in the same space. So the next time you are in Stinson Beach stop by the Livewater Surf Shop, walk in the front door, look up at the back wall to see Jimmy’s mural. Pete and Brenna have two other of Jimmy’s pieces: the carving of the great white shark (on the wall to the left as you walk in) and two natural colored woodcarvings of seal heads (on the wall between the main shop and the upstairs area). You will be impressed; I guarantee it.

As I was walking up the beach after my session I looked back and saw Jimmy connect on a beautiful wave. He turned into a head-high blue-green glassy wall, stood erect mid-board facing the wave with the lip of the wave at eye level, he froze as he sped several yards down the line until the wave exploded over him.

September 1, 2010 Wednesday

Bolinas	Channel - Seadrift side
9:00 am to 11:00 am	2' to 3', sets to 4'
High upcoming tide	No wind
Hot sunny day - heat wave	Fun session

Today turned out to be a pleasant surprise. I had no expectations when I walked down the ramp to check out the waves. Last week’s good south swell was gone and the normal pattern of small NW swells had returned. The Patch was completely flat; no one was out. Three surfers were at the Groin and six were on the far side of the Channel, including Mary, Susie who always wears sunglasses in the water, Ray the Petaluma fireman and stand-up surfers Frank and Russ.

Walking down the beach towards the Groin, a rideable left wave came through, then another and another. One surfer stroked into the last wave of the set; he swung left, crouched down with his back to the wave, held onto the outside rail as white water slapped his shoulder, sped back into the swell, cruised through a fast section, cut back and turned into a second fast section. That does it; I’m going.

With decent lefts at the Groin and fast rights on the Seadrift side of the Channel, where should I go? My strategy was to start at the Groin for some lefts and then work my way over to the rights. At the Groin I paddled for a couple of waves and missed them. The surfer who I saw earlier from the beach caught another fast left. I moved in where he was figuring on picking off some of the smaller ones. A set approached, the first wave was a wind swell that was cresting and pushing a small ground swell in front of it. I caught the wind swell, jumped up and pushed over the edge of the ground swell, cut left, hung high in the curl of a fast, steep two-foot wall. The steepness, speed and force of this small wave surprised me. I hummed down this curl until the wave sucked out in one foot of water. What a good start to my session.

At the end of my first right wave I paddled over to the Seadrift side of the peak to join Mary and Susie. Paddling out I watched Mary take off on a sizeable right wall. With her ten-foot Mystic board she can paddle into these waves early. Positioned high in curl, Mary trimmed down the face of a glassy four-foot wall until she straightened out when the wall collapsed in front of her.

Pete paddled out a few minutes later. Pete and I had shared some great waves at the Groin last Wednesday and Friday. Twenty minutes later Mary and Susie moved back to the Groin. For thirty minutes, Pete and I had the right peak to ourselves. At first no waves came and Pete and I sat there watching the crowd at the Groin in the distance catching waves. Then a set came and after that the waves just kept coming. Pete took off first and connected on a good long right. I drifted outside and stroked into a four-foot right wall. I dropped down the face, cut hard right, locked the rail under the lip of the curl, stood in the middle of the board and flew down this wall until it crashed in front of me. I turned around and another beautiful blue-green wall of water broke in front of me, and another and another. I guessed that ten beautiful unridden waves came through. Pete and I fought to get back outside. We waited a couple of minutes and here came the next set. We both connected on another long, fast right wall. We repeated this sequence of good rides at least five more times. Later a couple of other surfers joined us and after two hours I was spent and decided to call it a day.

Again, it was just another typical beautiful morning in Marin.