May 29, 2012 Tuesday

Bolinas	Channel
9:20 am to 10:30 am	2', sets to 3'
Mid outgoing tide	Slight onshore breeze
Sunny with high clouds	Exercise session

"About forty-five minutes ago I saw two sharks swimming just offshore here. Thus I'm not going out." The young surfer pointed out to the shore break at the base of the ramp as he delivered his warning to Walt the photographer and I. This surfer, who I have seen before in the water here, was a big guy -- about six feet tall, large frame, about 220 pounds and with several tattoos covering his arms.

I had just returned taking a few photos of stand-up surfers Annette and Loki. They both had dropped into a couple of nice four-foot waves at the Groin. That's Loki in the above photo. Seeing their rides, I had decided to suit up and join them.

Walt was suited up with his stand-up board next to him. He sat cross-legged on the sand meditating before going out. Walt's wife Davie is a yoga instructor thus Walt takes his yoga seriously and I didn't want to disturb him. So I asked the young surfer if he was going to go out. That was when he delivered his warning. Walt broke his concentration with the mention of the word SHARK.

"I saw something moving in the water and then I saw their fins," the young surfer demonstrated the fin size with his hands. "They were BIG, two of them, right off the shore here. They swam north towards the Patch. I followed them trying to capture them on the video of my cell phone. They were so close I thought I could step into the water and touch them. The water went out and I got a glimpse of their bodies, and they were BIG. I swear one was longer than I am. Thus I plan to stay out of the water today."

So here was an interesting situation. Walt was ready to enter the water, I had decided to suit up and go out and here we were just given this warning that two sizeable sharks were seen swimming ten feet from shore. I had no doubt that this young guy had seen something and he was spooked.

So what did Walt and I do? WE WENT OUT! Why? Because we wanted to. Sharks don't hunt and eat humans and the probability of a shark attack is like getting hit by lightning -- they rarely happen -- but they do occur.

Fortunately we did not see the sharks and nothing happened. But I did think about it several times out in the water. Being on a yellow longboard and floating on the surface, I doubt that a shark would mistake me for a seal. But what about standing in the water? The current coming out of the lagoon was fierce and we had to constantly paddle south to remain in the impact zone. My technique to combat the current is to stand up in the water to prevent the current from pushing me around. I was about to stand in the water, but then I thought about the shark and hesitated. But the current was so strong I wasn't catching any waves, so I chanced it. I paddled over to the middle of the Channel and stood in chest high water waiting for the waves. It worked, I caught several waves and fortunately nothing happened.

Meanwhile, the surf was so-so, nothing to write about. Jacek the tattoo artist and a friend came out and a few minutes later Pete from Sonoma joined us. Of course Jacek scored on several waves and rode them all the way in. Pete's daughter had just been accepted to the University of San Diego, the Catholic university where my sister-in-law is a professor of Shakespeare. He was excited about making several trips south to visit her and to hit all the great surf spots around San Diego.

After an hour the current became too much for me, I bellied a wave all the way to shore and called it a day. By now the wind had died and the sun had warmed up the air. It became a beautiful Marin summer day - AND THERE WERE NO SHARKS.