January 10, 2009 Saturday

Pacifica	Linda Mar
10:30 am to 11:45 am	4' to 5' sets overhead
High tide - 7.2 ft at 10:00 am	Stiff offshore wind
Sunny, clear and cold	Frustrating session

It was Saturday morning and I was enjoying my favorite pastime of reading in bed with a cup of coffee when the phone rang.

“I bet that’s your son and he wants to go surfing,” Kate said to me and she was right.

“Dad, per the Internet, Pacifica is perfect. Let’s go,” stated Kevin.

Being retired I don’t normally go surfing on weekends, but this was an opportunity to be with my son so I agreed to pick him up and head for Linda Mar. I looked at the buoy report: 15 knot east winds, six foot swell every 13 seconds out of the north producing four to six foot waves at Linda Mar. The parking lot was full but with luck we pulled into a slot as someone was leaving. Across the cove, a hundred surfers were in the water. At first glance it looked flat, then a set came in and several guys intently drove down overhead walls of water. The offshore winds blew plumes of spray off the tops of the peaks. The winds were cold and so was the water. We didn’t see any channels thus we headed a short ways to the north and entered the water. My son had done it again. Here I was following him out into intimidating surf. Due to the high tide the waves were breaking fairly close to shore. I waited for a lull and paddled hard to get out. My new board paddles fast and I made it outside with only having to go through white water of one wave.

Once outside we joined a group of ten others. We observed that the take-offs were flat with water sliding down from the top of the waves, not top to bottom boomers. Good I can handle these I thought to myself. We also observed that the waves had to be steep, straight up and down, in order to catch them. I paddled for several but could not push into them. “They have to be steeper,” I said to myself. Finally I got one, I paddled hard, looked over the edge of a big drop, spray in my face, momentum pushed me into it, I began to stand up, felt the wind lift the board slightly, I leaned forward to force the board over the edge and dropped down the face of an overhead wave. Another surfer was in front of me. We both angled left down a large swell. White water began breaking several feet in front of us and I smoothly coasted down the face and out in front of the wall of foam. To avoid a long paddle back out, I dove off into the turbulence to get out of the wave. Good move. After waiting for a couple of waves to pass, I easily paddled back out to the peak.

Kevin and I sat outside waiting when the next set came through. A big left approached, crested and began to break. Kevin was closer to the peak and went for it while I scratched to get over it. A curtain of spray blew off the top and small rainbow formed in the glitter of the rain as the wave passed under me. I looked back to watch Kevin and saw nothing but the wake of his board. It was over his head and for several seconds he did not appear until the wave had collapsed into a sheet of white water. I caught the last wave of the set and dropped down another overhead wave. I saw Kevin paddling out and straightened out to stay clear of him. Later, I asked him about his ride. He went a long ways before the wave closed out.

In one hour I caught three waves, that’s all, one wave every twenty minutes. What was I doing besides freezing my tutu? Paddling around, jockeying for position with the other guys and letting one big closeout after another pass by. No body was catching any decent rides. Kevin headed north to the next peak in hope of finding better waves. I kept thinking the waves to the south looked better. I drifted in to catch one more wave. Several of the walls broke to the right. A good one came through I caught it, angled right and dropped down the face. It was head high. For an instance I glanced at a perfect wave: a long line peeling to the right, strong offshore wind holding up the curl, and bright sunlight dancing off the top. “Go for it,” I said to myself and leaned into the curl. The breaking part of the wave behind me hit the tail block of my board, my feet flew into the air, the board shot forward and I hit the water tail first. I quickly surfaced and concluded that three waves were enough for today. I waded through a rough shore break and was relieved to be safely on dry land.

A couple days later, Russ told me he was out there at the same time and he too froze, was frustrated and only caught three waves.

January 7, 2009 Wednesday

Bolinas	Groin and Patch
9:45 am to 11:45 am	3' to 4', occasional 5'
Mid outgoing tide	Slight offshore breeze
Sunny and warm	Fun session

A Gathering of the Clan

There was nothing special about today: Wednesday, mid-week, a workday, yet I encountered most of my surf buddies. The past couple of weeks have been cold, an oppressive high pressure held the cold air and rain down. Today it broke, the sun appeared and the warmth returned. The change brought the surf clan out.

I stopped at Stinson Beach to take a water sample for Surfrider’s water testing program. Martin, the park ranger, was his usual outgoing, happy self when I showed up. He was shoveling sand from the showers.

Pulling into Bolinas, several surf vehicles were there including Mary’s, Marty’s and Doug’s. I jumped out of my car and Lou rode by on his bicycle. I hadn’t seen him in a month. He was nursing a bad back that he re-injured working on a 500 gal water heater at his Laundromat. Soon he will be back in the water.

Russ pulled up, “Loren, don’t bother taking pictures, suit up and get out there.” That’s what he did. He didn’t even check it out. He had already decided that he was going out.

I walked down the ramp to the seawall and met Andy and Claude, who I hadn’t seen in months. A year ago I ran into them at the Costa Azul surf shop in Los Cabos, Mexico. Andy, who owns a condo there, said they were going back there in March. Claude mentioned he had another friend who invited him to spend another week there. I asked about job obligations.

“These days it’s not a problem.” Claude is in construction and work has slowed down. Taking another week won’t impact any projects.

We watched three surfers going after four-foot walls at the Groin. The out-going current was already impacting the shape of the waves. The rights on the far side of the current looked decent. Andy and Claude suited up and headed over there.

Marty was exiting as I entered the water at the Groin. He had been nursing an injured knee for a couple of months. Today was his first day back in the water. While recovering, he hit the gym to work on his arms thus he felt good about his paddling strength. I showed him my new board.

I paddled out to where Doug and Jim were. Doug held his hands in front of his eyes, “Loren, that board is so shinny and bright.” They had been there since 7:00 am, today’s high tide mark. They both caught waves and went in

I was now out by myself. The swell was strong, lines stretched across the impact zone, and I paddled for several of them without success. Finally I got one, a good left and my new board handled it well. The board paddles fast and enables me to catch waves early. I caught three more, cruised a long ways down these walls before having to strengthen out. The out-going current gained strength and pushed me out and north. I had to continuously paddle south to stay in the peak. After four waves I give it up. I had to connect with Marty to give him my water samples so he could take them to be tested at the Branson School. Marty lives near the Branson campus. Since it was a sunny day, I decided I would exit the water, get the samples to Marty and go back out at the Patch.

Doug, Marty and Jim were toweling off at their cars. Andy returned from surfing the rights at the Channel. Mary came in from the Patch. She had been out there for three hours and had a ball. I showed off my new Haut board to my friends. A young surfer arrived with an ancient Haut board that he had just purchased. His board was shaped in 1967, forty-one years ago, 9’ – 6”, single fin with weathered-yellow foam. It was Haut vs. Haut, his old board, made when Doug Haut was just starting out, against my brand new one made by Doug at the end of his career.

I picked up my board to go back out at the Patch. This could be a mistake, the onshore wind was picking up, the tide was going out and the rocks were being exposed. It was a good move; I caught several fun waves and had a great time. Claude was out at the furthest peak. He had paddled from the Seadrift side of the Channel to the Patch and was on all the set waves. The young surfer with the classic Haut was out there, and with that heavy, old board, he caught flat wave after flat wave. He and the stand-up surfer, who was on a 12’ Laird model, caught all the outside waves and cruised all the way to the inside. As the tide went out the outside rock became exposed. I hadn’t seen it for months. I moved over to it thinking that shallow bottom around the rock would cause the waves to break. I managed to connect with three long left waves. With my new board, I easily coasted into them, maneuvered to stay in the breaking part of the waves and went a long ways until the water began to boil around shallow rocks. What am I doing? Driving into shallow water on a brand new board. Fortunately I didn’t hit any of them. At 11:30 am, I called it quits and made the long paddle in.

A surfer toweling off next to me had an interesting tale about Dillon Beach. I had seen him several times at Bolinas. He lives in Petaluma and is a regular at Dillon Beach. This past October 25th, he remembers the day well; he and seven others were out at the Shark Pit, a reef on the north edge of the entrance of Tomales Bay that only breaks when the waves are big. On this day, the surf was ten to twelve feet and powerful and began to build and build. Suddenly, the waves got huge.

“Loren, the horizon went black,” he said. “We all panicked. I started scratching as hard as I could, paddling out and to the north to get out of the impact zone. You cannot believe how big these swells were. See the house over there?” He pointed to a two-story frame house across the street that sat an elevated lot. “The wave was as high as that house.” The house was at least thirty feet high. He scratched up the face of this huge swell and was greeted by another one and then another one. After the set past, he caught a small one (a twelve footer) to get in. In huge waves everyone is on his own. He had lost sight of his friend. He stood on the beach staring at the big waves and mountains of white water for thirty minutes before he finally saw his buddy coming in riding the soup.

After that tale, I packed it up and headed home. What an interesting day: sun, warmth, fun waves and good fellowship.

December 29, 2008 Monday

Stinson Beach	Out front from the showers
10:30 am to 12:00 noon	3' to 4'
High tide - 5.9 ft	No wind
Overcast	Fun session

My New Board – Second Session

Late last October, two days after I had ordered my new board through Nate at Proof Lab, I was back in there to confirm that my ordered had been placed with Doug Haut in Santa Cruz.

As soon as Nate saw me walk in he emphatically said, “Your board is done. It’s in the back.”

“What?” I responded.

“You are just like all other surfers,” Nate continued. “You order a board and come back two days later wanting to know why it isn’t done.”

“I just wanted to ensure that Haut had my order,” I said.

“Your order is in,” Nate stated. “It’s a done deal. They’re working on it.”

“Great. Call me when it is done,” I responded.

I know that one has to be patient when doing business with surfers, and that includes 70-year old Doug Haut. Surfers have additional priorities that other businessmen don’t have, like surf conditions. What was supposed to take three weeks, took two months. My board came in Christmas Eve; I picked it up the day after Christmas and took it out the first time on Dec 27th.

I was anxious to ride it again. I drove to Bolinas, which was flat due to the high tide, thus I returned to Stinson. The waves were similar to the other day but smaller; peaks pushed up the berm and broke close to shore with no wind and glassy conditions. I had more wax on the board today and didn’t slip like the other day. I caught several small rights and lefts. I felt more comfortable on the board. It paddles faster than my old board, and enables me to get into waves sooner to position myself high in the curls. My last wave was my best, a three-foot fast breaking left where I managed to lock the board just under the lip of a well-formed curl and shoot through a good section. This was my first good nose ride and yes the board performed well.

I’m the type of surfer who has only one board in his quiver. Others like to have several boards of different shapes and sizes to match the different conditions. Not me, I ride the same board in small waves, big waves, flat sliders like the Patch and steep crunchers like at Montara and Kelly Ave in Half Moon Bay. Over time my body adjusts to the size and feel of the board. I become accustomed to its speed, its ability to turn, its support on the nose and its maneuverability in the curl. An analogy here is baseball players with their bats and tennis players with their racquets. A good major league hitter has ten bats, all of them exactly the same. He doesn’t change bats because of a different pitcher. Weight, feel of the bat and timing are critical to hitting the ball. Only when a hitter gets into a slump does he experiment with different size bats. The same holds true for tennis players. They walk into the tennis stadium with five racquets, everyone of them the same. They don’t switch racquets after the first serve because they know the second serve will be slower and with spin. No they use the same racquet because their bodies are accustomed to the feel, weight and timing of the racquet they have been using for months. Thus with time I will meld with the particulars of this board.

Last October I destroyed my old board when due to a crack in the bottom water pressure ripped off a three-foot sheet of fiberglass from mid-board to the tail fins (see my October 1 entry). I was due for a new board. I dithered around a few weeks looking at all the new boards at the local surf shops. While at Proof Lab I mentioned to Nate that I might go to Haut’s shop in Santa Cruz. Nate informed me he was an official Haut dealer and could get me a better price. He called them, read them the model numbers from my old board and placed an order for a custom built board. My new board was suppose to be exactly the same as my old one: length 9’ 2’’; thickness 3”; mid-point width 22”; nose width 16” and tail width 13.5”.

But my new board felt bigger. When I got home this morning I compared the model numbers on both boards; they were the same. I measured them and discovered that my old board is 21.5” wide and thinner in the rails. Thus I was right, my new board is slightly bigger, which for me is good. I was ready for a larger board. When you are 63 years old, you don’t downsize.

In my thirty years of surfing I have owned several boards but only three of them I purchased brand new. And they were all Hauts and were all the same. In 1996, I first went to Haut’s shop in Santa Cruz. I told the sales guy I was thinking of downsizing to an 8’ 6”. He pulled one off the rack and explained that this one was 9’ 0’’, 3” thick for plenty of floatation but thin in the rails thus less volume. It was a squaretail with three fins. I bought it and he was right. It floated me well and was very maneuverable. Five years later after driving this board into the ground, I returned to order a new one. On a Saturday, Doug Haut was there. I showed him my old board and told him I wanted another one just like it but a little bigger. I was ready to order a custom board. He looked at the board, read the numbers and pulled one off the rack.

“This one is very close,” he said. “And it’s on sale for $500. I could make you a new one for $800 and I could have it ready in eight weeks.”

“Sold,” I said. “I’ll take the one on sale.” I surfed on it that afternoon at the Hook. It was a great board, and I rode it for seven years until I ripped the bottom off it. So now my new board is just like my last two boards. For the last twelve years I have owned and ridden Doug Haut 9’ 2”, 3” thick, thin rails, squaretails, tri-fin boards and I love them.

Special thanks to Nate and crew at the Proof Lab Surf Shop in Mill Valley for securing my new custom board.

December 27, 2008 Saturday

Stinson Beach	Out front from the showers
10:00 am to 11:30 am	4', sets to 5'
High tide - 6.1 ft	Slight offshore breeze
Sunny	So -so session

My New Board

Today was my first session with my new board: a Doug Haut, 9’ 2”, tri-fin. I picked it up yesterday from Nate and crew at the Proof Lab Surf Shop in Mill Valley and spent the rest of the afternoon rubbing wax on it. I was anxious to try it out.

Kevin and I headed to Stinson first to check it out. It looked ok. I insisted that we look at Bolinas, which was flat due to the high tide. We ran into Professor Steve exiting the water from his morning exercise paddle. We headed back to Stinson. We ran into Nate, who sold me my board, and a friend just getting out. Lots of closeouts was Nate’s assessment of the waves.

Due to the high tide the waves pushed up the berm of the beach and broke close to shore. Most were walls with a couple with shape. Kevin entered the water and started paddling. A set came in and he had to duck-dive three waves before getting out. I waited for a lull, pushed into the water, jumped on my new board and cruised out to the line up only touching white water once. My board paddles fast, much faster than my old one.

On my first wave I went right, it closed out ahead of me and I straightened out. Not much of a ride. The next wave was same thing. Later a left wave came through and I got a decent angle down the face of a four-foot wave before having to straighten out again. Despite my sore arm from rubbing wax on my new board yesterday, it wasn’t enough. The board was slippery. Whenever I turned from a sitting position and leaned forward to begin paddling, the board slipped right out of my hands and I would be hanging onto the tail block. When I would stand up, the surface was slippery and I would very tentatively step up to retain my balance. Coming down a sizable wall I stepped back to keep the nose of the board from knifing into the water and slipped right off the back. The board shot forward, my feet went straight into the air and I landed tail first in the water. Next I misjudged a wave; I was too late, the fast paddling board got me too far in front of the wave, it broke on my back, the nose pearl dived straight down, I went to the bottom and the board shot high into the air, so Kevin told me. On my last wave, I came down a four-foot wall, coasted out in front of the white water, the wave bounced, knocked me off and the board continued with the surge of the white water. Underwater, I felt the tug of the leash on my ankle, and then it went flat and my board continued up to the beach. The knot of the line that connects the leash to the board pulled undone and there I was with an empty leash strapped to my ankle and my board washing around in the shore break.

That was enough for the first day, not a great success but a start. “It takes awhile to get accustomed to a new board,” I said to myself. It was a so-so session but I knew I had a good board that I would soon master.

December 26, 2008 Friday

Bolinas	Patch
9:30 am to 11:00 am	3' to 4', sets to 6'
High tide - 6.1 ft	Offshore breeze
Sunny and warm	Fun session

It was the day after Christmas and the swell had spiked. A one-day Mavericks size swell materialized: 13 ft at 16 seconds. The NOAA buoy forecast predicted this swell a week in advance. It also showed that the next day the swell would drop to six feet at 12 seconds.

Weekend/holiday atmosphere struck the beach. All the parking slots on Brighton Ave were taken when I arrived. I had to park near the liquor store. From the overview above the Channel I counted thirty-seven people surfing; long boarders, short boarders, stand-up surfers, men, women, kids and even dogs in the water. Warm sunny day, offshore breeze and some nice shoulder high lines peeling off both left and right. Every one had three or four surfers competing for position. It didn’t look like fun.

I decided to head to the Patch were there only few people out. Good move. The waves were smaller and slower than those at the Channel. The crowd at the Patch was positioning for the rights. I went for the lefts and managed to catch several good long left waves into shallow water above the reef. After and hour and a half I had exhausted myself and worked my way back to the ramp.

It was a beautiful morning and I was anxious to get home because this afternoon I was going to pick up my new board at the Proof Lab Surf Shop in Mill Valley.

December 12, 2008 Friday

Bolinas	Ramp
9:00 am to 10:30 am	4'
Extreme high tide - 7.2 ft	Slight offshore breeze
Sunshine with high haze	Didn't go out

Today was the highest tide of the year: 7.2 ft at 10:00 am. I scanned my Tidelog and confirmed today was the highest tide of the year. Only the full moon last January had a tide of 7 ft. The lowest tide of the year, -1.9 ft, occurred this afternoon at 5:00 pm.

Doug, Robert the Larkspur carpenter, Robert the Oakland fireman and I stood at the overlook above the Groin and Channel with discouraged looks. The tide was too high and the water too deep. Four-foot swells came through the Channel; they peaked, looked promising and kept moving in. They didn’t break, they crested but they did not break. They continued coming in until inside the Groin wall and then they went flat, no foam, no white water, nothing. At the Patch, the swells mushed up against the cliff. Ten feet in front of the ramp, the waves broke and pushed white water half way up the ramp. The four of us chit chatted for a half an hour about past days of great surf and hope for better days. We broke up, got in our cars and drove off promising to reconvene here next week.

I was determined to photograph the extreme high tide. I got several shots of water surging up the ramp and of backwash bouncing off the seawall. The Bolinas Lagoon was full, with water up to the edge of Highway 1. I took shots of the north end and shots of the abandoned dredge at the south end. Usually the entire dredge is visible, but not this morning, only the top platform peeked above the water. I pulled into the parking lot of the Stinson Beach Water District office, walked to the south edge of the wetland to take more shots. Usually the south end is grasses and mud with no standing water. Today the water was up to the border of the wetland. Ducks, pelicans and seagulls were having a field day feeding on insects and worms they normally cannot get to. At Stinson Beach, the water surged over a berm in the sand forming a small estuary with lots of debris, logs, old pilings and blocks of wood.

Jim the Stinson contractor and another short boarder were out in the uneven and bumpy surf. They both sailed down some sizeable curls. I was tempted to go out but hesitated after Jim struggled to get back out. After a few more minutes he came in. Of course he claimed it was a fun session, like all surfers do.

Was I disappointed? No. It was another beautiful Marin morning and I witnessed and photographed a natural phenomenon of the highest tide of the year. Note that the next extreme tide of 7.2 ft will occur soon, January 10, 2009.

Check out my “Hide Tide 121208” photo album at:

http://gallery.me.com/lorenlmoore1

December 1, 2008 Monday

Bolinas	Groin
9:00 am to 10:30 am	4' to 5', sets 6' to Overhead
Mid tide	Slight offshore breeze
High overcast	Good session

It was my first day back in the water since our weeklong trip to Barcelona. I was anxious for some waves. I caught the tail end of one of the best swells of the year. Stormsurf predicted “a fading Dateline swell, 8.1 feet at 14 to 15 seconds with 11 to 12 foot faces.” The San Francisco buoy reported a 2-knot southeast breeze and a 9.2-foot west swell every 15 seconds. The Groin was a strong four to five feet with powerful fast breaking lines coming in. But everyone was telling me that I should have been here yesterday, twice as big with seventy guys out. I met Pete, who owns the Livewater Surf Shop in Stinson, at the overlook above the Groin. Yesterday, he had connected with some long beautiful rights on the Seadrift side of the Channel. Russ raved about the long good rights that he caught on the inside of the Patch yesterday. The Groin was too crowded so he went to the Patch and had a great time. He was heading back out to the same spot when I saw him this morning. Marty reported that he drove out to Fort Cronkhite just to look. The waves were breaking way, way out there over a hidden reef generating lines of white water from one end of the beach to the other. The waves were too big to ride. No one dared to go out.

Yesterday was an ideal day at Mavericks. On December 3rd, the Chronicle published a front-page photo of a classic thirty-foot Mavericks tunnel with some brave soul powering down the face. The Bruce Jenkins article raved about the perfect conditions, pristine weather and 20 foot swells that jumped to 40 feet over the Mavericks reef. All the well-known Mavericks riders were there. Mark Healey and Dave Wassell flew in from Hawaii and Greg Long (winner of last year’s Mavericks contest) flew up from Southern California to join the local Maverick stars: Jeff Clark, Flea Virostko, Kenny Collins, Matt Ambrose and Grant Washburn. In the afternoon the wind dropped, the tide went out and conditions became perfect. Marty emailed me two photos taken by a friend and former colleague from a boat in the Mavericks channel. Mary forwarded to me a YouTube video of incredible big drops down thirty-foot walls. It would have been the perfect day to call the Mavericks Men Who Ride Mountains contest. Per Bruce Jenkins, the contest directors were still searching for sponsors and thus were unable to hold it. To the Mavericks crew the contest was secondary, perfect conditions and beautiful waves were all that mattered to them.

This morning was beautiful, high overcast with a slight offshore breeze caused gray skies and water and a tabletop smooth surface. I had to go out. I paddled out to the peak north of the Groin wall. Creighton and another long boarder who I have seen several times at Bolinas were at the peak at the Groin. They were positioned far outside waiting for the big sets. The water had that storm surf feel, swirling currents pushing me around with a small wind swells bobbing up and down. The set waves would draw the water out and the bobbing would stop. The first wave I caught was head-high and fast. I managed to power through one section, stall for an instant and drive through another section. Good ride. A later wave was overhead but slow. I expected a big drop, but no, the water merely slid from the top, I slid under it, and the wave died on the inside. The other waves I caught were like the first one, critical and fast.

After an hour and a half I called it quits. Reflecting on my session, I caught five to six head-high fast, long rides. With luck I had connected with one of the best swells of the year. Isn’t retirement great?