April 16, 2012 Monday

Bolinas	Channel
9:00 am to 10:30 am	2' to 3', sets to 4'
High dropping tide (4 ft at 9 am)	Offshore breeze to stiff cold NW wind
Sunny with high clouds	Fun session

Last Saturday's sailing tragedy was the topic of conversation in the water. Friday and Saturday a big swell had come in along with a high-wind front, causing rough seas. But that didn't prevent the San Francisco Yacht Club in Belvedere from running its annual Full Crew Farallones Race, a 54-mile race from San Francisco to the Farallon Islands and back. At the halfway mark, the yacht Slow Speed Chase, a 38-foot racing yacht, was swamped by two15-foot freak waves that swept five sailors of a crew of eight overboard. The remaining three attempted to turn the boat around to rescue their companions when it ran-aground on a rock near the Islands. A coast guard helicopter rescued the three crew members who remained on the boat and recovered the body of one of the crew members that were swept overboard. As of this morning the other four were not found and were presumed dead.

Update - as of Tuesday April 17, the coast guard has called off the search for the other four.

By this morning the swell had subsided. The 6 am NOAA weather radio buoy observations were 4 ft N swell at 11 seconds with an underlying 2 ft S swell at 16 seconds with a NW wind at 10 knots. Yesterday the wind blew like hell all day, and just as I suspected, small wind swell waves were hitting the beaches this morning. I had no expectations for waves but I would go to Bolinas to check and to chat with the crew.

From the Panoramic Highway, a textured surface was on the ocean that was on the edge of becoming white caps from the shore to the Farallon Islands. Stinson was barely breaking and there was no white water at the mouth of the Bolinas Lagoon. Bolinas was in the shadow of the north winds and the surface was mirror smooth - great, perfect glass and no waves.

Driving into Bolinas, I passed Hans driving out of town with two dry boards mounted on the roof of his SUV. He tooted and waved. More evidence that there weren't any waves. However, several vehicles of the regulars were parked at the tennis court with no boards to be seen. My buddies were in the water. From the overlook above the Groin I saw twelve surfers at the one and only peak going for some nice looking three to four-foot waves. No one was at the Patch. At the Channel peak were: Mary, Marty, Hank and his wife Gail, Jaime the starving artist cartoonist, David who rides the Becker board, Jack the Dave Sweet team rider, DB the Safeway checker, Steve the Bolinas local who is my age and grew up in Santa Monica and Frank the stand-up guy. Though the waves were infrequent, they were having fun, so I had to join them. That's Mary on a good one in the above photo.

Back at the cars, Jacek the tattoo artist and Randy had arrived and inquired about the waves. "Small but clean" was my response. Separately, both went to check out the waves, and both concluded that they would go for the Patch. Randy just prefers the Patch and Jacek thought that with the tide going out the Patch would get better.

Just my luck, while suiting up, the wind shifted from offshore to an onshore west wind - a common plague of "gentleman's hours." The beautiful glassy surface was gone when I paddled out to the line up.

Jaime took one look at me and said, "It must be lunch time!"

"No it's time for all you dawn patrollers to get the flock out of here," I responded.

The waves were mellow and we all had a good time. Because the sets were infrequent, two or three of us would be on each wave. Slowly the early ones went in and after forty-five minutes only Jacek, who had come over from the Patch, Marty, David, two others and I remained. The waves were flat on the take-off and difficult to catch. But Jacek could do it. I saw him stroke into a nice four-foot peak at the apex of the Channel peak, fad right and then swing around left and cruise down a long section, cut-back and turn right again into a good curl on the inside. I had to move inside and wait until the waves were breaking to catch them. Twice I caught the white water of breaking waves and rode them into swells on the inside.

At the hour mark, the current started pouring out of the lagoon. Before we knew it, the current had carried us outside of the impact zone and we had to paddle in some fifty yards. Meanwhile, the wind had continuously picked up speed and was now a steady, stiff and cold wind. White caps were everywhere. Cold, exhaustion, and infrequent waves, it was time to head in. I caught one more and milked it all the way in.

But as usual, it was another beautiful morning in Marin.

April 12, 2012 Thursday

How To Get Better With Age

The big news today was the article in the O The Oprah Magazine (May 2012) that featured Mary. That's a picture of it in the above photo (pg 185). The magazine was devoted to "Coming of Age" articles. Mary let us all know about its publication with a broadcast email yesterday. The magazine flew out their photographer, decked Mary out in a new wetsuit, and took over a thousand shots of her - all in the water with her Mystic 9' 6" tangerine nose board at the Patch in Bolinas. We were all impressed. John Moore, the shaper of Mary's board, responded that finally his Mystic boards received some national recognition.

Here's how the article went down -

"How to Change Your Life at Any Age - want to surf a wave, start a business, speak Chinese, fight a fire, adopt a child? Meet six women who prove you're never too young or too old."

Andrea Peterson became a firefighter at 66.

Traci Lucien became a mom at 49.

Keeley Tillotson and Erika Welsh started a company at 18 & 19.

Stephanie Hunt learned Mandarin at 37.

Mary Wagstaff learned to surf at 55.

All the articles were about impressive changes in life made by these courageous women. But being a surfer, I thought Mary's was the best story. After having surf in her teens in Maryland and not surfing for thirty-five years - having married, raised two children and had a successful career as an advertising art director - friends pestered her into the chilly waves of Marin. After one wave she was hooked and has been surfing three to four times a week ever since. Mary and her friends referred to themselves as OBOB - Old Broads on Boards.

Mary has also connected surfing with art. She spends hours painting images of waves and the ocean's surface onto canvass with great success. Out in the water she is not only watching for the next set of waves but she is also studying the light patterns on the ocean's surface.

"The ocean is unpredictable, so the challenge is to be as alert and aware as I can be."

April 11, 2012 Wednesday

Bolinas	Patch
10:00 am to 11:15 am	2' to 3', sets to 4'
Low upcoming tide (minus 0.5 ft)	Slight onshore wind
Sunny with high fluffy clouds	Exercise session

I had no expectation of waves this morning. When I left the house I was convinced that I wouldn't go out. All day yesterday it rained and drizzled with a stiff consistent south wind. Another front was predicted to come in today bringing more rain and south winds. The Internet predictions did not look good either - 4 ft north swell at 10 seconds and a 2.5 ft south swell at 14 seconds with 5 kts SW wind and a prediction of 20 kts south winds by this afternoon. Why did I bother to drive to the beach? I had to meet with Scott the chairman of Surfrider Marin in Stinson Beach about a couple of upcoming Surfrider events.

After meeting with Scott at the Parkside Café, I checked the waves at Stinson - super low tide with end-to-end three-foot walls. The wide flat beach looked perfect for a jog. If Bolinas was flat, like I thought it would be, I would return to Stinson for a run.

Mill Valley was under a cloud cover this morning. I drove through that cloud going over the mountain and then dropped below it on the decent to Stinson. I broke out into sunshine going around the lagoon and at Bolinas it was sunny and warm with a slight west wind. The parking area was empty - another sign that there were no waves. No David who rides the Becker board, no Marty and no Russ and Frank, the standup guys who are usually here every morning. Randy, who I had not seen in months, had just finished changing after his session. He claimed that he caught some fun waves at the outside rock at the Patch.

Mary and Kathy the biology teacher were suited up and about to head out to the Patch. They had cancelled their trip to Santa Cruz due to the weather. But with the break in the storms, they were going out. I grabbed my camera and caught up with them as they were entering the water (that's them in the above photo). DB the Safeway checker was already in the water - way outside, pass the outside rock. The tide was super low, all the Patch reef rocks were exposed and the rideable waves were south of the reef a good quarter mile from shore. What the hell, I decided to go - get some small waves and some exercise while the sun was out before the arrival of this afternoon's storm.

I made the long paddle out to join Mary and Kathy. DB had exited the water as I was paddling out. The waves were flat on the take off and I had to wait until they were breaking to catch them. On a few, I caught the white water and rode along the bottom of the waves as they reformed. The waves didn't have much punched. Several times I dropped down the faces of decent size waves only to have them die once they broke. We all caught several waves and rode them a long ways. As luck would have it, we seemed to always be paddling back out when the bigger sets came through.

After forty-five minutes Kathy went in and at the hour mark Mary exited the water. Now I was way out there by myself, the wind was picking up, the tide was pushing in and the waves became even mushier - if you can believe that. I started to drift in and after a long wait I connected on a set wave that pushed me close to shore. Time to call it a day.

All in all it was a good morning - a surprising break in the weather, the sunshine, warm air, spectacular fluffy clouds covering the mountain, friends to surf with and warm water - 52 degrees which was better than the 48 degree water of last week.

April 4, 2012 Wednesday

Bolinas	Channel
10:00 am to 11:30 am	4' to 6', sets to 8'
High dropping tide	NW cross wind
Sunny, clear and cool	Frustrating session

H U M B L E D!! - In an hour and a half I only caught two waves. The surf was big and gnarly, huge intimidating walls of water - yet the waves had good form, big drops into nice left shoulders. The others were getting spectacular rides and I saw them all, sitting in the water. I scratched over countless waves and paddled for countless more and missed them all.

After forty-five minutes I finally caught one and like the rides of all the others, mine was a spectacular ride. I paddled hard for a set wave that was cresting. I felt the wave pick me up and thrust me forward. I was into it. I jumped up, went straight for a second pushing my weight forward. I coasted over the edge and dropped down an overhead face. With speed, I shot out in front of the breaking part of the wave, climbed high in the curl and shot through the first section. I stalled a moment letting the wave build up again, then stepped to the middle of the board, crouched down and shot through the second section. The power of the wave dissipated at this point, I cut back, pushed my weight forward and dropped into the reformed inside section, I cut left again, stepped to the front of the board, cruised a long ways just standing there until I buried the nose of the board into the white water of the breaking shore break. I ended up parallel with the Groin Pole. What a great ride.

The big surf was a surprise. The San Francisco buoy reported 6-foot NW swells at 14 seconds with light NW winds and a water temperature of 51 degrees. But underneath was a 3-foot south swell at 12 seconds. South swells come right into Bolinas. I thought the swell was on the decline. Saturday a Maverick's size swell came in with a storm front. I surfed Monday and the swell had declined but was still sizeable and rough. Yesterday via email Hank said the swell had gone down but the shape had improved and that he had a great surf session. I was at Stinson Beach this morning collecting a water sample and noticed that the waves were big - eight-foot walls that stretched across the entire beach.

Six surfers were out at the Channel when I arrived including Jacek the tattoo artist, David who rides the Becker board, Jeff the Dillon Beach boat mechanic and Marty. I noted the good shape of the waves and didn't concentrate on the size. Only when I paddled out did I realize how big it was. A big set came through and I was scratching to get over it. I watched Jacek drop down an overhead face. He was at the apex of the Channel peak; he stroked into a huge wave as it crested, coasted straight briefly and then dropped down an overhead face as I paddled over it. I looked back and there was Jacek way on the inside, he had connected with the shore break, cut right and cruised a long ways inside the Groin wall. It was his last wave - he paddled in after that one.

Jeff was out there on his beautiful work-of-art wood board - the one I would never take out in the water. I asked him about the surf at Dillon's this past weekend. Saturday he went out to the Shark Pit - a peak famous for its size. "It was incredible!" he said - which means the waves were big - 12 feet plus. He wasn't out there long and he passed on going out Sunday. He came here today for some more "mellow" waves. I drifted over to the center peak while Jeff wisely worked his way north and inside where the waves were more makeable. From a distance I saw him connect on two head-high waves that he rode to shore just north of the Groin pole.

My problem was having the "intestinal fortitude" to take off late. The only way to catch these waves was to dig hard as the white water was beginning to slide down the peak. Intellectually I knew that, but actually doing it is another issue. To throw oneself into a massive wall of water as it is breaking takes nerve. I was intimidated and kept pulling back. I finally did it and what a great ride. I didn't catch another wave until the end of my session. I was getting tired of paddling around, the wind was picking up and the current was beginning to pour out of the lagoon - putting a ripple of chop through the middle of the impact zone and causing the waves double up. I kept moving in and north to avoid the current. Way inside and north of the Groin pole, I caught a big shore break wave. I dropped down a head-high face, cut left and the wave lined up for one final crash into the shallow water. I braced myself as the wave came over as a single curtain of water. I bounced, straightened out and rode the white water towards shore until my fin hit sand.

Two waves were all that I could handle today.

April 2, 2012 Monday

Bolinas	Patch
9:40 am to 11:10 am	3' to 4', sets to 5'
High dropping tide	Slight NW cross wind
Sunshine with high wispy cloud cover	Fun session

NOAA weather radio issued a "high surf advisory", 14 ft N swell at 14 seconds. Stormsurf's Quikcast had "fading raw west swell", 10 ft at 14 seconds. San Francisco buoy had 11.5 ft at 14 seconds with a 4 kts N wind.

Parking area on Brighton Ave was full. I had to circle the block and park behind David who rides the Becker board. Jacek was also circling the block looking for a parking place. It rained everyday last week creating terrible surf conditions. Saturday a huge Maverick's size swell came in with another weather front causing big waves and raw, rough conditions. Sunday it calmed down and rumor had it that Bolinas was protected from the wind and conditions were good. Everyone was anxious for some waves for today. Thus like always happens with big swells, surfers who normally go to Salmon Creek, Dillon's or Ocean Beach, came to Bolinas where the waves were rideable.

I met Jacek at the seawall at the base of the ramp checking out the waves. We watched sixteen surfers bunched around the north edge of a big Channel peak. Hank and his son Clint were out there. The waves were rough and bumpy and the rides were brief - big drops into flat shoulders or vertical drops into close outs.

"I'm going to wait, with the tide dropping it's going to get better," Jacek exclaimed. "Look at that left, it will really shape up in an hour. I have the time, I will hang around for awhile." He went on to rave about the huge waves he saw yesterday at Drakes Beach - big swells, strong offshore wind and incredible right barrels. But only one out of ten was makeable. Needless to say, he didn't go out, no one did; it was too big. He just enjoyed the beauty of the waves.

I walked up to the overlook above the Groin to take some pictures. Look at the above photo - luck was with me, I caught one surfer dropping down a well-formed peak. But believe me that was the only decent wave that I saw at the Channel this morning.

Twelve surfers were at the Patch. All my friends went there: Mary, Marty, DB the Safeway checker, Francine, David who rides the Becker board, Mark the archaeologist, Ray the Petaluma fireman, Jack the Dave Sweet team rider, Shu-Shu from Dogtown and stand-up guys Frank, Russ and Walt. I decided to join them and the mellow waves at the Patch.

Out in the water, Mark raved about how good it was yesterday.

"Where?" I asked.

"Right here, at the Patch."

"Wasn't it crowed?" Being Sunday with a big swell.

"No, it wasn't. I couldn't believe it. There were no cars parked along Brighton. With all the warnings about big waves and high winds, people must have stayed away. It was ideal - glassy, twice as big as today, long, long rides and only four people out. We had it to ourselves for two hours."

Being retired I don't surf on weekends, but I was thinking maybe I really missed it, with Mark's tale and Jacek talking about the incredible barrels at Drakes. I asked David if he had come out over the weekend. David gave a different story. He came here yesterday and met Mark as he was coming up the ramp after his two-hour session. Per David the surf was rough, all over the place and crowded. He didn't bother going out. Now he always arrives early, thus Mark must have been in the water as the sun was coming up, when the winds were light and before the crowd had arrived.

I paddled out to the far peak at the Patch to join Mark, David and Marty. Mary, DB and Francine were north and inside going for the lefts. The peaks were all over the place, thus the twelve of us in the water were spread across a two hundred yard area - crowd was not a factor. The waves were flat, varied in size and were difficult to catch. The sets would break way outside and then reform and break again. I had success catching the white water of the first break and riding them into the second break. That often didn't work - the first break didn't always have enough force to carry me into the reforming wave. I paddled for several of them and thinking I was into the waves, I went to stand up and they would die.

After forty-five minutes, Jacek paddled out to join us. I felt vindicated; I had made the correct decision. Here was the expert, who had waited for the Channel to improve and finally realized that the best waves were at the Patch. He did his usual maneuver of waiting way outside for the sets and successfully managed to catch the biggest wave of each set and milk all the way in.

I didn't have any memorable rides, but I did have fun. I caught five decent lefts in a row that all reformed on the inside over the shallow water of the Patch reef. I had one where the wave jumped up and I dropped vertically over the edge of a three-foot curl. I free fell, the nose of the board dipped into the water and bounced back up; the wave bucked me like a bucking bronco and bounced me off, where I quickly went spread-eagle with my arms and legs out because I knew I was only in two feet of water. The tide was getting too low for any more lefts, thus I moved south of the Patch reef to join David and Jacek. I caught a couple of decent rights and worked my way in. After an hour and a half I was spent. Time to call it a day.

Walking down the beach with the tide now way out, I looked back at the Patch and saw David on another good one. What a beautiful sight - long lines of white water, a container ship on the horizon, pelicans cruising overhead with warm sunshine and a blue sky. It doesn't get much better than this.

March 19, 2012 Monday

Bolinas	Channel
9:45 am to 11:15 am	2' to 3', sets to 4', occasional 5'
High dropping tide	Offshore breeze to onshore wind
High patchy clouds and cold	Cold frustrating session

Last night predictions on the Internet indicated that there could be decent waves in the morning - 7 ft north swell at 11 seconds with a north wind at 5 knots, water temperature at 48 degrees and a 5.5 ft high tide at 10 am. I hadn't surfed since March 9th - 10 days of no waves - due to weather. Last week Marin received seven days of much needed rain, and with the rain came fierce south winds and storm surf (16 ft swells at 10 seconds). The weather guys were predicting a short period of calm (today) and the arrival of a new trough of cold air, chance of rain and more strong south winds through the weekend. Thus today was my only opportunity this week for waves.

Conditions looked good at the Channel when I arrived. Check out the above picture. One decent peak peeled in both directions, though the sets were infrequent. Nine surfers scratched for the few waves that were coming through. Just after I took this picture, three longboarders paddled out from Seadrift bringing the crowd to twelve. Someone mentioned that it was spring break for the local high schools. Bolinas regulars in the above photo are: David who rides the Becker board, Ray the Petaluma fireman, Doug, and stand up guys Frank and Russ. Mary, Francine and DB the Safeway checker were out at the Patch going for some infrequent long slow rollers. With the high tide, the Channel was the call.

Professor Steve drove up, stopped and said hello. Per Steve the swell had really dropped; it was much bigger yesterday. Doug later told me that yesterday it was "thrilling", meaning big. Frank from Tiburon, who I had not seen in months, was changing after his session and confirmed that yesterday was much bigger. Frank works during the week and surfs on weekends as I did five years ago. Since retiring I no longer surf on weekends and thus I rarely see Frank. He took today off to catch some waves and said it was ok and that yesterday was definitely better. All three of them confirmed that it was cold. The water temperature had dropped.

"Francine, I'd heard that it is cold out there." She had pulled up while I was suiting up to say hello.

"Cold, yes. After an hour and a half you freeze. But you have to go out. Have a good time." With that she waved and drove off.

The waves were frustrating. I only caught five waves in 90 minutes. My first and last waves were good long left curl rides. The rest of the time I was floundering around trying to find the right position and dealing with the crowd. Two young guys dominated the break. They were good, knew what they were doing and were always in position when the sets came through. I had to always keep an eye out for where they were and what they were doing. One had a long, no rocker paddling machine board that enable him to wait to the last moment before turning around quickly and with two to three hard strokes to glide into the waves. The other one had a strange, thick (at least four inches) super soft longboard that also paddled fast and allowed him to stroke into flat swells. This combo always caught two waves of every set and most sets only had three waves; meaning there was only one left for the rest of us.

All of this - the cold, the two dominating the waves, and the crowd - didn't faze David. He maneuvered around, inside, outside, towards the Channel and then toward the Groin to position himself for good inside waves. He caught wave after wave. Three times I looked back after he had taken off on a good steep left curl to see him way on the inside going right. He managed to work the waves until they reformed near the Groin pole into decent right curls. "Malibo rights" is what we call them. On a good high tide, a peak forms near the pole and peels right along the contour of the lagoon channel, and today David connected on several of them.

After an hour the wind shifted to the south and was blowing straight into our faces. The current began pouring out of the lagoon cutting a swath of rippling little bumps through the middle of the Channel peak. The waves began to curl over and dump in shallow water, and I was losing feeling in the toes and fingers - time to go in.

Something that occurs to all of us who surf in this cold water, at some point our fingers and toes turn numb. Besides losing feeling, the fingers lose their strength. After much effort pulled my glove off my left hand. My hand was so numb, I could not move my little finger, and I couldn't grip the key to open the car door. I had to wrap both hands around the key and rotate my upper body to the left to turn it. Then because I had no strength in my thumbs, I had to insert both thumbs into the top of my booty and push down with my arms to stretch the booty over my heel. Fortunately, the sun was shinning by now. Several times I paused and stood in the sunshine to warm up my hands. I finally did get out of my wetsuit and booties. Dry clothes and socks certainly felt good after the cold water and the struggle taking off my wetsuit.

I bet all Northern California surfers have at least one good tale about the cold, numb hands and the fight to get out of their wetsuits.

March 9, 2012 Friday

Stinson Beach	Right out front
10:00 am to 11:45 am	2' to 3', sets to 4'
Mid upcoming tide	Slight onshore breeze
Sunny and warm	Fun session

This morning Bolinas was F L A T - zero feet with sets to six inches. The NOAA weather radio reported 4 ft north swells at 11 seconds - and that was consistent for all the buoys from Point Arena to south of Monterey. Thinking that Bolinas might be small, I stopped at Stinson first to check the waves. Stinson had some nice two to three-foot gentle, old-man waves. If Bolinas was flat, I would return to Stinson.

Rounding the bend by the post office on Brighton Ave was my first indication - David's truck was parked in its usual place with his Becker boarding sticking out the back, not a good sign. I parked and was greeted by Mark the archaeologist who was suiting up.

"Loren, there's nothing out there."

"So why are you suiting up?"

"Just to paddle around."

DB the Safeway checker and Dexter the Bolinas local just came back from a long walk to the point at low tide. They didn't bother to go out. David walked by suited up and carrying his board; he had changed his mind. Jaime the starving artist cartoonist had been sitting around and he too decided to go out.

I walked down to the Groin wall to take my obligatory photo of the conditions. Eight surfers were sitting in the middle of the Channel. They were way inside, either even with the Groin pole or inside the Groin wall, as you can see in the above photo. The Bolinas regulars were there: Mary, David, Jaime, Mark, Cazardero Cathy, Shu-Shu from Dogtown and stand-up surfers Walt and Russ. Mary, Mark and Shu-Shu caught waves - small slow peaks that quickly died, that settled it, I was going to Stinson.

Why? The waves were three times larger and the tide was coming up, thus shape would get better. Also, the weather guys predicted that starting Sunday we would have four days of light rains and strong south winds. So today was my best opportunity for waves for the next week.

Good call - Stinson was a lot of fun. Consistent, nice knee-high curls, my kind of waves. It took me about forty-five minutes to get into my groove. At first I missed a couple of waves and then I caught one that closed out in front of me. I tried to lean into the wave in an attempt to drive past the white water and back into the swell; I almost made it. My second wave was a good right. I hung high in the curl and the wave continuously peeled to the right up to the shore. Then I connected on a good left. I got into the wave early, positioned myself high in the curl, dropped over the edge and hung on the side of the wave's face. I stepped to the front of the board - within one foot of the nose - and stood there frozen for what seemed forever. Now I was in the groove, using the technique I used with success on Monday, I would wait for the peak of the swell, dig hard and would glide into the wave early and would be up and high in the wave when I dropped over the edge. For thirty minutes I caught one good left curl have another, and then it all stopped or maybe I was just tired.

After thirty minutes, a shortboarder came out to my peak and he was good. He went for the rights and I got all the lefts, thus we didn't impact each other. Only once did we take the same wave. I went right and so did he, but being a skilled surfer he remained far ahead of me. We both got good rides and this wave brought us together. He apologized for taking off in front of me and I said, "good wave." This guy was amazing. He was on a potato chip of a board, so short that when he sat on his board he sank up to his armpits. But he seldom sat; he was in constant motion. Catch a wave, paddle back out, turn around and catch another one. Between sets he would move inside to catch a small wave or two and then quickly paddle back out to be in position when the sets came. I caught my share of waves, but this guy caught three times the number of waves that I did.

Out in the water I spotted a "Sweeper" (a stand-up surfer) far to the north in front of the houses of the Calles. Scott the chairman of Surfrider Marin had told me that John the owner of the Parkside Café and excellent surfer had taken up stand-up surfing and loved it. I thought that maybe that was John, but it didn't look like him. The more I watched him moving around the Sweeper looked more like John's close friend Pete the owner of the Livewater Surf Shop. The Sweeper took off on a set wave and skillfully glided left down a nice wall. He was goofy-foot and so is Pete. Like all stand-up surfers, this guy moved around. He drifted near our peak and then I could confirm that it was Pete. He waved, caught a few waves and drifted back north. He was half way down the beach at Seadrift when I exited the water.

The shortboarder exited the water also, but not to end his session. He dropped his board in the sand and ran down the beach to greet Nate the co-owner of the Proof Lab Surf Shop and his woman and their new baby, Currin, who was born last week. I too gave Nate congrats. He glowed with excitement and proudly announced that this was Currin's first time to the beach.

I wrote this sitting in the sun at a picnic table in the Park with a bowl of clam chowder and a small local green salad that I purchased from the Lunch Box. I briefly chatted with owners Lee and Rachel - great people who made a good healthy lunch. What a great way to end another beautiful morning in Marin.