Turn On It, Tune Out, Drop In

NW WIND 10 TO 15 KT.
WIND WAVES 2 FT.
W SWELL 5 FT AT 15 TO 16 SECONDS.

Crossing the Bar

An account of the events involving the USCGC BONHAM on 28 February 1956 Reprinted from The JANUARY 2000 (COAST GUARD) RETIREE NEWSLETTER - Posted by Permission

In 1955, as a LTJG, I was the Executive Officer of the CGC BONHAM (W129), a 125 foot CG Cutter out of Coos Bay, Oregon. I am relating the events that occurred on a very stormy day with extremely heavy seas on 28 February 1955, when the BONHAM crossed the Yaquina Bay Bar off Newport, Oregon. During this passage, BONHAM was hit by large seas broadside, causing her to roll so far to port that her wheelhouse was under water and her bottom screws were visible to observers on the beach.

In February 1955, we departed Coos Bay for Seattle, Washington to undergo our annual shipyard overhaul. Enroute our Commanding Officer, LT E.W Payne, decided to stop overnight at Newport. We crossed the Yaquina Bay Bar inbound with no problem and moored at Newport with sailing orders to depart the next day, the 28th of February for Seattle.

The morning of the 28th, unfortunately, brought a very severe storm with wind speeds raging up to 75 mph. The CO decided to delay our departure to await moderation of the weather. At about 1300, we received a message from the 13th CG District to proceed and assist a reported vessel in distress. The vessel, the MILMAR, sent out a distress message saying that she was taking on water and was sinking.

Preparations were made to get underway, and conditions set for heavy weather. We got underway, and as we proceeded out of the harbor, three young seamen came up and asked permission to go on the exposed flying bridge to watch the crossing of the Yaquina Bay Bar. Permission was denied and the men were told to go below and stay there; an order that, without doubt, saved their lives.

At the entrance, we found the seas were running 20 to 30 feet, breaking across the channel and extending out to the deeper water. We paused at the entrance to observe the frequency of the highest seas. The CO was at the conn. I was on the port side of the wheel house to keep track of the buoy on the port side and another officer was on the starboard side to track the channel buoy on that side of the channel.

At what we considered was the appropriate time between seas, we made a run for it. As we proceeded out of the channel entrance, we encountered very heavy seas. The BONHAM was pitching heavily with seas breaking over the bow. The larger ones would slam against the wheelhouse, and it felt like they stopped the ship in her tracks. The ship would shutter and shake when rising and throwing off the seas that inundated the forward portion of the vessel from the bow to the wheelhouse.

We were also rolling heavily from side to side, but we were still making forward progress, slowly but surely. The CO, who had a fresh cigar clamped in his teeth, was holding on to the grip rails to maintain his position. Also, I was holding on tightly to the hand rails on the port side of the wheelhouse to keep from being thrown around by the sea action.

The wind at the time was still blowing at about 75 mph and the seas seemed to be getting more violent. Suddenly, I heard the Captain shout, "Right full rudder, all engines ahead full!". The quartermaster on watch rang up full speed on all engines, and the rudder was shifted to right full.

Next the Captain ordered "All engines ahead flank speed". I looked to starboard to see the reason for these rudder and engine commands. Then I saw the "why" cross seas! There were three huge seas to starboard heading directly toward the starboard side of the BONHAM. Each sea was larger than the one preceding it, and the first one was about 20 to 25 feet from trough to crest. The ship was slowly coming right to stem the approaching seas.

The first sea struck us and caused us to roll heavily to port. Almost all that we had gained coming around to the right was nullified by this sea, but the head of the ship was still slowly coming to the right. The next sea slammed into us and we rolled violently about 65 degrees to port. The force of the roll slammed my body tight against the port side of the wheelhouse, but we slowly started to right ourselves.

I now looked to starboard again and could see a huge sea coming directly toward us. I squatted down to get a better look at the size of it. When we were in the trough, the height appeared to be the same as the height of our mast, approximately 50 feet. The crest was a solid mass of sea foam curling and breaking just as they do when they break on the shore. But due to the other two seas, the bow had not come around to the right, and we were now physically broadside to the sea.

The sea struck us with tremendous force, water rushed in through the starboard door and completely flooded the wheelhouse. I was pressed tightly against the port side, but someone slammed into me, causing me to lose my grip on the grip rail. The force of the water running from starboard to port through the wheelhouse washed me out of the wheelhouse. The last thing I remembered seeing was the port bridge wing go under water as we rolled rapidly to port. I was completely under water, and my body pushed against something solid. It was the gyro repeater stand on the port bridge wing. I grabbed it and held on for dear life. I was so deep under water that everything was pitch black. I thought the ship had capsized and I was under it. I figured that I had better make a move to free myself and get to the surface. Then I noticed the water started to get brighter, meaning I was coming to the surface.

Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity, I stuck my head above the water and took a deep breath. I was still on the port bridge wing. Sea water was swirling around me and was coming out of the wheelhouse with a lot of force. I knew that I had to get back into the wheelhouse. The sea water was pouring out of the wheelhouse, and we still listed to port as I crawled backwards with water cascading over my body to the wheelhouse.

When I got to the door coaming, I put my right hand on it, and at that moment the door slammed shut on my hand.

Inside the wheelhouse, I came to my feet, with the water still almost knee deep. As I glanced around, saw the Captain, he was still standing, facing forward, white knuckled hands still hanging on to the grab rail. He still had his hat on, and his glasses had slipped down to his nose. And there was that cigar, so large and fresh just moments ago. Now, it was still clinched between his teeth, only it was no longer straight. It was hanging like a piece of wet rope. For only a split second, in this dire situation, I chuckled.

Water was still pouring out of the wheelhouse, and I noticed that the rudder was no longer at right full. I grabbed the wheel, with the quartermaster, and brought it back to right full. It was at this time that I saw blood on the wheel and yelled

"Someone is hurt!"

About this time, the Captain yelled, "Give me a course to get out of here".

The gyro was out, so I went to the chart table and grabbed the parallel rulers to plot a course. My right hand collapsed in a pool of blood, my right index and middle fingers were 3/4 severed at the first digital. The other officer came over and gave the Captain a magnetic course.

We slowly crept out into deeper water where the seas were not so high and we made our way northward.

All of the radios were inoperative due to salt water immersion, except a small radio at the upper starboard corner of the radio shack. We learned from the Coast Guard Station at Newport that the MILMAR no longer required assistance. We advised Newport that we were alright, and continued on our way.

The Captain put me ashore at Neah Bay, Washington to be hospitalized at the U.S. Marine Hospital, Seattle. I was treated and the doctors were able to save my fingers. After a short inpatient stay I was released.

Enroute to Neah Bay, I made a tour of the vessel. I found that all of our lifeboats and life rafts were gone, as well as the after deck lockers. The port running light was missing. Below, I found steel deck plates in the engine room had been tossed about and some had stuck in the insulation on the hull sides.

Also, I saw footprints high on the port side of the engine room where the engineers stood during the last roll. But during all this they answered all bells.

When undergoing repairs, I learned that they found salt water in the radar dome at the top of the mast and also in the yardarm blinker lights. An investigation of the foregoing events was conducted, and if I remember correctly the final roll of the BONHAM was officially listed as 80 degrees.

The local Coos Bay newspaper reported that a Coast Guardsman at the CG Station Newport said he saw BONHAM’s mast touch the water when she rolled on her side while crossing the bar.

There is an old Coast Guard saying "you have to go out, but nothing says you have to come back"….but that old "buck and a quarter" the BONHAM, commissioned in 1927 took us out and brought us back until she was decommissioned in 1959.

....... R.E. Anderson is a retired Coast Guard Captain

N WIND 15 TO 20 KT WITH GUSTS TO 25 KT THIS AFTERNOON.
WIND WAVES 4 FT.
W SWELL 6 FT AT 11 SECONDS.

Surfed a dawn patrol this AM...
Waves were good but pretty unremarkable...
Kinda unremakeble too...
Lotsa close outs with a few that lined up...

Completely socked in...
I paddled out thinking I was the only one out...
Only to find a few other huddled out there...
Paddled south and found a sand bar that offered fun lefts...

But it shut down after 5 or 6 waves...
Kept after it hoping to make something from nothing...
High tide provided some backwash fun on the inside...
But cold, warbly and long lulls made me call it a morning.

Came back for more in the afternoon...
The wind was on it but it was more lined up...
So I paddled out for a look...
Chasing peaks that were always out of range...

There were a few bombs that came through...
Usually just after you'd moved in out of frustration...
The wind got stronger, the waves shiftier, decided to head in...
Got my wave of the day, a left all the way to the beach.

N WIND 10 TO 15 KT...RISING TO 15 TO 20 KT IN THE AFTERNOON.
WIND WAVES 2 FT...BUILDING TO 4 FT IN THE AFTERNOON.
SW SWELL 4 FT AT 15 SECONDS...BUILDING TO 6 FT AT 12 SECONDS.

It's been pretty fogged in of late...and that southwest has a hard time getting in to these northern reaches...hopefully the 6 at 12 will show...and hold through tomorrow.

N WIND 5 TO 10 KT...RISING TO 15 KT IN THE AFTERNOON.
GUSTS UP TO 20 KT.
WIND WAVES 2 FT.
SW SWELL 4 FT AT 13 SECONDS.

Used to surf this little cove quite a bit...
I recall one particular summer when the sand bars were perfect...
It hasn't come together for me anytime recently...
I have caught it on occasion in the past few years...
But to be honest, I don't even check it that often...
Perhaps I need to take a look now and again.

N WIND 15 KTS.
WIND WAVES 2 FT.
W SWELL 4 FT AT 11 SECONDS.

Another Oregon shipwreck...
In 1905 the schooner, "Advance," hit the north jetty at Bandon, almost hitting the lighthouse. It was floated shortly after.

NE WIND 5 TO 10 KT...BACKING TO N IN THE AFTERNOON.
WIND WAVES 1 FOOT.
W SWELL 5 FT AT 10 TO 11 SECONDS.

No comment...

NE WIND 10 KT...BECOMING N AFTER MIDNIGHT.
WIND WAVES 1 FOOT.
W SWELL 4 FT AT 11 SECONDS.

Kind of late on the report...surfed all day...so no apologies.

Had a rare double session...

Session 1

Up at dawn...
One of the first few out...
Peaky, speedy rights...
Close out lefts...
Made the wrong call...
Brought the 9'6" single fin...
Shoulda got short...
But I made the best of it...
Caught a few screaming rights...
But the wave of the morning...
Was an overhead left...
Got in early...
Swung it and lined it up...
Momentary barrel...
Only to be swallowed whole...
And pile driven into the sand...
Came up to find the board intact...
So paddled out for a few more...

Session 2

The wife wanted to go for a walk...
In the interest of marital bliss...
I assented...
However, on the beach...
A peak was showing itself...
Peeling right and left...
Uhhh, Honey? No walk...
Paddled out past the inshore trough..
To find deceptively large peaks...
Got pounded hard by a few...
Fortunately I was on the 6'9"...
Which while easier to duck wave...
I was still trying to surf like a 9'6"...
With bad results...
The first take off was late...
Over the falls...
Brief ragdolling...
Second wave much the same...
But I finally made the adjustment...
Surfing solo for a couple hours...

Lotsa heavy locals...
Big, big Stellar Sea Lions I think...
The salmon are running...
And I figger they're getting their share...
But what's chasing them?
I definitely felt a bit wary...
About my sea lion imitation...
While surfing the shortboard...

It wasn't cold today...
It wasn't fickle today...
It was still sharky.

NE WIND 15 TO 25 KT...BACKING TO N IN THE AFTERNOON.
WIND WAVES 4 FT.
W SWELL 5 FT AT 9 SECONDS.
BUILDING TO 6 FT AT 12 SECONDS.

Well, right now it's not 5 foot at 9 seconds...because I looked and I am sitting here typing this rather than surfing...soooo, we'll see...perhaps the surf will build. The only problem is those pesky 25 knot winds...this morning it was starting to blow off shore...but if it swings to a north wind there's only a few spots that won't be blown to shreds.

Maybe I'll just go fishing...

N WIND 10 TO 15 KT.
GUSTS UP TO 25 KT SOUTH OF TILLAMOOK IN THE AFTERNOON.
WIND WAVES 2 FT...RISING TO 4 FT.
W SWELL 8 FT AT 11 SECONDS...DROPPING TO 7 FT AT 10 SECONDS.

After posting about Renny Yater and those shots of Lance heisting Col. Kilgore's Yater Spoon few days back...
I got to thinking...
In Oregon you see a lot of helicopter activity...
Typically, it's the Coast Guard choppers on patrol...
Occassionally, they have to pluck hapless kook from the water or a rock...
You also see the military gunships cruise by sometimes...
This shot could be Clatsop Spit...
If you were lucky enough to catch Camp Rilea breaking...
Instead of it's usual wind blown slop nature.

NW WIND 15 TO 20 KT WITH GUSTS TO 25 KT.
WIND WAVES 4 FT. W SWELL 9 TO 10 FT AT 12 SECONDS.
BUILDING TO 11 FT AT 12 SECONDS IN THE AFTERNOON.

AKA South Carlsbad State Beach...

My training ground for surfing in Oregon from 1970 to 1981...
Not every day, but pretty damn close!
Also the approximate view from my bedroom window...
Waking at night to the thump of groundswell was good...

SW WIND 20 TO 25 KT.
WIND WAVES 4 FT.
W SWELL 7 FT AT 10 SECONDS.

Unruly...
Perhaps the best description for the surf yesterday...
There was lots of bull kelp whips and other debris floating about...
Swell wrapping enticingly off the crest of swirling, hard current...
Pushing, pulling and inviting the unwary into a pounding reality...
Sedimentary grit-filled upwellings staining the shifting takeoff zone...
Peaks threatening, only to back off in chaotic oceanic indecision...
My only memorable wave, a wedging, ledging, unpredictable right...
That shoved down the line in an expanding, fluctuating triangle...
Softness, followed by hardness framed with a border of froth...
When the bottom dropped out (and it did), the upper teeth bit hard...
Flipping my board into a twist of point, rail, skeg and tail...
That I emerged from unscathed, paddling back out for more...

W WIND 10 TO 15 KT...VEERING TO NW IN THE AFTERNOON.
WIND WAVES 2 FT.
W SWELL BUILDING TO 10 FT AT 11 TO 12 SECONDS.

Interview in Blue Edge

Surf legend and master shaper...
Progressive shapes that pushed surfboard design forward...
Velzy and Hobie stalwart...
Dale groused about the time he spent fishing bugs...
The Yater Spoon of the 60's...
Old school soul...flat bottoms, even rocker, 50/50 rails...
Col. Kilgore's 8'6" in Apocalypse Now...
"...bring me my Yater Spoon -- the eight six."
Frontman for the Santa Barbara Surf Club...
Straight up permission from Hollister and Bixby...
Synonymous with surfing the Ranch...
Picking up gems off Cojo...

Saw this great post on the Oregon Surf Page from a regular, although semi-infrequent poster...on his trip down south recently, the real deal...Thanks, Paul.

~All images filched from the interweb...

Headed south on the 18th of August, straight through Kalifornia to my parents' place in San Clemente. My aunt, dying of brain cancer, was there, along with my Alzeimer's father--a study in remembrance. Actually, as my cousin Judy noted, if you talk about the distant past, they can follow and go along with you. Otherwise, the day gets lost in hours, the hours in minutes--a long, sad goodbye.

Crossed the border at noon, got the requisite papers, took the toll road south to Ensenada. The build-up along the coast has been drastic to severe. Not that I'd recognize much from the early sixties when this was all open coast--everything is closed off and lost, gone to trafficante high rise hotels and fences.

At 181 kilos, turned into Coyote's Cals; this is a hostel (formerly bad-mouthed on OSP) that is a really good-hearted place, with kids from all over the world. Everyone cooked together, ate together. There was a big bin of free rice and one of beans for whoever forgot food, but this bright English kid made us a giant cecviche, a couple from Oregon joined in, and everyone benefited. No waves, north Baja fog.

A day later at Cuatro Casa, ran into a whole crew of surfers tuned to a southwest. I'd been here ten years ago at Leo Hetzel's Trailer with Tom Mabie and my son Drew. No waves. Since--bad stories of meth robberies on Wanna Surf. Not true. New hostel. Tough but fair folks in charge, good vibes--though you still camp in broken-glass dust. Waves came up and we rode three days.

Terrible thing I did: nearly killed out-of-work-glasser from Santa Cruz with botched take-off on epoxy board. Well, what can one say? He was ok, after all, I saw fin splitting his skull, but it missed. Many good rides, good conversation, beautiful pelicans.

A longboarder and I had a nice goodbye after vying with each other on a hundred waves--he is going to be a chiropractor, and help us align. Struck south to catch the hurricane surf at Cabo. Intense long driving through the desert by myself,

At San Ignacio, halfway down, full of usual Mexico fears, I encountered two Oregon girls from Portland--both lookers--who had ridden bicycles for two months through Baja. You should have seen them! They were gorgeous and strong and headed north.
Crossed to the Gulf, through Santa Rosalia, where schoolgirls wrote their names on my dusty rear window above Velzey decal, then through Mulege, Loreto.

Stayed a night, drove south to Todos Santos. Way too hot in the tropics, San Pedrito breaking surprisingly well. Pressed on to Cabo. Horrific Las Vegas scene of hotels. But will catch hurricane swell at east cape breaks, I told myself.

Woke up in trailer park on Thursday morning, sick, crap between trailers with shovel in the sand--the sky was terrible gun-metal gray. On way to farmacia for Immodium, noticed locals in long lines at Pemex stations. It dawned on me--they're filling up because the hurricane is coming.

Decision time. I came all the way south to surf for three weeks, and, now what?--I'll turn around? Packed-up and headed north. Passed army trucks full of helpful soldiers headed south. Over the range and down to La Paz, noted line of electrical repair trucks awaiting the hurricane. At army checkpoint north of La Paz, where there had been a hundred soldiers, one lone recruit stood, asked me, "Esta vienedo--la hurricano?" "Sí, y las nubes son oscuro, compañero." He shuddered.

Not without reason. Storm passed right through there, big floods. Made it Cuidad Constiucion, booked motel, shat, slept. Got up quick next morning, rain on the windschield, and keep driving. Strange to say I passed through Loreto and Mulege a day before they were inundated with floods. Mulege was wiped-out, lives lost--most of the peninsula the same--twenty feet of water down the rios and vados.

Ran into remnants of Scorpion Bay surfers in Guerrero Negro--"When we left, it looked like a ghost town." Everyone smart enough split--roads through Baja were to be washed out everywhere. Hurricane Juan chased me to the border and beyond.

Best moment later: I gave a ride to a backpacker coming from Burning Man in Cloverdale, California. We rode over to the Mendecino coast. Entering the first redwoods and water I'd seen (coming from the Burning Land as he had come from the Burning Man), he said, lighting a spliv, "Now we're back in Cascadia."

S WIND 15 TO 20 KT WITH GUSTS TO 25 KT.
WIND WAVES 5 FT.
SW SWELL 5 FT AT 10 SECONDS.
BUILDING TO WEST SWELL 7 FT AT 9 SECONDS TONIGHT.

A big day at a Central Coast spot...
Not a secret spot, but catching it this big and clean...
Is pretty rare.

S WIND 10 TO 15 KT...RISING TO 20 TO 25 KT IN THE EVENING.
WIND WAVES 2 FT...INCREASING TO 5 FT.
W SWELL 6 FT AT 10 SECONDS....DROPPING TO 5 FT AT 12 SECONDS.

Enough said...

SW WIND 5 TO 10 KT...VEERING TO NW 5 TO 10 KT IN THE AFTERNOON.
WIND WAVES 1 FOOT.
NW SWELL 7 TO 8 FT AT 9 SECONDS.

It's nice to see consistent ground swell above 4 feet after a long summer of waist high waves. Even a variation in the north wind this morning...changes are afoot!

NW WIND 15 TO 20 KT...DROPPING TO W WIND 10 TO 15 KT IN THE EVENING.
WIND WAVES 3 TO 4 FT.
NW SWELL 9 TO 10 FT AT 8 TO 9 SECONDS.

I was only watching from the beach on Tuesday...but this is what I imagined it would have looked like to the handful that paddled out in the gale force winds that afternoon.

Also, in reference to the OB post from a couple days back, a reader posted links to a great article on surfing OB..."Playing Doc's Games"...from New Yorker magazine in 1992...pretty great read...here's Part 2.

N WIND 15 TO 20 KT...BACKING TO NW AT 15 IN THE AFTERNOON.
WIND WAVES 2 FT.
NW SWELL 7 FT AT 11 SECONDS.

I was perusing some used boards in a shop on the coast last month when a heavy set, pasty white tourist walked in...and inquired as to the purchase of a 'surfing board'.
I exchanged glances with the shop guy who promptly sold him a sweet, sweet soft top...along with an assortment of surf condiments...ka-ching!

N WIND 15 TO 20 KT.
WIND WAVES 4 FT.
NW SWELL 7 FT AT 12 SECONDS.

I was reading an interview with Matt Warshaw the other day on the now defunct Niceness page out of San Francisco and thought there were alot of parellels between surfing in Oregon and there...clearly Oregon doesn't have the population or pollution issues OB has, but we're getting there unfortunately. Some pretty informed takes on the surfing lifestyle, locals, naming spots and much more. In any case, here's the interview:

Also, click on the title to link to the actual page (there's pictures!)...

INTERVIEW WITH MATT WARSHAW

Matt Warshaw is the author of "The Encyclopedia of Surfing," "Maverick's: the Story of Big-Wave Surfing," and "Zero Break." He was also editor of Surfer Magazine from '89-'91.

Marcus Sanders had this to say about Warshaw, "As far as me doing quotes about Matt... well, I worked with him on the Encyclopedia for over a year in his little office on 24th Av/Taraval with Nathan Myers and his obsessive attention to detail and unquenchable surf jones were pretty inspiring. I saw Matt get — no shit, I counted — 15-plus tubes in two hours. And that was only a part of a marathon nine-hour session he did a couple years back on a stellar inner-bar day. I love surfing with him 'cause he never goes left."

Matt was kind enough to answer a few questions for Niceness.

NICENESS: A few people have complained about the exploitation of OB in the Surfer's Journal article. (niceness.org readers inquired about Matt's roll in Ben Marcus' TSJ article "The Beach.")
MW: I don't feel at all responsible for the "So-Calification" of OB. I got here in '91. I didn't raise my head up at all. No one knew who I really was. Nobody knew that I worked for Surfer. I was just another guy on a clear board. I pretty much surfed by myself. Different peaks up and down the beach. Nobody knew I was really here until that piece came out in the Surfer's Journal. That was in 2001. The interesting thing about that article is that I'll always be aware that I'm a newcomer to this place. I wasn't born here. I didn't go to school here. I was 31 when I got here. I'm never going to be a born and bread local here. I've always much preferred to be anonymous. I don't do interviews on radio. I never go on TV. I've turned down so much stuff like that. I'm really uncomfortable in the spotlight. Things I like doing are phone interviews like this and print. When Ben Marcus said he wanted to do that article I said great but don't use any surf shots. There's a photographer around here named Chris Leschinsky. He doesn't necessarily shoot surfing. He shoots beach scenes, and cool buildings. I said, "Do this article, but just use that. Don't use pictures of the waves."

When that article came out. Steve Pezman (editor of TSJ), who I hold near and dear to my heart and is almost a second father to me, essentially pulled a fast one on me and the opening shot in the article is this incredible photo of waves at the beach. And there were all these surf shots. My jaw just dropped. It was supposed to be an article mostly about the making of the Encyclopedia. And I live in San Francisco, so San Francisco was going to be sort-of part of it. But it was like, this is were I came to write this big book. Part of the reason I came up here was because I could get a lot of work done. All of a sudden it's like I'm up here, from Southern California talking about the great surf up here in San Francisco. I kind-of felt like I was double-crossed on that whole thing. I was really pretty upset for a while. There were a couple of nasty phone-calls I got and that sort-of died off. I'm mostly just still surfing.

Getting back to the whole thing about So-Calification. I don't think that San Francisco has gotten more crowded at a faster rate than anywhere else in the nation or world. Surfing has grown so much. I wish that somebody had numbers on the growth rate itself. In the last 10 or 12 years it's really skyrocketed. I don't think for a second that Ocean Beach has outpaced anywhere else in terms of... I mean Ocean Beach has gotten crowded at the same rate as, say, Santa Cruz or Point Arena. It's just that, everyone, it seems, now wants to surf.

NICENESS: Do you think it's fair to place any of the blame for surfing's growth on the surf media?
MW: I think the reason surfing has gotten more crowded... a couple things. I think that wetsuits got so much better and it became a lot easier to surf for a lot more hours. That's one thing. It's also the beginner's boom. There was always this idea, for decades that if you didn't learn to surf when you were a kid it was really too hard to pick up. Something happened sort-of in the early 90's where suddenly people of all ages, or at least in their 20's and 30's and 40's, it somehow became obvious that they could learn how to surf too. A huge beginner's boom. It seems that in this area at least it originates in Pacifica at Linda Mar. That's sort of a beginner's factory almost. It's even more obvious up in Bolinas where that little sandbar break in Bolinas is now just wall to wall people. When I first went to Bolinas in 1991 it'd be 2 to 3 foot with a half a dozen guys out and now there will be 75 guys out. I think they all learned to surf at Linda Mar and Bolinas and eventually, most of them live in San Francisco anyway, they sort-of filter back to Ocean Beach.

I don't know. It's frustrating. If anyone feels that I contributed to it I would totally understand that because of that one article I was suddenly front and center saying how good the beach is. I think that it's really frustrating to surf in a crowd. It's really easy... if anything it's human nature to want to blame someone or something. I would totally understand if guys who have lived here or surfed here for a lot longer than I have would see me as part of the problem and there's really nothing I can do about it.

NICENESS: Is it enough to give you second thoughts about being a surf journalist?
MW: well... no because I myself have never written about San Francisco. San Francisco wasn't even in the Encyclopedia. It wasn't so much that I was scared of any repercussions. I don't know. I suppose at Surfer Magazine I did take a few hits for things that I wrote.

NICENESS: Well what about the article on El Salvador for instance?
MW: The only person who was mad at me for that was Jimmy Rotherdam, the main surfer in the article. And this is another thing where I got kinda... Sam George was on that trip with me. I would write the piece and Jimmy said to me, "Besides from Libertad don't say where we surfed." So I said, fine that's no problem. So I turned the article in and... Sam George has been on a high horse about... he thinks that if you're going to do an article about some place that you should name where the spots are. I've always disagreed with him on that. I think that's ridiculous. I turned in my El Salvador article and when it got to me published Sam had gone in and put the spots in. Soo.. I didn't do that. And I should have known because Sam has made it clear that that's his belief. I didn't think to say to him, "Sam don't name this. Don't name the break. I told you I wasn't going to name them and that I didn't think it was the right thing to do." So, Jimmy was really upset and I understood. His dad Bob was really cool about it. He didn't care. It's a little bit hypocritical for Jimmy to be upset because the Rotherdam's run... they make their living from surfers, not only to Libertad but they also take surfers down to the spots where we surfed. For Jimmy to be upset about that I thought was a little bit ridiculous. On the other hand I did give him my word so I was really kind-of pissed off at Sam about it. I've got a couple messages into Sam and I haven't heard back about it so it will be interesting to see what he has to say. But, I know what he's going to say. If Surfer Magazine is going to send a group of surfers down to a place they're going to name the spot. I disagree with the policy. Anyone who wants to find out where those spots are, can. Even if it's doing no more than keeping the people that surf there a little bit less upset that's still worth it.

You'll find that if you write and you don't upset people now and then you're probably not doing your job as well as you should be.

NICENESS: I didn't mean to put you over the grills...
MW: That's ok. I've never gone out of my way to upset people. Your duty is really to the reader not to people who might be upset by what you write.

NICENESS: I think, or at least I hope, that it's the minority of people who are really getting angry.

MW: I mean I think it's really easy to explain in that there's never been enough waves to go around. And at Ocean Beach in particular. Ocean Beach has to be one of the most frustrating surf breaks in the world. I think that it makes for a fairly, almost slightly always pissed-off group of surfers and they're looking for someone to blame it on. They're looking for a reason for why they're frustrated. Even if there's nobody out at Ocean Beach it's still a frustrating break. That's where I think that comes from. Anyway, that whole thing when the article (Surfer's Journal "The Beach" in 2001) I did feel like shit. I understood why people were angry.

NICENESS: It's unfortunate that you seem to have been duped. Editors seem to take license over articles.
MW: yeah, well... I think that the really good ones don't. The good ones let you have a look at what you're doing. The whole point of that article was that I said to Steve (Pezman), "let's do it this way" and he agreed.

NICENESS: Have you ever gone through surf burnout? Just been over surfing?
MW: I'm a little bit there right now. I actually just moved out of the Sunset district in July. I was down on 24th and Taraval for about 10 years and I just moved to Noe Valley. I've been hitting it really hard, almost daily, since the summer of '69. It's getting that I still get excited but my target... the target for the things that really get me stoked is just sort-of getting smaller. It's really down to now I just really like surfing really hollow 4-foot beachbreak rights. I'm getting less and less stoked and interested in doing turns. I mostly just want to find a way to get in early and get barreled. I can't do it left so it's gotta be a right. It's not that I've burnt out it's just that I've surfed so much that it kind-of comes at a cost. It comes at a cost to the development of the rest of your life. I spent a lot of time doing this and then I probably haven't made as much money as I'd like to and I probably haven't been as good at some relationships as I should've been. I've traveled to some of the places I'd like to travel and seen some of the things I've liked to see but it's just been super super hyper focused on surfing for 35 years. I'll surf till the day I die, no question. I could surf half as much as I've been surfing these last years and still surf more than most people and have a thicker, richer life for it. I'm not burnt out but finally after all these years some things are beginning to feel sort-of repetitive. At some point you have to realize that it's such a precious thing that I kind-of want to do it less than I do because I want to conserve how I feel about it. I want to save it. It's almost like this resource. I don't want to ever hit the bottom of the well on it. I feel like I'm getting, not closer, but I hope to surf a little less and enjoy it a little more.

NICENESS: In the eyes of many cube-dwelling surfers, you have a dream job.
MW: but I don't make much of a living. I don't make much money on it. Since I quit Surfer in 1990 I don't think I've ever made more than 40 grand a year.

NICENESS: Does it feel like it's a constant hustle?
MW: It's not so much of a hustle. It's just that surfing, the whole surfing thing, to surf as much as I surf, it goes from this joyous thing and almost begins to feel a bit like a weight. Especially Ocean Beach because, when I lived at 24th, every time I'd get up to get an apple or take a leak or something I would pass by this window in my dining room that had this pretty panoramic view of the beach. It's just constantly, especially during surf season, I'd have the binoculars on my eyes 10 or 20 times a day. I'd be driving down there and I'd look at it 3 or 4 times before I'd drive down there and surf. It sounds ridiculous. It becomes this thing where it's hard to get focused on anything else. For me at least it is. And now just not having it in my range of vision. I have to drive up Clipper and down Sloat to look at it now. It's kind-of actually a relief almost. It takes up a lot of time. No one in history has been lucky enough to have such a stupid complaint as that. It's not really much of a complaint as far as things go in life but it was getting to a point where I just don't want to be checking it, I don't want to be "on it." I just want to be a little less on it.

NICENESS: If money wasn't an issue what would you be doing?
MW: Ya know I always have trouble with those types of questions. And this is sort-of true in my writing. I'm really not really that imaginative. I can just take what I know. I don't often think about... When I was 11 my parents were going to move to Washington DC and I had just been surfing for a couple of years by that point. And I think, what would life have been like if I moved to Washington and wasn't able to surf... and I can't really get very far with that thought. This has just been the way it's been. If I'd surfed less and made more money I probably would be like most people who I know who surf who wished they surfed more. I've surfed as much as most people want to surf. I guess that any route you go you're going to have some complaints or some thoughts or some second thoughts so those are mine. Those are my second thoughts about it (stated above). If I'd gone another way? Almost everybody I know wishes they could surf more. Soo.. I don't know how you do it perfectly where you balance things just enough. I don't know what I'd be doing otherwise.

NICENESS: It seems that you're a pretty natural historian.
MW: Actually, after I finished college, after I got my undergrad degree at Berkeley I went to UCLA to get a PHD in History.. But.. I realized that I'm not a historian. I like taking all the survey courses and the 101s and the broad subject things. The history of Japan in one semester kind-of thing. But when it got down to Agrarian culture in Colonial Virginia. At UCLA in this class I was surrounded by people who were into that subject I would be into how the sandbars along the beach were shaping up. That was the thing that people who were really into the obscure history stuff the way that I am into surfing.

NICENESS: that's cool, you just went for the thing that interested you most.
MW: yeah, what I'm pretty good at doing is gathering up a bunch of information and hopefully being able to distill what's interesting about it. So that's why the Encyclopedia was a good project for me. That's why I like doing profiles on surfers because I can be with somebody and think about this person and the era that they were in and hopefully present them and present the era. I could never write fiction. I never wrote anything very imaginative. The next big book I'm going to write, I hope, is a big history of surfing.

NICENESS: I enjoyed the little intro history of surfing that you wrote in the Encyclopedia.
MW: Yeah, I'd like to take that and expand that and do another giant hardcover.

NICENESS: I read somewhere that you're thinking about doing second Encyclopedia?

MW: They're going to put it out as a paperback next year. There will be some revising that I'll do a little bit. But hopefully in three or four years I can actually do a second edition of it. There are actually a lot of mistakes in the Encyclopedia. Some of them are just typos. Some of them are just that we got the information wrong. It was later pointed out and corrected. There's definitely room to do another edition. There's also a ton of stuff that's happened in the interim. It's been three years since we've quit researching.

NICENESS: I noticed that you included Evan Slater and Nick Carroll and Steve Hawk but you didn't include yourself.
MW: Well I did include myself. I did it but I felt weird about putting myself. The published ended up putting it in the back. On the second to last page of the book. It is in there. I was happy with that. It seemed a little weird to put myself in my own book. But I did, I actually did write an entry for myself.

NICENESS: I also notice that on mattwarshaw.com, in the bio that one of the things you liked was "hugs and drugs"?
MW: yeah. That was just sort-of a little thing. That was just sort of a little thing between my girlfriend and myself.

NICENESS: Nice, the reason I ask is because I'm actually kind-of a proponent of marijuana on niceness.org.

MW: it's funny you should mention pot because I grew up in Venice, California and I got stoned. Friends of my parents got me stoned when we were really little. There was a ton of pot. But I never liked the high. I want to be in control. I always loved alcohol. But for some reason marijuana just makes me feel incredibly paranoid. I've heard other people say the same thing. And you can hear me now. I tend to stammer and slur a little bit. With pot I really can't speak very well. I get all freaked out by it. But it's really weird because when I did mushrooms I really liked mushrooms. It was 20 years ago but I really liked, that was a high that I loved. I did that a half-dozen times or so. I would love to do that again some time. But I've never tried ecstasy and I think I'd like that too.

NICENESS: that's what I thought that "hugs and drugs" meant.

MW: that's sort of an ecstasy thing, huh?

NICENESS: yeah a little bit.

NICENESS: I remember in the El Salvador article. I heard about the woman that has a little restaurant where she gives joints and I noticed that you wrote about it and that none of you sparked it up?

MW: Yah no Fuck That! That was Sam once again, who put that little thing in there. Those guys smoked. So Sam has to clean that up too. Sam has never had a single drug outside of aspirin or advil in his life. He's never had a sip of alcohol so he's a real blue-stocking (strait-edge). So, the rest of us did partake, i didn't partake but they did, of course they lit up but Sam had to clean that up and make it sound like we went in there all holy. So that was lame.

NICENESS: do you have a favorite all-time surfer?

MW: well.. Jeff Hakman was my favorite when I was a kid. And that made sense too because just like in my writing I've never been an imaginative surfer. I surf very predictably, like Jeff Hakman.

NICENESS: I saw some of your surfing in the El Salvador footage where you were trying to tuck into those barrels and it looked pretty good.

MW: Yeah, well.. if a wave will stay the same for a couple of hours I will really dial it in and I'll try to do pretty much the same thing every ride. That's what I like to do. If I can get a nice hollow wave I won't turn. Actually there are certain days where I love doing turns. But if it's hollow I get obsessed with just trying to find tube sections.

(at this point in the interview the recorder ran out of space so Matt answered the remainder of questions via email)

NICENESS: Do you have a particular barrels from the past that you rehearse in your brain when you want to remember the barrel experience?
MW: I obsess on tubes and tuberiding constantly, and it's healthy up to a point, cause you're sort of working out different techniques and positions and adjustments in your head, which you can then apply when the situation comes up. But that kind of thinking almost always goes over into a thing where I'm just thinking about it and thinking about it, to no purpose at all, just trying to count how many tubes I got in a session for instance, or trying to think if I could have gotten deeper on that one, or if someone saw that other one, really stupid and embarrassing stuff like that, and then I start getting adrenalized and hyper and jumpy. Tuberiding in a way brings out a lot of the worst in me.

But since you asked...I got a super-long double-tube at daybreak on the second-to-last day in El Salvador, last April, a sheet-glassy six-foot wave, and I kind of feel like that might have been my last best barrel, I've gotten a few okay ones since, and hope to gets lots more in the future, but if I ever get another one that long and fast and perfect I'll be surprised. I got that tube in Salvador one week before my 44th birthday.

NICENESS: What do you envision the top surfers doing in 50 years?
MW: Haven't a clue. Saddens me to think of it because there are too many surfers, not enough waves, and not a thing anyone can really do about it. I fantasize backwards, to 50 years ago.

NICENESS: Favorite non-coastal place?
MW: Yerba Buena Garden; the Blue Plate on Mission; my Aunt Mary's house up in an apple orchard valley behind Watsonville; Elizabeth Street west of Noe.

NICENESS: Trepid traveler rather than intrepid? (my friend said she talked to you and you told her that?)
MW: I'm never all that hot to travel, but once I get there I'm always glad I went. Given a choice I'll go somewhere I've already been, so obviously not intrepid.

NICENESS: Trips gone bad?
MW: Never anything horribly bad. Flew to Natividad once, surfed crap two-foot closeouts that afternoon, then hopped on a plane the next day and bailed.

Driving from SF to LA a few years ago, I had three incredibly bad sessions in the same day, at Morro Rock, Rincon and County Line.

NICENESS: Favorite wave?
MW: A long left in the Mentawais, not a marquee spot, but a perfect semi-hollow wave that ends in a bowl section. I can't pull in backside, but loved it anyway. But generally speaking, my favorite waves are four-foot hollow beachbreak rights.

NICENESS: Favorite surf writer?
MW: Derek Rielly, former editor of Australia's Surfing Life, now editor of Stab.

NICENESS: Favorite magazine (surf or otherwise)?
MW: Surfer (1969-1970), National Lampoon (late '70s), Australia's Surfing Life(mid-'90s), New Yorker (today)

NICENESS: Favorite writer?
MW: PG Wodehouse (Jeeves books), George Malcolm Frazier (Flashman books), Richard Russo (Straight Man, Nobody's Fool), Roddy Dolye (The Commitments, The Van, The Snapper)

NICENESS: Dream trip?
MW: back to the Mentawais...i really do actually have dreams about that place.

N WIND 10 KT...RISING TO 15 TO 20 KT IN THE AFTERNOON.
WIND WAVES 1 FT...BUILDING TO 3 FT IN THE AFTERNOON.
NW SWELL 7 FT AT 12 SECONDS.

By the mid-1800's, Coos Bay was a center of transport for Oregon lumber. During the Civil War, in 1864, $15,000 was earmarked to build a lighthouse on an islet off Gregory Point, on Cape Arago, to mark the southern approach to the bay. A 25-foot octagonal tower was built for the Fresnel lens on the western edge of a fully exposed off shore island, about 2.5 miles north of the cape. The keeper's residence was on the east end of the island and connected to the tower by a 1300-foot wooden walkway. A tramway to the beach delivered supplies. Keepers traveled by boat to "Lighthouse Island" and the station began operation in 1866.

The elements took constant toll on the lighthouse. The tramway immediately damaged by storm in 1867, outbuildings were damaged in 1875, wooden footbridge to the beach built in 1876 was washed away within two years and the tramway was damaged yet again that year and in 1879.

Improvements continued at the now named "Cape Arago" Lighthouse from 1883 to 1897, adding a new boathouse, footbridge, keeper's dwelling, and fog signal. The US Lifesaving service established a station nearby. Constant erosion and the need of a better light mark resulted in construction of new wooden tower 100 feet above the water that began operation in 1909.

Erosion shortened the operation the second tower as well, and in 1934, a third lighthouse built of reinforced concrete opened. The abandoned first lighthouse was finally razed and the second lighthouse's tower removed and converted into an office.

More importantly, the surfing in the area is cold, fickle and sharky...although admittedly it can get good.

N WIND 5 TO 10 KT...BECOMING NW 10 TO 15 KT.
GUSTS TO 20 KT IN THE AFTERNOON.
WIND WAVES 2 FT.
W SWELL 5 FT AT 7 TO 8 SECONDS.

The 275-foot, 1,878-ton C.A. Smithwas , was built by Kruse and Banks in North Bend in 1917, she was carrying 1.5 million feet of lumber and ran aground on the North Jetty at Coos Bay on Dec. 16, 1923. Of the 14-member crew, 10 were saved.

NW WIND 10 TO 15 KT...TURNING TO N WIND 5 TO 10 IN THE EVENING.
WIND WAVES 2 FT.
W SWELL 6 FT AT 8 SECONDS.

I woke up yesterday with a lot on the plate...work, kids, wife and all the rest...not unlike many other days perhaps, but lots of pressures coming together at the same time for some reason.

It had been a while since I'd gone surfing...over a week...not a long time geologically, but an age surf logically...I pulled up to the break early to see a dozen plus out on the main peak...with a handful of other surfers scattered down the beach...it looked good...low tide, glassy, peaking and waist to chest high.

I paddled out and surfed a peak with 2 others...the first wave a right bomb...well, as much a bomb as a head high wave can be a bomb...made the drop, and careened down the line, kicking out in knee deep water...paddled out for more...surfed for 2 over hours before admitting to myself that I still had things to tend to...but I felt better and had washed away some of the stress.

Went to work to find that some of the problems from the previous week had been resolved without my assistance...made some phone calls to address other things...couldn't resolve it all, but got things rolling in the right direction.

I had to be back in town by seven...so at 2 I decided to check the waves again...surely the wind would be on it so what's the harm, right?...sadly, the wind was not on it...it was still waist to chest high and looking fun...so, I paddled back out to make sure.

The morning's waves had been throwing a bit more and the overcast calm made for oily glass...the afternoon's waves were a bit mushier, but the sun was out and it was still smooth...the inside sections were lined up and hollowing out...but also breaking nearly on the sand berm...risky to body and board.

Surfed for a couple hours and hit the road...made more calls to tend to business...and you know what?...it all came together...my boss was happy...my wife was happy...the kids were happy.

I think it was because I went surfing...don't tell me any different.

W WIND 5 TO 10 KT...BECOMING SW 10 TO 15 KT IN THE AFTERNOON.
WIND WAVES 2 TO 3 FT.
W SWELL 4 TO 5 FT AT 9 TO 10 SECONDS.

…some surf for the pure fun of it…
…joy, bliss, or a cleansing of the soul…
…Buzzy, born to old California money…
…learned on a 127 pound redwood plank…
…dragging it in a wagon behind his bike…
…pedaling and paddling to Malibu…
…in 1950, he saw movies of Hawaiian surf…
…and crewed on a cat to see for himself…
…living the quonset hut lifestyle at Makaha…
…diving, reading, and riding the biggest waves…
…that being occasional 20-foot point surf…
…the farthest out on the gnarliest days…
…a Makaha lip once snapped his leg like a toothpick…
…the pioneer of the underwater boulder workout…
…the Waimea curse was lifted in 1957…
…his was a heavy reputation as the heaviest heavy...
…unimpressed with the shortboard movement…
…called bullshit on hotdoggers and pros…
…asked why he quit surfing in 1973 he said…
...”I went for this wave and backed off”…
…still enjoys diving, but doesn't discuss surfing…

N WIND 10 TO 15 KT WITH GUSTS TO 20 KT.
WIND WAVES 2 FT...BUILDING TO 4 FT IN THE AFTERNOON.
NW SWELL 4 FT AT 7-8 SECONDS. PATCHY FOG EARLY IN THE MORNING.

Not much has changed, but...where are the boards???
Came across this website featuring the work of photog/surfer Dean Dampney...
Some pretty interesting images...

I was struck by the difference...yet how much things remain the same..between his place in the world and ours here in Oregon...

The heeler watching his master wading out on the reef...or the grom running down to the lineup...the giant lizard feeding on the corpse of the kangaroo...ok, that's a little different!



~photos from Blender Gallery website

N WIND 15 TO 20 KT...EASING TO 10 TO 15 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT.
WIND WAVES 4 FT...SUBSIDING TO 2 FT AFTER MIDNIGHT.
NW SWELL 4 FT AT 7 SECONDS.

Shot in 1971, Morning of the Earth reveals the pioneering spirit of a new breed of Australian surfer who took the short board to an innovative and radical new level. Nat Young, Chris Brock, Baddy Treloar, Michael Peterson and Terry Fitzgerald defined their generation as this particular sport's elite – young men who lived for nothing else but surfing, dedicated, sea-riding knights. This group, a beautiful-looking, calm-natured generation of surfers, were totally tuned into their natural environment with an almost pastoral, idyllic zeal: contemplative, relaxed and peaceful. Within this sub-cultural strand, there was an emphasis on personal freedom, nomadic “questing”, a romantic connection to the elements, and hedonism. Alby Falzon's film explores these surfers in their natural, “back to the earth”, soulful world. They possessed all the skills to dominate the sport internationally but would rather “soul-surf”, devotees of a calming, communal lifestyle.

~from Senses of Cinema website

N WIND 20 TO 25 KT... EASING TO 15 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT.
WIND WAVES 5 FT.
NW SWELL 3 FT AT 7 SECONDS.

When the forecasts look like this I turn to fantasy...and the alteration of comic strips...the waves are actually probably better than they sound...or not...

NW WIND 10 TO 15 KT.
WIND WAVES 2 FT.
W SWELL 4 FT AT 9 SECONDS.
TONIGHT NW WIND 15 KT...BECOMING N AFTER MIDNIGHT.
WIND WAVES 2 FT.
W SWELL 3 FT AT 9 SECONDS.

Looking kinda marginal at best...period isn't the worst, but doesn't look too hot...I'm sure there's a few out there waiting...waiting...waiting...

NE WIND 15 TO 20 KT...BACKING TO N IN THE AFTERNOON.
LOCAL MORNING GUSTS TO 25 KT.
WIND WAVES 4 FT.
NW SWELL 2 FT AT 7 SECONDS.
TONIGHT N WIND 10 TO 15 KT...BECOMING NE 5 TO 10 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT.
WIND WAVES 3 FT...SUBSIDING TO 1 FOOT AFTER MIDNIGHT.
W SWELL 2 FT AT 7 SECONDS.
BUILDING TO NW 5 FT AT 8 SECOND AFTER MIDNIGHT.

Pretty sad when the ground swell is smaller than the local wind swell.
Although it supposed to be back soon enough...5 foot beat 2 foot.

I'm off to Waldo Lake for the weekend...
Fortunately, I was able to squeeze in 3 days of surf before I go...

Yesterday, the north wind was howling on the north coast...
Holding up closing out lefts for little waist high reelers...
The board went airborne of its own accord on more than one occassion...
Headed south in hopes of a second session...
Still pretty windswept at 6pm...
Looked like it might clean up...
But other obligations put me on the road...

About Waldo Lake: No waves...but...

Lying high on the western slopes of the Oregon Cascades, Waldo Lake is one of the largest natural lakes in Oregon (9.8 square miles with a maximum depth of 427 feet). Waldo is one of the purest lakes in the world. It has no permanent inlet to bring nutrients into the lake for plant growth. The lack of plant life contributes to its purity. You can see to depths of 120 feet on a calm day.

~from the Willamette National Forest website