Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - (Page 51) swells rolling in from the Pacific and drag his red float. We moved out a little deeper, where the waves were breaking and I took his hand. We faced the wave, vertical, just floating, bobbing our heads. The wave reared, about to break, when I told him to hold his breath and will himself to sink. We dropped 18 inches and the turbulent white water passed above our heads, a thin sheet of tumult. We spent an hour out there, holding hands, grateful for salinity, diving under waves and then arching our backs and bringing our heads up into its lower current, feeling it press against our face and pull our hair back, spiraling around our cowlicks. Then we began to try to catch waves. The first one lifted him up in the air and slammed him underwater. He came up scared and looked at me angrily, accusingly, like I should be arrested for endangering a minor. I told him that he had to remain calm while the wave thrashed him, like he was while floating, preserving oxygen, waiting for the wave to release him. Another wave came upon us. I told him to hold his breath and took him in my arms. The white bastard grabbed and tumbled us. I held Max in my arms with adamantine calm, pressing his chest against mine so he could feel my steady beat until the wave released us. I took his hand and swam a few feet to the surface. Don’t fight a thrashing. Relax and enjoy the abandon with which your body is being tossed. Only the water is so yielding, so rough and gentle, like a wrestling Daddy. He wanted to catch a wave. I told him to plane his body, holding his arms in front of him, like Superman. I held him like that, horizontal, and launched him into waves. At first he balled up and got swallowed. But then he learned to how to trim his body, a rudimentary hydrodynamics, and began to slide down the face of the wave . He pushed me away and floated in the water, bobbing calmly, diving under waves and then turned and caught one, holding out his right arm, palm toward the shore, in a soul surfer salute. summer coastaltraveler 51 Photo by Robert Plotkin
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 Contents Coastal Connoisseur Coastal Picks Coastal Art Coastal Flyer Coastal Sex Coastal Eco Coastal Surfer Coastal Adventurer Coastal Snaps San Diego La Jolla Laguna Beach Malibu Santa Barbara San Luis Obispo Big Sur Carmel Monterey Santa Cruz San Francisco Sausalito Mill Valley Stinson Beach Bolinas Olema Point Reyes Station Fairfax Inverness Marshall, Tomales Sebastopol Petaluma Sonoma Coast Redwood Coast Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 (Page 1) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 (Page 2) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 (Page 3) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Contents (Page 4) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Contents (Page 5) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Contents (Page 6) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Contents (Page 7) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Contents (Page 8) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Contents (Page 9) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Connoisseur (Page 10) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Connoisseur (Page 11) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Connoisseur (Page 12) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Picks (Page 13) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Picks (Page 14) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Picks (Page 15) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Picks (Page 16) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Picks (Page 17) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Picks (Page 18) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Picks (Page 19) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Picks (Page 20) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Picks (Page 21) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Picks (Page 22) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Picks (Page 23) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Art (Page 24) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Art (Page 25) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Art (Page 26) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Art (Page 27) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Flyer (Page 28) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Flyer (Page 29) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Flyer (Page 30) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Flyer (Page 31) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Flyer (Page 32) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Flyer (Page 33) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Flyer (Page 34) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Flyer (Page 35) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Sex (Page 36) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Sex (Page 37) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Sex (Page 38) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Sex (Page 39) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Sex (Page 40) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Sex (Page 41) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Eco (Page 42) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Eco (Page 43) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Eco (Page 44) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Eco (Page 45) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Eco (Page 46) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Eco (Page 47) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Eco (Page 48) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Eco (Page 49) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Surfer (Page 50) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Surfer (Page 51) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Adventurer (Page 52) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Adventurer (Page 53) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Adventurer (Page 54) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Adventurer (Page 55) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Adventurer (Page 56) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Adventurer (Page 57) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Snaps (Page 58) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Snaps (Page 59) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Snaps (Page 60) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Snaps (Page 61) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Snaps (Page 62) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Snaps (Page 63) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Snaps (Page 64) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Coastal Snaps (Page 65) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - San Diego (Page 66) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - La Jolla (Page 67) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Laguna Beach (Page 68) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Malibu (Page 69) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Santa Barbara (Page 70) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Santa Barbara (Page 71) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - San Luis Obispo (Page 72) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Big Sur (Page 73) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Carmel (Page 74) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Monterey (Page 75) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Santa Cruz (Page 76) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - San Francisco (Page 77) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Sausalito (Page 78) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Mill Valley (Page 79) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Mill Valley (Page 80) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Stinson Beach (Page 81) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Bolinas (Page 82) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Olema (Page 83) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Point Reyes Station (Page 84) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Point Reyes Station (Page 85) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Fairfax (Page 86) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Fairfax (Page 87) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Inverness (Page 88) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Inverness (Page 89) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Marshall, Tomales (Page 90) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Sebastopol (Page 91) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Petaluma (Page 92) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Sonoma Coast (Page 93) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Redwood Coast (Page 94) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Redwood Coast (Page 95) Coastal Traveler - Summer 2008 - Redwood Coast (Page 96)
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