One wonderful feature of Mar Vista is the farm’s deeded access to the private beach across the street. After a two-minute walk through a private alley and down some stairs, one tiny spot of ocean is all mine. I’ve spent a little bit of every day at the ocean, but not more than a few minutes before today. For one thing, I’m here to work. Read more...

I hadn’t surfed for a week and a half before this morning. I had to prioritize other appointments last Sunday morning and Wednesday evening, my standing surf times. Today, I was going to surf in West Marin, with an instructor a friend knows out there. The instructor canceled this morning, and since I store Margo Linda Beast in Pacifica, I went to Linda Mar. It Read more...

Just over three weeks ago, I announced in a few places that I was seeking fifty women and nonbinary people who surf, to be potential interviewees for my book. At some point in the past few weeks, I reduced my number to thirty, to give more word count to each profile than fifty features would allow. This will also help me meet the very tight Read more...

If you had told me three months ago that these would be scenes from my life, I would have said you were cuckoo. Now, it is I who am the kook, a term which means "beginner" in surfer vernacular. Actually, a kook is more like a poser who brags about being a great surfer but who is terrible, which doesn't fit since I'm content with Read more...

This evening, I took Margo Linda Beast, my new and first surfboard, out on the water for the first time. She was resplendent. After buying her on Sunday, I asked my friends what I should name her. I loved many of the suggestions, so much so that I briefly considered renaming her on a quarterly basis. But this would entail regularly updating my Facebook world, Read more...

My office suitemate Simon, a lawyer with another firm, talks about sharks more than the average bear. (Bet you didn’t know bears spoke of sharks. That is today’s lesson for you.) Simon’s shark talk coincided with my telling him in May that I’d started surfing. Since then, he’s been regularly warning me that sharks prey on seals in distress, and that when I fall off Read more...