Bill Holden Rememberance Party @ Doheny Beach

Corrie called, saying Bill Holden will not be finishing my board I asked for. Bill passed away on February 2, 2008. M-A-N-Y of Bill’s surfing friends met at Doheny for a celebration of Bill. Lots of boards.

Yes, that's a pegged geiger counter!  Only to be surfed at San Onofre.

Steve recalled an incident with Bill. They were walking a beach when a stranger asked Bill about his Holden t-shirt. Where did he get it, and can he get one? Bill explained that he was the Holden of Holden surfboard, and the shirts aren’t sold in stores. So Bill ripped his shirt off and gave it to the guy! After everyone finished laughing at that story, Steve asked the crowd, was there a person in the crowd that did not know Bill? A man stepped forward and said Yes. So Steve ripped off his shirt and gave it to the man.

RIP Bill.

Gordon, Wendy, Benjamin, And Christopher Visit!

It’s a rare treat that family visits. But they are always welcome. We covered the beaches (of course), the Birch Aquarium at Scripps, and the glider port.

Upon arrival, everyone piled into the rental car to got to Del Mar beach for a walk. Surprise, surprise, the kids managed to increasingly get wetter, wetter, and wetter.

An amusing incident happened at Birch aquarium. We were at the outdoor pools, where water creatures can be touched. Benjamin asked a docent, "that’s a bat stingray, isn’t it"? The docent said, "No, it’s not". Benjamin looked quizzical then skipped over to his dad. Wendy overhead another docent tells the first docent, "You were wrong, that IS a bat stingray".

Lots of fun to the point of tiring out kids and adults. This is a really good pic since later I put Christopher on my surfboard in < waist-deep water. Christopher rode on his belly quite well until the wave pushed the board to the side and he went under the board. Gordon was there to pluck him from the water but the damage was done. He just got wet but it was unexpected and got scared. I still have nightmares about this.

Bill Holden Board #2

After going to Bill Holden’s 75-birthday bash, I thought a (morbid) thought – maybe I should get more boards made. I really liked the 9’ he made so I asked Bill to cut another. We bantered back and forth on colors and settled on this.

It’s an emotional board for me. Thanks Bill.

Breckenridge & Bay Area Visit

Writeup by Bill Whalen

Randy Schader, Howie Finch, Dick Deacy (neighbor of Howie) and Bill Whalen. 4 days of skiing (Breckenridge, Vail, Keystone, Copper) and then 2 days in the Bay Area staying at Leah’s house

Our Breckenridge hotel was the Taunhauser 2 on Main Street in the historic district. ($1400 for 4 days). We booked the 3rd floor because a write up said the street is noisy. And it was. Even on the third floor, every night we could hear partiers, plows, etc late into the night. Great location for walking about, but bad for sleeping. Randy had his private room with a king-size bed. Dick and I shared a room while Howie was on the couch. The hot tub was lukewarm and usually empty. There was a motor home parked out front illegally overnight and collecting daily tickets. They were staying at our hotel but our parking lot was too small for such a big vehicle.

Sat: usual airline snafus. Up at 4:45am. I was on the 2nd Chicago flight that morning. The first ended up being canceled. Overheard that there was no pilot. Those passengers were getting cranky. There were only 2 ladies working and they both disappeared with no explanation. My Syracuse flight was originally moved up 45 minutes earlier and then I had a one hour delay. Before leaving, the pilot informed us of an alternative landing (Dallas) if he is unable to land in Chicago. Comforting. No problem to Chicago. I was on-time in Denver (11:30am). Randy’s flight was bumped up an hour earlier so he arrived at 10:30am and had to wait for me. Howie, who was also supposed to land at 11:30 am, got delayed in Syracuse because of no pilot. He arrived late. Since he arrived at the last minute at his Syracuse gate, his luggage got placed on a different later flight. Now we had to wait for his luggage. By then (3:00pm) Dick had arrived. Since we were late to pick up our Liberty Jeep rental, they gave it away and upgraded us to a Dodge Durango. This was good because we totally filled this huge SUV. We stopped at King Scoop supermarket for lift tickets and food. Arrived in Breckenridge at 8pm.

That night the temperature was minus 1. After a small walk-about and watching the 10 best spring break locations on TV, we crashed early.

Sun: woke up at 4am. No room available for reading so I lied in bed till 6am. All of us slept poorly. Skied Breckenridge that day (10am -2:30pm). They called it partly cloudy, but I considered it full sun. Every ski day was hot and sunny. Always way overdressed. From our room, it was a short walk to Quicksilver lift and then up to Peak 10 for the Crystal and The Burn. (tree skiing). A few runs on Peak 9. Lunch at Vista House on Peak 8. a few diamond tree runs on lower peak 8 - Bone Yard, Amen, No Name. Psychopath gave Randy, Howie, and Dick a workout. We took the Imperial Express up Peak 8 to 12,840 feet. Extra height left to hike another 150’ to the peak and take Whale’s Tail over to the lift-less Peak 7. Not us. Didn’t ski any of the bowls. Face and nose got sunburnt. Outdoor happy hour at the Irish Pub. Went into Dillon for a steak dinner at The Mint. Picked out your own steak in a butcher’s cabinet and then cook it yourself on a huge 4x8 grill. They provided all the seasonings. Small walkabout in a warmer 25 degree Breckenridge night. Watched the 10 best beaches on TV and crashed at 9pm.

Mon: Up at 6am again. Skied Vail. Skied one run on Sun-up Bowl, China Bowl, and Outer Mongolia Bowl and then crossed over the creek to Blue Sky. The back bowls were OK. The Blue Sky region was the best. Soft, easy turning, blue-black and double black diamond tree skiing. Only made 2 runs on the entire front face of Vail – one to get to the Buffalo Lodge for lunch and the other to get down to the car.. Met up with an obnoxious guy, Dr Mark. He made it a point to tell us he was a doctor and he was always busy telling us which trails to take down. Happy hour at The Tap Room in Vail Village. Howie saved me from getting drenched by a huge water runoff when I was standing under a roof overhang. $4 snicker bars. For dinner, we signed in at Giampietro and then walked over for a beer at Jake’s Dive Bar. Had to have a “Man Beer”. Back to Giampietro for a great pizza. Home by 9pm and in bed at 9:40pm.

Like we need more sun.

Tues: up at the usual 6am but listened to my MP3 player till others woke up at 7am. Randy, of course, was already up and reading in his private room. Went to Keystone’s 3 mountains. It was the least enjoyable of the 4 days due to their snow conditions. The furthest mountain was an ungroomed collection of icy moguls so we skipped it completely. The first 2 were mainly wide groomed flat cruisers which got monotonous after a while. There were some limited fun mogul runs. However, they had an awesome outdoor lunch area in the sun (50 degrees) with blasting rock music. It was difficult to not to have a few beers and call it a day, but we rallied and skied on. Randy hurt his knee on the 2nd to last run (Jackface). I had plenty of energy to walkabout Breckenridge. With a cloud cover, it was much warmer. Randy was nursing a bad knee. Dinner of killer burgers at Kenosha. The Irish Pub was too crowded for a drink so we walked more and crashed at 9pm.

Wed: Goodbye to Dick. He only could stay for 3 days. Off to Copper Mt. Weather again was 100% sun, 50 degrees and the back bowls were perfect spring conditions of soft mushy steep moguls. So much fun we skied thru lunch. There was a cat to take you to another non-accessible bowl. No time for us to check it out. Took us 2 bus rides to get back to our car in the parking lot. Dinner again at Kenosha – soup, Thai coconut wings, and chili fries washed down with a bottle of merlot. Went home, changed into sweats, and then rallied to go out for a nightcap. Back to the Irish Pub where Howie treated us to a Middleton Irish whiskey. Watched a woman collapse to the floor. Thought she was drunk at first, and then decided she probably fainted due to over-exertion from climbing up the many steps to get in the pub.

Bill & Howie @ Copper

Thur: fly day. Leisurely breakfast. Mountain peaks in clouds. Time to leave. Left at 9am. Arrive airport 11am. Randy pre-paid for gas on the rental car and wanted to return it on fumes. We were low on gas so he bought one gallon at Breckenridge. The gas light was on for most of the trip back to the airport. We were watching the “miles to empty” gauge very closely. It was at 33 miles to go when we returned it. Too close for my comfort. Next time we’ll buy two gallons. Checked in our luggage and then found Howie at Concourse A at noon for a beer, burger, and watch the 1st half of the SU basketball second-round NIT playoff game against Notre Dame. Arrived in Oakland and rented an Avis car. Had to stop and ask an employee how to release the foot brake. A quick tour of Leah’s house and she was off to teach dance. We followed her and toured the building. 40 years of antiwar posters. Cool place. Then we went to Berkley for dinner. Bird House noodles at Saigon Express. Walkabout followed by a sambuca night cap at Becket’s Pub.

Bill @ Golden Gate Bridge

Fri: up at 6:30am. Had a breakfast of yogurt with Leah’s homemade granola. Randy and I drove over the Bay Bridge, across San Francisco to the Golden Gate Bridge. Stopped at the vista spot to admire the scenery and call Dad. Drove down to Sausalito for lunch at the Danish Lighthouse Café. Walked along the pier. They had an old 1929ish racing sloop. 60-80’ in length and winner of many races. Hiked through Muir Woods to see the giant 200’ tall redwoods. They live up to 1000 years. Randy’s bad knee prevented us from doing any extensive hiking. Drove down to Muir Beach to hear the crashing of the ocean waves. Then back to San Francisco to visit the City Lights Bookstore- famous as the center of the beat generation. (Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg). Drove down the famous curvy Lombard Street. Walked Columbus Street, passed the Stinking Onion. I tried to see the Buddhist Church (largest in North America) but it was closed. Misread the map at first and thought it was torn down and replaced by a tall Hilton Hotel. Wrong corner. Oops. Hiked up towards the Coit Tower for a panoramic view of the city. On a loop back to the car, we went thru a girly-bar section. Seemed so out of place. A nightcap of gelato/espresso and then off to catch up with Leah. She was at a Zydeco dance hall in Alemeda. She was learning/practicing Zydeco for her upcoming church trip to help with the New Orleans’ cleanup. She was the only one from her church to show up. $15 cover and everyone but Randy and I were dancing. Some brought a towel and an extra shirt. Sweaty. Serious dancers.

My two best friends

Sat: breakfast at Leah’s and then off to Sonoma Valley for a winery tour. Luckily for a missed exit, we had to cross the Bay Bridge, cross SF and the Golden Gate Bridge again in order to head north to the wineries. Great view. Perfect weekend timing for the valley was having a “barrel tasting” weekend. $10 cover got you a glass and admission to dozens of wineries. We stopped at 8. – Dry Creek, Mazzocco, Rued, & Rocholi. I bought none since you can’t take them on a plane. Leah will deliver Randy his bottles when we all meet at Half Dome this June. Drove past the Raymond Burr winery. A beautiful sunset as we drove back to Leah’s. Diner at Café Raj to expose me to some good Indian cuisine. Took the scenic tour home thru many of Oakland’s districts.

Sun: Fly day. Spring forward time change. Lost one hour of beauty sleep. Leah had to be up at 2 am for some business work. Unfortunately, she set her watch to the new time zone prior to going to bed, so when she woke up at 1:45am it was one hour too early. Time didn’t change until 2am. A leisurely drive to the airport. Goodbyes and see you until we meet again in 10 weeks for the Half Dome climb.

Quotes: at Keystone after I skied partway down a narrow black diamond mogul field “this got ugly quick.” They must have heard me because they didn’t follow.

Breckenridge & Bay Area - March 2007

Costs: Airfare $585
Room 350
Ski pass (4 days) 309
Food/drink 304
Airport parking 60
Oakland misc 63
Misc cash 120

TOTAL $1800

Witch’s Rock Surf Camp

Tamarindo, Costa Rica

Writeup by Bill Whalen

Participants: Randy Schader and Bill Whalen

Air travel: Delta was a hassle. They altered all our flights. First, they canceled Bill’s 6am SYR departure flight and then re-scheduled him on a later 8am flight which would not get him into Atlanta in time to meet Randy and catch the 2nd 10am leg to Liberia). Therefore, Bill had to change to a 6am departure out of Rochester. After driving up to Massena for Thursday’s Thanksgiving, I had to drive back to Syracuse, grab a quick nap, and then get up at 2:30am to head to Rochester for that early flight. As I drove past the Fingerlake Outlet Mall at 4am, the lot was already full of cars waiting for the stores to open for Black Friday’s sales. Parking at Rochester airport was interesting because there were different priced parking lots depending on how close to the front door you want to park. I got the last spot on the last row in the cheap lot. The shuttle van followed me to the last parking spot and zoomed me to the terminal. So easy. My distant $4.50/day lot had a free shuttle to the front door or for $12/ day you could park closer but then had to walk to the terminal. There was an FAA rule that passengers were only allowed to carry-on liquids/gels if smaller than 4 oz. However, at the security checkpoint, many smaller 1 oz bottles were also denied. Arguing was useless. My yogurt didn’t make it thru. Randy had an 11pm Thursday flight out of LAX. On the 2nd leg, the pilot and co-pilot were named Bill and Randy respectively. Weird. At 11:50 am the pilot Bill came on the PA and said “we’ll being landing in 12 minutes”. We thought we were making a great time until after a long pause he added “after the following hour” i.e. 1:12pm. So much for our great time savings. On the return trip, the Liberia flight to Atlanta landed 30 minutes early (good), but then had to wait on the tarmac for 30 minutes for a gate to become available (boo). Then it took 1-¼ hours to pick up luggage, clear customs, recheck luggage, go thru security again and get to my gate. My plane was already boarding when I got to the gate. Bill barely made his connection. Randy missed his connecting flight by 30 minutes and had to overnight in Atlanta. The airline put him up since they were the ones that changed his schedule to allow insufficient time between flights. Then he left Atlanta on a direct 7am flight.

At checking at LAX, a couple was having difficulty checking in. “Delta said a passport isn’t needed to get to the Cayman Islands”.

Note on future travels – don’t let luggage helpers’ help. In Liberia, a person transported our luggage 50 feet from the airport door to our shuttle van. I thought he was our driver from WRSC but he wasn’t, so we had to tip him for that useless 50 feet

Shuttle ride: The driver was Leo. Rode in with Bert and Carla from Oregon. He is a cold-water surfer. She doesn’t surf. Stopped for beers ($1) each.

Rooms: we originally booked our room at El Mirago across the street from WRSC. It was only a short walk and we thought it would be quieter. It also had a cool hammock on the front patio. Loved that hammock. Safes were an extra $3 per day rental. We were in room #1, which Roberto said is the 2nd door on the left. (The first room on the left was #31.) Go figure. It was embarrassing but had to ask the front desk, Roberto, how to open the room’s door to get out. Turns out you have to work your finger behind a notch in the door frame and manually push a metal lever. Friday night is the wild night at the neighboring Monkey Bar. Bill could hear the music all night. After 2 nights, Marcela @ WRSC asked if we wanted to move into the newly built rooms at WRSC. Literally just finished. The numbers weren’t even on the door yet. We said yes. Randy moved into #13 (balcony) and Bill into #17 (no balcony). A couple of days later, Randy got moved again into #12. #12 was the best. It had 2 double beds, a wall-mounted surfboard holder, a safe, and a small balcony with a killer ocean view. #13 & #14 had a single queen bed, a balcony large enough for chairs and surfboards, great ocean view, but no safe. #14-17 was one queen bed, ocean view, no balcony, and no safe. #18 was a double room with an ocean view, no safe nor balcony.

Day 1 (fri): walked the town looking for changes. New Pizza Hut, Subway sub shop, TCBY yogurt, and a new modern strip plaza. Becoming too Americanized. Bummer. Bought large 6L water bottles. Randy rented his Robert August What I Ride 9’ surfboard. Bed at 8:15 very noisy at night due to the neighboring Monkey Bar.

Day 2 (sat): Randy’s surf trip at 6 am, my lesson at 7am. High tide at 5:20 am. I went to the surf lesson at 7am to discover it was moved to 6am. Oops. Had ½ of the huge egg burrito, ran the length of the beach, and back again in the surf in 35 minutes. Checked out a 9’4” soft top board and surfed for 1 ¼ hour. The surf break was only waist deep and getting shallower and shallower. Then a nap in the hammock. They rescheduled my lesson to a private lesson with Eduardo at 4pm, then changed it to a group lesson with Bert and then changed it again to a private lesson with Andres. The lesson went until 5:20 sunset. Had a couple of imperials while waiting for Randy to return from his trip. Randy had a boat trip to Avellanes. Avellanes was closing out quickly. Dinner at our club. Milko had 12- $5 vouchers to use up (Vouchers were compliments of WRSC because of all the complaints from the excessive construction noise). The $60 covered dinner for 4 and 3 pitchers of imperial. We went for a walk to check out the nightlife. Tonight’s party was at Babylon. Stopped for a drink at a beach that had an outdoor patio surrounded by tall palm trees. The party at Babylon didn’t get hopping until much later, so we went home. Bed at 11pm

Day 3 (sun): high tide at 6am. Randy had a 6am trip to Playa Grande. Bill had a 4:30pm lesson. By the time I got to the club and had breakfast (the Betty), it was 8am and the waves were already dying. The best surf was 6-7am. It was not worth staying up late to do nothing and then losing out on the good early waves. I switched to a shorter 9’2” board. Rob stated something about his earlier van trip to Playa Grande was a “porno star smoking pot”. Lunch at the same lunch counter. Good view of the ocean. The counter guy, Michael, gave Randy a girl’s phone number. A sure thing. He said she cheated on her boyfriend last night and wanted Randy to call her. Last time we ate there. Moved to new rooms at WRSC. Randy’s #13 had a balcony, no safe. I was in room #17 with an ocean view but no balcony. Again I couldn’t open the door (a recurring problem). Turns out it wasn’t the imperials, but Marcela gave me the key to number 18, not 17. Oops. We were the first to use the new rooms. 2pm – 4pm: time to get out of the sun and read. 4:30 lesson with Autumn and Carlos (instructor). Surfed until sunset and then caught 2 more waves. Carlos was giving us hints on when to start paddling and when to pop up. Dinner of seafood soup at Pedro’s. 3000 colones. The clams, muscles, and crabmeat were still in the shells. Fun, tasty, and different. 8:30 pm Cuba Libras. (Rum, coke, and lime). Very good. 9pm-10pm read time. 10pm lights out. Noisy being above the bar, but not too bad. I was wired on the caffeine from the Cuba Libra. No more of those late at night.

Randy traded the 9’ for a 9’6” board.

Day 4 (mon): woke up at 5:30am for my 6am lesson with Autumn and Andres (teacher). The first part of the lesson was on the beach while we waited for the sun to rise above the WRSC building. It was wonderful watching the sunrise. The ocean was empty except for WRSC classes. Switched to an 8’6” board. Once you get up and out there, it felt great. Survived surfing, then threw out my back picking up a bottle of shampoo in the shower. Go figure. Possibly from overarching my back when lying down on the board and paddling (“boobs off the board”). Bothered me for the rest of the week and really hampered my surfing enjoyment. Ended up taking Excedrin, Motrin’s, and muscle relaxants to get me thru the lessons. Even after 3 imperials with Bridget and Chris, my back was still too sore for an afternoon surf. Did not do any extra post-lesson surfing for the rest of the week because of it. Sunset walk in the ocean. Then it got very dark, I got nervous being alone on a dark deserted beach so I switched to taking the road home (barefoot). We were without power for most of the morning and early afternoon throughout the entire town. They said it was a planned outage.

Randy was supposed to surf at Nosara but did not due to the 3-hour (one way) travel. Surfed at Playa Grande instead with the Three Amigos (Randy, Rob, and Bert). Best surf of the trip at Playa Grande. Chest high waves with lefts and rights.

5-7pm WRSC had a party to celebrate our club’s competitors who just competed and did very well in a surf competition. 9-11pm dinner at Etceteras. Rob, Randy, Arlene and I. Tuna and grouper specials/wine bottle. $20/ person. Excellent food and company. Her last night. Arlene’s sister couldn’t make it because she had a date with a surf instructor.

Day 5 (tues): 7am lesson with Johan. Worked on the timing of waves and body position. Limited breakfast choices at our club because the power is out again. They say 8am -2pm. Went next door to the Paris Bakery for a croissant. No pm surf because of a sore back. Dinner at Stella’s. Randy and I split an order of Thai curry coconut chicken and a vegetarian pizza. Awesome Thai, but blah pizza. Most of the pizza went uneaten. Need to order less food. Ordered a bottle of water. It was presented and poured like it was a fine bottle of wine. The waiter presented it, poured both glasses, and stored it in an iced bucket. $20 a head. 9pm read and bedtime.

Day 6 (wed): Awake at 6am. Back really stiff and sore. 8am breakfast of “The Betty” and read until lesson time. 9am lesson with Erika and Eduardo (instructor who is dating Erika). Noon happy hour of imperials followed by 2 hours of reading and napping. Another imperial and walked to the beach and town. No strenuous walking or running in the surf. 5pm more happy hour. Rob’s last day. He also had several noise vouchers to use up so the 3 of us (Rob, Randy, and I) split 3 pitchers. 7pm dinner at Stella’s again. This time Rob joined us. More of the curry Thai chicken. Also the same presentation of the water bottle. So funny. 9pm read. 10pm sleep.

Randy traded the 9’6” for the 9’. Bad move.

Day 7 (thur): Rob left for the airport at 5:15am. Goodbye to one of the three amigos. I got to sleep in. High tide was getting later each day. My lesson was at 8am. Bigger waves. Caught a couple of killer rides, practiced some turns in the white water, couldn’t get the turn in the green waves. Ricardo was my instructor. No Autumn today due to late-night – party girl. Johan kept calling me “Papa”, so I called him “Hijo (pronounced E Ho)” for the son. Then it evolved into “Hijo Tarzan” for Johan and “Hijo Muglee” (name of Tarzan’s chimp) for Ricardo. I also found out I had a previous nickname of “hat boy”. Randy got moved from room #13 to #12. Much nicer room with 2 double beds, a wall-mounted surfboard holder, safe, balcony and an ocean view. Definitely the room to request in future years

Randy did not like the RA WIR 9’ board. Traded back to the 9’6”. Good move.

Day 8 (fri): Bill’s group trip to Avellanes. Took the club’s school bus. What a ride experience. The roads are full of potholes, washed out in many places, very narrow 1-lane bridges. Barely wide enough for our bus to drive over it. He had to cross them at a snail’s pace all the while using his mirrors to keep his tires on the road. Bigger waves. Only caught a couple of them. My back was hurting so I quit early. Lunch and imperials at this middle of nowhere bar. $10. Ricardo was standing on the front bumper while the bus was in motion. Once he had to run ahead to shoo the cattle out of the road. Dinner at Portofino on the Beach. Red snapper with the head and tail still attached. Blah. $15.

Randy took an hour van ride to Playa De Coco. Fellow travelers were Keith (WRSC Photographer) and Sterling Morris (from Corpus Christi). Grabbed a pastry at the bakery there, talked with other surfers going to the same destination, and then boarded a shuttle boat 50 yards away at the beach. An hour boat ride thru islands. Could see the 4 seasons hotel w/ golf course on the cliff bluffs. Has to be very pricey. Went to Ollie’s Point and never got out of the boat. OP has a right-only, with a launch point about 10 yards wide next to rocks. 9 people in the water. Decided to travel 20 minutes to Witch’s Rock. Wow. A half mile of beach breaks (head high) with rights and lefts. Some closeouts, but managed to find a few good runs. Again, 9 people in the water. Stunning view of the rock. Had some great rides. Keith got some photos. I bought all photos for $65.

Graduation party at WRSC. 9pm reading and bed.

Day 9 (sat): Up at usual 6am. No lessons today. Our van leaves at 11am to get us to the airport for our 2:30pm departure. Waves too small to surf, so we walked the beach and town to say our goodbyes. Next time book the earlier flight because if the waves aren’t good, we just waste the day until it is time to go. No beer sold on this election day. I also heard that is the rule applies for an additional 2-4 more days. Van left punctually at 11am. One hour drive to the airport. Short airport lines. It took 45 minutes to clear all exit procedures. $26 exit fee. 1 last imperial at the airport (after passing thru immigration). There is some food after immigrations. The plane left on time. After takeoff, Bill asked if I could see Witch’s Rock (aisle seat). I looked out the window, and dooh!, there was Playa De Coco, the islands, Ollie’s point, and Witch’s Rock. What a view.

All of my pics are here -->>> Costa Rica 2006 Pics



Misc thoughts:

· Bring $100 in $1’s and another $100 in $5’s. Nothing larger is needed or wanted. $1 for daily tips and the $5 to cash at the bank and to leave as tips at the end of the week. Consider $1 coins and $2 bills for novelty items. Spent about $200 in cash.
· Colonies smaller than 100 ($0.20) are huge, heavy and worthless to carry
· WRSC has wireless internet. Bring a laptop next time.
· Large .6L water was 1300 colones. Went through 5 of those and several small bottles.
· Exchange rate at their bank was 515 colones to the dollar. Very fair. Same as ATM.
· Randy’s board rental from Court at Robert August Surf Shop was $100/week (cash). Can exchange boards as often as desired.
· Bring thinner paperback. Easier to fit into a fanny pack with sunglasses, etc.
· WRSC: imperial beer is $2.20, but only $1.25 for happy hour, which goes from noon to 9pm. That covers all our drinking hours.
· Wore quick-dry shirts and sunscreen (>SPF 50) during the daytime, white cotton T-shirts and bug spray at night. Needed more than 5 cotton shirts. Needed lighter-colored quick-dry shirts. Brought a long sleeve quick-dry shirt, which I never wore.
· Bring zinc oxide, hydrocortisone, NuSkin, base wax, tunnel tube fin, and Leatherman on next trip.
· Neither Bill nor Randy took any photos.
· Randy considered the surf tour to Marbella (3 hours 1 way) too far.
· Playa Grande was his favorite. Witch’s Rock was great; Ollie’s point was a waste of time.

Fellow surfers:

· Bert and Carla from Oregon. He is used to surfing in cold Oregon waters. One of Randy’s 3 Amigos. She does not surf.
· Bert’s brother- another non-surfer. What do you do in Tamarindo if not a surfer?
· Rob: from Montreal, another of the 3 Amigos
· Henri and Diana: had the penthouse suite
· Milko Todorov: from Bulgaria, now living in NYC
· David: Miami, the whiner, was in San Jose for work and flew Sansa here for the weekend
· Autumn: lifeguard, afraid of the waves and the board hurting her, party girl
· Andrea: a friend of Autumn, another party girl
· Bridget and Chris: from Switzerland, flew into San Jose, going to travel throughout CR seeing the national forests, volcanoes, rainforests for 2 week
· Erika: perfectly formed boobs. Are they real? Ask Eduardo. On the third trip to Tamarindo from Miami. Moving there.
· Arlene: pediatrician, her sister was hitting on a surf instructor.
· Edward. Florida. His son, Bryan, and Bryan’s wife Jill joined later. Edward referred to non-surfing Jill as an accessory”.
· Bill & Emily. Houston. Third trip to Tamarindo. Randy had lessons with Emily last year.

Staff:

· Joe, Holly, and Otis. Owners.
· Suzanne. Holly’s mom, just moved to Costa Rica.
· Carlos: been there 5 years, nicknamed me Papa, I called him”Hijo Tarzan (my son Tarzan)
· Ricardo: also called me papa so I called him Hijo muglee (my son the chimp) (see Tarzan)
· Andre: young kid, wears his ball cap backward, been there 2 months
· Edgar: surf tour person. Dating Marcela.
· Eduardo: dating Erika
· Marcela: front desk
· Erick: food server
· Freedom: Asian food server
· Collin: computer Webmaster with big ideas.
· Keith: WRSC Photographer.
· Leo: driver for most surf trips and to/from the airport. Excellent driver.

Quote of the trip

Ricardo, while walking back to the shuttle after surfing Playa Grande takes a cell phone call. He answers, “Hola, I’m working.”

$$

Flight- delta $25 used frequent flier miles, saved ??
Room $722 each after 10% discount
ROC airport parking $55
Canceled ATL hotel $25 penalty
Misc cash in CR $200 rough guess
Surf photographs $

Visit to Leah’s Memorial Day 2006

Friday, 5/26/06. Parked at the Sheraton San Diego. They asked if I had a reservation (I did) and that I am to go to the Sheraton West entrance for parking. In the ‘A’ group for Southwest. Arrived ½ hour late. Leah picked me up and we had dinner at Bo’s (BBQ). A blues band was playing there. Stopped at Trader Joe’s for a bottle of port. We had the port/chocolate at Leah’s home. Greg and Winston joined us.


5/27. Breakfast at a diner (Name?). Good coffee. Off for a winery tour! Pulled in Healdsburg and walked around, waiting on wineries to open up. Trendy town. Cooler than expected. Several wineries:

Ridge. Beautiful place. Bought a 2003 Zinfandel Buchignani Randy ($24).

Coppola. Another beautiful place. Outstanding balcony. Terrible wine.

Unti. Bare working area. Folding table. Lush wines. Craftsmen. Bought a 2004 Sangiovese ($30?).

Armida. Drank the Posin wine. Great wine by itself. I choked on it. Embarrassing. Good spot for a picnic with a view over the vineyards. The counter guy said it was a light crowd – usually 2-3 deep at the bar. Bought a bottle of Posin ($25).

Roshambo winery. Leah told me they are ‘hip’ and ‘like NY’. She was right. The artwork on the walls, and model wanna-be’s serving wine. The zinfandel is good as a stand-alone. Got a bottle. They also sponsor the Rock/Paper/Scissors championships.

Rocholi. I got someone to take a pic of Leah and me. Leah finally got me to pronounce the name correctly.

Final bottle count. Randy – 4, Leah – 9. Leah enlightened me to buy 3 bottles if I like it instead of the usual 1.

5/28. Toured the Scharffen Berber chocolate factory in Oakland. Good samples. Off to San Francisco. Visited a museum that had 1906 earthquake pics then and now. Awesome view of San Francisco from the parking lot. The most impressive pic was the raging fires at night from above San Francisco.

Leah @ San Francisco Museum

Drove down to the pacific to a park. It was very windy and cold.

Long ride back to Oakland. Arrived a little late for Leah to usher at church. I wandered around on Telegraph road. Had a cappuccino and croissant and bought an Over The Rhine CD. We thought Thai, then Chinese then settled on Whole Food Market for Take Out back at Leah’s place.

Stopped at Ikea for wine racks. Needed if you buy a lot of wine.

Good dinner conversation, good wine (Rocholi). Talked about relationships. Greg and Winston joined us, and we listened to the Over The Rhine CD. Built the wine racks.

5/29. Hiked a cemetery. Leah put flowers on her grandmother’s condo. Listened to the start of the Memorial Day ceremony. Off to Home Depot to investigate building a Lattice, and a bridge. Leah also picked out a wall color for my place.

Leah (my best west coast friend) and me

Rosarito To Ensenada Bike Race

Lili had booked two side-by-side condos. Most everyone met at my place since I was the most southern participant. Kelly, her brother Mark, Caroline, and I rode in my car. We didn’t want to be dependent on Lili and her driving.

A number of the same people on this trip were on last year’s trip, as well as new faces. Most of us called it an early night on Friday, with an early rise for the Saturday bike race. But some people were skipping the bike race and stayed out most of the evening.

I did my usual breakfast frenzy – no one walks away hungry. At the race start, Caroline and I got separated from the rest of the pack. We also managed to get separated during the race, but managed to meet up at the next pit stop.

Whatever you do, you MUST beat the clown.

The hill, AKA El Tigre, was a brute. But every upside has a downside. Caroline and I peaked at 45 MPH. Crazy.

We hooked up with most of our crew at the finish. Lili did her usual dancing on the stage with the band.

Rosarito To Ensenada Bike Race Pics