Hopefully, the beauty and serenity of the moment captured above, a glorious sunset at Stinson Beach, can refresh and comfort all of us who are “sheltering-at-home” and "social distancing” in these difficult times. Longtime Marin IJ photographer, Frankie Frost, barely a month on the job, caught these two local teenagers leaving ‘the waves’ at the end of a long day of surfing on December 26, 1985. Allan Reeves of Bolinas and Peter Phibbs of Mill Valley were “stoked” to be out on the ocean that day and, in recent conversations with them via email and over the phone, they both recalled the moment and the subsequent publishing of the photograph. Allan and Peter were friends and graduates of Tamalpais High School and along with other friends spent much of their free time riding their skateboards around town, down Mt. Tam to the coast, and surfing the beaches of Stinson, Bolinas and Ocean Beach in San Francisco which had the better surf. Peter also rode his BMX bike on courses at Blackie’s Pasture in races sponsored by The Cove Bike Shop, and even got a “date” after the original publication of the photograph as a local girl contacted him to teach her how to surf!
Stinson is known as a very accessible beach for surfers, if not the most challenging in the area. Winter storms occasionally form ideal sandbars that can turn what are called “close-out” waves, those that turn and break all at once, into “peaky”, rideable waves that offer
surfers longer, smoother rides. Surfers there also have to be aware of shark sightings. Stinson Beach lies within what is termed “The Red Triangle”, an area off the coast of California whose three geographic points are Bodega Bay, the Farallon Islands and Big Sur. Sharks swim these waters in search of sea-lions, harbor seals, elephant seals and otters. Fortunately, there has not been a shark attack on humans in Marin since 2013 according to data from the Global Shark Attack File.
Allan and Peter still live and work in Northern California. Allan lives in Marin and is a certified, personal fitness trainer, an avid mountain biker and road cyclist, and is the host, organizer and guide for a company called France From Inside that organizes cycling and wine tours in the south of France. Peter is an artist specializing in wood carving and ceramics, having received a Master’s Degree in Ceramics from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and was head of Ceramics for 8 years at Colorado Mountain College. He lost nearly everything in Sonoma County’s 2017 Tubbs fire and now lives and works on his art north of Jenner along the Gualala river. I want to thank both Allan and Peter for their kindness in sharing their memories.
(Originally appeared as History Watch article in the Marin Independent Journal)