Steinfath's Salty SIC SUP Slides Past San Simeon
As the sun rises each morning, young Peter Steinfath is entering the water for another day of adventure. Imagine the unknown challenges that might arise during a paddle down the California coastline while on your way to Mexico.
In life, challenges can come big or small as well as minor to very serious. The way to not drive yourself crazy with the thought of what might happen is to just be cautious and deal with your challenges as they arise and continue onward.
The human body can endure an incredible amount of punishment and with the right mindset, it can accomplish amazing feats. In this case, his long paddling expedition is perhaps Peter’s greatest challenge he has experienced in his young life thus far. He’s extremely high in spirits and most definitely well-equipped in the mental fortitude department. One of the current elements of Peter’s journey is the blazing sunshine that is bronzing and burning him every single day.
Since the last paddle update, a lot has happened as well as a tremendous amount of water has been covered. Peter had paddled from Gualala to Bodega Bay, with an overnight campout on the beach in Bodega Bay. The next day was perfect for covering a lot of distance on the water with Dillon Beach being the destination for the day.
It was around 7:30 pm on Sunday the 27th when my phone rang with a giggling Peter on the other end. He was laughing so hard and told me that he made it to Bolinas instead of staying overnight at Dillon Beach, charging all day to cover roughly 43+ miles on the water!
We chatted a bit and I inquired about his supplies and he said that he made it to the market in Bolinas as it was closing, just in time to get a gallon of milk and a dozen eggs. He then told me that he was relaxing at Smiley’s bar while enjoying some mezcal tequila to soothe his sunburnt skin. Peter was also rather excited about an awesome peeling wave that formed at the outer reef that allowed him to enjoy a nice long ride as his day came to a gentle end.
During our conversation, we tried to line up a mutual friend that wanted to join Peter on the water and have some company while crossing from the North Tower of the Golden Gate Bridge with Ocean Beach being the destination to stop and grab a morning coffee. The plan was to meet at Point Bonita in the early morning and paddle together under the massive span in rather challenging and sometimes unpredictable conditions.
However well anything can be planned, and things can go awry. In this case, the two paddlers never saw each other on the water. My morning phone call from Peter was fantastic, most of his morning check-in calls begin with “top of the morning Tom”. In true fashion Peter greeted me as per usual and added “I can spy the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance, the winds seem to be blowing into the bay, I’m going for it, hahaha”.
The agreed-upon meeting time was 8 am and unfortunately, the massive body of water made it a challenge to see each other while clearly hiding in plain sight.
The next call that I got for Peter was a short time later and I was at work and sitting at my desk getting ready for a fun day of spreadsheets and countless emails. I answered and again, Peter was giggling like a madman, “Tom, I’m at Ocean Beach and going to stop for some coffee and then keep heading South”. I could hear the slap of water and wind whistling all around him as he sat offshore to ring me with his location and next plans. It made me wish that I had the time and youthful energy to join him on his salty adventure.
I asked him what exactly were some of his favorite moments to date during his journey and it was simple and endearing;
Paddling along and the multiple groups of humpback whales that decide to join him, albeit the whales are on an annual ocean journey themselves and Peter just happens to be an interesting creature for them to peek up at and wonder what exactly kind of mission that human above them is on.
The second most favorite thing about his journey has been riding the countless bumps in the ocean for the better part of almost 400 miles so far. If you are a person who spends a lot of time on the ocean riding bumps and doing downwind runs, you know exactly that thrill when the back of your board rears up and you see the trough of water opening up in front of you and your board begins to plain and you take off for what seems like an effortless glide. And to do it over and over again, it’s the absolute best feeling.
One thing that Peter mentioned during our conversation was that his phone wasn’t functioning properly, apparently, every time he touches his screen it starts doing random glitchy types of screen movements. So in the event that he will be out of communication for perhaps a long while, we covered some of his logistics moving forward.
After grabbing a piping hot cup of coffee at Ocean Beach, young Peter Steinfath got back on his SIC RS board and headed South toward his unknown destination for a long day of paddling.
Thus far throughout Peter’s adventure, the winds were at his back, allowing him to cover vast swaths of distance. As luck would have it, the winds shifted from the South and it made forward progress much more difficult. At certain moments the winds made it feel like Peter was on a treadmill and not moving forward, so as Peter told me “every beach started to look more appealing for a place to spend the night”.
Pacifica ended up being just that sort of perfect place to spend the night. After poking around town Peter found a stray bodyboard in a trash bin, so he wanted to take it out for some adventure and that's exactly what he did with it. He strapped it under the Vamo deck rigging and headed South the next morning and ended up in Ano Nuevo.
The rocky coastline of Ano Nuevo is home to a rather large elephant seal population and probably some really fat resident sharks that enjoy those delicious hunks of blubber that spend their days hauled out on the rocky outcrops.
When Peter landed he saw some young kids bodyboarding and he took the opportunity to put his new passenger to use in the waves. He spent a couple of hours playing in the waves on the bodyboard before retiring for the evening before yet another long day of paddling.
My early morning phone call from Peter was full of laughs as he said that he was enjoying the view from Cowell’s Beach in Santa Cruz. As we caught up my curiosity drifted to the section between Ano Nuevo and Santa Cruz. That’s one of my favorite sections that included Davenport Landing. The area is a world-class downwinding area and as per usual, the run didn’t disappoint Peter. He did spend a little time in the town of Davenport, long enough to enjoy some mussels and steak with mashed potatoes that was downed with a tall glass of milk.
Next step, onto Big Sur where we had the latest Peter sighting at Brophy’s Pub in Carmel California. Our friends Mark and Joan had the opportunity to hang out with him and get to know each other over some food and drinks.
Joan said that Peter is doing GREAT and that he is certainly one of the most interesting people they’d ever met. They have sailed from SF to Mexico several times, but the thought of doing it on a SUP was amazing in their opinion. And this adventure is truly amazing.
The Monterey Bay is a strikingly beautiful place that is teeming with marine life. At any given point the sky can be filled with a squadron of brown pelicans flying so gracefully across the deep blue waters. If you look hard enough onto the horizon you might be treated to a gigantic pod of dolphins leaping out of the water as they travel towards the next bait ball. By far one of the most exhilarating things to witness is a humpback whale breaching in the distance. To say that Monterey Bay is magical and majestic is an understatement, now imagine paddling from Moss Landing to Lover’s Point on a paddleboard!
After a nice break Peter paddled onward from Lover’s Point towards Carmel where he had the opportunity to meet Mark and Joan. Peter had given me a call while he was in Monterey and caught up and talked about the next leg of his adventure, Big Sur.
The rugged and remote coastline of Big Sur is full of hazards for any person on the water, so navigating yourself around that swath of water can be tricky. As Peter was paddling along and trying to find a safe place to camp for the evening he spied a sea cave and headed towards it to check it out. He soon realized that it wasn’t an inviting sandy beach, it was a rocky crag that would certainly destroy his board and most definitely turn his skin a little black and blue. As Peter turned his board around towards the sea he could tell that a solid set of waves would be headed his way and he escaped in the nick of time. Picture from the gallery in Carmel of the Sea!
If you have ever been to Big Sur you know firsthand that it feels like the edge of the world. The mountain drops steeply into the sea. One of Peter’s favorite memories of that stretch of coastline is how different it looks from the perspective of the sea facing those steep cliffs. Absolutely breathtaking!
The prospects of finding a suitable beach to spend the evening started getting slimmer and slimmer with each passing mile, so Peter actually continued paddling into the darkest parts of the evening and early morning, finally landing safely around 4 am!
On the 10th of June, I had the opportunity to catch up with Peter and we giggled about the absurdity of his adventure. We joked around about “fins” and if he had seen any of them so far and Peter laughed it off with the answer of “just dolphins”. He said that if any of the lurking sharks got frisky they would be fended off by his trusty Quickblade paddle. This kid has zero fear.
Peter was hanging out on the beach when he ran across a nice man who works for the parks by the name of Pat who smiled and told Peter about a couple of ambitious brothers that he met on that same beach some years ago. It turns out that it was the Higginbotham brothers who had prone paddled from Alaska to Mexico. If you want to see a fun clip of their adventure, click here
San Simeon was the last check-in with Peter and I’m certain that he’ll ring me up very soon with another mind-bending series of stories of his salty adventure.
Read Part one of Peter's story here
Peters Photo Gallery Click Here (most recent photos on the last page)