How To Surf

Michael As you might have heard, I've taken off two months from work at Yahoo earlier this year to learn surfing. During the first month, I kept driving down to Pacifica (15 miles south of San Francisco) almost every day, and caught some waves in the ice-cold water with my Alaska-grade Wetsuit and a newly purchased Foam Board. And then we went to Hawaii for three weeks, where I started exploring some surfspots on Oahu, mainly around the Waikiki area.

Recently, it's been going quite well with my surfing. I can't take monster waves yet, but I'm catching a lot of smaller ones and often manage to stand up tall and proud, surfing towards the beach. It's hard to believe how difficult it is to learn these simple steps, because you have to do about five different things in perfect timing or you'll paddle around in the water for hours without catching a single wave standing up. That's why I'm going to share with you what I learned, so you'll get a head start!

What I didn't know at all before I started was how waves build up and break in the first place. I'll let you in on a secret: They get created by raging storms at sea, often hundreds of miles away, and keep rolling in so-called "sets" towards the coast. A "set" consists of about five or more waves, approaching in quick succession, about 20 seconds apart from each other. When they're through, there's often a pause of a few minutes before the next set rolls in.

Often times it's quite hard to paddle out onto the Pacific waters when sets of waves keep coming in. They're pretty powerful and will push surfer and surfboard back towards the beach with significant force. In some cases, when they collapse directly above the surfer's head, they will push you under water and create strong turbulences that prevent you from swimming back to the surface. With overhead-sized waves, this so-called "hold-down" can last for 5 to 10 seconds, during which you can't do anything but remain calm, hold your breath, and wait for the situation to straighten out. Sooner or later, when the turbulences are gone, you can swim back to the surface, catch a deep breath and continue paddling. More experienced surfers avoid these situations by paddling fast towards the approaching wave, and start a so-called duck-dive maneuver shortly before they get hit. By submerging board and body at full paddling speed underneath the wave, they escape the current and simply continue paddling after the wave has gone over them. After crossing this so-called "impact zone" with the breaking waves, the ocean becomes a lot calmer, the waves in this area aren't breaking, just lifting the board gently while they're passing through. This is where all the surfers in the so-called "line up" are lurking while resting lazily on their boards, waiting for the perfect wave to catch.

Only waves that are just about to slowly collapse are suitable for surfing. And only if they don't break everywhere at once, but slowly from left to right (as seen from the beach, so-called "Lefts"), or vice versa ("Rights"). If the foam at the top is coming down at the same speed across the entire length of the wave, that's a so-called "Closeout" which causes the surfer's "wipeout", who get burried under water because the wave is directly crashing down on them.

Experienced surfers are riding waves sideways, always slightly ahead of the breaking foam chasing them from one side. If the turbulent water catches up with the board, it starts shaking and becomes really hard to control, often causing the surfer to fall. But beginners can utilize the turbulent waters of collapsed waves to obtain the necessary push to get the board up to speed, enabling them to stand up for the first time. This so-called "pop-up" needs to be practiced over and over again by paddling like a madman, getting caught in the collapsed wave's current, then jumping up into a crouching position, and finally standing straight up. Advanced surfers jump onto the board after paddling like crazy into unbroken waves, and using the gravitational force created by the water slope of the wave.

It's an almost spiritual experience everytime this all works out. The thrust created by the wave is very powerful and seemingly comes out of nowhere, and if one manages to stand up, the board keeps going and going and going and it's like being on top of the world for a few seconds. It's hard to comprehend from just watching other surfers, you really need to experience it first hand to believe. I for one am enjoying it so much that I've made it a habit to load my wetsuit and board into my car every Saturday morning, drive down to the beach, paddle out and catch something like four, five good waves within an hour, to head back home so that we can still engage in some weekend activities later.

Surf Etiquette

Michael When the old Hawaiians discovered how to surf waves on boards, they celebrated it as a community event, and the more surfers could paddle into a wave, stand up and surf simultaneously back to the beach, the better they considered the party to be. Compared to the massive wooden logs of yesteryear, today's high-speed epoxy boards are much easier to maneuver and for that reason, today's surfers don't aim in the direction of the beach when they set on to surf on a wave, but are riding sideways along the wave, going up and down, similar to a snowboard enthusiast swinging down a slope.

This of course means that a single wave nowadays can't be shared anymore by a group of people, but gets occupied by a single person. And if there's ten people waiting to get on the wave in the so-called "line-up", the question arises on who may paddle into the wave and who has to wait for their turn.

As a newbie to the surfing world, there's all kinds of unwritten laws to learn. First off, it's considered somewhat rude to paddle out and straight into a group of locals who are hanging out at the same location in the water every day. Instead, a newcomer is supposed to take a detour and approach the group sideways. The obvious reason for this is that if there's a new wave rolling in, you don't want to stand in the way of waiting surfers paddling into it.

Whoever gets onto a wave first, has the right of way. This is an obvious advantage to surfers lurking further out, if the wave is already surfable at their position. But this strategy doesn't always work out, as the location of the breaking point of incoming waves can vary significantly, even within the same set. If you get ready to paddle into a wave, but notice someone coming from behind, already riding on it, you want to get out of their way. For this to happen, you need to slow down your board by reaching down into the water with your hands, which makes the wave rush by under the board, without pulling it into the created turbulence.

If a wave already started collapsing from left to right (as seen from the beach), and a surfer is riding it from left to right already, it is considered extremely rude to paddle into the wave further to the right, and getting into the surfer's way who then has to slow down to avoid a collision. That's the dreaded "drop in", which sometimes leads to protests or even heated arguments. Although, in Pacifica, people are pretty relaxed about it, well knowing that there's droves of beginners making their first moves there, and the worst thing than can happen there is that you get hit in the head by a runaway board that some idiot has let go.

Watching surfing videos on Youtube, it is usually not clear that those daredevils riding the monster waves are sometimes traveling in very shallow waters, and falling off the board could have disastrous consequences. The surprising truth is, that waves only break in spectacular ways if the water gets shallower really quickly, and in the Pacific Ocean, you often find reefs or rocks near these places.

In videos, it often looks like surfers are riding in deep waters, but in reality, there's often just a few feet of water between the board and razor sharp rock or reef formations. Especially on Oahu's north shore, and particularily on Sunset Beach with its famous "Pipeline" surf spot, the top surfers barrel down on monster waves which barely have any water left at the bottom, so that slipping only once and falling could have deadly consequences.

In such waters, surfers can't ever jump off their boards, once they've reached the end of a surfable wave, they lay back flat on their boards and paddle back out. Lying down on the board while moving your arms displacing water for prolonged times is quite tough on the shoulder muscles, which usually aren't well developed, even in athletic individuals. With a bit of practice, however, surfing strengthens the upper body, and that's why you often see top surfers with absolutely ripped physique. I, personally, still have a lot of work ahead of me!

Rustic Oyster Lunch at Point Reyes

Angelika Since San Francisco has the Pacific Ocean right at its front door, which is why there's a great selection of fresh fish available, either for sale in selected supermarkets or readily prepared in fine dining establishments. Connoisseurs even have access to local oysters, prospering in the clean waters of the Point Reyes National Seeshore. We've mentioned Point Reyes here a couple of times already (Rundbrief 04/2006), because we often drive up for hiking and to escape the hustle and bustle of the big city for a few days. The headland wildlife sanctuary reaches far into the Pacific Ocean and is located about one and a half hours north of San Francisco. The U.S. celebrates "Memorial Day" on the last Monday in May to honor fallen American soldiers, we had the day off and took the opportunity to spend three nights at the "Olema Cottages" near Point Reyes. We've always liked the somewhat rustic charme of the former farm, which has small but free-standing wooden houses for rent. Also, you might want to know that Memorial Day is the last opportunity to get away before the summer season and the start of the summer school vacation. In San Francisco, the last school day was May, 30th this year.

But I digress, originally, I wanted to report on the exquisite oysters available in Point Reyes. There's a total of three oyster farms there: The Hog Island Oyster Company, the Tomales Bay Oyster Company (operating since 1909), and Drakes Oyster Company. Oysters love the cool clear waters of Tomales Bay, the water inlet between the "Point Reyes National Seashore" peninsula and the adjacent stretch of the California west coast with Highway One snaking north.

Drakes Oyster Company raises their oysters directly in Drakes Bay at the Point Reyes peninsula. The history of farming oysters in this area reaches back about 80 years. Oysters of all three farms are served at many restaurants in the Bay Area, but of course they're best when consumed directly at the source, which is right at the farm. Usually, you'd associate oyster dishes with white linen and shiny silverware, but the setting at the three farms in Point Reyes is rather casual. Oyster fans can purchase oysters there at a small hut and then slurp their favorite fare while sitting at picnic tables directly at the shore, and enjoy a pleasantly cool breeze in the sun.

Hard-core oyster lovers are buying them unopened, carry them over to the picnic tables, and are shucking them there with an oyster knife, however, the Drakes Bay staff will happily take care of serving the oysters on the half shell for a few dollars more. Since we had been watching Youtube videos beforehand on how to open oysters without slipping with the sharp oyster knife and cutting yourself badly, we decided to pay extra and get the work done by trained professionals. After all, rushing to the emergency room of a nearby hospital didn't sound like a good way to spend the long weekend! But I already know who's going to order an oyster knife and protective gloves on Amazon as soon as we're back, to practice shucking oysters like a professional.

Drakes Oyster Company offers three different oyster sizes, small, medium, and large. Small and medium sized oysters are best consumed raw, while the large ones can be barbequed. We prefer to eat oysters raw, because that's the only way you can detect their delicate taste. Usually, they're served with freshly cut lemon slices, used to drizzle a few drips of lemon juice onto them, or red cocktail sauce or onion vinaigrette for dipping.

Lately, there's been news that Drakes Bay Oyster Company is struggling for their existence. They're located directly on land that is owned by Point Reyes National Seashore, established in 1962, by then-president John F. Kennedy. But since Point Reyes has had farming businesses reaching back to the 19th century, the National Park administration granted the proprietors the rights to keep running their farming businesses back then, and leased them the land for a small fee.

Drakes Bay Oyster Company, called "Johnson Oyster Company" until 2004, also obtained such a lease, granting them the right to use the protected waters for farming oysters. But as the lease expired in 2012, it wasn't renewed, as the National Park administration argued that farming oysters had a negative impact on the fragile eco system in Drakes Bay. A fierce legal battle ensued, as the current owner, who purchased the oyster farm in 2005, had no intent to shut down the business. There are two sides, some say that the oyster farm has been operating since long before the area actually was declared a wildlife sanctuary, and that the business harmonizes well with nature. Others argue that it is the National Park administration's prerogative to not renew the lease and end the commercial operation. The local residents in Point Reyes seem to be leaning towards letting the oyster farm continue, which was evident by numerous "Save our Drakes Bay Oyster Farm" signs displayed in various locations. Alas, the legal battle doesn't seem to go well for the oyster company so far, as several courts have already decided against their appeal. To reach a final decision, now it's up to the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case, since National Parks are subject to federal laws, not local state laws.

The U.S. Tax Return

Angelika Every year in April, millions of American tax payers and consultants get very busy because no matter what, on April 15th, every person subject to income tax has to submit their tax documents for the previous year. Thus, this past April 15th, we submitted our tax declaration for the year 2013. Only if Aprith 15th falls on a weekend or holiday, the deadline gets extended until the next business day. It is possible to delay submitting the tax return by six months by filing for an extension until October 15th. But this doesn't mean you could pay taxes owed at a later date. If tax payers estimate that they owe taxes, they need to prepay the amount by April 15th, regardless of their extension status, or they will get hit by additional interest and penalty fees later. For this reason, I've never really understood why people file for extensions in the first place, because if I have to calculate how much I potentially owe anyway, I can just as well finish up the forms and submit my return, unless I know for sure that I'll always get money back by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Obviously, preparing our income tax forms isn't exactly my favorite activity, but since taxes are somewhat inevitable, I thought it might be of interest to our readers on what exactly a U.S. tax return entails. What's being taxed and what can you deduct? I promise I won't bore you with agonizing details, since a U.S. tax return can be arbitrarily complex, just like the German one. There's a thousand and one exceptions and special cases. Instead, let's focus on form 1040, which is the form every U.S. income taxpayer has to deal with in some form or another. About 70% of all taxpayers use this form, and depending on how complex their tax situation is, there's a number of additionally required forms, called schedules, each of which is marked either by a single letter or a four-digit number. Here are some of the widely used schedules, to be submitted along with the main form 1040:

Schedule A: This is the form for claiming itemized deductions: 1) Medical expenses covered out of pocket. But they must exceed 10% of the taxable income. 2) Taxes paid in the state of residence over the last year. This might sound strange to you, but in fact, it makes a lot of sense, since some U.S. states don't have an additional state income tax at all (Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, Wyoming), while states like California or New York ask the taxpayer for significant amounts of extra money. In these states, taxpayers submit two different income tax return, a federal one and another one for the particular state of residence during the tax year. It's crazy, I'm telling you. After having completed the federal 1040 form and a dozen other schedules via the tax software program "Turbo Tax", the odyssee continues with with the California tax return, only that the form is called 540 there, welcome to insanity! 3) Interest payments for home mortgages (within limits). For example, if a married couple is paying $12,000 in interest for a mortage on their house, they can deduct about $4,200 from their income taxes. 4) Donations to charity, up to 30%-50% of the taxable income 5) Losses caused by theft or accidents (for example natural disasters), but only if the amount exceeds 10% of the taxable income. 6) Other expenses like job-related charges not reimbursed by the employer, or what the taxpayer had to spend for tax consultants or tax software, but only if they exceed 2% of the taxable income.

Schedule B: If you've had more than $1,500 last year in income from interest and dividends, you need to submit the Schedule B form. The first part lists the interest income, the second the dividends from stocks. This doesn't mean that interest below $1,500 isn't taxed, every single cent in interest and dividends needs to be taxed, it's just that for less than $1,500 there's no requirement to fill out the form, because you can list this capital income on the main 1040 form. If the tax payer owns foreign accounts, there's a section in part 3 of Schedule B which requires to name them, and to state in which country they're located.

Schedule C: Self-employed taxpayers use this form to calculate their financial gains or losses from self-employed work and the required tax payments.

Schedule D: This is where you list gains and losses from selling stocks and mutual funds. There's a difference between short term gains of stocks held for less than a year and long term gains if you've owned a stock for more than one year. The tax rate is different in each case, on short term gains, it is equal to the tax payer's income tax rate, and for long term gains, it's between 15% and 20%. You can claim a consolation prize on realized losses by balancing them against gains, and only pay tax on net gains. But there's an exception, the so-called "wash sale" (Rundbrief 05/2010). If someone has had a particularily bad year and had more losses than gains, they can deduct up to $3,000 of those losses from regular income. If they've lost more than $3,000 in a year in the stock market, only $3,000 can be deducted in this way from regular income in the current year, but the remaining loss can be rolled over to following years.

Schedule SE (Self-employment Tax): Self-employed individuals use this form to calculate what they need to pay for Social Security (federal low-level retirement income) and medicare (federal health insurance for retirees).

I've mentioned here a while back that there's no need to submit any invoices or receipts with the tax return (Rundbrief 05/1998). Every U.S. bank or brokerage house will send detailed information on how much interest or dividend income was generated during the year, or which stocks were sold to the IRS on behalf of the account holder. Copies of these 1099 forms are also sent to the taxpayer each year at the end of January. The taxpayers also receive three copies of the "W-2" form from their employers, it lists the yearly income, and how much was already deducted from it in social security and income taxes. When submitting the tax return, the tax payer staples the "W-2" form to the return, unless it's transmitted electronically (called "e-filing"), in which case it's no longer necessary.

The IRS identifies taxpayers by their social security number (SSN), which every U.S. citizen automatically obtains at birth. Immigrants in some visa categories won't receive an SSN, and, quite interestingly, there's millions of illegal immigrants living in the U.S. without one. When these residents set out to dutifully pay their taxes, the IRS is looking the other way, as it wants tax income, and isn't interested in people's immigration status. In these cases, law-abiding taxpayers receive a "tax identification number" in lieu of the SSN. Either number goes on every tax form, including the aforementioned 1099, where it serves to identify individual taxpayers.

Before you start filling in tax forms, it is advisable to determine your tax category, called "filing status". In total, there's five different classes: 1) "Single" 2) "Married, filing jointly": if a married couple returns a single, combined tax return, regardless if both or only one spouse is working 3) "Married, filing separately": when two spouses file separate tax returns, which can be beneficial if their income is about the same 4) "Head of Household": for example if a single parent raises a child 5) "Widow/Widower with dependent child": this status may be selected after up to two years after one spouse has died. In general, depending on the filing status, the tax law offers different tax exemptions and varying amounts.

To make this more accessible, let's go through a specific example. Holger and Monika Mustermann are two Germans holding U.S. Greencards and are living in San Francisco with their two school-aged children. They've been residing in the U.S. for five years now, and for the entire year of 2013, they've been living and working in San Francisco. This is why they are paying taxes on their worldwide income to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. The married couple submits a joint return ("Married, filing jointly"). Monika works as a teacher at a public school in San Francisco and gets $55,000 a year. Holger is a self-employed author and made $80,000 in 2013. On the submitted 1040 form, Monika writes down her salary in line 7 and Holger's net income from self-employed work goes on line 12.

Holger calculates his gains from self-employed work by completing schedule C. Aside from that, the couple received $400 in interest savings accounts, $200 of which originated from a German bank account. They also received dividend payments of $1,300. All of their capital gains are listed as regular dividends on the 1099 form, and they're taxed at the the couple's income tax rate. In comparison, dividends categorized as "qualified" are only taxed with a lower rate between 15% and 20%, which applies to virtually all dividends paid by U.S. companies.

Although Holger and Monika have earned less than $1,500 in interest, they need to complete schedule B, since they own a foreign bank account in Germany. Holger also sold some Amazon stocks and gained $3,500, as he calculated in schedule D and then entered in line 13 of the 1040 form. The total income for the year 2013 in this example is therefore $140,200, as you can verify by adding the amounts $55,000 + $400 + $1,300 + $80,000 + $3,500. Since Holger is self-employed, he can deduct 50% of the social security payments he made, which lessens the total income by $5,652, which is now down to $134,548. This amount is called "adjusted gross income". Now it's time to deduct qualified expenses to reduce the taxable income even further. First off, the Mustermann family has deductible expenses of $12,800, as calculated in schedule A. The standard deduction for married couples is $12,200, which is $600 less than what the Mustermann family can deduct, so it makes sense for them to itemize their deductions explicitly in schedule A instead of taking the standard deduction.

The Mustermann family can further claim so-called "exemptions" for every family member living in their household. For the four of them, that's $3,900 per person. Although the family has to pay for childcare, since both parents are working, they won't receive the so-called "child care credit", because their combined income exceeds the limit. In line 57, Holger enters the amount of social security contributions he had to pay because he's self-employed. Holger also pre-paid $20,000 in estimated taxes and Monika's employer already withheld $8,250 in federal income tax contributions. All of the above considered, the family now owes $1,499 in federal income taxes. If they send in the income tax return by mail, they simply include a check for the amount of $1,499. If they opt for e-filing, they can conveniently pay the amount they owe by credit card.

Nicosia Cheese Company

Angelika I still remember the time when getting edible cheese in the U.S. was almost impossible. Back in the 80ies, when we were travelling cross country, the only kind of cheese for sale in supermarkets was usually sliced and shrink-wrapped Velveeta-branded chemical cheese surrogate. A few times we found good cheese, but it was always imported from Italy, the Netherlands, or France, and only the most popular varieties like Gouda or Camembert were available. I kept asking myself why on earth a country with so many cattle farms can't get their act together to produce better cheese.

But of course this lack of interesting cheese offerings was mainly caused to consumer demand. Most people wanted cheese solely to be stacked onto cheeseburgers or sandwiches. This changed dramatically towards the end of the 90ies, when the American continent discovered that cheese goes really well as a snack with wine, and nowadays, hand-crafted cheeses have become quite popular in regions with high culinary standards, like York City, Boston, San Francisco, Chicago, or Portland, where small cheese companies producing artisan cheeses are now booming.

In Marin and Sonoma county, north of Golden Gate Bridge, there's now a plethora of small cheese companies, which proudly produce artisan cheeses. Many outlets offer free tastings, similar to the vinyards in Napa and Sonoma county. When we were visiting Point Reyes the other day (see our oyster farm report: Rundbrief 06/2014), on our way home, we stopped in the small village of Nicasio. It's one of my favorite places, because it just seems like time has been standing still here, and I'm always fascinated that quiet places like this still exist not too far off from the hustle and bustle of the high-tech Bay Area. There's an organic cattle farm here which produces hand-crafted cheese, and they're called Nicasio Valley Cheese Company. They're using organic milk to make eight different cheeses. Since Michael and I prefer the strongly flavored varieties, our favorites are the "San Geronimo", which resembles Fontina and raclette cheeses, and the "Nicasio Square", which, according to the company's brochure, is similar to the Italian Taleggio. It's not surprising that these cattle farmers have discovered their passion for cheese: Their ancestors came over from Switzerland and bought land in Nicasio in 1919.

Top Products: Dryers for wetsuits and surf booties

Michael When I'm done surfing, I rinse off the wetsuit with fresh water to remove the sea salt, which would ruin the suit in no time. To do this, I simply take all the equipment with me under the bathroom shower and shortly hold the suit and the booties under the warm water before I move on to body care.

But how can you get the equipment dry again after use? I'm pretty sure you would agree that's quite important if you've ever tried to put on a cold wet wetsuit the next day -- that's so horrible that it ought to be against the Geneva Convention rules. Even if it's warm and dry outside, though, it takes a minimum of two days to get the suit to the point where its inside doesn't feel wet anymore. But the equipment needs to be ready to go on any given day, who knows, maybe the surf is up tomorrow?

That's why I spent about $60 on Ebay to buy a so-called "UK HangAir" monster coat hanger with a built-in fan. After hanging the wetsuit on the shower curtain rod and plugging in the power cable, the fan forces cold air into the suit from the top, which proceeds through the body until it exits through the arm and leg openings, and slowly wicks away the moisture from the suit's inside.

This procedure isn't for the impatient, as it can take up to five hours until the suit is dry, but you can then put it on immediately without the unpleasant feeling of cold rubber on your skin. The same holds true for the surf booties, they also tend to dry quite slowly because of the single small opening at the top, which doesn't wick away much moisture and if you don't let them dry completely, they'll inevitably develop a funky smell. Here's where another $60 device comes in handy: The "MaxxDry Boot Shoe and Glove Dryer" offers four plastic pillars with embedded fan vents, exhibiting a cold or warm stream of air, depending on the selected settings. If you put the boots over the pillars, so that the air vents protude into the boot leg, the air stream will dry the boots from the inside, and after the 3 hour timer expires, you can store the completely dried booties in your wardrobe.

And where do you store a nine-foot surfboard, while living in a rented appartment in San Francisco, without having access to a basement or attic, and the only other viable option being a shared garage where everything that's not bolted to the wall gets stolen the next day? That's why I ordered the so-called Surf Dogz wall rack, which consists of two metal bars, each mounted at an angle on a wooden base plate. Both of those are in turn mounted to the wall, right under the ceiling, with really thick screws. The surfboard goes on top of the bars which are padded with a rubbery material, to prevent slipping and scratching the board. How you can safely mount a weight-carrying item on a wall made of cardboard-thin plywood is going to be the topic of another edition of this newsletter, but rest assured that my surfboard is now safely stored. Figure 25 shows my home office with the board hovering high up over the sofa, where it doesn't take up valuable space and I can grab it any time to carry it down to the garage, put it into the car and drive down to the beach. To summarize: Three absolute top products this time!

Greetings from surfer paradise:

Angelika & Michael