Nature adds exciting twists to the hunt

To Maryann Spahr, the small brightly colored fishing float she found on the ocean beach just south of Grayland was the crown jewel of the small collection in her Raymond home. Twice a month she bundles up and ventures to the coast with her faithful Labrador, Abbey, to test her beachcombing skills in the driftwood piles and ocean grasses. She considers the trips important for her -- and her dog's -- mental and physical health.

For Maryann, what was most special this time about her find was the size and location of two barnacles on the float, growing inside the indentations of one of the zeros and the loop of the six in the float identification number -- 14006. The next best part was that it was found on her birthday.

Doug Baginski, a senior park aide at Grayland Beach State Park, who grew up in North Cove just south of Grayland, has been beachcombing regionally since he was a kid. He said he roams the local beaches whenever he can find time but especially after major storms.

Doug's "score of a lifetime" happened shortly after the vicious windstorm that lashed the coast early in February. Half buried in the wet sand under some ocean grass flattened down by the high tide, Doug found an intact, almost perfect, grapefruit-size, handblown Japanese glass float. "At first I thought it was just the butt end of a beer bottle," said Doug. Unfortunately the glass ball was missing the mesh net holder that sometimes accompanies the floats, but otherwise it was in remarkably good condition.

Doug's glass float is his crown jewel among a collection of eight or nine other smaller glass floats he has discovered on local beaches over the years.

I would bet beachcombing has been around about as long as beaches. Like Maryann and Doug, as a youngster growing up on Puget Sound I remember the thrill of looking for flotsam and jetsam among piles of driftwood on remote beaches, trying to spy some dazzling foreign artifact that may have washed up during a recent storm or high tide.

JEFF LARSEN / P-I

Maryann Spahr of Raymond holds up a fishing float she found on the beach near Grayland. She's with her dog, Abbey.

My brothers and I never really found much. True beachcombers, I've learned since, have much more patience than we had. To us kids, the thrill was more in the hunt and expectation that we might find a glass float or a small fishing buoy.

This year I decided to write and photograph a beachcombing story to advance Grayland's Driftwood Show and Glass Float Roundup in March. Truth be known, I hoped to rekindle that beachcomber mentality I had as a youngster. I found out I still don't have the patience.

The annual beachcombing event is co-sponsored by the Cranberry Coast Chamber of Commerce along with the Twin Harbors Beach Association. The glass float roundup is in only its third year, but the driftwood show has been around since 1962.

The "Cranberry Coast" refers to that section of ocean shoreline from Tokeland just south of Grayland north to Westport. The moniker refers to the large number of commercial cranberry bogs that flank state Route 105 between Westport and Tokeland. Beachcombers flock to the annual event from all over.

My first plan was to write and photograph the story on the weekend of Feb. 4-5. After I set up camp at Grayland Beach State Park, I planned to interview and photograph beachcombers in their natural habitat -- that is, if I could find any on the miles and miles of beach.

JEFF LARSEN / P-I

The surf was still up at Westhaven State Park in Westport a week after a major winter storm lashed the coast.

My plan was to focus on just the Cranberry Coast beaches, which are slightly more remote and less commercial than Ocean Shores and some of the more northerly beaches. Besides, the big March beachcombing event is held in Grayland, on one of the southern-most beaches of the Cranberry Coast.

In January I decided to switch my plans to the following weekend, Feb. 10-11, avoiding the beaches on Super Bowl Sunday. I figured folks might be more interested in the Seahawks than beachcombing.

On Feb. 3-4 one of the worst winter storms to sweep into the state from the Pacific in about 10 years hammered the Cranberry Coast -- and I wasn't there. The region suffered some minor flooding, major property damage along the shoreline and substantial shore erosion caused by the high tide coupled with high winds. From what I heard, it wasn't a fun weekend to be in Grayland.

The first Friday after the storm -- Feb. 10 -- when I arrived at Grayland Beach State Park (one of my favorites in the state, by the way), most of the high water on the coast had receded from the roads, but the winds were still howling and a couple of the beach access roads on the 10-mile stretch of state Route 105 between Westport and Grayland were still flooded. Luckily the state park dodged any major flooding or wind damage.

JEFF LARSEN / P-I

Beachcombers make their way along the well-eroded bank of the beach near Westport's Lighthouse State Park.

Most importantly for me, because of the vicious storm the previous weekend, Cranberry Coast beach beachcombers were out in force. Driven by the extreme wave action, tons of fresh flotsam and jetsam had settled in among the driftwood stacks on beaches. Some of the materials may have spent decades circling in the ocean currents before the power of the storm surge finally broke them loose and pushed it ashore.

In some ares, fresh pickings piled up in stacks as high as 30 feet in some areas. The beaches were transformed practically overnight into a driftwood artist's paradise.

For beachcombers such as Maryann Spahr and Doug Baginski, as they both mentioned, the odds of finding something special dramatically increase after a storm. They said the excitement of the hunt and seeing how nature's wrath has changed their favorite beaches are what makes beachcombing so worthwhile.

Hey, beachcombing isn't an Olympic sport yet -- about the only physical endeavor that isn't, it seems -- but you wouldn't know it by reading the brochure for the event next month at the Grayland Community Hall.

The glass float roundup is kind of like an old-fashioned Easter egg hunt. Visitors can buy a "hunting license" at the hall for $1 and get information about beach areas where "lucky sand dollars" can be found. Once they find a lucky sand dollar, they can return to the hall and redeem it for a new float blown by a local glass artist. Local residents get dibs on 20 of the glass floats. The rest are reserved for out-of-town visitors.

JEFF LARSEN / P-I

A fisherman's float grew barnacles while it was at sea before washing ashore on the Washington Coast near Grayland.

The judged driftwood show is open to only "non-professionals" (I didn't know there were professionals). Small -- very small -- cash prizes are awarded through three places in a variety of categories, with very strict criteria that are listed in the brochure.

Over the weekend don't miss the "tracking flotsam" talk and slide show or the artists-in-action presentations. Glass ball experts will be on hand to answer questions about authenticity or where your ball may have come from. Driftwood will be for sale and there will be driftwood displays by local artists.

The show is always held the third weekend in March, no matter what the weather.

Driftwood Show and Glass Float Roundup -- 800-473-6018; www.2thebeach.org

Grayland Beach State Park -- 925 Cranberry Road, Grayland; 360-267-4301; reservations (necessary) at www.parks.wa.gov or 888-226-7688

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