Robert McClean

   Bob and I were good friends.  We surfed together, I sat in with him in his band ("Feather" with Dave St. John), and I knew Bob's parents and younger brothers and sister.  We took a 14' outboard motorboat over to Catalina and surfed LIttle Harbor and Ben Weston.  Bob and I also went down to Baja and surfed around Ensenada. Ernie Posey, Bob McClean and I used to drive up to Alta/Utah and Sun Valley/Idaho, sleeping in my '65 VW panel van, on ski trips.  However, after we went off to college, I lost track of Bob.

 

   In 1975, I was driving down State Street in Santa Barbara, visiting my sister who lived there, and I saw Bob standing on a street corner eating an ice cream cone.  I went around the block and to make sure it was him ... and it was.  For the next couple of days, we surfed together at the old oil piers (south of Rincon) and at Leadbetters.  Still, Bob was different ... mentally.  We laughed a lot, but his comments were random and he repeatedly stared off toward the horizon.  The next thing I heard, Bob was dead.  I still wish I could hear his laugh...