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ARTICLE. It seems ready to take flight, the ghostly figure surmounting the distinctive A-frame located above Miramar Beach where the Arroyo de la Medio spills into the Pacific.
Most people see an angel, but it is actually someone with a higher celestial rank.
The apparition with his arms outstretched is Odin, king of the Viking gods. Known as the God of Creation in Norse mythology, Odin was also the god of art, culture, and wisdom, the patron of artists and poets.
The sculpture is the work of artist/photographer Michael Powers, in an homage to his Viking roots. He conceived the A-frame over which Odin presides—which was originally called The Temple—as a refuge for musicians, artists, writers and poets.
The entire compound—which includes three geodesic domes—is constructed using natural materials from local forests, recycled salvage and random treasures that wash up on Miramar Beach.
The A-frame is built in the style of a Norwegian stave church—using poles or “staves” —and was constructed starting in 1973 using long eucalyptus trunks harvested from the hills above El Granada. The main timbers in the A-frame are from an old water tower that once stood next to Cabrillo Highway.
Inside the A-frame, the hood over the central fireplace is actually the shell of a World War Two harbor mine cut in half. Powers acquired it from a ship dismantler in Oakland.
The statue of Odin emerged from the need to encase the steel pipe chimney of that fireplace in cement. Powers carried the cement in five gallon buckets up a ladder bridge and gradually crafted the image of Odin one bucket at a time. Each bucket weighed nearly a hundred pounds. It took more than 150 trips to finish the job.
Powers says he built his compound “as a place for meditation and worship” where “creative types and searchers can get together and exchange energy. The whole center is dedicated to higher consciousness, healing and the maintenance of physical and spiritual health.”
Over the years, the compound has been home to recording studios, a photography studio, a yoga studio and a variety of artists and musicians as well as numerous spiritual gatherings including drum circles and sound healings.
At the exact center of the compound stands a 21-foot stone monolith built around a redwood log that was delivered by the tides on Miramar Beach.
“It must have taken years for it to wash through the river system and find its way into the ocean where I found it,” says Michael Powers, “To me that is something spiritual. Things happen as they should. So much of this place is suggested by the natural world around me. People often ask me, ‘Did you build this?’ I usually answer that I was just following orders.”
Who is That Hovering Above Miramar Beach? by Martin Koughan
News and updates will be posted on the History Association’s website: halfmoonbayhistory.org.
Local World Class Photographer Michael Powers’s Last Photo of His 79th Year
HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Michael Powers turned 80, recently. Living in Miramar since the 1960s, Michael has seen the Coastside change.
Yes, the beach used to roll up right to his door in Miramar, by the Medio (Miramar) Bridge, in the 1960s. The US Army Corp of Engineers has admitted that the Jetty Breakwater is the cause of erosion for the Miramar bluffs, south of the Jetty.
More Michael: www.wildinspirit.com
Michael Powers 79 years and 364 days as of August 7th, 2020.
Michael Powers’ idea to save the Miramar frontage.
Birthday Party Photographer was Steven King
Dear family & friends,
A collision last week with an out-of-control mountain biker on Mt. Montara left me with a profusely bleeding hand, but it also got me thinking. Since I believe that everything that happens has some greater purpose and meaning, I could not accept this “accident” as anything less than a divine revelation. I wondered, was this yet another message from the Great Spirit?
Then the startling news came from Alaska that a passenger on the UnCruise ship where my daughter Marika was a guide had been found infected with the Covid 19 virus. Both these incidents happening so close together showed me what a scary and unpredictable world that we live in, and put a totally new spin on the 80th birthday letter I was trying to write. I came to realize that it was very important not to just speak about myself, but about, and for, all of us.
By all of us, I mean my family and friends of course. Yet this pandemic has succeeded in uniting not just us, but the entire human population of the earth in a common spirit of unknowing. Still, I would like to believe the spiritual pundits who claim the Covid19 epidemic is really a great and powerful medicine that has come to bring healing to our planet. At least I sense its presence among us is no accident, and it definitely brings some deeper meaning and purpose to us all.
So the coming of my 80th birthday has reminded me, perhaps more powerfully than ever before, just how precious life is… and how having beautiful companions like you with whom to share this great adventure really is. My dear family & friends, I truly love you greatly and feel you love me too. Let’s just do our very best now, to stay healthy and take good care of each other.
Sincerely, Michael
Back in 1955, my friend Galen said it pretty well too…
Bio:
The Tsunami Rangers are an ‘extreme condition’ sea kayaking team based in Northern California. They have been featured in numerous books, magazine articles, and television productions, including National Geographic, ESPN’s Expedition Earth (circumnavigating Easter Island by kayak), and Discovery Channel adventure specials. The Rangers have also produced their own action-packed paddling adventure videos, and literally wrote the book on extreme sea kayaking.
Tsunami Ranger Commander Michael Powers, the face of the Tsunami Rangers AE Ambassador Team, is a photojournalist and filmmaker whose efforts for the past 20 years have been directed increasingly towards sea kayaking expeditions around the world with a larger purpose. In 2005 Michael co-founded Ocean Studio, an alliance of adventure photographers, writers and filmmakers, working together to nurture a deeper understanding and empathy for the natural world.
His stories and photographs have been published in Sea Kayaker, Paddler, Canoe & Kayak, Outside Magazine, National Geographic Adventure and other major outdoor adventure publications. He and fellow Tsunami Ranger Eric Soares co-authored the book, EXTREME SEA KAYAKING, published by McGraw-Hill. More recently he published the coffee table format book WILD IN SPIRIT, featuring his kayaking & mountain climbing adventures around the world. www.wildinspirit.com
Michael is currently planning sea kayaking expeditions to Costa Rica and Cuba and will be capitalizing on the portability and performance of our AdvancedFrame kayaks for his expeditions.
You can learn more about the Tsunami Rangers at www.tsunamirangers.com
You can learn more about Michael Powers and his publications at www.wildinspirit.com and Ocean Studio at www.oceanstudios.net
Tsunami Rangers 30th Anniversary Race
June 7, 2015 @ 11:30 AM
Join the Tsunami Rangers for their 30th Anniversary Race. Racing from Michael Powers’ house in Miramar to an undisclosed spot on the other side of the Mavericks wave where they must beach their boats and touch land before returning to the finish line.
Bring some food and join the potluck. Listen to music by King Cajon and the Country Gentlemen.
Boats must be on the beach and ready to go by 11:30!
Contact Michael at 650-726-4923 if you are interested in participating.
See the article in the Half Moon Bay Review
Visit the Tsunami Ranger website for their history and some world class photos. http://tsunamirangers.com/
The Tsunami Rangers
More Coastside History on Coastside Buzz
Half Moon Bay History Association Reaches Major Milestone: New Museum Construction Begins
PRESS RELEASE.
April 19, Half Moon Bay, California. The Half Moon Bay History Association (HMBHA) has received all permits to begin construction of a state-of-the-art museum behind the old town jail at 503 Johnston Street.
The land, leased from the City of Half Moon Bay, includes a large building with century-old origins. An entirely new building will be built inside the old structure, while keeping the original historic exterior. Construction will begin immediately, and is expected to last twelve months. The new museum will meet LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards, and will include solar panels and LED lighting.
HMBHA has secured an agreement with Weldon Exhibits, the Bay Area’s nationally renowned designers and fabricators of museum exhibits. Weldon will work closely with HMBHA to create static and interactive experiences about all things historical on the Half Moon Bay Coastside. Weldon will construct exhibits offsite while the new museum is being built.
News and updates will be posted on the History Association’s website: halfmoonbayhistory.org.
For more information, please contact:
Dave Olson
Museum Project Manager, HMB History Association
650.387.3618 mobile
[email protected]
Communications Manager, HMB History Association
650.554.8467 mobile
[email protected]
Author: Coastside Buzz
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