In the days before high-tech wetsuits, when surfing was just beginning to catch hold in Bolinas, the town’s founding wave-riders would gather around bonfires built on Agate Beach. There, they told stories and began forming friendships, blissfully unaware of a future in which visiting surfers would swamp Bolinas on busy weekends.
Back then, all they had was the fire, each other and the waves. “The fire would draw everybody for warmth,” said Dennis Cuyler, who…