December 21, 2007 Friday

Winter Solstice 10:08 pm

 

Bolinas	Patch
11:20 am to 12:30 pm	2’ to 3’ Small weak waves
Medium fast outgoing tide	North breeze, slightly offshore
Sunny, high clouds, cold water	Ok session. Not great but worth the effort.

Earlier in the week I said ok to driving Bill, Kate’s father, around on Friday to do some Christmas shopping. Bill’s 85 years old and due to a bad right leg no longer can drive. I called Thursday afternoon to confirm and chatted with Ruth Anne. Since Bill was napping I told her about my driving Bill on Friday and wanted to confirm the time. She explained to me in a strong tone that she did not want Bill buying her some expensive present for Christmas and that she didn’t want Bill to go out on Friday. I asked her to leave me a phone message as to the time. When we returned from seeing the Christmas Carol at ACT in the city, there was no phone message for me. This morning I was up early and itching to go surfing, but no word from Bill. At 8:15 am Kate called her parents. “You can go surfing,” Kate shouted to me from the other room. “He’s doesn’t need to go out today.” Something is going on here, I don’t know what it is, but this was good news for me.

I got my stuff together to go surfing. I checked the latest swell and wind conditions on Stormsurf.com; big swell 13 feet and 14 seconds and a 10 mph north wind. Kate yesterday asked when was the Winter Solstice, the 21^st or the 22^nd. I look it up in the Tidelog. It’s the 21^s at 10:08 pm. So today is the shortest day of the year, sunrise at 7:22 am and sunset at 4:54 pm. I also noted that for today there were extreme tides, 6.9 ft high tide at 8:16 am to a -1.2 ft low tide at 3:22 pm.

I stopped to check out Stinson Beach. The park was open and as I pulled in there were only a couple of cars and they weren’t surf vehicles. Scott Tye yesterday told me in a phone conversation that the sand bars were in and the waves had good shape. The waves were huge swells that stretched across the length of the beach, and there was only one guy struggling to paddle out. With the camera at the ready I watched this lonely surfer duck dive under five walls of white water to finally make it out. After a short wait, he turned and stroked into huge late breaking wave, jumped up, angled down an overhead wall of water and quickly straighten out as the wave exploded around him. I got a picture of it. Going straight off eight-foot walls of terror is not my cup of tea I think I will head for Bolinas.

There were several cars parked along Brighton Ave at Bolinas with lots of activity of surfers handling surfboards. This is a good sign. I met Mary Wagstaff who was suiting up to go out. She had arrived earlier but the tide was too high. The waves at the Patch were pushing up against the cliff. She waited an hour or so for the tide to back off. She stated that Marty had come and gone, not bothering to go out, but now the Patch was breaking, small-fun size.

From the seawall at the bottom of the ramp, I could see that the tide was still fairly high. Waves were pushing up against both the left and right sea walls, making it difficult to walk down to the Patch. Due to the extreme tides, water was rushing out of the lagoon. There was a river of current from the mouth of the lagoon, past the Groin seawall, out fifty yards, then bending north. One could see ripples of the current straight out from the ramp. I have never seen that before. Needless to say, the current destroyed all waves at the Channel and at the Groin. I took a couple of pictures, chatted with Robert the carpenter from Larkspur, watched professor Steve struggle paddling in around a few sizeable shore-break waves to reach the ramp, and then I headed back to the car to suit up.

When I first entered the water, which was cold, I saw Robert ride a long fast right inside right wave. Maybe the inside is the spot today. I paddled way out there where Mary and a couple others were. Mary caught a small slow wave that died after 20 yards. She then paddled south over to the inside rights. Maybe she knows something I don’t know. I had trouble catching the waves. The swells would peak way out there, start to crest and then die, thus it was difficult to be in the correct location to catch them. Also, the waves were weak with little to no push behind them. I kept creeping in and creeping in to catch one. I finally got one. It looked like a three-foot wave when I started paddling for it. By the time I caught it and stood up, it had dropped to two feet. I rode it straight in. I was watching to see if the swell would build into a curl. No way. After about 20 feet, the wave dropped to one foot, then six inches and then it died. After this disappointing wave I did the same thing Mary had done. I paddled to the south and in to catch the inside right waves.

Good move, this was definitely the spot today. The waves broke over the rock portion of the reef and then wrapped into the sand portion of the beach, continuously breaking to the right to finally to form into a small wall and break upon the shore. The rides were long. One could ride a sizeable wave for a hundred yards. They were slow, small and not threatening. Following my Patch riding rule of studying the white water, I positioned myself over the rock portion of the reef and on the inside where the waves initially broke. Most of the others were about ten to twenty yards to the south over the sand bottom.  A couple of other surfers sat way out in front of me waiting for the set waves.

I caught several good long right waves. I waited for set waves that appeared to be walls that stretched to the south. One would think they were going to close out. But they didn’t. Due to the shape of the rocks and the sand bottom, the waves initially broke above the rocks and then continuously broke to the right all the way to the shore. On several I took off late with the wave feathering several feet in front of me, climbed to the top of the swell, stepped to the middle of the board to gain momentum, coasted pass the white water that was sliding down the wave in front of me to work back into the swell. Then it was cut back, let the swell build, move through a breaking section and then do it again and again until the wave broke on the sand.

Unfortunately the wait between sets was long and the water was cold. Definitely time for a new wetsuit and my booties have holes in them. The shape of the waves changed with the rapid out going tide. Soon the outside rock was totally exposed, and then the rocks of the inside reef began to appear. The force of the waves diminished as the water receded. I had been out for an hour, my hands were turning numb, and I had a million things to do for Christmas. It was time to go in. Once on the beach I looked back out at the surf. The people still in the water were way, way out there, far beyond the exposed outside rock. The entire Patch reef, which consists of hundreds of rocks, was totally out of the water and it was still another three hours until low tide.

December 14, 2007 Friday

Bolinas	Patch
9:30 am to 11:00 am	2’ to 3’, sets to 4’, occasional 5’
Mid tide, raising tide	No wind, glassy
Sunny, clear and cold	Another good session

I was running late this morning. Kate was ready to back out of the garage and I hadn’t loaded the board yet. I dashed to my Jeep, which was parked on the street at the base of our driveway and started the engine. Kate was backing down the driveway; I quickly turned on the wipers to get the morning dew off the windshield. S-C-R-A-P-E! The dew was frozen. Kate had backed into the street by now.

“Kate, Ice! I have to use my Wisconsin Badger Ice Scrapper.” She traveled on while I grabbed the ice scrapper from the front-door pocket. Son Kevin had given me this about five years ago. It’s bright red, with a clear-plastic triangle shaped head with a sharp blade and a long red handle with a cartoon badger printed on it. One to two times a year I need to use this device. It’s a good thing I keep it in the car, and it sure does a good job; far better than a credit card.

I had no expectations on surf conditions. I knew that the web sites were predicting an increase in the size of the swell. Given that we had ended up at Stinson on Monday and Wednesday, I stopped to check it out. I parked next to the Parkside Snack Bar, grabbed my camera and my Wisconsin Badger traveling coffee mug. The swell had definitely come up; Stinson was four foot and walled. I took a couple of pictures for the fun it, used the head and started on my way to Bolinas. Given the size of the waves at Stinson I was hopeful for some waves at Bolinas.

Half way around the Bolinas Lagoon near the entrance of the Audubon Society compound, I reached for the travel cup for a quick sip of coffee. It’s not there. My Wisconsin Badger Travel Coffee Cup was not there. I had left it at Stinson. I remembered exactly where I had put it. I left it on top of that large round green plastic vent in front of the showers. “Turn around and get it. When are you ever going to get back to Madison, Wisconsin to purchase a replacement?” I said to myself. Thus I turned around and went back to Stinson Beach. There it was exactly where I knew it was. I took a classic picture of my bright red travel cup sitting on that vent with a four-foot wall of water in the background.

At Bolinas I saw Ray the Petaluma fireman and Mary Wagstaff’s cars there with their boards gone. They’re in the water, that’s a good sign. They were out at the Patch along with three other surfers. The waves looked small and inconsistent, but definitely rideable. I took a couple of pictures. The above picture is Mary turning into a good three footer. Robert the Larkspur carpenter showed up. He had his usual negative things to say about the surf conditions. “It’s better than Monday and Wednesday. I’m suiting up,” I told him.

Mary and Ray were way out there by themselves; beyond the outside rock, which was underwater. The others were inside catching the good right breaking waves. I was the eighth person to enter the water. I paddled out to where Mary and Ray were. Mary greeted me and mentioned the waves were fun but she was cold and about to call it a day. Mary always arrives early. She had already been out for two hours. The water was indeed cold. The water temperature had dropped. I’m not sure what the temperature was but it must be close to 50 degrees because it was instant ice cream headaches anytime you put your head under water.

“Hey Knee-High every time you come out the waves arrive,” shouted Mary to me. And she was right, just as I pulled up a set of good waves came through. There I was looking at a four-foot wall of water coming right at me; it was cresting and about to break. After her comment, I had to take it. I paddled out. I could see that it was starting to break. At the Patch the waves are gentle with flat take-offs. This wave started to break; I turned around and caught the white water that was sliding down the crest of the wave. I have done this before; I know one can catch the white water and maneuver into the swell. That’s what I did. I caught the white water, gained some momentum and pushed out into the swell of the wave, which was lining up across another peak. I rode this wave a long ways, cutting back to let the swell build again into another section. The Patch waves are slow, but the rides are long. I rode this one all the way to the inside big rock which was exposed. I almost hit it. Later on I did the same thing catching the white water, riding into the swell portion of the wave and cutting back and cutting back to have another long, long ride.

Today there were two peaks that connected. I was at the north most one. I could catch a wave at the north peak, go right, gain some speed and slide into the second peak. Both peaks are defined by the contour of the bottom. When coming into the second peak, I could see that the bottom was shallow and thus causing the formation of the second peak. If one could get through the second peak, the wave would line up for a long, long ride. But it was difficult to make the second peak. For me, it kept breaking in front of me and I couldn’t get into those long line-ups. I kept saying to myself, squat down and grab a rail to push past the white water of the second peak. Easier said than done. I kept trying to get high in the curl of the second peak, step to the middle of the board and ride the curl past the peak. Most of the time this didn’t work. Two or three times I made it and had long, long rides.

By being at the north peak, I could catch some left breaking waves. I caught several good lefts that went a long ways over some very swallow water. I caught one good left four-foot wall where I managed to get high in the curl, step to the middle of the board, planted one foot on the right rail and the other on the left rail and then froze for three or four seconds while I shot through a long well formed curl.

After an hour an older surfer paddled out. He caught my attention. I’m 62 and this gentleman must be ten years older than myself. He didn’t have the strength of the younger guys and thus struggled paddling out, paddling into waves and standing up. But he was there and doing it. Here he was in his mid-seventies, 200 yards offshore, in 52-degree water and pushing the limits of his physical strength. But he was doing it. I chatted with him briefly. A set wave came in; I paddled to get over it, he turned and started paddling to catch it. “He’s too far in front of the wave,” I thought to myself. “It will break right on him.” I paddled over the top of the wave as it crested and then looked back to follow him. The wave broke; I couldn’t see him, then after a few seconds he was up and riding the white water and managed to push out into the swell portion of the wave. He got a descent ride. What an inspiration. Will I be able to be out here at age 75?

The waves got better the longer I was out there. At the end of my session, two sets of large waves came through. These waves broke much further out than the other waves. The first set peaked about 50 yards south of my position. I saw Dan Hoag Jr. stroking out at great speed to catch the first wave of the set. Dan Jr. who is my son Kevin’s age (32) is an excellent surfer. At the last moment, he whipped his board around and with two stokes caught the wave. As I was paddling over the wave, I got an excellent view of him coming left on this head-high, clean, wall of water.

When the second set came through, I was in position to connect with a big right peak. I caught the first wave of the set, turned right and looked down a perfectly shaped, head-high, wall. These set waves broke beyond the two peaks, thus there was no problem maneuvering around the second peak. Instead this wave unfolded continuously in front of me. I stayed high in the curl, shot down this long fast face, cut back, paused for the wave to build and again shot through another fast section. The wave went on and on and I milked it for all its worth, all the way to the inside rock. Dan Jr. was paddling out as I approached the inside. I gave him a fist in the air wave and headed for shore.

That was it. I was out for an hour and a half, exhausted and cold; my fingers were numb, and it was time to get out. What a good session, just another day in paradise.

December 12, 2007 Wednesday

Stinson Beach	In front of houses of the Calles
9:30 am to 11:00 am	2’ to 3’, sets to 4’
High, up coming tide	Slight on-shore breeze
Sunny, high clouds and cold	Good shape, small curls

As I pulled into the parking lot at Bolinas I saw Marty sitting in his car reading the paper and his board still on the top; not a good sign. He greeted me with, “There’s nothing.” He was right. There were no waves; the swells mushed up against the seawall at the base of the ramp at the end of Brighton Street. It was the same conditions as last Monday, the permanent high tide affect caused by deep water due to the removal of all the sand by last week’s storm.

Steve the poet and professor at Mills College paddled up from the end of his morning exercise of paddling from the ramp to the Groin wall and back. He mentioned he thought he saw a couple of rideable waves on the Seadrift side of the channel.

“Are you going over the hill to teach today?” Marty asked Steve.

“Not today, it’s a stay at home and work day. It’s end of term and I have to grade papers,” Steve stated with that ‘do I have to’ expression on his face.

Since we had such a good session Monday at Stinson, Marty and I decided to drive there to check it out. Nate McCarthy, Will Hutinson’s partner in the Proof Lab surf shop at Tam Junction in Mill Valley, and his girl friend were parked next to the Parkside Snack Bar outside of the park. They recently moved to Bolinas and surf every morning before heading over the hill to open up the shop.

“Two waves, I’m going out for two waves and nothing more. I would already be out there if it wasn’t so cold,” Nate greeted us.

Marty and I suited up and joined them. They were out in front of the houses of the Calles, which is where we were on Monday. The surf looked the same up and down the beach, but I figured that since Nate is such a good surfer he knows where the best peak is located. What a good call. Glassy knee high curls, my kind of wave. No fear factor, just pure fun.

I asked Nate how’s business. “We’re keeping the lights on,” he replied. I then inquired about any up coming sales on wet suits. I need a new one. “Come in to the shop and I will give you a good price on a suit.” Great. The message was clear. Don’t wait for a sale he will give a discount. No problem, I’ll be there. I believe in supporting friends and local businesses. Nate was true to his word. I saw him catch a couple of great left curls and then he left. “Time to go to work,” and he and his girl friend, who is also an excellent surfer, were gone.

So Marty and I had the break to ourselves. Beautiful glassy waves that curled at the top, landed in the middle of the swell and then slid to the bottom. This allowed one to catch the top curl and power through the swell at the bottom of the wave to pass the breaking white water, resulting in long, fast rides. Marty is improving everyday. He still can only go left, but there were plenty of good left waves, as well as good rights. I saw Marty catch a couple of good three-foot walls that he managed to ride a long ways before they closed out.

Marty and I were the only ones out but we managed to run into each other. Marty was a good ten yards to the south of me, when a sizeable four-foot wall came through. I paddled out to meet it, quickly turned around to catch it as it was feathering at the top. It was perfect right breaking wave. I barely got into it. It quickly started to close out in front of me; I was high in the curl, stepped to the center of the board and squatted down to gain some speed. I was making it, screaming down the line, and then I saw Marty coming in the other direction right at me. I froze. He froze. I was in the middle of the board and could not turn. We collided. The nose of my board went over the deck of his board and I dove off and so did he. Fortunately, we were not hurt and the boards were not damaged. I think my board hit Marty in the leg, but he claimed he was ok. After that, I kept a close eye on where he was located and avoided paddling for the same waves he was going for.

I caught one left wave that was extremely fast. It was three-foot wall; I took off late and quickly moved to the center of the board, gaining enough speed to get through the first section. The wave built up again, I got high in the curl, squatted in the center of the board and hung on. I was perfectly positioned in the wave, it curled over the top of the deck and I shot through a second and third section before the wave collapsed five feet from shore.

“Loren, my feet are numb,” Marty said after an hour and a half in the water. Despite wearing gloves, I was losing feeling in my fingers. “Marty it’s time to get out.” We both caught one more and went in. Aside from the cold water, it was a good session.

It was a beautiful and extremely clear morning. When coming down the Panoramic Highway, the Farllon Islands were crystal clear on the horizon. I could see the contours of one of them. “You should take a picture,” I said to myself. I had the camera at the ready. It was on the front seat with the 300 mm lens attached. I hesitated and then decided to do it. I pulled over at the top of the Insult Hill, the last up hill portion of the Dipsea trail where it connects with the highway. I took ten shots of the Bolinas-Stinson Bay. I even switched lenses to my 50 to 200 mm one to get better wide-angle view. Here I learned there is a real difference in the lenses. With the smaller one I could capture the entire bay. With the big one, even at its most distant setting, one cannot frame the whole bay. Afterwards, as I viewed the pictures on the computer, the shots were ok, not spectacular as I was hoping for.

All in all, it was another great morning in paradise.

December 10, 2007 Monday

Bolinas	Groin
8:00 am to 9:00 am	Flat
High rising tide	Slight offshore breeze
Clear warm sunny morning

What a disappointment. I had such high hopes for some good waves. Last week was the biggest swell of the season. Mavericks hit 50 feet; too big for paddle-ins. I went out at Bolinas last Wednesday and it was too big: 8 to ten feet walls of water, cold, choppy, thick boomers. I decided I wasn’t having fun and got out after one wave.

So I was hopeful for this morning. Buoy report was 6 feet at 14 seconds. Weather report was favorable and Stormsurf was predicting 5 mph east winds. When I pulled into the parking lot I saw Marty’s car and Doug’s pick up truck with their boards still in the vehicles, not a good sign. They are usually in the water when I arrive.

At Kate’s suggestion I was trying something new. I had the camera out and the big lens attached when I left Mill Valley, in case I pass some good photo opportunity I would be ready. I grabbed my camera and my coffee and headed for the ramp.

The ramp was being pounded by a big high tide surge and I could not get to the wall to check out the surf. I noted that all and I mean all the sand was gone. At the base of the ramp were exposed rocks I had never seen before. I walked up to the cliff to check the Groin. That is where I shot the above photo. The shore break was pounding on the wall of the house on the left of the ramp causing a fierce backwash to ripple back out to the impact zone.

The Groin was absolutely flat. Swells were coming through but they were not breaking. Last week’s storm has removed all of the sand, thus it is deep around the Groin wall, deep enough that the swells are not breaking.

Doug and Marty who had just returned from buying coffee soon joined me. A few minutes later Dan Hoag and his son Dan Jr. arrived. All five of us were very disappointed.

“Could we being seeing the future here?” I asked of my friends. With global warming and raising seas, Bolinas could develop a perpetual high tide where the water is constantly up against the sea wall and the cliff and the Groin wall is submerged under two feet of water.

Discouraged, we decided to check out Stinson. Matt Price met us in the parking lot and Marty, Doug, Matt and I drove to Stinson.

Good call. Stinson was rideable…in fact it had some size, four feet with sets to five and six feet. We went out in front of the houses north of the park. This section is known as the Calles. Due to the high tide and lack of sand, the waves were breaking high on the beach and thus forming some excellent peaks. I got some great rides. I remember one four-foot left that formed a perfect line. As one section was feathering into a steep curl, I leaned into the wave, gained some speed, shot pass the curl, backed off a little as another section formed and I leaned into that one and again shot pass the collapsing curl. Great ride. Great session. We were out for two hours. I got out due to the cold. My hands and toes were getting numb. We agreed and congratulated ourselves for making the call to go to Stinson. We all plan to meet again on Wednesday.