April 2, 2008 Wednesday

 

Bolinas	Straight out from the Ramp
9:10 am to 10:40 am	2’ sets to 3’
High tide (5.1 ft at 9:18 am)	No wind, perfectly still
High overcast	Great fun session

“What am I doing?” I said to myself. “I’m the King of the Knee-High Curl and I’m standing here watching my friend Professor Steve ride these perfect knee-high curls. I’ve got go to out!” 

I had convinced myself to kiss it off today. I wouldn’t even take pictures. Stormsurf.com’s prediction was, “No swell of interest forecast – less than 2 ft.” Small waves were breaking out front at Bolinas. The Patch was barely breaking and the Channel waves were breaking inside the Groin wall. Besides I had things to do: taxes, take water samples to Branson, catch up on the Surf Journal entries, pay bills, work in the yard, finish my book on Visa, etc, etc. 

At the top of the Ramp, Professor Steve pulled up in his ancient Volvo, wetsuit on for his morning exercise. 

“Hey, I hear you are quite a journalist,” he greeted me, referring to my article that was printed in the Marin Independent Journal this past Sunday. Steve had not seen it but was told that he was in it. I promised to email him a copy. He pulled out his longboard and I accompanied him down the ramp. Steve asked if I would also email him the photo I took of him last week. Of course I would. 

“Steve, get out there, I’ll take your picture this morning.” As soon as I got back on the seawall and the camera turned on, Steve was taking off on a nice little left peeler. I quickly focused and captured the end of his ride. I thought to myself that I would hang in here for a few more minutes to see if I can get a couple more shots of him. Within a brief ten-minute period, he caught another three great little waves. I got pictures of him on all of them. He would finish a ride, paddle out, here would come another one, he would turn around and stroke into another glassy curl. That did it. I’ve got to go out. 

While suiting up, Steve, who never stays out very long, was already out of the water and came driving by. “There’s some great little waves out there,” he waved and drove on. 

There was nobody out there when I entered the water. Surely others will show up. Often when one person catches a few waves others observe it and join in, but not this time. For an hour and a half I had the break all to myself. 

The waves broke in one small area, just north of the Ramp about mid-point in the seawall. With a small swell and a high tide the waves were breaking close to shore, much closer than Monday. They were two feet with sets to three feet. The peak was a perfect “A” frame with waves peeling both left and right. I would ride one left and then one right, then left again, and then right again, left, right, one after another. I never caught so many waves in such a short period. The waves were consistent. I would finishing riding one, paddle back out to the peak, wait thirty seconds and here would come another one. On the lefts, I would get high in the curl, step to the center of the board, lean into the wave to pick up speed and cruise across the faces of these small waves right up to the shore, within three feet of dry sand. 

The rights were even more makeable than the lefts due to the deeper water on the inside near the shore. I would go right on the set waves, which were solid walls of water across the entire impact zone. The right curls would hold up. I could drop into them, cut right, climb high in the curl and lock the inside rail under the lip of the curl, stand there frozen and glide to the shore, literally into six inches of water. 

At one point between sets, I paused, took a deep breath and looked around. “This is surfer paradise,” I thought to myself. It was perfectly still, there was no wind, breeze or breath of moving air. The surface was tabletop smooth and the water had warmed up a few degrees. The high cloud cover cast a grey glow over the hills behind the Bolinas Lagoon and Stinson Beach. It was beautiful, in front of me was a continuous pulse of perfect little curls and I had it all to myself. I was stunned by it all. 

This is a day I won’t forget for a long time.