January 13, 2008 Sunday

Bolinas	Straight out from the ramp
9:00 am to 10:30 am	4’ to 6’, sets were overhead
Medium, up coming tide	Slight north crosswind
Sunny and clear	Big powerful waves, a good session

Yesterday after the Mavericks Surf Contest, Kevin and I headed to Proof Lab, the surf shop in Tam Junction in Mill Valley, to purchase wetsuits. We both needed them. My wetsuit was old, had holes in it and was too big now that I have lost 30 pounds. We went to Proof Lab to support our local surf shop and more than that to support Nate and Will, the young guys who own the place. Will went to Branson and graduated with my daughter Allison. He knows her well and Allison also knows Nate. A few years ago when Allison was a part time dance instructor at Roco, a dance studio across the street from the surf shop, and at that time Nate ran the Roco’s childcare center for the mothers who took dance classes there. Per Allison, Nate was very good with those little kids. Also, I know Nate from surfing at Bolinas. Nate lives out on the Mesa in Bolinas and surfs in the mornings before opening up the shop. 

Will was there and he outfitted both of us in good wetsuits. I purchased an XCEL LS (large-short) and Kevin got an O’Neil ML (medium-long). Kevin also bought some XCEL 5mm booties. I wanted a pair but Kevin got the last size 9 pair. I will return.

After purchasing wetsuits, Kevin was anxious to go surfing to try them out. It was 4:00 pm, and there was no way we could get there before the sun goes down. As a compromise, Kevin talked me into going out to Muir Beach to check the waves. So off we went. The swell and waves were big. Two guys were out and the waves were walled and overhead. We also checked out the pub at the Pelican Inn and had an Anchor Porter each. We vowed to hit it early the next morning.

At 8:00 am we headed for Bolinas. It was sunny, warm, the Mavericks swell was still pumping, the waves were four to six feet with sets overhead and it was crowded. There were over thirty people in the water. Most of them were straight out from the ramp. The channel wasn’t happening due to the missing sand and the strong incoming current. The Patch looked ill formed and inconsistent.  Straight out from the ramp was the best break.

Knowing the Mavericks swell was still happening, I brought my Bob Miller big wave board. This is the one I purchased seven years ago from Randy, my old Visa buddy. It’s narrow, thick, 9 ft 2 inches, pintail and a lot of rocker. The board paddles fast and due to the rocker is very good in big steep waves. I had made the right choice. For Bolinas the swell was big, powerful and the waves were pushing a lot of water. The breaking wave slid at the top and then built into steep curls. One had to wait until the white water was starting to slide down the face to catch them and then let the wave build to drop into a steep section.

When I first padded out I connected with Lou, a Bolinas regular, who rides a boogie board. He lives on the Mesa and often checks out RCA and Palomarin before coming to Bolinas. Lou is a Viet Nam veteran with shrapnel still in his leg, which is why he rides a boogie board. I was asking Lou about conditions at Palomarin when he alerted me to an approaching sizable wave. “Go for it Loren, it’s yours.” I didn’t even think about it, the wave was cresting, white water was forming at the top, I turned and stroked into it. Normally with a wave this size I would hesitate, but due to my chatting with Lou and with his “go for it” encouragement, there was no fear on my part, I just went for it. I pushed into the wave, went down a big drop and faced a head-high wall of water. With considerable force and speed, I angled left down the wave as it closed out in front of me. I hung in there as the wave reformed into a fast inside section. Note that the above picture is of a good reformed inside curl.

I caught several other similar waves. One in particular was a great left where I managed to be locked in the curl for the entire wave from the outside where I caught it to the very inside through a fast small curl like the one in the above photo.

Kevin also had a great session. He would sit on the very outside and wait for the big sets. I remember one great wave that Kevin caught. He was sitting way, way out there several yards further out and to north from me when a big set approached.  As I paddled out to get over the approaching wave, I saw Kevin catch it. I had a great view from the side watching him coming down an overhead right breaking wave. Once I was over the wave I looked back to see Kevin’s head moving in front of the breaking white water. The wave started reforming, Kevin pumped his board up and down to force his way into the inside curl, once into it he cut-back to the left to lock himself into a fast left-breaking inside curl. Afterwards, Kevin admitted this was his best wave of the day.

We were out for an hour and a half and due to our new wetsuits we did not feel the cold. All the way home we were congratulating ourselves in our purchase of the suits. It was a beautiful day and a great session.