January 30, 2008 Wednesday

Bolinas	Seadrift side of the Channel
9:00 am to 10:30 am	3 ft with sets to 4 ft, some head high
Medium out going tide (3 ft to 1.1 ft)	Offshore breeze (north wind)
Sunny and warm (for a change)	Good fun session

“No rain this morning. Thank God,” I said to myself when the alarm went off at 5:30 am. I went downstairs and logged onto the Internet to check out the surf conditions. The latest buoy report stated 8.2 ft north swell at 11 seconds and a 1.1 south swell at 14 seconds, wind out of the north at 9 knots, water temperature 52.5 degrees with a wind chill factor of 44.1 degrees. Great, I thought cold but clear and the wind in the correct direction for Bolinas. Besides I have to gather water samples for Jamie. Let’s go check it out.

When I pulled into the parking spots on Brighton Ave in Bolinas, only Mary’s car was there with her board inside. I went down to the seawall at the bottom of the ramp and saw Mary walking up the beach from checking out the Groin. She wasn’t excited about the conditions. The Patch was barely breaking and due to the deep water and a strong out going current the Groin was flat. Mary and I greeted professor Steve as he entered the water for his morning exercise. He went straight out where there some two to three foot waves breaking. Marty showed up and joined us as we contemplated going out. Then Doug arrived with a cup of coffee in his hand. Earlier he had already checked out Bolinas, had gone to see if anything was happening at Stinson and had just returned to Bolinas.  We stood for several minutes observing the waves. I kept noticing some temping right breaking waves just on the far side of the out-flowing current. I mentioned the rights to the others. We watched a couple of sets of potentially rideable waves break further over on the Seadrift side. If we’re surfing this morning our best bet is the other side of the river flowing out of the lagoon. Paddling across the river is a hassle, but, it’s the first sunny and warm morning in weeks, thus en-masse we elected to go.

I went up the bluff to take a few pictures while the others suited up, thus I was the last one to enter the water. I was thinking I would go for the fast breaking right curls just of the far side of the current. I watched Mary walk around the bend into the mouth of the lagoon before entering the water. The current was exceptionally swift. My guess is six to seven knots, easily. She jumped in, started paddling, the current took hold and she crossed to the other side in about five seconds. I did the same. I noticed the others decided to go for the peak further down the beach instead of going for the rights on the edge of the current. I walked down the beach to the first house on the Seadrift side. The peak was straight out from this house, which became my marker to position myself in the water.

The above picture is the peak in front of the first house. Notice the smaller inside wave. This is one of the rights breaking at the edge of the current. The rights were small and in very shallow water. The other peak was just right; consistent three foot waves, sets to four feet and occasionally some head high walls. Conditions were good with warm air, an offshore breeze to hold up the curls, fairly long rides, gentle breaking waves and no fear factor. All four of us caught several waves and had a great time.

The bottom was deep along the shore and then became fairly shallow further out in the impact zone. Once the waves broke they would begin to reform as you rode closer to shore and would eventually die out before reaching the beach. I caught a few left breaking walls that broke in front of me, but due to the waves reforming, I rode under the white water out into swell into a good section, gained some speed until the wave died in the inside deeper water.

The peak broke both left and right and I caught many in both directions. After an hour the offshore wind picked up. Three times the wind blew me out of a wave. The take offs were very flat and required board speed to get into them. To compensate I moved closer to the nose of the board, the nose would submerge but as the wave became steeper and the momentum of the wave picked up the tail of the board the nose would pop out of the water and I would be into the wave. I have done this maneuver hundreds of times. Today it didn’t work. When the nose came out of the water, the momentum popped the nose up slightly, enough for the offshore wind to hold it up like an airplane wing, and suspend me and the board in the air for an instance, just enough for the wave to pass under me. I had to adjust my weight to insure that the nose did not submerge. If the nose dipped into the water, I wasn’t going to catch the wave.

After an hour and a half we all went in. The tide had dropped further and the current was even faster. I made the mistake to trying to paddle across the current instead of letting it take me. With tired arms I had a difficult time crossing the river of rapidly out-flowing water. Once on the other side I observed the correct way to cross. A Bolinas local entered the water at the end of Wharf Road, which is true mouth of the lagoon, rode the board on his knees, let the current whip him along and then with his hands he steered his board to the Seadrift side of the channel. Next time I’m going to do it that way.

All of us agreed that it was a great session with fun waves and sunny weather, just another day in paradise.