July 15, 2008 Tuesday

Bolinas	Seadrift side of the Channel
8:00 am to 10:00 am	2’ to 3’, occasional 4’
Mid upcoming tide	Sideways breeze
High overcast	Good session

“This is like fishing,” said Jimmy, the carpenter from Stinson, to Professor Steve and I during an interminable low out at the Seadrift side of Channel. “You get to bullshitting and after a while the fish start biting.” Not this time, the good waves were done and only mushy, infrequent ones were left. 

After yesterday’s great waves I had high hopes for today. Conditions on the Internet looked as good as they did yesterday: 2.6 foot south swell, a seven knot northeast breeze, 60 degree warm water and a two-foot incoming tide. I left the house earlier than usual in anticipation of good waves. 

When I arrived at Bolinas, Mary and Kathy the biology teacher were in their wetsuits chatting with John one of the owners of the 2-Mile surf shop. 

“It’s not a good sign when you all are standing around,” I greeted them. 

“No, we’re going out, there are waves,” responded Kathy. 

I went up on the overlook as they headed for the break. Mary had great luck yesterday riding the rights on the Seadrift side of the Channel, so she headed there. Kathy who is goofy foot (right foot forward like a left-handed batter in baseball) was going to try her luck on the lefts at the Groin. From the overlook the lefts looked good, smaller than yesterday but still clean left peeling lines. 

I joined Kathy at the Groin. We didn’t have much luck; the waves were breaking too fast. Kathy left to join Mary over on the Seadrift side. I drifted more out to the Channel looking for the good take off spot. I could see Mary, Kathy and Professor Steve, who had joined them, were getting some good rides. If I could catch a right wave I would be over there with them, which I did. I was sitting just north of them when the next set came through. I took the first one left and connected on a long ride. It felt like a wave at the Patch, I passed through one section, let the wave build up and then cruised through another section and on and on. 

My next ride was my best one of the day, a sizeable right wall. I took off while the wave was cresting. Once up I could see it feathering for 20 yards in front of me. I turned hard right, climbed to the top of the wave, stepped to the middle of the board, trimmed through the first section, cut back, turned hard right again to see another section feathering yards in front of me, made it through that section, let another one build up, continued back and forth until the wave finally died out very close to shore. 

That was the first one of a set of great waves. Paddling back out, I admired how beautiful the waves were: long, glassy, emerald green walls continuously breaking to the right. Professor Steve came gliding down one in front of me. Next Kathy turned into a well-formed green line. Then Mary got a sizeable one where she went on and on and on. 

Jimmy knee paddled out from Seadrift and immediately connected with some good ones. While paddling out, I saw Jimmy stroke into a four footer. He turned into a fast breaking right wall, positioned himself mid-swell, stepped to the middle of the board, crouched down and trimmed. He was coming right at me. I just sat there to enjoy the sight. He saw me, maneuvered around me and continued on. 

For an hour the rights were beautiful, long and consistent. After a while Kathy and Mary went in. The three of us, the poet, the carpenter and the retiree, had the break to ourselves. As the tide came in and the water became deeper the waves slowly died and then they finally stopped. The three of us sat there, “bullshitting” in anticipation of the next set of great waves. Steve gave up and went in. I finally caught a slow mushy wave. I had been out for two hours and my arms were turning to rubber. I told Jimmy that one more and I’m going in. 

“Here comes a big set,” Jimmy stated and he began to paddle out. I followed him. “You got this one?” he asked. “Yes I’ve got it.” I said. It was a well-formed wall but I was too late and too tired. I pushed into it, but by the time I got up the wave was collapsing ahead of me. I could see this perfectly formed three-foot wave breaking down the line, emerald green, stray feathering of the top for twenty yards, and I was trapped in the white water of the breaking wave with all my momentum spent. 

“That’s it, I’m out of here,” I said to myself. I made the long paddle across the Channel to the Groin. I was exhausted. I looked back to see Jimmy vigorously knee paddling out to the peak, but by this time the waves were mushy and slow.