August 22, 2008 Friday

Bolinas	Channel
9:00 am to 11:00 am	Consistent 3', sets 4', occasional 5'
Mid - upcoming tide	Onshore breeze
Fog, high overcast, gray	Good session

“We’re so lucky. Damn it, we’re so lucky,” exclaimed Mr. Throwback as we sat outside at the Channel between sets. Mr. Throwback was the older longboarder who surfed without a wetsuit or booties and rode an ancient sun yellowed board. This hard-ass was built like a truck, solid, no fat, bald head, and well-defined back muscles, a sign of a lifetime of surfing. I couldn’t tell if he was referring to the quality of the waves or the fact that he and I were over sixty and still had our health to go surfing. I took it he was referring to both.

The prediction for surf today was good. Yesterday Marty set me an email raving about how good the waves were. A few minutes later I received an email from Doug claiming that whatever Marty had said, it was better than that. Stormsurf forecasted a Gulf of Alaska swell arriving late Thursday that would carry over to Friday: seven feet at twelve seconds. At 5:50 am the San Francisco NOAA buoy reported a swell of 8.2 feet at 13 seconds with only an eight-knot wind. Possibility for waves looked good.

When I arrived the morning sickness was in: high fog, overcast, gray, stiff south onshore breeze and a textured surface. The crowd was at the Groin including Marty and Doug. Mary and Cathy were at the Patch. From the seawall with camera in hand I watched the Patch and waited, and waited and waited; nothing came through. I switched to the Groin and Channel where consistent sets came through; some with size.

It was another of those frustrating August mornings. Had the wind been offshore, conditions would have been ideal. But it wasn’t. The onshore breezed caused the waves to crumble quickly; making it difficult to connect with any decent curls. At first I tried the very north end of the Groin hoping to catch the edge of the peak. No luck, the waves were walled, resulting in short rides down the faces into bouncy white water. The crowd was growing. After an hour there were ten people at the Groin and three at the Channel.

To avoid the crowd I drifted more and more towards the Channel. By that time the tide had risen, the wind had died down, the surfaced had turned to glass and the shape of the waves had improved. Mr. Throwback came knee paddling out, he passed me and kept going to the furthest point of the Channel peak to wait for the sets. With the next big set he connected on a five-foot beautiful peak. I saw that and followed his example. Soon just he and I were way out there when another good set came through. A four-foot wall was approaching, he looked at me and said, “You gotta it?” “Yes I gotta it,” I replied and stroked into a beautiful fast-moving wave. I climbed high in the curl, cruise under the feathering peak, let the swell build up again and shot through another steep section. Finally a decent wave I said to myself and paddled way out there to do it again. Another good set came through, Mr. Throwback looked at me again, “take it,” he said, I turned and stroked into another beautiful wave. When I paddled back out I went over to him and said, “I owe you two.” “What are you talking about? You were in position,” he quickly snapped.

Mr. Throwback connected on another set wave wall. When he knee paddled back he stated, “What a fun swell. The last two days have been incredible.” I was surprised because per Stormsurf this swell came in late yesterday. He continued, “Yesterday I went out twice, early in the morning and late in the afternoon. Both sessions were great.”

“You must live here,” I replied.

“Yes I do,” he said. He paused then continued, “I come from Southern California and we use to drive for miles to get waves this good.”

At that point I sensed that we had something in common. “Yes, Bolinas is really a good spot. Keep it quiet. I too grew up in Southern California, Palos Verdes.”

“Did you graduate from PV High?” he asked.

“Yes, second graduating class, class of 1963,” I replied.

“Then you are a couple years older than I am. I grew up in Hermosa Beach,” he said. I was right we did have something in common. We both grew up and learned to surf in the South Bay of Los Angeles in the old days; the days of longboards, no leashes, no wetsuits, no booties, no surf wax (we used paraffin wax used in canning preservatives), baggy trunks, and tar riddled beaches. We chatted about old times. We played the “do you know” game. We certainty had surfed all the same spots: Hermosa, Manhattan Beach, Haggerty’s, Bluff Cove and Lunada Bay in Palos Verdes.

I never asked him why he didn’t wear a wetsuit. He obviously was old school, and this morning he was happy and excited about being in the water. “We’re so lucky, damn it, we are so lucky.”

Now I’m sure he was referring to our health. We’re both over sixty and have the health and the strength to surf everyday. I feel that I can surf as well now as I did when I was eighteen, and I’m sure he feels the same way.