August 8, 2008 Friday

Bolinas	Groin
9:00 am to 10:30 am	2', sets to 3'
Mid dropping tide	Onshore west breeze
High fog	Fun session, knee high curls

I was in two-foot slop at the Groin thinking I’m Gerry Lopez trying to look so smooth, cool and casual on these tiny curls. I’m currently reading Gerry’s book, Surf is Where You Find It, which is a collection of forty-one of his stories from a life time of surfing. It’s a wonderful book and I’m loving it. Gerry looks so calm and relaxed in those critical bombs at the Pipeline. So this sixty-three year-old with the mentally of an eighteen year-old is trying to mimic Gerry on these two-foot crumblers.

I arrived late at 9:00 am just as Doug and Marty were walking up the ramp from their early morning session. Doug was freezing, “It’s winter in August out there, and it’s better than it looks.” Marty went with me to check out the waves. No one was out, the Patch was flat and the Groin had a few barely surfable waves. I almost didn’t go out. I hadn’t surf in a week. I came out here Monday, took a look at the blown out ripples and decided to jog on the beach at Stinson instead. I needed some paddling exercise so I decided to go.

Another guy entered the water with me. He was young (early thirties was my guess), had a nine-foot board and knee paddled out to the waves. Other than that he was a beginner. We gained some rapport out there though he stayed far from me. He was impressed by the good, long rides I caught. This young surfer made the common mistake of beginners of being too far back on the board when paddling for a wave. People starting out over compensate for pearling (having the nose of the board go straight down when the wave begins to pick up the board). Pearling is short for “diving for pearls.” Being too far back, the nose of the board is up out of the water at a fifteen-degree incline, which impedes movement of the board through the water. To gain maximum efficiency, a good surfer positions himself such that the board is as parallel to the water as possible. Paddling with the nose elevated out of the water, my young companion had trouble catching waves. He only caught waves that broke on top of him.

I wanted to go over to him and give him a surfing tip. But how could I do it without offending him? Maybe he has been surfing for several years and knows what he is doing? I observed some more. No he was just learning. I came up with a strategy and even rehearsed it in my mind. I would paddle over and ask him how long he has been surfing. If he says that he is just starting out I would offer to give him a tip. The opportunity never presented itself; he stayed clear of me. I’m well aware that surfing next to someone who is much better than you is intimidating.

Meanwhile the waves were fun; knee-high curls with some speed, just my kind of wave and there are only two of us out there. After an hour six more people joined us, the wind picked up and the waves became mushy. A couple of more set waves and I went in. Despite the cold and the gray overcast, I caught several fun waves and got some good exercise.