September 4, 2008 Thursday

Bolinas	Channel
8:50 am to 11:00 am	Consistent 3' to 4', sets to 6' to overhead
Low upcoming tide	No wind, none, nada, glassy
Sunny, hot, heat wave	Incredible session

Out at the Channel I paddled over to Professor Steve to say hello. “Steve, can you believe this? Hot, sunny, warm water, glassy smooth and perfect fast peeling lefts.” He agreed. I continued, “It’s September and here we are: no fog, no wind, no overcast, warm water and a three-foot seventeen second south swell. Remember last September was great and we’re off to a great start this year.” Steve connected on some good curls. As I was paddling out I got a good side view of him in a crouch gliding down a glassy left wall.

All the elements had come together this morning:

• A strong south swell,
• Tabletop glassy surface,
• Sunny and hot,
• Low upcoming tide, and
• No significant ebb flow coming out of the lagoon.

A week ago, Stormsurf had predicted the arrival of this south swell. I was looking forward to this morning with great anticipation, as were others. Again the Marin surfers were watching the Internet and responded when conditions looked good.

I greeted Scott who only surfs on Wednesdays coming up the ramp after his session, “what are you doing here? It’s Thursday.”

“For this swell I had to come and it was great,” was his answer.

Robert the Larkspur carpenter went out at the Patch. Speaking of luck, there was a delay in his Napa construction project that gave him the day off and allowed him to leave the hundred-degree heat of Napa to surf these perfect waves at Bolinas.

Marty and I suited up together and discussed going out at the Channel. When we walked down the ramp to the beach, there were some big waves coming through the Patch. Marty changed his mind and headed there. He later reported that was a good decision because he connected on several long head-high lefts by the outside rock.

Mary was excited after her session at the Patch. “Great weather and great waves, something that hasn’t happened for months.”

Robert the Oakland fireman was driving off as I came up the ramp. He reported that he had a great session at the Patch. I reminded him that the last time he and I saw each other in mid-August we didn’t bother to go out.

Russ who is my age was out at the Patch, got some good waves and had some frustrations of getting into the waves.

I went up to the overlook above the Groin with my camera at the ready. Long peeling rights kept coming through on the far side of the Channel. I was tempted, but there was nobody out and that’s where a shark hit Lee Fontan in 2001. When I entered the water I saw Jimmy the Stinson carpenter knee paddling out from Seadrift to the rights. Another surfer was entering the water with me. He mentioned he was going for the rights. Near the end of my session I saw him paddle back over to the Channel near me. I asked him how the rights were.

“Fabulous,” he replied. “A little fast but if you caught the wave at the right point you could sail all the way to the beach. But now it seems to be changing.”

“That’s the tide coming in. The water is getting deeper,” I stated.

Paddling out to the Channel, I saw Josh the Bolinas fisherman on a good one. Josh has the unique style of riding the waves on his knees. From the side I watched his last wave of the day; he was on his knees locked in a curl with the lip of the wave pitching over his head. I paddled over to the only other guy out there and asked if I could share some waves with him. “Sure I’m on my way in. What time is it?”

“9:00 am,” I replied. He turned and started paddling for a wave, “Yeah, I have to go. I came out a 7:00 am. It has been great, enjoy,” he called out as he caught the wave and went in.

Here I was alone at the Channel during shark season. That concern quickly melted away when I saw this beautiful left green wall coming at me. I paddled into a four-footer, jumped up, saw a steep feathering line in front of me, quickly climbed to the top of the wave, stepped to the middle of the board, crouched down and shot through a fast peeling left section. What a great wave; I’m in for an epic session. I was the only one out there for my first four waves. The next two waves broke too fast to make them, but the fourth wave was a repeat of my first one. After that four other guys came out, and after an hour the crowd grew to ten. Dan who is about my age caught some good ones. He is a nose, ears and throat specialist for Kaiser. We had a brief discussion about the effectiveness of earplugs. Joe the older Bolinas regular who rides a lamented wood longboard maneuvered into some long nose rides. A young surfer who is a friend of Barry’s had just returned from Ohio, was dying for some waves and had the pleasant surprise of paddling out into these perfect waves. For two hours I exhausted myself catching one long fast curl after another.

While drying off after my session, Christie drove wanting to know how it was, “Great, go, don’t hesitate.” Doug usually arrives here early, but today showed up around noon. After hearing my description about the great waves he was anxious to head out to the Channel.

It doesn’t get much better than this: blue sky, white clouds, hot, no wind, glassy smooth and great waves.