January 23, 2009 Friday

Bolinas	Patch
8:55 am to 10:30 am	3' to 4', sets head high
High tide - 6.1 ft	Slight onshore breeze
Cloudy, overcast, rain	Fun session

I was sitting outside at the Patch when a good size wave approached. I was lined up on the south edge of the slide area at the start of the retaining walls that twist up the cliff in a vain attempt to impede nature’s erosion. The sky was gray, a light rain was falling and the surface had just become smooth. The swell formed a steep peak with a trailing wall on the right and a smaller one on the left. I turned, waited until the peak began to break, and with two strokes I launched myself down a steep head-high drop to the left. Jim was paddling for it also, he saw me barreling down on him and pulled back, I crouched down in the middle of the board and shot through a well-formed section, flew into flat water, cut back to the breaking part of the wave, swung left again and cruised through another section until the backwash coming off the cliff killed the wave.

The prospects for waves this morning looked good. The NOAA San Francisco buoy at 5:50 am reported a 4.6 ft swell at 16 seconds with a 4 knots east wind. Since the tide was high I checked out Stinson Beach. I saw some sizeable walls peeling into deep water holes, but no one was out and the onshore breeze was already strong producing a textured surface. Off to Bolinas I went.

Mary, Marty, Ray the Petaluma fireman and Jim were out at the Patch. The Channel and Groin were flat, absolutely nothing. Due to the tide the water was too deep and the swells didn’t break. At the Patch the swells were breaking in long lines with plenty of white water. As I watched a sizeable set came through that caught everyone inside. My guess was the faces were five feet. So the decision was easy. I’ll go to the Patch with my friends.

Usually a six-foot high tide causes the Patch to go flat. The swells mush up against the cliff and the backwash knocks down any hope of the peaks breaking, but not today. A consistent peak had developed somewhere around the outside rock, which was submerged and I could only guess at its location. The direction and power of the swells had the Patch breaking this morning. All five of us caught lots of waves. Mary was going for the rights on the south side of the peak and Marty was taking the lefts on the north side.

No fear is the beautiful aspect about the Patch. We older ones were catching sizeable gentle waves that were forgiving, wipeouts were non-existent and the white water always reformed back into swell. Jim was elated. This was his first time at the Patch. He had always gone to the Groin but today it wasn’t breaking. At the Groin he had suffered numerous poundings from closeout walls. Here at the Patch he was maneuvering both left and right down gentle swells and realizing here he could work on his surfing skills. I mentioned to him that to teach my daughter to surf, I brought her here. He will be coming to Patch more often, at least until his cracked rib, which he injured at the Groin, completely heals.

Mary and Ray, the early birds, went in. Russ came out. He groused about being stiff from three days in a row of surfing. He is a year younger that I am and is also retired. I have learned that three days in a row is pushing it. The body needs to recuperate.

After a while conditions improved, the wind died, a light rain started, the surface became smooth and the peak became more consistent. For a half hour, one set after another came through, each having one or two sizeable waves. The waves would form into a steep peak creating big drops into flat water. Three times I connected with late breaking waves, would drop left down the peak, coast into a flat section, cut-back into the white water of the breaking part of the wave and with luck would swing left again into another section. Often this second part didn’t happen due to the wave lacking the power to reform. Another challenge today was the backwash. When dropping down the wave, I would hit bumps of small swells that had bounced up against the cliff and were coming back out to sea. After an hour and a half I was tired, my toes and fingers were going numb from the cold and the peak was dying. I caught a good right that took me close to shore. That’s enough for today.

Back at the cars and despite the light rain, Russ, Jim and I felt good about this session: the fun waves, the exercise, the classic gray skies and the company. It was another good morning in Marin.

January 21, 2009 Wednesday

Bolinas	Groin
9:15 am to 10:45 am	3' to 4', sets to 6'
High dropping tide - 5 ft	Shifting wind - offshore to onshore
Overcast, storm approaching	Good session

I Love My New Board

Sitting out at the Groin, I saw a left wave approaching, wind ripples crossed the face of the swell, the offshore breeze sent spray off the top, I turned and went for it. The waves had come up from Monday, the heat wave had broken, the wind had turned back to its normal NW pattern, a high cloud cover had moved in and the waves came in long fast breaking lines. One had to be selective to connect with makeable waves. My new board responded perfectly to this wave. I stroked into this wave, caught it early, turned into a beautiful left curl with picturesque spray arching off the top, climbed high in the curl, stepped to the middle of the board, leaned into the wave, locked the board just under the lip of the wave, crouched down, shot through the a fast section and cut back into flat water. What a great ride.

I was surprised by the conditions on the Internet. I was going to the beach no matter what to collect water samples for Surfrider Foundation’s water testing program. The NOAA San Francisco buoy reported six foot swells at 14 seconds out of the west (285 degrees) producing four to six foot waves at Bolinas. From the ridge at Pantoll the ocean was smooth, lines of swell marching in and a large triangle of white water at the Bolinas Channel. When gathering a water sample at Stinson, sets of overhead walls came crashing in. “Bolinas is going to be good,” I said to myself.

Vehicles of my surf buddies were parked at Brighton Ave, with surfboards gone. Doug and Jim went out to the Groin while Marty and Russ went to the Patch. From the seawall I watched Doug, Jim and two others out at the Groin going for four to five feet, clean, fast breaking lefts. Most were close outs but there appeared to be an edge of makeable waves straight out from the Groin pole. Here was a chance to test my new board in some good challenging curls. I headed there.

“There’s some good waves, Loren,” Jim greeted me. Jim is new to surfing but has the passion. He comes often, stays out for three hours and goes for everything, no matter how dangerous. A couple of months ago he cracked a rib from being hit by his own board from a wipeout on a sizeable wave. Doug and I marveled at the number of huge walls, close outs that Jim paddled into. Some he successfully rode and others tossed him like a rag doll and sent his board flying. Jim, who was the last one of us to come in, claimed he loved it and had a great time.

Doug and I were being very selective. I caught another great left curl like the first one and went down a few head high walls that closed out. I was on another fast left that I almost made. From the bottom of the wave I stood near the tail block with the curl of the wave breaking over the nose of the board. I tried to gain speed to break out into the swell but to no avail; the wave collapsed into a curtain of white water and sent me flying.

Doug had been out since 7:00 am and had caught several good waves. After our session he stated that his last wave was his best one.

“Is that the one I told you to go right on?” I asked.

“Yes. I went right, it held up and I rode it to the beach,” he responded.

As he was paddling for this wave, I saw that it was peaking north of us and setting up for a good right wave. “Go right Doug, paddle hard and go right,” I shouted to him. He caught it, angled right and the next time I saw him, he was on the beach wrapping his leash around his board.

The tide and wind was changing causing the waves to become bumpy and walled. Jim and I caught a couple more but nothing special. I did get one good left across a bumpy surface that reformed for a good fast inside section. After that I worked my way to the ramp thinking I would pick up one more wave. It didn’t happen and I had to straighten out on a small wall to come in.

After our session, Marty, Doug, Jim, Russ and I were feeling good about the morning. Of course the waves, the elements and the exercise caused our euphoria. But I think there was another intangible adding to our joy, and that was the inauguration of Barack Obama the day before. The evil Bush and Chaney were gone, and the new man had just delivered a pep talk to the nation that lifted everybody’s spirits. And on top of this, I love my new board.

January 19, 2009 Monday

Bolinas	Patch
8:45 am to 10:30 am	3' to 4'
Mid outgoing tide	Strong offshore wind
Sunny and clear	So - so session

The swell readings looked promising but the theme of this morning’s session was too much offshore wind. White caps far out to sea greeted me as I drove over the ridge at Pantoll. I saw plenty of white water at the Channel and the Patch and plumes of spray coming off the lines of surf at Stinson Beach. Per the buoy report the swell was 6 ft at 14 seconds with a 15.5 knots East-South-East wind (110 degrees). What a strong offshore wind I thought to myself.

Because of the Martin Luther King holiday, several cars were already parked on Brighton Ave at 8:00 am. Ten surfers were at the Groin scratching for four-foot walls that were breaking too fast. The current was pouring out of the lagoon and impacting the waves. Four people were at the Patch where the incoming lines looked good. Marty and Mary were there, thus it was an easy decision to me; I went to the Patch.

Matt pulled up while I was suiting up. He had not been in the water for five weeks due to illness, new job assignments, holidays and the cold weather and was anxious to get back into the water. When we entered the water, the waves were stacking up on the inside; line after line of white water. I said to Matt to wait for a lull, which never came. We finally launched ourselves into the on-coming waves, paddled through several small waves until reaching the calm past the first line of waves. Cathy from the Russian River area and Mary were paddling in. A little early for them to be coming in I thought. Russ and Marty were sitting in the middle of the impact zone. Russ decided to paddle in. The surf must be lousy; everyone is paddling in. Marty joined Matt and I as we continue to paddle out to the furthest peak. Hank was there. A set came through and Hank was on it, a three-foot wave that closed out in front of him.

The waves were difficult to catch. All four of us paddled for several waves but only caught a few of them. The waves consisted of small wind swells on top of ground swells. The wind waves would peak and start to break way out there and then reform, merge with the ground swell and break again. We would see something peaking and feathering way outside thinking a big set was coming in only to discover wind chops breaking on the top of flat ground swells. The trick was to catch the ground swells as they were breaking. But to do it, one would have to catch the wind swell on top, gain some speed and then drop into the ground swell. This required timing and luck. Luck to be in the right position, because the wind swells were everywhere, and timing to catch a wind swell steep enough to propel you into the groundswell.

I did manage to catch a couple of good waves. Marty and I caught one together and rode the white water a long ways. On another, I took off on a steep peak, turned left into a well-defined curl, shot through one section, cutback to let the wave reform, went through another section on the inside and ended up in waist high water. Later a big set came through; Marty caught the first one and got a good long ride. I caught the third wave, a head-high wall that broke in front of me; I stayed in the broken wave while it reformed into a steep inside curl. While riding the white water, I saw water boiling around an exposed rock, I cutback, went around it and continued on into the inside north edge of the Patch.

“What am I doing?” I said to myself. “I have a brand new board and am driving it over shallow water and rocks. I’m going to ruin it.”

It was cold out there. The water was 52 degrees and with a constant wind blowing, evaporation was sucking the warmth right out of me. After an hour my toes and fingers were beginning to get numb, despite wearing 5 mm booties and thick gloves. A half hour later we all came in.

By now the crowd at the Groin had swollen to twenty-five. Nobody was getting any decent rides. Though breaking cleanly to the left, the waves were peeling off too fast to make them. They were beautiful; it was sunny and warm and the offshore wind was sending plumes of spray off the tops of the waves. Yet no one was getting any rides.

Marty felt good about his three hours in the water. Matt caught a couple of good waves and stated that his disposition and general outlook on the day already had immensely improved. I too felt good about the exercise. We agreed to try it again Wednesday; maybe conditions will improve by then.

January 15, 2009 Thursday

Ocean Beach	Sloat Avenue
8:45 am to 10:00 am	3' to 5'
Low upcoming tide	Stiff offshore wind
Sunny and clear, heat wave	Fun, somewhat frustrating session

This morning I met son Kevin and his friend Eric at the Sloat Avenue parking lot at Ocean Beach. They work for Sun Microsystems and on Thursdays Kevin works out of their “drop-in” office in the City instead of traveling to their main campus in Menlo Park. Thursdays are Kevin’s day to surf before work.

I hate Ocean Beach due to its treacherous currents, huge waves and difficult paddles outs. I only come here when everywhere else is flat. Kevin called the other day claiming the waves at Sloat Ave where just my size. With this heat wave we’re having (high pressure causing offshore winds and small swells) Sloat Ave was ideal, great long board waves. The NOAA San Francisco buoy reported 3 ft swell at 13 seconds resulting in three to four foot waves at Ocean Beach. Great, I can handle that.

The waves were beautiful, long lines breaking into a couple of well-defined channels. We decided to head out to the peak out in front of the entrance of the parking lot. Reason: the path down the bluff was there and so was one of the channels. We saw several good lefts breaking into this channel. Twelve others, who had seen the same thing, were bunched together at this one peak.

The waves were flat on the take-off and difficult to catch. Definitely long board waves, the ones that require lots of board speed to get into them. Every decent wave had three to four surfers going for it. Kevin and Eric paddled north to the next peak to beat the crowd and to find steeper waves. On my first wave I pushed into a four-footer that broke in front of me. I was surprised by a girl who was sitting much further outside was in front of me. I didn’t notice her paddling for the wave. On my second wave I caught a good left shoulder and managed to work it a long ways to the inside shore break. This put me in the middle of the channel. By now Kevin and Eric were on the other side of it. So I paddled over to where they were.

No crowd was there thus we were hopeful, but no waves came. We were in deep water. Kevin paddled south in search of the elusive better peak. Eric and I remained on the north side of the channel. As sets came through I kept drifting south to get into the impact zone. Soon I was back where we started. The crowd was here because the peak was here. I caught another soft shoulder left.

Eric told me this was his first time out at Ocean Beach. He had just returned from ten days of surfing in Costa Rica in 80-degree sunshine and 80 degree water. What a shock it was to get back into freezing Bay Area water. He surfed nice two-foot waves one day on the Caribbean side, but the Pacific side was bigger and better. Eric connected with a surfing buddy he had met on a trip to Ecuador. The friend had a board for Eric and knew all the spots in Costa Rica. In Ecuador, Eric had purchased a 7’ 10” balsa wood board, and his friend had a 6’ 0” balsa wood fish. Balsa wood grows in Ecuador and Costa Rica is a popular material for surfboards. Eric regretted not having his balsa board today. He was on a foam short board, but he certainly caught his share of waves.

Eric and I paddled south back to the peak we had started at. Kevin was there. His exploration further south didn’t find results. The waves were the same (flat take offs) all up and down the beach. We agreed to one more wave. Kevin again paddled south while Eric and I stayed put with the crowd. My last wave was my best ride of the day. A four-foot wall peaked right in front of me. I wasn’t sure which way to go. Another surfer paddling for the same wave asked me which way I was going, left or right. “Right,” I shouted, but once in the wave my instincts told me it was better to the left, thus I jumped up, swung left and dropped into a well formed left curl. Staying high in the wave, I stepped to the middle of the board, crouched down, cruised through a fast section, cutback and turned into a fast inside section. It was a good way to end the session. Despite the heat wave the wind and water were cold and my toes and hands were turning numb.

I’m sitting on the sand dune at the end of Judah Street sipping a coffee and writing this entry. The view is wonderful. I’m in the warm sun, looking at some long lines of well-formed waves with only seven surfers out there. Kevin and Eric had hustled off to work and I went to a popular local spot, Java Beach, for coffee. My last two years of commuting to Visa, our car pool used to stop here every morning for coffee and a muffin. Java Beach is definitely a “surfer eatery.” It has an Irish flare with oatmeal for breakfast, Guinness stout for happy hour and a free local Irish newspaper. The same women who served us then were still there. As usual the place was jammed and for good reason. Java Beach pre-dates Starbucks and accomplishes everything Starbucks tries to be: the local gathering spot. I highly recommend this place.

My old surfing buddy from ten years ago, Kenny, used to say to Kevin and I that anytime there is “east” in the wind (east, NE, SE, etc.) go to Ocean Beach, it will be good. Today he was right.

January 14, 2009 Wednesday

Stinson Beach	Right out front
9:50 am to 11:00 am	2', sets to 3', occasional 4'
Mid tide - 3 ft	No wind
Sunny and warm, heat wave	Fun session

King of the Knee High Curl Rides Again

Marty and I had Stinson Beach all to ourselves for a nearly an hour before five others crashed our party. We rode wave after wave at a perfect small, glassy left peak that broke into a deep hole just north of the showers.

I had no surf expectations this morning: the swell was declining, the NOAA buoy reported 3 ft north swells at 13 seconds, down from 7 ft at 14 seconds on Monday. I traveled to the beach because I had to gather water samples for the Surfrider Foundation water-testing program and to connect with Marty at Bolinas who would deliver the samples to Jamie and crew at the Branson School.

I met Jimmy the Stinson carpenter at Stinson as I arrived to take a sample. He stood next to his pick-up truck with board inside and chatted to Robbie, another long time Stinson Beach surfer. Robbie owns the “Majestic” camper that I often see parked near the main intersection of town.

“Loren, get your board and suit up there are some fun little waves out there,” Jimmy greeted me.

“I have take a water sample and then go to Bolinas to take another one, then I’ll return and join you,” I responded. Jimmy and Robbie proceeded to grouse about how lousy this winter has been. Wave starvation excited Jimmy about glassy two-footers. As I waded out into the water to take the sample, I noted a current or channel just north of the showers. The Stinson locals refer to these as “holes”, which are pockets where the sand has washed out exposing the sandstone. The undulations of the sandstone form deep-water pockets (“holes”) next to shallow water. Today’s two-foot glassy walls were breaking cleanly to the left. “If Bolinas isn’t happening, I’m coming back here,” I said to myself.

When I arrived at Bolinas Marty was in his car reading. He jumped out and stated, “There’s not much there. Ray and I have been walking up and down the beach for an hour killing time hoping conditions would change with the tide.”

“Marty, let's take a sample and go to Stinson,” I responded. “There’s a good small left peak in front of the showers. Let’s go.” When we returned Robbie was walking back to his truck, board in hand.

“How was it?” I called.

“There’s some waves,” he shouted and hustled off. We met Jimmy exiting the water.

“You’re getting out so soon?” I asked.

“Yes, it died,” he responded. “It must be the tide change, deeper water or something, but the waves just went flat.”

Marty and I stood in front of the showers and watched. Small waves rippled in. Then a set of three-foot waves came in and neatly broke left into the hole north of the showers.

“Marty, let’s do it. It’s a beautiful warm day, we have the break to ourselves, it’s glassy, we can walk out to the break, and there’s no fear factor,” I said to him. “We’ll go for an hour. It’s near 10:00; we’ll come in at 11:00 am, our normal exit time. What do you say?” He half-heartily said ok.

The waves were small but fun. We caught wave after wave, each one a good left curl ride. Knee-high curls, I was in my element. My new board responded well to these well-formed waves. On one wave I paddled to my right to get into the peak, the board picked up the wave early, I angled for a moment to the right, swung left, and in a smooth single motion I dropped to the bottom of the peak and climbed up to the top of the curl without losing any momentum, stepped to the middle of the board and cruised down a fast section.

I noticed three young guys watching us. Surfers are like lemmings. If someone is catching waves within a short period of time others will join them at the same spot. After a while these three came out to where we were. A few minutes later two other long boarders joined us. Ten minutes later, Laura, another Stinson Beach regular, came out on her boogie board. Seven people at one peak, and the incoming tide was changing the shape of the waves. The inside began to collapse in small walls instead of continuously breaking towards the hole.

At 11:00 am, Marty and I went in. For forty-five minutes we had the place to ourselves. How invigorating: warm sun, glassy surface, perfect two-foot curls, great exercise and no one else out. What a great morning.

January 10, 2009 Saturday

Pacifica	Linda Mar
10:30 am to 11:45 am	4' to 5' sets overhead
High tide - 7.2 ft at 10:00 am	Stiff offshore wind
Sunny, clear and cold	Frustrating session

It was Saturday morning and I was enjoying my favorite pastime of reading in bed with a cup of coffee when the phone rang.

“I bet that’s your son and he wants to go surfing,” Kate said to me and she was right.

“Dad, per the Internet, Pacifica is perfect. Let’s go,” stated Kevin.

Being retired I don’t normally go surfing on weekends, but this was an opportunity to be with my son so I agreed to pick him up and head for Linda Mar. I looked at the buoy report: 15 knot east winds, six foot swell every 13 seconds out of the north producing four to six foot waves at Linda Mar. The parking lot was full but with luck we pulled into a slot as someone was leaving. Across the cove, a hundred surfers were in the water. At first glance it looked flat, then a set came in and several guys intently drove down overhead walls of water. The offshore winds blew plumes of spray off the tops of the peaks. The winds were cold and so was the water. We didn’t see any channels thus we headed a short ways to the north and entered the water. My son had done it again. Here I was following him out into intimidating surf. Due to the high tide the waves were breaking fairly close to shore. I waited for a lull and paddled hard to get out. My new board paddles fast and I made it outside with only having to go through white water of one wave.

Once outside we joined a group of ten others. We observed that the take-offs were flat with water sliding down from the top of the waves, not top to bottom boomers. Good I can handle these I thought to myself. We also observed that the waves had to be steep, straight up and down, in order to catch them. I paddled for several but could not push into them. “They have to be steeper,” I said to myself. Finally I got one, I paddled hard, looked over the edge of a big drop, spray in my face, momentum pushed me into it, I began to stand up, felt the wind lift the board slightly, I leaned forward to force the board over the edge and dropped down the face of an overhead wave. Another surfer was in front of me. We both angled left down a large swell. White water began breaking several feet in front of us and I smoothly coasted down the face and out in front of the wall of foam. To avoid a long paddle back out, I dove off into the turbulence to get out of the wave. Good move. After waiting for a couple of waves to pass, I easily paddled back out to the peak.

Kevin and I sat outside waiting when the next set came through. A big left approached, crested and began to break. Kevin was closer to the peak and went for it while I scratched to get over it. A curtain of spray blew off the top and small rainbow formed in the glitter of the rain as the wave passed under me. I looked back to watch Kevin and saw nothing but the wake of his board. It was over his head and for several seconds he did not appear until the wave had collapsed into a sheet of white water. I caught the last wave of the set and dropped down another overhead wave. I saw Kevin paddling out and straightened out to stay clear of him. Later, I asked him about his ride. He went a long ways before the wave closed out.

In one hour I caught three waves, that’s all, one wave every twenty minutes. What was I doing besides freezing my tutu? Paddling around, jockeying for position with the other guys and letting one big closeout after another pass by. No body was catching any decent rides. Kevin headed north to the next peak in hope of finding better waves. I kept thinking the waves to the south looked better. I drifted in to catch one more wave. Several of the walls broke to the right. A good one came through I caught it, angled right and dropped down the face. It was head high. For an instance I glanced at a perfect wave: a long line peeling to the right, strong offshore wind holding up the curl, and bright sunlight dancing off the top. “Go for it,” I said to myself and leaned into the curl. The breaking part of the wave behind me hit the tail block of my board, my feet flew into the air, the board shot forward and I hit the water tail first. I quickly surfaced and concluded that three waves were enough for today. I waded through a rough shore break and was relieved to be safely on dry land.

A couple days later, Russ told me he was out there at the same time and he too froze, was frustrated and only caught three waves.

January 7, 2009 Wednesday

Bolinas	Groin and Patch
9:45 am to 11:45 am	3' to 4', occasional 5'
Mid outgoing tide	Slight offshore breeze
Sunny and warm	Fun session

A Gathering of the Clan

There was nothing special about today: Wednesday, mid-week, a workday, yet I encountered most of my surf buddies. The past couple of weeks have been cold, an oppressive high pressure held the cold air and rain down. Today it broke, the sun appeared and the warmth returned. The change brought the surf clan out.

I stopped at Stinson Beach to take a water sample for Surfrider’s water testing program. Martin, the park ranger, was his usual outgoing, happy self when I showed up. He was shoveling sand from the showers.

Pulling into Bolinas, several surf vehicles were there including Mary’s, Marty’s and Doug’s. I jumped out of my car and Lou rode by on his bicycle. I hadn’t seen him in a month. He was nursing a bad back that he re-injured working on a 500 gal water heater at his Laundromat. Soon he will be back in the water.

Russ pulled up, “Loren, don’t bother taking pictures, suit up and get out there.” That’s what he did. He didn’t even check it out. He had already decided that he was going out.

I walked down the ramp to the seawall and met Andy and Claude, who I hadn’t seen in months. A year ago I ran into them at the Costa Azul surf shop in Los Cabos, Mexico. Andy, who owns a condo there, said they were going back there in March. Claude mentioned he had another friend who invited him to spend another week there. I asked about job obligations.

“These days it’s not a problem.” Claude is in construction and work has slowed down. Taking another week won’t impact any projects.

We watched three surfers going after four-foot walls at the Groin. The out-going current was already impacting the shape of the waves. The rights on the far side of the current looked decent. Andy and Claude suited up and headed over there.

Marty was exiting as I entered the water at the Groin. He had been nursing an injured knee for a couple of months. Today was his first day back in the water. While recovering, he hit the gym to work on his arms thus he felt good about his paddling strength. I showed him my new board.

I paddled out to where Doug and Jim were. Doug held his hands in front of his eyes, “Loren, that board is so shinny and bright.” They had been there since 7:00 am, today’s high tide mark. They both caught waves and went in

I was now out by myself. The swell was strong, lines stretched across the impact zone, and I paddled for several of them without success. Finally I got one, a good left and my new board handled it well. The board paddles fast and enables me to catch waves early. I caught three more, cruised a long ways down these walls before having to strengthen out. The out-going current gained strength and pushed me out and north. I had to continuously paddle south to stay in the peak. After four waves I give it up. I had to connect with Marty to give him my water samples so he could take them to be tested at the Branson School. Marty lives near the Branson campus. Since it was a sunny day, I decided I would exit the water, get the samples to Marty and go back out at the Patch.

Doug, Marty and Jim were toweling off at their cars. Andy returned from surfing the rights at the Channel. Mary came in from the Patch. She had been out there for three hours and had a ball. I showed off my new Haut board to my friends. A young surfer arrived with an ancient Haut board that he had just purchased. His board was shaped in 1967, forty-one years ago, 9’ – 6”, single fin with weathered-yellow foam. It was Haut vs. Haut, his old board, made when Doug Haut was just starting out, against my brand new one made by Doug at the end of his career.

I picked up my board to go back out at the Patch. This could be a mistake, the onshore wind was picking up, the tide was going out and the rocks were being exposed. It was a good move; I caught several fun waves and had a great time. Claude was out at the furthest peak. He had paddled from the Seadrift side of the Channel to the Patch and was on all the set waves. The young surfer with the classic Haut was out there, and with that heavy, old board, he caught flat wave after flat wave. He and the stand-up surfer, who was on a 12’ Laird model, caught all the outside waves and cruised all the way to the inside. As the tide went out the outside rock became exposed. I hadn’t seen it for months. I moved over to it thinking that shallow bottom around the rock would cause the waves to break. I managed to connect with three long left waves. With my new board, I easily coasted into them, maneuvered to stay in the breaking part of the waves and went a long ways until the water began to boil around shallow rocks. What am I doing? Driving into shallow water on a brand new board. Fortunately I didn’t hit any of them. At 11:30 am, I called it quits and made the long paddle in.

A surfer toweling off next to me had an interesting tale about Dillon Beach. I had seen him several times at Bolinas. He lives in Petaluma and is a regular at Dillon Beach. This past October 25th, he remembers the day well; he and seven others were out at the Shark Pit, a reef on the north edge of the entrance of Tomales Bay that only breaks when the waves are big. On this day, the surf was ten to twelve feet and powerful and began to build and build. Suddenly, the waves got huge.

“Loren, the horizon went black,” he said. “We all panicked. I started scratching as hard as I could, paddling out and to the north to get out of the impact zone. You cannot believe how big these swells were. See the house over there?” He pointed to a two-story frame house across the street that sat an elevated lot. “The wave was as high as that house.” The house was at least thirty feet high. He scratched up the face of this huge swell and was greeted by another one and then another one. After the set past, he caught a small one (a twelve footer) to get in. In huge waves everyone is on his own. He had lost sight of his friend. He stood on the beach staring at the big waves and mountains of white water for thirty minutes before he finally saw his buddy coming in riding the soup.

After that tale, I packed it up and headed home. What an interesting day: sun, warmth, fun waves and good fellowship.