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.