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.