April 27, 2009 Monday

Bolinas	Seadrift
8:30 am to 9:45 am	2' to 3', sets to 4'
Low tide	Strong north cross wind
Sunny, windy and cold	Frustrating session

Expectations were low and the good south swell was over. Stormsurf’s predictions for the week had four to five foot wind swells for Monday dropping to zero feet on Wednesday and low pressure, south winds and rain moving in on Friday.

When I pulled in at Bolinas, Marty, Mary and Ray were already in the water and Hans was suiting up, a good sign.

“Hans, how does it look?” I asked.

“Small. Mary, Marty and Ray went to Seadrift,” Hans said. “I’m going to the Patch. The shape looks good, but it is small.”

From the Overlook, I saw an offshore breeze holding up a small peak at Seadrift. Three people were out about five to seven houses in. The Channel was out of the question. A strong out-going current was knocking down the waves. Hans was right the Patch looked good but small.

Back at the cars Yoshi pulled up. He’s been very regular lately. “How’s business?” I asked him. Yoshi owns Umi’s, a sushi restaurant on 4th Street in San Rafael.

“Up and down,” he said. He told me he was out yesterday. It was bigger and crowded. Yoshi was going out no matter what.

I decided to join the others at Seadrift. This was going to be an adventure. I hadn’t been over there in months. By now the wind was starting to turn onshore and it was cold. Lately I had been fighting this rash on my hands and decided not to irritate it by wearing gloves. My last two sessions I had gone out without gloves and didn't get too cold. A six-knot current flowed out of the lagoon and the wind was picking up. I paddled across the Channel and walked to the fifth house on the Seadrift side to join my friends.

The wind picked up as I entered the water. I saw Marty get a good left. Two to three-foot waves were peeling in both directions. Hans, who decided to come here instead of the Patch, connected on a long right wave. I mentioned to him that now that I’m here the wind arrived, just like it did last Friday. The waves were fun; the small curls held up. Marty mentioned that it was cold, I agreed and wished that I had worn my gloves. The wind picked up. I caught a couple of good ones. The shape of the bottom was causing these small walls to break to the left. After a few minutes, Mary went in. A few minutes later, Ray went in and soon after so did Hans. Only Marty and I remained out there.

The wind picked up. By now it was blowing hard and white caps were forming far at sea. My hands were getting numb. The waves picked up also. A set of ten four-footers came through. I caught the first one and coasted a long ways down a left wall before it closed out. Marty caught the second one and also went a long ways before the wall collapsed. We both were standing in chest high water and pushed our boards over the white water of the next wave, and the next, and the next for seven waves until the set had passed. We made it back out, sat there freezing before another set came through. The wind was now blowing harder and impacted our paddling into waves. Water spayed into my eyes as I paddled for a set wave, the wind picked up my board like a kite and blew me out of the wave. I paddled for several others, but the wind prevented me from catching them. I finally caught one, stumbled getting up because my legs were stiff from the cold and fell back into the water.

Marty agreed with me, it was time to go in. “One more wave,” the surfer’s jinx. Another set did not appear and we froze. By now I could not move my fingers. We paddled for a couple more waves and missed them, but the effort put us closer to shore. I caught a wave that broke on me and I belly-boarded it until my skeg hit sand. Marty was on a wave right behind me.

It was a long, cold walk and paddle back to the car. Hanging tight to our boards, pointing them into the wind, it spun us around several times. The current in the Channel had shifted direction and was now flowing at five knots into the lagoon. We paddled across. The water at the edge was warm, freezing in mid-channel and warm on the far side. On the other side, we again fought the cold wind to walk to the ramp. Back at the cars we both had difficulty pulling off our wetsuits due to numb hands. What a relief to get out of my wetsuit and booties and into warm clothes.

“Was it worth it?” I asked Marty.

“Yes, definitely,” he said. “I got some good waves when I first got out there.”

Spoken like a true surfer. I hesitated. I was so cold that I couldn’t agree. Next time I’m going to wear my gloves.