May 29, 2009 Friday

Pacifica	Linda Mar
9:00 am to 10:30 am	1' to 2', sets to 2.5'
Low tide	Stiff offshore - cross breeze
Patchy high clouds, fog on the ridge	Exercise - fun session

Marty and I were having a coffee on the deck at Taco Bell after our “exercise session” at Linda Mar. This Taco Bell has a fabulous location, right on the sand overlooking the beach and break at Linda Mar. Three young women arrived all in wetsuits, one carrying a soft-top surfboard, one sitting in a wheelchair and the other pushing the chair. Two of them had to lift the wheelchair with occupant over the small rocks on the edge of the beach. This was not a normal wheelchair, but one used in wheelchair races with three wheels: two balloon bicycle tires in the rear, and one small wheel in the front. They pushed their handicapped friend to the water’s edge, lifted her out of the chair and set her on the surfboard. One also climbed onto the board and the two of them stroked out to the tiny waves tandem style.

The handicapped woman was paralyzed from the waist down and had limited movement in her arms. Her companion managed quite well maneuvering the board. They paddled back and forth for exercise and then straightened out to catch a wave. The waves were small and they caught some white water, rode it up to the sand, fell off, and frolicked in the shallow water. They took pictures of themselves sitting in the water. All three had a great time. This had to be the best therapy for the one confined to a chair. The surf movie Step Into Liquid had a similar sequence. Rob Machado took his life long friend, who was paralyzed due to a surfing accident, out surfing at Cardiff by the Sea. Rob pushed him into waves; his friend had enough upper body movement to position the board in the wave and to buzz down some steep curls. The guy loved it. As he joyfully stated, it was the best form of therapy.

The other sight Marty and I enjoyed from the deck of Taco Bell was the whales. Way out to sea we could see spouts of spray blown into the air by the surfacing whales. It was good to see them. I haven’t seen whales in years, but this year I saw whales close to shore at Stinson Beach (see April 16 posting) and now several were here at Linda Mar. When I arrived this morning I stood at the wall behind the showers to take some photos of the surf.

“Are you shooting surfers or whales?” a woman next to me asked.

“Surfers,” I replied.

“There are whales out there,” she said. “Watch, you can see their spray.” She was right. I spotted several of them within a few minutes.

“The whales are migrating north,” she continued. “The mothers bring their babies into this bay to rest. They rest here to build up stamina for the long migration north. They’re here also to avoid the orcas who will kill the babies.” I have no idea if what she said was true, but it made a good story to explain the appearance of the whales. All through our surf session and afterwards we observed the spouts of spray from the whales.

Why am I here in Pacifica? The surf prospects on the Internet were terrible: three-foot wind swell at seven seconds. The June Gloom had arrived early this year. Growing up in Southern California, the worst month for weather was always June when the fog, overcast and onshore winds arrived and hung around all month. This phenomenon, which we called the June Gloom, occurred along the entire coast of California. But this year it has arrived early: fog, no swell and cold south winds causing the worst May for surf I have seen in years. But yesterday Marty sent out an email glowing about the 3’ to 5’ waves at Linda Mar, good rides, offshore breeze, sunshine and a friendly crowd. He invited all of us to join him tomorrow. Why not? South winds ruin Bolinas and Stinson, but they create good conditions at Linda Mar, a north facing beach.

I awoke this morning to fog and wind in Mill Valley. Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, I saw white caps from the bridge out to the horizon. The flags at the toll plaza were straight out from onshore winds. Why am I doing this? At Ocean Beach conditions were better, the south cross winds didn’t impact the shape of the waves, but there was no swell.

At Linda Mar conditions were decent. This was the only spot where the waves were rideable. Offshore winds held up the small curls. Six surfers were at the one and only peak along the entire cove. Marty was one of them, thus I decided to join in. The peak formed over a sandbar and the lefts broke into a deep channel. Well-shaped promising waves would die once one reached the channel. I took several of them expecting the curl to build up again on the inside. They never did. After an hour I finally realized that the rights were breaking into shallow water and had much better form. The peak was consistent; it broke straight out from a pole of a volleyball court. This became my marker. The strong south wind was blowing us north. I would sit outside and within a few minutes would have drifted a 50 yards north and be in the middle of the channel where the waves didn’t break. Marty and I were constantly paddling south to align with the pole. By moving south and concentrating on the rights I connected with four small decent curls within a ten-minute time span.

I mentioned to Marty it was time to go in. “Why?” he asked. “We’re having fun and there’s no crowd.” Well that changed quickly. At 10:00 am several more surfers came out. It was like a shift change, and all of them bunched with us at the only peak. Then we knew it was time to go in.

Despite the small waves, Marty and I agreed it was a fun session, good exercise, warm water, and beautiful sights with physical water therapy and migrating whales.

May 14, 2009 Thursday

Bolinas	Channel
8:50 am to 10:15 am	6 inches to 1', sets to 2'
Low tide	Offshore wind
Heat wave, sunny and warm	Exercise only session

“If the swell was two feet bigger, the waves would be perfect,” I said to a young surfer out at the Channel this morning. We were the only two out.

“These waves remind me of Lake Michigan,” he replied.

“You have surfed Lake Michigan?”

“Yes,” he said. “I grew up in Chicago. Only when there’s wind are there waves.” He mentioned choppy conditions, cold water and snow on the beach. To him, these six-inch waves at the Channel were good.

I had no expectations this morning, only hopes. “No swell of interest” was Stormsurf’s prediction. Low tide and no swell, what was I thinking? An email from Marty yesterday mentioned several people had gone out, got some fun waves and that he was coming today. The parking lot was empty when I arrived, no Marty and no others. From the Seawall the Patch was flat and the reef was exposed. The only waves were ripples breaking in the Channel where the out flowing ebb tide met the ocean.

The sand was back. The Groin wall was completely buried. Only a couple of months ago the top of the wall was four feet above the sand. A finger of sand extended from the Groin pole out 75 yards along the edge of the Channel. The out-flowing current was a good four knots. I walked out to the end of the sand bar to observe perfect lefts, six inch ripples peeling continuously along the contour of the finger of sand.

“The bottom is shaping up for some ideal lefts,” I thought to myself. “If we only had some swell, it would be perfect.”

I stood there for several minutes and observed two sets of two-foot waves, perfect little curls being held up by the offshore wind. I’m the king of the knee-high curl; I could ride those waves. Thus I decided to give them a try.

The waves were too small even for me. On my first wave, the curl was breaking several feet ahead of me by the time I stood up. The water was clear and shallow; I could see all the ripples of sand on the bottom. One second of riding the white water my skeg dug into the bottom and I executed a perfect spread eagle belly flop into six inches of water. I floundered around on several waves without any success. My Chicago companion didn’t do any better. We moved to mid-Channel but the out-flowing current and strong offshore wind coming out of the canyon above the lagoon pushed us out beyond the breaking waves. We moved back and continued to flounder. On my two best rides I belly-boarded them. I stroked into these curls and remained laying down not to lose time or momentum by standing up. With my eyes at board level I caught a glimpse of a curl ride.

During the long lulls I soaked up the incredible scenery of the day. The birds were out: high cruising pelicans, squadrons of cormorants, and terns hovering in search of fish. Three vultures circled overhead. “They’re land birds,” I thought to myself. “If they drop into the water they will never be able to take off.” The strong offshore wind was pushing them out to sea.

After an hour we both gave up. To get some exercise I started paddling from mid-Channel to the Ramp. Halfway there I met Professor Steve paddling in the other direction. He was out for his morning exercise.

“We’re like two ships passing in the night,” he greeted me.

“I’m just following your lead to get some exercise,” I said. He agreed that the finger sandbar was set to produce some perfect lefts. If we would only get some swell.

A surfer never admits he wasted his time. I got wet, it was a beautiful morning and I got some good exercise.

May 8, 2009 Friday

Bolinas	Channel
8:45 am to 10:45 am	2' to 3', sets to 3.5'
Low upcoming tide	No wind
Bright, sunny and warm	So - so session

The weather had changed again: Wednesday was overcast and drizzling, yesterday the sun came out and today it was hot, heat wave conditions. A high-pressure front engulfed the entire coast of California. Hot dry Santana winds blew down the canyons of Santa Barbara touching off another horrible brush fire destroying one hundred homes. At Bolinas, the warm sunshine was a relief. The comfortably hot weather and blue-green knee-high curls were enough to entice me out into the water.

“It’s such a beautiful day,” I said to Matt when we checked out the waves from the seawall at the base of the Ramp. “We have to go.” Matt agreed. Mary and another surfer were at the Channel catching small left curls. Doug, Jim, Marty and a couple others were at Seadrift out in front of the tenth house. They were so far down the beach I could not tell if they were catching any decent rides. The lefts Mary was catching looked like fun, plus the tide was out far enough that one could walk out to the waves. With the tide coming in, Matt and I were optimistic that conditions would improve.

The waves were small, gentle and tricky to catch. They peaked at one narrow point and you had to be at that point to catch them. I had no success trying to catch shoulders, only at the apex could I obtain enough drop and speed to push into the waves, and with luck they would build up on the inside to provide a long ride. The opposite often happened also; I would drop down the peak, turn and the wave would die. After a half hour my strategy was set: sit outside to catch the peak, look for swells that stretched across the impact zone and take off late. The peak moved around but it was more or less mid-Channel. Swells that stretch across the impact zone had more energy and would tend to build up on the inside to provide long rides. Late take-offs provided the steep drops and momentum to continue in the swell while it built up on the inside. The strategy worked and I caught several waves, both lefts and rights. At first the rights were best and then a half hour later conditions changed and the lefts were better. These were gentle slow waves, the initial drops and turns had speed but I had to immediately cut back into the breaking part of the waves to stay in them. Often the waves would rebuild and I would coast down the inside mellow curls.

Several of the regulars were out today enjoying the warm weather. Mary stayed out for three hours and had a great time. Russian River Cathy was there on her ten-foot tanker catching wave after wave. Matt stayed inside and concentrated on the rights. Mark the archaeologist was right there with me at the peak. Professor Steve came out later and went for the small waves at the Groin. Walt the photographer arrived on his standup board; he stroked into one gentle swell after another. As the waves built up he would drag his paddle in the face of the swell to turn the board and then paddle while cruising along to build speed. After an hour, Doug, Marty and Jim paddled over from Seadrift to join the rest of us. Seadrift was good when they started but died as the tide came in. All three of them logged three hours in the water this morning. Last week I ripped the shoulder panel my wetsuit and was trying to convince myself that the hole wasn’t so bad. Water was pouring down the body of my suit and filling in the leg areas. After two hours I was freezing, yes the hole was bad, I have to get it fixed. With numb hands I paddled in.

Back at the cars, all of us were praising the warm weather, the beautiful ocean and the classic small waves. Wave prospects for next week don’t look good, thus we were glad we caught this morning’s modest offerings.

May 6, 2009 Wednesday

Bolinas	Patch
9:30 am to 10:45 am	3' to 4', sets head high
Mid upcoming tide	Slight onshore breeze
Overcast with drizzle	Fun session

I hadn’t surfed in nine days and was hungry for some waves thus my expectations were high even though the predictions on the Internet were fair at best: 8 foot NW swell at 14 seconds, 8 knot wind out of the west and water temperature at 53 degrees. At least the water temp had come back up. My last session on Monday April 27th in small waves at Seadrift was cold and windy, water temp at 46 degrees and a howling NW wind. Marty and I froze. Since then another storm front has come through Marin bringing two inches of rain and south winds. The weather was breaking today and we’re coming into a period of warm weather. I had started reading a new book on surfing, The Big Drop, edited by John Long, a collection of 32 true stories about big wave surfing. After reading tales about Greg Noll, Jose Angel, Buzzy Trent and Jeff Hakman, fearless adventurers who were willing to launch themselves into scary mountains of water at Waimea, Pipeline and Makaha, I was psyched up for anything that Bolinas could throw at me.

The sun was shining as I left Mill Valley, the cloud cover appeared at Mountain Home and the drizzle started at Pan Toll. “I’ll drop below the clouds on the other side”, I said to myself. Not so. The drizzle became more pronounced as I approached Bolinas. I saw white water all along the Duxbury reef, far out from the point at Bolinas, a good sign that a swell was running. Several cars were parked at Brighton Ave including Mary’s, Marty’s, Doug’s and Russ’s and their boards were gone, another good sign.

The drizzle was now a light rain, nothing was dry and water was running down the street. I kept my camera in my backpack to keep it dry as long as possible, walked down to the seawall, saw Doug and Jim going for walls straight out from the Ramp and noted that Mary, Marty and a couple others were out at the Patch catching some decent rights. There were two out at the Channel but it didn’t look good. I’ll head for the Patch.

Russ came in as I was suiting up and reported that it was much better earlier and now the high tide was causing the waves to go flat. Just my luck. Doug and Jim who had ended their session stated that it wasn’t any good; the waves were small, shapeless walls. Another guy had just come in. I asked him how it was. Good an hour ago, now the flood tide was killing the waves. Again, just my luck.

“I heard I’m an hour late,” I said to Mary when I paddled out to the line up at the Patch.

“No, you’re not,” she said. “There are still some good waves coming through.”

She was right. There was a decent yet bumpy swell running with a sizeable peak that would rebuild into a long, fast, right wave. I watched Mary do it a few times. Within a few minutes a good set came through. I was caught inside, paddled out and a saw a four foot wall cresting in front of me. I turned as white water began to slide down from the top and stroked into it as it broke on me. I belly-boarded it down the face and when it flatted out, I jumped up, turned into a feathering section, hung at the top of the curl until it broke in a solid wall of water that send me flying. What a good ride, now I’m into it.

For the next hour and an half, I traded waves with Marty and another woman who was connecting on the long rights. It felt good to be back in the water, at 53 degrees the water was warm and the waves had some force. My strategy was to wait for the true ground swells; those that stretched across the impact zone (about fifty yards). The reef caused them to break near the outside rock, which was submerged, and the length of the swell formed a continuous breaking wave. I connected with several long rights and lefts. I knew I was near the outside rock when I leaned back on my board and my skeg bonked on the rock. With nine days rest, my arms felt strong and I managed to catch one wave after another. After a small fast right curl I was next to the inside rock, close to shore. That was it, time to call it quits.

Back at the car Lou the boogie boarder praised his good session in the steep curls at the Channel. Yoshi had surfed the ramp with Doug and Jim and said it was “so – so.” Claude pulled up as Marty and I were walking into town for coffee. We stated all the positives when he asked us how it was. I was about to tell him he was an hour late but changed my mind. He too was hungry for waves and our account of conditions got him excited. So goes the life of optimistic surfers.