June 3, 2009 Wednesday

Bolinas	Channel
9:00 am to 10:30 am	Consistent 3', sets to 4'
High tide (3.9 feet)	North cross breeze
Patchy high clouds, some light rain	Fun session

Today was a pleasant surprise, the weather changed and the south swell arrived. A low-pressure system had moved in and pushed out the June Gloom that had been plaguing us for the last month. A light rain fell on me in Mill Valley as I loaded my board into the car, it cleared up by the time I reached Bolinas and high patchy clouds with on and off sunshine came out. A light offshore/cross breeze put a light ripple on the surface of the water.

My surf expectations were low, but this morning the NOAA weather radio reported a three-foot 14-second swell giving me a glimmer of hope. “Maybe the south swell has arrived early,” I said to myself. Stormsurf has been announcing Swell #2S, meaning the second major south swell of the season, for a week, predicting first remnants arriving Wednesday (1.6 feet at 15 seconds), growing on Thursday to 2.0 feet at 14 seconds, raising more on Friday at 2.3 feet at 17 seconds and peaking on Saturday at 2.6 feet at 16 seconds.

At Bolinas, Mary, Marty, Russ, Dan and Pete were out at the Channel when I arrived. From the seawall I saw them at a beautiful three-foot peak in the middle of the Channel. A peak that broke continuously, without sectioning, in both directions a long ways. The south swell had arrived and it was going to be a good session. The peak consistently broke in the same spot, the initial break was the steepest and fastest part of the wave, after the first break the waves slowed down but continued breaking for a long, long ways. Marty and Mary connected on two long lefts and then had to make the long paddle back out. The above photo is Mary on a good one. After the wave drought for the whole month of May, these waves looked great to me. I was excited.

Back at the cars, Russ and Pete were changing after their session. They were hyped up. I got that, “where were you? It was great earlier.” Russ was in the water at 7:00 am. He even beat Mary out. At lower tide the waves were steeper and faster. The patchy sky and early morning light rain produced a spectacular setting for some great rides. “Loren, tomorrow you have to be here early,” Russ insisted.

“Mary, where’s the take-off spot?” I asked Mary after making the long paddle out to the peak.

“I have been just watching the white water,” she said. “I can’t believe how good these waves are. What a change from yesterday.” Marty also comment on the change and the beauty of the waves.

“What’s better? The lefts or the rights?” I asked.

“The lefts, definitely,” Mary answered. I caught two waves one left and one right and knew Mary was correct. The rights were breaking into deep water and died after they broke.

After riding a few my strategy was set: sit way outside and wait for the set waves, move to catch the exact center of the peak, and paddle hard to gain board speed to get into the waves early. After the initial break, the momentum of the waves significantly dropped. The take-offs were best part of the ride, thus getting into the waves early was important. On my first good left, I stroked into a four-foot peak, turned left, looked down a well-formed wall of water, leaned into the wave to climb to the top of the swell, coasted down a good section, turned back into the breaking part of the wave, let the wave build up again and turned back onto the shoulder and coasted through another section. What a good ride and it was long. The paddle back out took a while. The rides were smooth: coast down a section, make a swooping turn back into the white water, turn back into swell, cut-back, swoop back into the swell again, and repeat these maneuvers three more times until the wave ran out of gas. The surface had a small wind ripple that cause the board to make a chatter sound when cruising down the first section. The sound was similar to that a small sail boat makes when tacking at four knots across a smooth yet textured surface. These were classic “power-glide” waves similar to those at Waikiki, or San Onofre, Bluff Cove in Palos Verdes, the reef at Cardiff by the Sea or the Patch on a good day.

We all were elated after our sessions. I considered staying out another hour or so, but I knew the swell was building and tomorrow could be even better. I should save my arms for tomorrow. A good one came through, I stroked into it, cruised high in the curl, turned back into the breaking part of the wave, turned back onto the shoulder and on and on and on I went. I was getting close to shore, so this was it; I milked the wave for as long as I could. I ended up inside the Groin pole and about 50 yards south of it. That was it. I was going to save my remaining strength for tomorrow. While walking back to the car, I mentioned to Marty that I might be making a classic surfer mistake. In surfing, if there are waves, you surf. You never know what tomorrow will bring. We’ll see.