August 10, 2009 Monday

Bolinas	Channel & Groin
9:15 am to 10:45 am	1' to 2' sets to 3'
Low upcoming tide	No wind
Sunny and warm - heat wave	OK session

Heat wave conditions were the only reason for going out this morning: clear blue skies, bright sunshine, warm, no wind and warm water, 58 degrees. The waves were a weak one to two feet with an occasional three-footer. Shape was good and the surface was smooth. NOAA buoy report had 6-foot NW wind swell at 8 seconds combined with a two-foot south swell at 12 seconds.

The summer conditions put a lot of people in the water for a Monday morning. Mary, Kathy the biology teacher and Hans were way outside at the Patch where it was barely breaking. Marty, Matt and six others were out at the Channel going for small fast peeling left waves. Jimmy the Stinson carpenter and another surfer were on the far side of the Channel going for the rights. After I entered the water, Joe the Bolinas local with the wood laminated longboard and a couple of others joined us. Twelve surfers in all were spread across the Channel to the Groin to the inside break.

Crowd was an issue this morning. It impacted wave selection. The weak waves and their infrequency narrowed the take-off zone and caused the twelve surfers to bunch together. To deal with the crowd, my strategy was to go for right-of-way, which in surfing is to position at the apex of the peak and be the first one to catch the wave. Surf etiquette states that the one deepest in the peak has the right-of-way. Most surfers respect these rules. I paddled out to the furthest point at the Channel and along with four others waited for the sets. My other strategy was to catch the second or third wave of the set. After a long lull, four surfers will try for the first wave of a set. I would let that one go and be in position for the second or third wave which are usually larger. Not today. The first wave of every set was the largest one and three people would be on it. I did manage to catch some of the second smaller waves, but they had little force or shape.

After an hour, Marty and I moved to the inside break north of the Groin wall. Same place I was at last Wednesday, again lining up with the house that is falling down the cliff. My luck improved, but not by much. Both Marty and I managed to connect on a couple of decent waves. But the crowd was still a problem. When a set wave approached, I would look at the eyes of the surfers around me to see how many and who would be going for the wave. I respected the surf rules and passed on waves when someone deeper in the peak was paddling for the wave. After thirty minutes of maneuvering around others and seeing that the surf camp was about to dump another twenty individuals into the water, we decided to call it a day.

From a surf perspective I had an ok-session, but given the sunshine, the glassy conditions and the beauty of the ocean, it was another spectacular Marin morning.