August 3, 2009 Monday

Bolinas	Groin
9:00 am to 10:50 am	2' to 3', sets to 4'
Mid upcoming tide	Slight cross breeze (due north)
High overcast to sunshine	Great fun session

“I was going in,” said a young longboarder who just had paddled out to join me. “But when I saw your last wave I had to go for one more. I’ll only take one of yours.”

“No problem,” I said. “There are plenty of waves.”

He had been out at the peak in the Channel, had surfed one all the way in, wrapped the leash around his board and was walking on the beach when I connected with another great, fast left curl on the inside peak north of the Groin wall. I took off late, turned left, positioned high in the curl, walked to the nose, stood there screaming down a perfectly formed waist-high curl and drove the nose of the board into the white water of the shore break.

We sat through a ten-minute lull before a couple of waves approached. My companion went for the first one, a small two-foot wall. I watched him glide down the face. I turned out to sea and to my surprise a beautiful four-foot swell was approaching. I quickly paddled out and to the north to meet it. I turned, stroked into it as it was feathering ten feet down the line, jumped up, climbed high in the wave, stepped to the middle of the board, locked the inside rail under the lip of the wave, shot down a fast section, shifted my weight back and forth to climb up and down the curl and stepped to the nose to drive it into collapsing shore break. Another great ride. I was five feet from dry sand, had been out for nearly two hours, was exhausted and decided to end my session on a good one.

“Did you get your one?” I said to my young companion back at the cars.

“I got a couple,” he said. “And were they great.” He mentioned that he was out at the Channel and caught several good ones, but they were nothing compared to the shape and speed of his last two rides at the inside peak.

I had this peak all by myself for an hour before he showed up. Six to eight others were at the Channel but none of them ventured down where I was. The conditions came together to produce perfect, fast peeling lefts: a three foot seventeen second south swell, mid upcoming tide, a sandbar that causes the waves to continuously break to the left, an offshore breeze to hold up the curls and 57 degree warm water. I applied the same strategy I used in my good session last Wednesday. I lined up with the house that is falling off the cliff, and searched for the edge of the sandbar by standing in the water. I stood in chest-deep water and waited for the sets. When they approached I jumped on my board, paddled out and north, let the first one go by and positioned for the larger second or third wave. The strategy worked and I connected with several fast inside curls.

When I arrived this morning, I saw Mary was getting out at the Patch. I walked down the beach to greet her. The Patch was slow and she was moving down to Channel where four others were connecting with some good fun left waves. With camera in hand, I watched her connect with two long left curls. That’s Mary on a good one in the above photo. After I had suited up and was at the base of the ramp, Mary was on another long left curl.

I entered the water to head out where Mary and Kathy the biology teacher were. I observed Yoshi on a good inside curl, crouched down with his back to the wave trimming through a clean left section. I caught a couple on the outside, but when paddling out I saw another set of beautiful left curls on the inside, right where Yoshi was. I decided to join him. That is when I started lining up with the house that is falling off the cliff. Yoshi and I started trading waves. At one point I didn’t see him out there. I thought maybe he had gone in. Then I saw him carrying his board up the steps at the cliff end of the Groin wall. He walked down the beach and paddled back out to where I was.

“The rights are good,” he said.

Malibu rights. He caught a Malibu right. Often when the tide is high and swell is strong, a good right peak forms at the end of the Groin wall and the waves peel continuously to the right on the inside of the wall. Five minutes later I saw him again walking his board up the steps. Yoshi would catch a clean peak, swing left until the wave broke, then swing right, the wave would reform but this time breaking right. Yoshi would pick up speed, drive past the end of the Groin wall and work into a long right curl that would take him south way inside towards the mouth of the lagoon. He would end up in shallow water near the shore and walk back to the north side of the wall and paddle back out to our peak. I saw him do this four times. On the fourth time, he kept walking down the beach to the Ramp to call it a day.

Now I had this peak to myself for the next hour. It was a great morning.