August 5, 2009 Wednesday

Bolinas	Groin
9:00 am to 10:45 am	2' to 3', sets to 4'
Mid upcoming tide	North cross wind
Sunny with high clouds	Great fun session

Bolinas at Its Best

“I got barreled out there,” said Josh the Bolinas fisherman. He had just finished his morning session and was standing there dripping wet with his board in his hand. I stood next to him with my camera in my hand. “I didn’t make it out, but I saw the tunnel.” He was referring to the experience where the lip of the wave pitches out, covers the surfer behind a sheet of water and forms a tunnel of water with an oval opening at the end. The logo of Surfrider Foundation depicts this oval. The ultimate in surfing is to be covered up by the tube and to come flying out of the tunnel. Conditions have to be just right to create barrels and this morning north of the Groin wall they were: three-foot south swell at 16 seconds from 220 degrees, mid-upcoming tide, offshore breeze to hold up the curls and a sandbar that forces the waves to continuously break to the left.

Joe the Bolinas local with the wood laminated longboard entered the water a few minutes before me. Joe who is my age is an excellent surfer and knows the Bolinas well. I always pay attention to what he is doing. I went out to the inside break north of the Groin wall and lined up as I did on Monday with the house that is falling down the cliff. Joe was ten yards north of me. A sizable wall approached, I went for it and so did Joe. The wave closed out in front of me but as the white water engulfed me I caught a glimpse of Joe mid-swell crouched down in the middle of his board screaming down a fast breaking left wave with the curl peeling over his left shoulder. It was a great ride. Following his lead I moved further north. Joe had located the edge where the waves pause an instant to allow one the time to lock the board in position just under the lip of the wave. From this spot I caught one fast clean left wave after another.

Martha paddled out on her 9’ 6’ new Dewey Weber board. I wrote about Martha’s son Woody in my July 24th posting. Woody was the young surfer who is very good and who is sponsored by Dewey Weber Surfboards. I asked Martha how she liked her board.

“I love it,” she said. “It’s the best board I have ever owned.” She mentioned that Weber is located in San Clemente, that only one shop in Northern California carries their boards and that she went to San Clemente to purchase this one.

“So how does a family that lives in Northern California get their son to be sponsored by shop in San Clemente?” I asked.

“Woody entered a contest sponsored by Dewey Weber,” she replied. “After the contest Shea Weber (Dewey’s son and owner of Weber Surfboards) invited Woody to join their team.” She didn’t mention it, but I bet Woody won the contest. Martha worked her way south to the peak at the Channel. From a distance I saw her expertly glide down at least five shoulder high walls. Yes she had a good session.

Yoshi paddled out to join me. We were both going for the inside fast left peeling curls that drove right up to the shore. I waited for the sets waves, but not Yoshi. Between sets he moved further inside to catch the smaller waves. When the set waves approached he would be right there next to me. He caught a lot more waves than I did. He has a unique style. Yoshi learned to surf in Japan, and I know from reading Surfer Magazine that the surf in Japan is small, similar to the Atlantic Coast in the US. He is comfortable and good at riding curls close to shore. He also lived a few years in Santa Cruz where he rode a shortboard, thus he has a shortboard style when riding his 9’ 0’ Haut board at Bolinas. He would take off late just as the wave was breaking, jump up to a deep squat, buttocks to the heels squat, on the back quarter of the board with his back to the wave, he would hold onto the outside rail and trim through the first section. When he broke out in front of the curl he would stand, step to the middle of the board, squat back down to go through the next section and drive right up to the shore. Three times as I was paddling out, I caught a perfect view of him trimming down the curl in a deep squat with the lip of the wave pounding on his right shoulder. Each time he drove the board right up to the sand and would step off in six inches of water.

For an hour Yoshi and I traded waves at the inside peak. Later, Oliver joined us. The three of us had a ball just connecting with one perfect little curl after another. When the surf camp hordes entered the water we decided to call it a morning.