September 13, 2009 Sunday

Bolinas	Channel
7:20 am to 9:30 am	3' to 6', occasional 6'
High upcoming tide	Onshore breeze (south wind)
High clouds - rain storm coming in	So - so session

Yesterday about noon, Marty called to inform me that I had missed one of the best days of the year. On Saturday conditions came together for a perfect session: three to five foot waves peeling left from the Channel to inside the Groin, upcoming tide, no wind, glassy smooth and a small mellow crowd in the water. And the scenery was perfect also: lightning to the south, off and on light rain, clean-fresh air and rain clouds hiding the tops of the hills.

“You really missed it,” he emphasized. “And tomorrow looks like it will be just as good.” That did it I had to go. Since I have retired I don’t surf on weekends. But due to Marty’s report this Sunday would be an exception.

The weather had dramatically changed. Early Saturday morning Marin experienced the “Mother of all lightning storms.” Flashes of light awoke me at 4:00 am. I stood at the window and watched flashes in the clouds over the far ridge but I didn’t hear any sound. Slowly I began to hear murmurs of thunder in the distance. The length of time between the flashing light and the sound indicated that the lightning was far from us. Then it happened. The sky lit up, the thundered boomed in the same instant, the windows rattled, the house shook and the neighbors little girls began to cry. I thought it struck around the corner from us. The Marin IJ reported that this bolt hit across the canyon from us on Summit Ave about a quarter mile away. The lightning exploded a 200-foot redwood tree, turning a 100 feet of it into million pieces of bark, fir, branches and foliage, and it blasted a driveway creating softball size shards of concrete. Temperatures had plummeted from the 90s to the low 70s creating an explosive mixture of warm and cool air, something unusual for Marin County.

I hit the road early this morning, a storm front was moving in, the sky was dark with clouds and the wind blew from the south. At Bolinas the strong swell was still running. The parking places on Brighton Ave were full, but luck was with me, someone pulled out as I drove up. Judging by the number of cars and people, the whole Bay Area surf community knew the swell was up. Crowd was the issue today. When I entered the water at 7:20 am there were twenty-one surfers out at the Channel. Two hours later at 9:30 am thirty-eight surfers were out there when I left the water.

My surf companions were at the peak: Jack the Dave Sweet Team rider, Mark the archaeologist, Jim the jazz guitarist and Doug. Mary and Russ were out at the Patch. One method for dealing with crowds is to sit at the furthest peak and claim “right-of-way”. In surf etiquette, the one deepest in the peak has the right-of-way. Jack, the most experienced surfer of all of us, sat at the furthest point of the peak and waited for the set waves. I followed his lead. We had some success but not much. The size had gone down from yesterday, the south wind put considerable chop on the surface and the waves were bumpy. We weren’t able to connect across the impact zone. The waves would section and other surfers would drop in on us. Jack managed to intimate the others by locking high in the curls and screaming across the waves tucked in a tight crouch. I managed to get a few good rides but not many. I spent considerable energy paddling around the crowd to gain position. After two hours the wind was picking up and more and more surfers were entering the water, thus I decided to call it a day.

The front moved in, it rained all afternoon and I enjoyed listening to the patter of the rain and watching the 49ers beat the Arizona Cardinals.