September 14, 2009 Monday

Bolinas	Channel & Groin
8:30 am to 10:30 am	3' to 5', occasional 6'
High upcoming tide	No wind, later slight onshore breeze
Low fog and low visibility	Great session

“Don’t bother taking photos this morning, you can’t see a thing,” Matt greeted me as I arrived at Bolinas this morning. “I was just down there and I could only make out two people in the water. But look everybody is out there.” Matt was referring to the cars of our surf companions: Marty, Hans, Mary, Doug and Jim were in the water. “On the deck” fog was in and it was thick.

That did it. I decided to surf first and take photos later when the fog had lifted. The above picture, which was taken at 11:00 am after my session, doesn’t do the conditions justice. But this woman who came out about 10:00 am connected with several good rides on her twelve-foot stand-up board.

“Mary, it’s 8:00 am and you are leaving,” I commented as she unlocked her car after her session. Mary usually stays in the water for three hours.

“Too much testosterone out there,” she replied. “Plus I have to be somewhere this morning. There are twelve surfers out there, all males and all crowded onto one peak. But the waves are good, get out there, you will love it.”

Stormsurf claimed that the north swell that came in this Saturday would still be running this morning: 6 ft at 12 seconds. Tomorrow and Wednesday the swell would drop to nothing, thus today was the day to go. The NOAA buoy report had north swell a 7 ft at 14 seconds and a 2 ft south at 17 seconds. South swell? Where did this come from? Nobody had predicted it. Less wind, less people, and south swell mixed in, conditions could be good. I had to go.

Like Matt had said I could only see a couple of people when I entered the water. Then I saw the pack: twelve of them bunched together at one peak. Fortunately there were plenty of waves, the surface was glass smooth and the low fog was holding the wind down. The waves were difficult to judge. The smooth surface and low visibility made the swells appear steeper than they were. I paddled for five waves before catching one. But my first wave was a good one, a long left curl ride.

“Bo – Bo at it’s best,” said Jack the Dave Sweet Team rider after an hour. The waves were great and the rides were long. All of us were getting plenty of good rides. Jack was all over the waves. While paddling out I got a view of him on a beautiful wave. When he took off, I stopped to watch. I knew this was going to be good. The wave lined up, Jack stood mid-board at the base of the wave, the curl was a foot over his head, he cruised down a green-gray wall of perfectly smooth water, cut back and then powered all the way to the shore.

Another time paddling out I watched a short-boarder on a perfect wave. In classic short-board style, he looked like he was on a skateboard working the walls of an empty swimming pool. Up and down, up and down, he cut up this beautiful wall of dark green water.

My second wave was a good one. I stroked into a four-foot swell, cut left, climbed high in the curl, stepped to the middle of the board and shot through the first section. The wave kept building and getting steeper. I stepped closer to the nose, gained speed, the wave got even steeper and I stepped closer to the nose. I was at the top of the wave dropping down a steep curl. I was as parallel to the wave as I could be, in fact too much so. My tailblock came out of the water and the board pivoted where I was standing and sent me flying. What a great ride.

I introduced Jack to Professor Steve who was out for his morning exercise before heading over the hill to teach his class. I mentioned to Jack that Steve, a professor of English, has a book on Shakespeare’s Hamlet coming out. I commented to Steve that Jack used to be on Dave Sweet’s surf team in the mid-sixties. Jack corrected me; he is still on the team. Team riders are members for life. Dave Sweet who must be in his 70s is still building boards and still has three riders on his team: one in Southern California, one on the east coast and Jack in Northern California.

“Can you believe this guy has only been surfing for a year?” Jack commented referring to Jim the jazz guitarist. It’s true that Jim is much better. He is catching a lot more waves that he used to. His timing, wave judgment and paddling skills have greatly improved allowing him to catch waves earlier and ride them further. Jim also has no fear and paddles for everything. Last year Jim got pounded from miss-timing all the monster closeouts that he went for. Jim still has no fear but now he successfully rides down them instead of taking them on the head. Jim was having a ball this morning, paddling for all the set waves and catching most of them.

The quality of the waves held up and there were plenty of them. All of us caught several good long rides. Slowly the fog lifted, the wind began to pick up and the tide rose even higher causing the shape of the waves to diminish. After two hours I was exhausted. After riding a long one all the way to the shore, I decided to call it a day instead of making the long paddle back out.

I agreed with Jack, it was Bolinas at its best.