September 16, 2009 Wednesday

Bolinas	Groin
8:50 am to 10:30 am	3' to 5', occasional 6'
Mid upcoming tide	Offshore wind, later NW breeze
Sunny with high clouds	Great session

Why was everyone getting out of the water?

At 8:10 am I was walking on the beach at Bolinas with the camera around neck towards the Groin watching eight surfers connecting on some well-formed left curls. Mary caught a good one took it all the way in and picked up her board and exited the water.

“Mary, it’s 8:15 am, the waves are great and you are leaving,” I commented while she wrapped the leash around her board.

“I have a good reason,” she said. “I got my fill. I caught a lot of waves out there this morning. And besides I’m going to be with my daughter. She’s going back to school.” I accepted this excuse. Mary’s daughter was starting her senior year at Stanford.

I took some good shots of these fast breaking curls. Hans got a long ride and ended it by lying down on his board and bellying it up to the shore. Then he got out.

“Hans,” I exclaimed in surprise. “Why are you getting out the waves are good?”

“I caught plenty of them,” he said. “Beside I have things to do.”

Laile completed a long ride, paddled to shore and got out while Hans and I were chatting.

“I got a shot of you on a great wave,” I greeted her. The above photo is Laile locked in a good curl. “The waves are good, why are you getting out?”

“Daddy’s at home with our two year old,” she said.

“Mother obligations?”

“Yes,” she said. “My husband takes Wednesdays off, thus Wednesday is my only day to surf.” And off she went.

As I was entering the water, I observed another good ride. This skilled surfer took off at the peak, streaked across a steep curl with spray from the offshore wind arching off the top of the wave. He cut back, let the wave build and then streaked across an inside section pulling out ten feet from shore. Then he too wrapped his leash around his board and got out.

“Great ride,” I said to him. “The waves look great. Why are you getting out?”

“You are right about the waves,” he answered. “But I have things to do.”

“Obligations?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said. “I have to take my mother to the doctor at 10:00 o’clock.” And off he went.

The crowd of eight was now down to four as I paddled out: Lou the boogie-boarder, Captain Kip, a girl wearing a red baseball cap who was a good surfer and one other guy.

The swell was a surprise: five feet at 14 seconds; underneath was a 2.5-foot 17-second south swell, which was unexpected. No one predicted that. A combination of north and south swells, offshore wind and an upcoming tide, all the elements coming together to produce some beautiful long curl rides.

Professor Steve paddled out on his 9-foot longboard. He usually comes out on a shortboard. But because lately the swells had been small and powerless, he switched to his longboard. Shortboards perform best in steep hard breaking waves. Good choice for Steve caught several long left power-glide type waves this morning.

Lou on his boogie board paddled around way outside optimistically waiting for “The Big One.” The waves came in flat and then would jump up when they hit the shallow sandbar. Only when Lou finally drifted in to the edge of the sandbar did he finally connect with the waves. And then he got some locked in the curl long rides.

“Lou, how is that recession proof business of yours doing?” I asked. Lou owns The Mat, a coin operated Laundromat in Fairfax. He told me a couple of months ago that his business hadn’t seen any affects of the recession.

“Great,” he said. “It usually slows down in the summer months, but not this year. We’re doing fine.” We concluded that the summer remained steady for two reasons: Staycations – people staying home and not taking vacations and people doing their own laundry instead of going to the full service Laundromats.

So for two hours a small group of us traded waves, got several good rides, chitchatted about surfing and things in general and soaked up the scenery. It was another beautiful Marin morning.