September 23, 2009 Wednesday - Part 1

Bolinas	Groin
8:45 am to 10:45 am	2', sets to 3'
Low upcoming tide	Offshore breeze to no wind
High fog	Fun session

This morning the weather radio reported five-foot swells at 13 seconds and a NW breeze. That’s pretty good. It’s about the same size as last Monday’s. The Bay Area was in a high pressure, low humidity spare-the-air day heat wave. But this morning we had fog on the ridge, Mill Valley’s air conditioner. Kate and I rejoiced, finally relief from the heat. Driving over the mountain, I went through drippy fog, complete with wet streets and the wipers on. Bolinas was under the fog, a slight offshore breeze created tabletop glass conditions and nobody was here but Matt. He was the only one in the water. That’s him in the above photo on a good small curl. “This is like Monday but better,” I thought to myself. Monday the waves were about the same size with good left two to three-footers at the Groin, but not clean like today. Monday the waves were bumpy and sectioning. A south wind had put a texture on the surface and twelve surfers were out at 8:00 am. Today it was glassy smooth, clean, well-formed peelers and only one person in the water, Matt.

Hans was at the top of the ramp when I returned from taking photos. He was trying to decide whether to go out.

“Hans, it’s like Monday but only better,” I said.

“I know,” he responded. “But the wind should hold, the tide will be higher later and I have an errand to do in Novato. I’ll come back later.” And he jumped into his car and took off.

Russ arrived and he and I entered the water at 8:40 am. Another surfer who I have seen at Bolinas several times before was giving his twenty-something daughter a surf lesson on the inside. Russ and I went out to the peak at the Groin to join Matt. The waves were beautiful two to three-footers, glassy smooth and peeling neatly to the left, maybe peeling a little too fast. We had to find an edge to be able to make the first section. Like I often do, I lined up with the lighthouse white structure on the top of the cliff. My first wave closed out, but my second was a great ride. I paddled at an angle, jumped up quickly, stepped to the center of the board, then took another step closer to the nose and stood there as I trimmed through a steep, fast section. It was a knee-high curl, my type of wave.

Russ commented how shallow the water was as he stood at the peak in chest high water. We picked up quickly that the swells jumped up when they hit the shallow water of the sandbar. We had paddle for the waves when the swells were flat, pick up board speed and glide into them when they jumped up. Thus we had the location, lining up with the lighthouse structure, and the technique for catching the waves. All three of us caught plenty of waves this morning.

Matt caught the wave of the day. Paddling out I saw him stroking into a well-formed three-foot wall. I stopped to watch. Matt quickly positioned himself mid-swell with his back to the wave. He crouched down in the middle of his board and cruised through a long fast section. He then stood up and by shifting his weight he worked the board up and down the wave keeping him in the steepest part of the curl. He hummed by me as I paddled through the white water of the wave, I looked back and there was Matt crouched down shooting through an inside section. He worked the wave and drove his board right up to the shore jumping off within ten feet of dry sand.

My last wave was a good one. After two hours I was tired and ready to go in. A set wave approached, I stroked into it, jumped up quickly, stepped to within one foot from the nose, trimmed through the first section. Like Matt’s wave this swell kept unfolding in front of me. I stepped back to the middle of the board and shifted my weight to climb up the wave and leaned forward to drop down the line. I milked this wave all the way to the shore break, stepped off the board in knee-high water and called it a day.

For the rest of the day I had the “glow” Professor Steve talks about that comes from physical exertion and the satisfaction of a fun session.