October 21, 2009 Wednesday

Bolinas	Patch
9:00 am to 11:00 am	3' to 4', sets head high
Low upcoming tide (2.9 ft at 7:30 am)	Slight onshore breeze to no wind
High fog to sunshine	Fun session

Two stand-up surfers were out at the Patch with us this morning. One was good and the other was just beginning.

“That guy dropped in on me,” I heard the good stand-up surfer said to the other one. “I’m going to talk to him about it.”

We normal surfers don’t enjoy having the stand-up guys around us. With their big boards they catch more waves than the rest of us and can catch them when the wave is still a flat swell. When paddling out, the stand-up surfers are awkward due to their big clumsy boards. Twice this morning I had to straighten out to avoid hitting them.

The good stand-up surfer paddles over to a mid-fifties aged longboarder who had no gloves, no booties and no leash. This guy was good. I had the impression that he has been surfing all his life. The stand-up guy presented his case in a proper British gentleman tone, a speech filled with indirect references and no direct accusations.

“Fuck off!” was the response. This set off several minutes of hostile words, something we rarely hear or see at Bolinas. Finally a set wave came through, the longdboarder turned and stroked into it. That ended their heated discussion and these two stayed away from each other for the rest of the morning.

Prospects for waves looked good this morning: 7 ft NW swell at 11 seconds with a 3 ft south swell at 17 seconds. The weather had just changed. Monday a front brought rain, south winds, white caps and rough seas. Yesterday high pressure moved in clearing out the clouds and producing sunny conditions for today.

“Hey dude where were you?” Claude stated in an email I received yesterday. “It was 4 ft and perfect at the Patch, and Mary and I had it all to ourselves. Get here early tomorrow.”

Claude was right; it was good today. Ten surfers were out at the Patch and only two at the Groin. The Patch was definitely the call. The inside rights looked good. Several of the Bolinas regulars were there: Mary and Claude following up on yesterday’s good session, Hans on his big purple board, Russ riding them on his knees, Hank getting in a few waves before work, Matt sitting outside and Jeff from Mill Valley going for the inside rights. The above photo is Jeff on a good one.

I paddled out to the group that was going for the inside rights. I thought I would catch a couple of those. Sitting there I looked outside and to the north. In came a set, I watched Claude stroke into a four-foot peak, drop to the bottom, crank a big turn to the right and cruise down a beautiful wall. “I’m going for that,” I said to myself and paddled out to where Mary and Matt were. Both Mary and Claude had to tell me yesterday was bigger, better shape and less people. Claude then paddled way outside to catch the “ultimate” wave. Typical Patch conditions, the waves would peak way outside, not break but keep moving forward and break when they hit the Patch reef. Thus we could see the sets coming a minute before arrived at the reef.

The waves had some force today. They would peak, break over the reef and reform into long right peeling waves. On my first wave I turned down a four-foot peak, cutback into the swell, pushed my weight forward to drop into the reforming inside curl, swung to the right again and trimmed down a well-formed wave for a long ways. Paddling out I watched Mary do the same thing. She traveled on and on stopping near the shore break. After sitting outside by himself for ten minutes, Claude caught a big one. One he milked all the way to the shore break. From then on Claude joined the group going for the inside rights.

After an hour, I hit a lull. The waves didn’t stop but I just didn’t connect, a combination of a changing tide and tired arms. Finally I caught one, my best ride of the morning. I was sitting next to the fifty-something surfer who had just told the stand-up surfer where to stick that paddle of his. A set approached, the first wave was four-feet and I could see another wave behind it. I watched the other guy closely to see if he was going for the first wave. At the last moment he turned and stroked into it. I quickly paddled over this wave and positioned myself for the second one. It looked walled but I decided to go for it. I dropped down a head-high wall, white water slid down from the top ahead of me; I leaned hard to the right, cruised under the white water into a steep fast breaking curl. I climbed high in the wave and shot through a steep section, eased up to let the wave build up, swung right again hummed through another section. Another surfer was paddling out, I had to straighten out to avoid hitting him, I turned hard right again but by now the wave had collapsed into a solid wall of white water and the ride was over. What a great ride. I gladly made the long paddle back out to do it again.

After two hours and several good long right waves I was exhausted and at the end of a good inside right curl I paddled in. It was just another beautiful Marin morning.