February 10, 2010 Wednesday

Bolinas	Just south of the ramp
9:30 am to 10:30 am	3', sets to 4'
High outgoing tide (5.9 ft at 8:40 am)	Slight offshore breeze
High overcast with chance of rain	Fun session

Matt had just suited up as I pulled up this morning. He had not been surfing for five weeks. Why? Work, bad weather and bicycling. He was anxious to get back into the water. Hans was about to enter the water when Matt and I walked down the ramp. Hans introduced us to Terry, a Stinson Beach local who was here this morning because his wife was at a Yoga class. Terry and I watched from the seawall as Matt and Hans paddled out. A nice peak had formed just south of the ramp and was breaking in both directions. Doug, Jim, Frank and a couple others were out there. The Channel looked mushy, Groin was flat and conditions had groomed a new peak in front of house and seawall on the south side of the ramp. Last January a good peak formed right in front of the ramp, and then it disappeared in February and was just now starting to reform. The storms move out tons of sand and the peak reappears. I saw Jim get a good left, Frank cruised down a long right on his standup board and Doug turned into a fast right wall. To me it looked like fun.

“Well Terry, are you going?” I asked.

“Yes, it looks ok,” he said. “I’ll go for an hour to get some exercise.”

The waves were thick and hard to catch. I had to wait until they were breaking on me to push into them. My first ride was a good one. Jim and I stroked side by side for a four-foot wall. The contour of the bottom forced the wave to break left. We both caught it; I dropped down the face and turned at the bottom. Jim was locked in the middle of the curl cruising left twenty feet ahead of me. I slid under the white water coming down from the top of the wave; swell was forming under the white water allowing me to smoothly plough under it to climb back into the swell. The wave reformed on the inside and the shore break crashed on both of us. It was a good start to the session.

Matt got a good wave. I was paddling out as he stroked into a set wave right in front of me. He jumped up, cut right and streaked down a well-formed face. I paddled through it and looked back. Matt was crouched down in the middle of his board locked into the fast shore break.

“That was great,” he said when he paddled back to the line-up. “I had forgotten how fun this is. Never again will I go five weeks without surfing.”

Between sets we had some good conversations going. Hans was the manager of the Corinthian Yacht Club in Tiburon for several years and still sails with friends. I asked him about the America’s cup race that was going on in Valencia, Spain. He mentioned that they had postponed the race for a second day, first for lack of wind and yesterday for too much wind; multi-million dollar yachts and they couldn’t sail them unless conditions were perfect. Hans had to comment on what a king size jerk Larry Ellison, owner of the BMW-Oracle trimaran, was. He did not show up at the opening ceremony to shake the hand of the owner of the other boat. In the early 90’s I worked at Oracle for three years and the only time the troops ever heard from Larry was when he sent out a broadcast email informing them that executive X (fill in the name) had just “elected to seek opportunities else where.”

I asked Doug about the new truck he just bought, a man-size, big carbon-footprint Ford 150. His mechanic warned him that his old truck, which had over 200,000 miles, was about to need some major repair, like a new transmission. Cathy and Clark set him up with a friend who sold cars online. Doug saved at least $1500 but $26,000 seemed like a lot. It was more than he paid for his house (30 years ago).

For Jim the music gig at the Hilton Hotel in Santa Rosa continues. In these tough economic times steady work for a musician is hard to find. The Hotel people love him. Jim performs on Fridays and twice on Sundays.

Everybody was feeling good after their sessions. We had squeezed in some good rides between rainstorms, saw some beautiful scenery and connected with friends. It was just another great morning in Marin.