April 16, 2010 Friday

Bolinas	Patch
8:50 am to 10:30 am	3' to 4'
Low upcoming tide	Slight onshore wind
Bright sunny day	Fun session

Warm weather and sunshine on a Friday brought out the crowd. Ten people were out at the Patch when I arrived. From the cars, I knew that Mark the archaeologist, David who rides the Becker board, Frank the stand-up guy, Jack the Dave Sweet team member, Ray the Petaluma fireman, Robert the Larkspur carpenter and Russ were all in the water. The tide was low, all the Patch reef rocks were exposed and the pack was twenty yards beyond the outside rock.

I went up to Terrace Road to take some overview photos. The waves looked good; a three-foot south swell at 16 seconds was running. The crowd was at a consistent right peak. Ray got an incredibly long ride. He stroke into a well-formed set wave, cut right, dropped down the face, cruised under some white water, climbed back into the swell, crouched down in the middle of his board, drove through a fast section, stalled to let the wave build up against, turned right and cruised through another section. He repeated that maneuver two more times before the wave died out a few feet from shore. I saw Jack get a good left. He cut left on a four-foot peak, climbed high in the curl, stepped to the middle of the board to gain speed and shot down a steep curl heading directly at the exposed outside rock. He cut back, maneuvered around the rock and continued on for a long ways. Russ connected on a long right. He cruised down a long section, straighten out as the wave broke, and got back down on his knees to work the board for as long as he could towards shore. He stopped a few yards from the beach and came on in.

After seeing those three rides I was excited. It was a beautiful warm day, long lines of swells were coming in and I had no obligations this afternoon. I could stay out as long as I wanted. However, as I was suiting up the wind shifted onshore, the tide started filling in knocking down the waves and all my buddies came in. Again I missed the best of the waves.

I greeted Jack and Jeff the contractor as I was heading to the beach with board in hand.

“Jack I took your recommendation and had lunch at the Pine Cone Diner,” I greeted him.

“And it was good, wasn’t it?” Jack responded.

“Yes it was,” I said. “My wife and I hiked a trail out at Point Reyes and did some sight seeing at Point Reyes Station.”

Two weeks ago Jack and I had lunch at Sam’s in Tiburon. I told him about my idea of starting a blog of Surfer Eateries. Places to go after a morning surf session that are close to surf spots and have good food at reasonable prices. I mentioned a couple of places that I would nominate. Jack got excited.

“Pine Cone Diner,” he said. “You have to include the Pine Cone Diner in Point Reyes Station. I always stop there after surfing at Drake’s Beach.” Kate and I went there last Friday and Jack was right.

“Jeff, you can’t believe this place,” I mentioned to Jeff who was listening in. “It’s like going into a time-warp: a complete, old style 50’s diner with ten stools lined up in front of a Formica counter with five round glass coffee pots sitting on chrome warmers filled with fresh coffee, two Hamilton-Beach milk shake mixers behind the counter and fading cowboy art on the walls. Food is piled high on huge thick plates and the quantity is more than you can eat. The only thing modern about this place is the prices.”

“Well it is Marin, after all,” Jeff answered. We all had a good laugh and I headed for the beach.

“Mark,” I called to him as he was exiting the water. “I read they are auctioning off a water meter here in Bolinas.” Mark owns a piece of property near the beach but can’t build on it because he doesn’t have water. Bolinas has had a moratorium on new water hook-ups since 1971.

“That’s right and the opening bid is $300,000,” he replied. “Today is the final day for bids. The city gained control of a property on Wharf Road that has three water meters. They are going to keep two of them to develop a park and auction off one.”

“Are you going to bid?”

“No, I’ll pass,” he stated. Can you imagine paying $300,000 for a water meter?

Robert, David and I were out by the outside rock sharing waves. David retired a few months ago and took up surfing. He has learned quickly and now has the surf passion.

“So David, when did you come out this morning?” I asked between sets.

“Oh, about 7:30 am,” he answered.

“It’s now 10:00 am,” I said looking at my watch. “You’ve been out for two and a half hours so far.” I usually last an hour and a half to two hours before totally exhausting myself. At 10:30 am I was spent and having just caught one close to shore I called it a day. Back at the car I changed, chatted with the guys, and walked into town for a coffee. David had just walked up to his car soaking wet when I returned.

“David, you finally got out,” I said glancing at my watch. “It’s 11:30 and you have been out for four hours.”

“Yeah, and I would stay out all day if I could physically do it,” he exclaimed.

Am I not right? He has the surf passion.