November 30, 2010 Tuesday

Tribute to Rick Racich

County Supervisor Charles McGlashan read the Marin County Board of Supervisors tribute to firefighter and surfer Rick Racich for his rescue of two sport crab fishermen Sunday November 7th at Cronkhite. I was at the Supervisors meeting and the room was packed, all seats were taken and bodies lined the three walls that surrounded the supervisors’ table. A grateful and humble Rick Racich accepted the accommodation. Twenty firefighters in uniform and standing against the back wall exploded into applause and cheers. Cameras flashed, including mine.

The Chief of the Fire Department and Surfrider Foundation Marin sponsored the dedication. Both groups had alerted McGlashan’s office and suggested that Rick’s heroic deed warranted a county dedication. McGlashan didn’t hesitate and all the supervisors joined in signing the dedication. Rick’s wife, kids and father were there. It was a great feel good moment.

On Sunday November 7th at 9 am Rich arrived with a surf buddy at Cronkhite, his favorite spot. Surf conditions were heavy after the recent storms that had hit Marin: seven to ten foot swells with a four-foot wind swell on top. They had just pulled into the parking lot when they noticed a small craft dangerously close to the rocks and cliff at the south end of the beach. Rick thought these two fishermen were crazy because it was so rough. A couple minutes later Rick realized they were in trouble and their boat was drifting towards the rocks. A park ranger called the Coast Guard while Rick and his buddy suited up. Rick was able to punch through the pounding waves, but his companion couldn’t and had to give up. Rick paddled over to the boat and convinced the frantic occupants to abandon ship. With life vests on they jumped overboard and Rick paddled over to them. All three hung onto Rick’s board and frog kicked their way away from the cliff. Rick managed to move them away from the rocks and get far enough from the cliff to allow a Coast Guard rescue boat to pick them up. The two fishermen suffered a little hypothermia and that’s all. A few moments later the sea crushed their 25-foot Bayliner against the cliff. Rick saved their lives.

As I left the building to return to my car, there was Rick sitting behind the wheel of a huge fire engine firing it up. He casually saluted to his buddies and drove off to return to duty.

Thank God for people like Rick.

FYI – for you who don’t know your Supervisors, in the picture above from left to right are Hal Brown, Susan Adams, Judy Arnold, Charles McGlashan, Steve Kinsey and our hero Rick Racich.

November 26, 2010 Friday

The 2010 Bolinas & Stinson Open Studios

“The hills of West Marin are alive with starving artists.”

Back in September, my surf buddy and good friend, Jim Ellis, had mentioned that he was going show his sculptures in the Bolinas & Stinson Open Studios the weekend after Thanksgiving (see the September 1st Part 2 entry). The past couple of weeks I had seen posters in Bolinas, Stinson and Mill Valley advertising the Open Studios put on by the Coastal Marin Artists. It was a big deal. Twenty-six local artists in their studios to meet, greet, chat and sell their art. So I had to check it out.

Jim has lived and surfed in Stinson Beach all his life. A retired carpenter, he has taken up sculpting of ocean life: sharks, fish, seals, whales, abalone, etc., and he has become well known among the local artists as one of the good ones. Two artist friends, Steve Lewis and Susie Allen de Baker invited Jim to join them at Steve’s studio in Bolinas. Today was Jim’s first public showing where he would be there to chat with the public and he was nervous about it. But after the first few people Jim opened up. All it took was to ask him about how he did each piece. He loved talking technique.

The above photo is one of his wood sculpted sharks. Each piece takes him hundreds of hours of labor. He figures he would be lucky to get minimum wage for any of them.

“Jim how did you get such realistic looking teeth on that shark over there?” This one had teeth that went bent, twisted and some broken off.

“Dentures!” He went on to explain that this one was not a carving but rather was a fiberglass resin compound poured into a mold. For the teeth he did the same thing dentists do for crowns and false teeth, he stuck the shark’s teeth in a small pan of plaster of Paris.

“If you have a mold of this shark, you could crank out several of them.”

“Not really. You see I had to make a series of nine molds, mouth, head, tail, fins, body, etc. I would have to pour each piece, put the pieces together, fit them, smooth them off to make it one piece and then paint it.”

A small shark had washed up onto the beach at Stinson one morning. Jim grabbed it and stuck it in a freezer for a few months. Then with the shark frozen solid he made the nine molds and the dentures, poured in the fiberglass mixture and then spent countless hours putting them all together. Believe me you cannot tell where one piece connects to another.

Jim gave me some recommendations for some of his favorite artists, others that specialize in ocean themes. I spent the rest of the day visiting, chatting with and taking photos of five other artists and their works. I saw seven out of the twenty-six artists, took pictures of six of them, blew the whole day and had a great time. Click on the link below to view my photos. I have pictures for:

Schehera Van Dyk – hand painted ceramics. Incredible detail and bright colors on plates and vases.

Jim Ellis – sculpture of sharks, fish, birds, one whale and seals.

Susie Allen de Baker – Marin hills and coastline acrylic landscapes. Susie has lived and painted in Marin all of her life. She comes from an artist family and has had to fortune to work with some of Marin’s best artists.

Steve Lewis – stone sculpture. Steve carves whale flukes out of granite. It must take him forever to do these pieces. Beautiful, highly polished carvings set in huge blocks of stone.

Jon Francis – Stinson Beach painter of classic cars, beach scenes and old California houses and buildings. Being a graduate of UC Santa Barbara, one building I recognized right away, the old classic Alhambra movie theater on State Street in downtown Santa Barbara.

Michael Knowlton – Stinson painter of beach scenes and other weird stuff. His studio had a ton of large paintings leaning up against the walls. Paintings of the Parkside Snack Bar, stacks of classic old cars in a junkyard, colorful view of the tube of a wave and clowns driving an old convertible. He had a few large paintings of palm trees on fire. As he put it, he painted them after the Los Angeles Rodney King riots where rampaging youths set the palm trees on fire. Several of Michael’s pieces are currently on display at the Parkside Café.


Bolinas & Stinson Open Studio Photos

November 17, 2010 Wednesday

Bolinas	Patch
9:30 am to 10:30 am	2' to 3', sets to 3'
High dropping tide	No wind
Warm sunny day	Fun session

I didn’t have much time this morning. On Wednesdays Marty and I collect water samples at Bay Front Park in Mill Valley, Stinson Beach and Brighton Beach in Bolinas for Surfrider Marin’s water testing program. I collect the Mill Valley and Stinson samples, Marty takes the Bolinas one and after a morning surf session Marty drives the samples to the Branson School, which is near his house. Jamie the environmental sciences teacher and a team of student volunteers run the tests, which require an eighteen-hour incubation period. This morning Marty couldn’t make it, thus I had to make the hour drive to Branson. The samples have to be there around noon for the students to begin the tests during their lunch hour.

I arrived at Bolinas late (9:15 am) and figured that I had to be on the road by eleven, thus I had one hour for a short surf session. It was a beautiful day, Mary and couple other regulars were already out at the Patch. Surf forecasts were ok: 10.8 ft NW swell at 12 seconds combined with a 2 ft south swell at 18 seconds. It looked like the south swell was hitting the Patch, and I needed the exercise thus I decided to go. I would make it a sprint; paddle like mad and get in as many waves as I could in one hour. To my surprise the waves were small but fun despite the high tide. In one hour I connected on five well-formed long right waves, ones that kept reforming and reforming. It turned out to be a short but fun session.

That’s me in the above photo. Near the end of a long ride, way on the inside, I saw Mary sitting on her board pointing a camera at me. Note the sunshine, glassy surface and the long line of the swell. Mary had just recently begun taking pictures in the water. She told me it’s harder that it looks. Capturing a good shot takes luck. Both the subject and the person with the camera are moving. The camera doesn’t have a viewfinder, only a 2.5-inch square LCD screen that shows the image and thus is constantly changing. With bright sunlight and no sun glasses framing the shot is pure guesswork. As Mary put it, she points and hopes. She has numerous photos of sky and blurry water, but still a few turned out well and are worth the effort.

I too have thought about taking pictures in the water. The surf magazines are filled with incredible in-the-tube side views taken in the water. A small inexpensive camera would be fun. I have seen a few guys in the water with the new Go-Pro waterproof digital cameras. Mary has the Pentax OPTIO WS80 waterproof camera. I looked up its stats online; here’s what Pentax claims: palm size body, high-quality, high-resolution image (10 megapixels), optical 5X zoom lens, airtight body that allows taking of pictures underwater to a depth of 1.5 meters for up to two hours, and it features Pentax’s exclusive highly water-repellent coating on the glass in front of the zoom lens. Simple fresh water removes dried salt, dust and dirt. They retail for $275 from Amazon.com.

Mary told me that this was her second one of these cameras. Her first one she had dropped in the water. She had just purchased it and was getting using it. She was standing in waist high water on the rocks at the Patch. She pulled the camera out from beneath her wetsuit and before she could put the cord around her neck she dropped it in the water. It sank and due to the murky water Mary couldn’t see it. She frantically jumped around doing the chicken stomp trying to feel for the camera with her feet. The camera had disappeared and after a few minutes she gave up. She soon purchased another one and now always ties the camera around her neck before tucking it inside her wetsuit.

The real reason Mary purchased a waterproof camera was to capture images of sunlight on the ocean’s surface. Mary is an artist and she has been studying for several years the patterns of light and color on the water and has been trying to reproduce them in her paintings. She has become very skilled at capturing the images of the ocean. Don’t take my word for it. Check out her website (link below) and see for yourself. You will be impressed.

Mary's website

November 15, 2010 Monday

Bolinas	Groin
9:00 am to 10:15 am	1' to 2', sets to 3'
High outgoing tide	Strong offshore wind
Bright sunny day, heat wave	So - so session

Changing weather and strong currents were today’s themes. Since last Wednesday high pressure had settled in, locking in a layer of warm air and creating offshore winds. The high pressure was beginning to break up and low pressure and cold air will begin moving in tomorrow. The shift from high to low pressure has produced a wind gradient of strong north winds that are offshore at the south-facing Bolinas. Today would be the last day of the heat wave. The Internet surf data was mediocre: 7 ft north swell at 10 seconds from 315 degrees combined with a one-foot south swell at 12 seconds from 195 degrees, strong north winds and a high dropping tide.

Two groups were out at the mouth of the lagoon this morning. Six surfers were straight out from the Groin, including Marty, Susan who always wears sunglasses in the water and Novato Pete. The other group was over at Seadrift going for the rights. The Seadrift side looked good, the offshore wind was holding up the waves as the surfers cruised down long fast peeling rights. Over there were David who rides the Becker board, Jack the Dave Sweet team rider and stand-up surfers Frank and Russ. That’s David on a set wave in the above photo.

“Jaime how was it?” Jaime had just exited the water at the Groin.

“It was fun. I got some good rights over on the Seadrift side. Long waits between sets followed by several good waves. The wind has picked up and the current has started.”

Because the weather was so good I had to go out. Paddling out to the Groin I saw Marty drop down a well-formed small left wave. The waves were beautiful, deep blue water, silvery sun reflection on nicely shaped peaks that were held up by the offshore wind causing arches of spray to come off the tops. Despite the beauty, the waves were weak. On my first wave, I paddled towards the peak, stroked into the wave, faded right, swung around left and dropped down a three-foot face. At the bottom, my momentum died, the wave broke in front of me and I didn’t have the speed to push back into the swell. The wave broke into a “dead-zone”, a patch of deeper water that caused the wave to peter-out. Only the bigger set waves had enough force to enable us to cross the dead-zone.

The ebb-flow out of the lagoon was deceptively strong. Marty, Susan, Pete and I sat outside quietly chatting while waiting for the next set that never came. We didn’t realize that we were moving. I took a quick check of the shore. We had started out south of the Groin pole and in a few minutes we were north of the pole and further out. I started paddling in and to the south. My strategy for dealing with current is to stand in the water. While paddling in I would stop and test the depth of the water. I made five such depth tests before reaching a point where the water was chest deep and I could stand there. The current was strong; I could feel it pushing against my body and my feet. My strategy worked. I would stand in the water, watch for a set and then paddle for position when the set arrived. The ebb current started slow and continued building momentum. By the end of our session, a river was raging through the impact zone. The current knocked down the waves and created an annoying ripple on the surface.

Despite all of this, Marty, Susan, Pete and I managed to catch a couple of decent waves. After one ride I turned to paddle back out and here came Marty on a good wave. He managed to cross the dead zone and connect with the shore break. This had him heading straight for the Groin pole. He bailed out five feet in front of the wall and the surge of the wave carried his board into the pole. “Bonk!” It crashed into the pole with some force. Fortunately no damage occurred.

After our session, Marty and I chatted with Yaschik, the excellent surfer who always goes way outside and sits cross-legged on his board. We were admiring his shortboard. It was well made, solid and had a large single fin glassed into the board. Nowadays most shortboards have three small fins that are removable. Yaschik mentioned the shaper who we didn’t know, but is well known in the shortboard world. Marty told me that Yaschik owns over sixty surfboards. He confirmed that. Most are shortboards with a few classic longboards, such as a 1963 Hansen and two Donald Takaymas in mint condition.

“Why do you have sixty boards?” I asked. “For collection to display?”

“No to ride them. But I do need to sell some of them.”

From what he described they are all specialty boards, classics, and works of art; not your run of the mill surfboards. So we’ll keep an eye out for when and where he puts some of them up for sale.

November 10, 2010 Wednesday

Bolinas	Groin
10:00 am to 11:30 am	3' to 5', sets overhead
Low upcoming tide	Gusty offshore winds to no wind to offshore breeze
Sunny, windy and clear	Good session

I didn’t have big expectations for waves this morning. Last night it rained and the wind was howling in Mill Valley when I woke up. I thought the ocean would need a day to settle down before the waves got good again. The Internet data was ok, not spectacular: 7 ft NW swell at 11 seconds, light north winds, sunshine and an upcoming tide. I had to go because I had to gather water samples for Surfrider’s water testing program. Six surfers were at the Groin when I arrived, including: Marty and David who rides the Becker board. Hans, Jaime and one other were at the Patch. The waves at the Groin were beautiful, smooth surface, glassy peaks, and a strong offshore breeze that sent arches of spray off of the tops, but they were infrequent. With camera in hand I waited and waited for someone to catch a wave. However, it was such a beautiful day I had to go out.

“Hey Loren, did you bring your wetsuit today?” Russ shouted at me back at the cars.

“Yes I did.”

Last Monday (November 8th) Russ witnessed my frustration when I started to suit up and discovered that I had left my wetsuit hanging on its hook in the garage at home.

“Loren, this morning I started up the car, began to back out, then turned off the engine, got out and went around to the back to make sure I had my wetsuit. I was thinking about you.” Russ and I are about the same age, that age where you have to make lists to insure you won’t forget something important.

Dexter walked by heading for the ramp. He was dripping wet and was carrying a shortboard.

“Dexter, you’re wet. Were you out there already? How was it?”

“I’m changing boards. I’m switching from my 9’ 8” to my 6’ 3” brand new John Moore Mystic shortboard.”

“So Dexter, where were you during the big swell last week? I didn’t see you here.”

“Scorpion Bay,” he said grinning from ear to ear.

“Mexico?”

“Yes, It was so nice. Hot, sunny weather, great waves, warm water, no crowds and no wetsuits.” Scorpion Bay is on the Baja Peninsula, 600 miles south of San Diego. Dexter drove there by himself, a two and a half day journey. He slept on the beach and scored some classic surf.

“I howled when I got back and struck my toe in the water here!”

Walking down the beach to the Groin, a set of perfect waves came through. They looked bigger than before and better formed. With the upcoming tide the waves had improved. I paddled out to join Marty and Dexter, David had moved to the Seadrift side to try the rights. I couldn’t believe the quality of the waves. The offshore wind caused them to stand straight up and then pitch over into nice little tubes, and the bottom forced all the waves to peel to the left. On my first wave I took off late as the lip was pitching over. I dropped down a steep head-high face that curled and broke in front of me. The wave had power; I leaned into the white water, struggled to keep my balance and pushed back into the swell. The wave stood up again and I shot through a steep fast inside curl. I continued on until it closed out near the Groin pole. What a great start to a session.

Both Dexter and I paddled for a big set wave. I missed it but Dexter caught it. From the back I watch him disappear. The face was over his head. Way on the inside he popped out, cut back, turned back into the curl and continued on. What a great ride.

Chuck the Bolinas local who rides a kneeboard paddled out to the outside peak. Chuck is an excellent surfer, and he doesn’t bother coming out unless the waves are good. I used him as my indicator. He knows the break, thus if he paddled out, I paddled out. If he paddled laterally, I paddled laterally. When the sets came, Chuck would take the first wave and I would quickly paddle over to his take off point and catch the second wave of the set. This strategy worked for at least five good rides. One time I was deeper in the peak than Chuck. I took off and the wave quickly broke in front of me. Chuck had taken off on the shoulder and cleanly made the initial drop. I continued along in the white water hoping to push back into the swell. I got a perfect view of Chuck’s ride. There he was locked in the inverted “L”, that point where the lip and the white water intersect, on his knees at the top of the wave, spray coming off the top, white water pounding behind him and the curl feathering ten feet in front of him. He skillfully shot down the curl, cut back, turned sharply left and shot through another fast section.

Yaschik, another excellent surfer, was out at the far peak. Yaschik is in his mid-thirties (my estimate), has tattoos up and down both arms, is from Poland and has lived several years in San Diego, where he learned to surf. He is a regular at the Patch, on a longboard with no leash and usually goes way outside and north of the rest of us and sits on his board cross-legged while waiting for the sets. This morning he was on a shortboard, again way outside, sitting cross-legged. I had just completed another good ride, turned around to paddle back out and saw Yaschik coming down a perfect wave. It was a foot over his head, an emerald green swell with sunlight pouring through the back with Yaschik silhouetted against the wall of water locked mid-swell in the curl screaming down the line with the roar of the pounding wave in my ear. He crouched down with his back to the wave, put his hand on the outside rail, hung on as the lip slapped him on his shoulder, he cruised out into the swell again, stood erect and sailed down the beach. It was a picture worthy of all the surf magazines.

At eleven David paddled back from the Seadrift side to join us. “When did you come out?”

“I entered the water with Marty at a quarter to eight.” At eleven thirty I went in and David was still out there. I changed, went into town for coffee and when I returned here came David.

“Time check. It’s 11:47 am. That’s four hours in the water.” He admitted that he finally came in because he was tired and hungry and that it was lunchtime. Now that’s the surf passion.

November 5, 2010 Friday

Bolinas	Groin
9:15 am to 11:10 am	3' to 5', sets overhead
High tide (6.8 ft at 11:00 am)	No wind
Overcast	Good session

Conditions were good this morning. The last remnants of the first big north swell of the season mixed with a little bit of south swell: 6 ft NW swell at 13 seconds, 3 ft south swell at 14 seconds, no wind, upcoming tide and glassy conditions.

“Hey Loren, watch out for the flotsam. It’s dangerous out there,” Dan greeted me as he came up the ramp.

“The what?”

“The crap in the water. I almost hit a log floating in the water at the Patch.”

The power of the ocean is always amazing. The big swell of this past week had deposited mountains of debris on the beach and had removed tons of sand. A major section of a pier lay on top of the sand berm near the high tide line. A twelve-foot long 9 x 9 inch beam connected two telephone size pilings. This thing had to weigh two tons. How could the ocean push a thing of this size around? There must be a good story here. Where did it come from? How far did it travel? Did a storm literally destroy a major pier? And how long had it been in the water? Several small tree trunks and large pieces of weathered plywood surrounded the pier section.

I paddled out at the Groin to join Martha and Sarah who drives the gold Mercedes. David who rides the Becker board and Mark the archaeologist were further south at the Channel peak. The waves were much bigger and more powerful than they looked from the overlook. I knew they were difficult to catch so I sat inside to take off late. A good wave was cresting when I turned to go for it. I stroked into it as it was breaking, dropped down a head-high wave, fizz sounded from my rail cutting into the curl, I turned left and looked down a line that was feathering ten feet in front of me. I leaned into it, crouched down and shot through the first section and pushed out onto the shoulder. I cut back into the breaking part of the wave to let it build up, turned left again into a fast inside curl and cruised along until the wave sucked out near the Groin wall. At that moment I knew I was in for an exciting session.

The waves were steep, powerful and fast. But there was a dead spot in the middle of the break that was both positive and negative. Positive in that the dead spot, which was an area of deeper water, caused all the waves to break to the left. The initial peak would pitch over and peel towards the deeper water. The dead spot also provided a good channel for paddling back out. The negative was it was truly a dead spot. I would sail down the initial section and coast into the dead spot where my momentum and the wave would die. I learned quickly that I had cut back into the breaking part of the wave after the initial drop to stay in the wave. If I could stay in the wave, it would reform into a steep and fast inside curl.

A skilful stand-up surfer, who was always paddling around way outside at the far Channel peak, became my indicator. If he started paddling further out I knew a set was coming. A big set approached, I considered going for it, and so did another surfer and the stand-up guy. The other surfer and I pulled back to let the stand-up guy have the wave. As I paddled over it, I got a good view of the stand-up surfer coming down the wave. He dropped into an over-head wall, water sprayed off the top, he sharply turned left with his back to the wave, the lip which was two feet over his head pitched out over his right shoulder. He sailed down this perfect peak for fifty yards before the wave finally closed out in front of him. Later after a good ride, I stood in waist high water and watched this guy come down another beautiful wave. Magazine picture perfect, he was three-quarters down the face, crouched down with his paddle straight back looking like the rudder of an airplane as he sailed across another fast left peeling wave.

After riding a smaller wave, I got caught inside. Wave after wave kept coming in and I had to plow through all of them. When I finally got back out to the line up I mentioned my struggle to David.

“You didn’t follow your own advice,” David exclaimed. “You should never take the first wave of a set because you’ll have to paddle back out through the other waves.”

He was right. I have often written about that in this journal and I didn’t do it, again. David mentioned that he too had to struggle to get back out. He cut right on a wave and rode it into the Channel. Now he was paddling against the incoming waves and a strong current due to the incoming tide. That was the last right wave he took that morning.

David had a good session. He has the ability to paddle into flat waves, more so than I can. Once when paddling back out, I watched David stroke into a beautiful head-high glassy wall. He dropped to the middle of the swell, crouched down, cruised through the first section, cut back and turned into a fast, long inside curl. David had entered the water at eight and got out at eleven-thirty, three and a half hours. I could never last that long.

The six-foot high tide presented some challenges. Water pushed up the ramp, waves crashed against the retaining wall of the house at the base of the ramp shooting water and spray skyward and creating a backwash to collide with the incoming waves. Going out, I ran in front of the wall when the water began to recede. Halfway there a wave came in, crashed against the wall and the backwash knocked me down. Out in the line-up, I kept watching the waves crashing against the wall. Getting in was going to be tricky. I watched another surfer with board tucked under his arm run in front of the wall and make it. If he can make it, so can I. It wasn’t so bad, though it one point I was in waist deep water bracing myself against the backwash.

All in a day’s work I said to myself, and what an exciting morning it was.

November 3, 2010 Wednesday

Bolinas	Patch
10:40 am to 12:15 am	3' to 4', sets to 6'
High dropping tide	No wind
Bright sunny day, heat wave	Good session

“Hey Loren, where did you park? Berkeley?” Jaime the starving artist cartoonist shouted at me as I headed to the ramp to check out the surf. He had just finished his session at the Patch, which he said was ‘ok’, not spectacular.

“No I parked at the lumber yard downtown.”

Not really, I did park far away from the beach, near the 2-Mile Surf Shop. At 9:15 am all the parking slots along Brighton Ave were taken and the cars were spilling down to the Post Office. Reason: Swell N1 – the first Maverick’s size swell of the season. It arrived yesterday and was still pumping today: 11 ft NW swell at 17 seconds, light winds and 57 degree water (that’s as warm as it gets in Northern California) and a high tide. Heat wave weather and a big swell, thus everybody was here. When a big swell hits California, all the other popular surf breaks close out. At Salmon Creek, Dillon Beach and Ocean Beach the waves were enormous and unrideable. Bolinas is one of a few breaks with rideable waves when a Maverick’s size swell rolls in.

Despite the big swell and ideal weather, everyone reported that the waves were merely ‘ok’, not spectacular.

Rob the Bolinas contractor rolled up in his truck, and lowered the window to say hello. He said it was ‘ok’, not great; too much water in the waves due to the high tide and it was crowded.

“You should have seen it yesterday afternoon. It was pristine and there were sixty guys out. Can you believe that for a Tuesday afternoon?”

“No, I can’t believe that.”

“We had beautiful waves that were breaking a little too fast. A few of the really good short boarders got incredible waves. I saw barrel after barrel. Like I said, the really good ones could do it. The rest of us mere mortals got pounded. I got one really good tube ride and that was it. But that one wave made my session. Most of the time I would watch three guys take off on the same wave and all three would get knocked off when the wave closed out. Have a good one.” And off he went.

For the first time this season the high tide was pushing water up the ramp, thus I headed for the overlook about the Groin to check out the surf. Twenty surfers were sitting way out there, at least a quarter mile out to sea. The waves were big, thick and hard to catch. You could see the swells coming for miles; they kept coming, building and didn’t break until they were close to the Groin pole. The surfers were too far out to catch them. One surfer connected in the Channel, he dropped down an overhead wave that quickly broke all around him and buried him in white water. The Channel and Groin did not look inviting.

I moved to check out the Patch. Jeff the Bolinas local just exited the water and walked up the steps to Terrace Road with me. He too had a ‘so-so’ session; mushy waves, too much water, closing out and crowded. But he did get one good ride that made the morning for him.

Twelve surfers were at the Patch, including the Robinsons, Martha and Jim, Marty, David who rides the Becker board and three stand-up surfers. The waves looked mellow, long, slow and fun. I decided to head to the Patch.

I paddled out to the far peak to join David and Marty. The waves were thick and flat on the take-off and difficult to catch. I had to literally let them break on me to get into them.

The three stand-up surfers, who I had never seen before, were having a field day, especially one guy with a baseball cap on a yellow board who paddled on his knees instead of standing up. With the big swells, we could see the waves coming a long ways out there. At first it was deceiving. The swells would peak and often crest as they passed over an outside reef, sandbar, or rock shelf. You would think they were breaking, but no the crest would decline as the waves passed into deeper water and would reform and finally break when they hit the Patch reef. The stand-up guys could catch them when they first crested over the outer reefs, especially the guy with the baseball cap on the yellow board. Being on a longer board with a large planning surface, he could build up considerable board speed, enough to push into the waves when they first peaked. Once up, he would step to the middle of the board and use his paddle to keep in the wave until it jumped again over the Patch reef. He would then swing right and cruise down a head-high wall, cut back left, cruise some more and then swing right again. He did this over and over again. What a beautiful sight to see him one hundred yards further out as he took off on a wave and calmly cruised by us as we paddled over it.

Half way through my session I started to connect. The tide was going out causing the waves to stand up more. Also, I was figuring it out, just like baseball players do. After watching the World Series and having played baseball myself, I know batters adjust to opposing pitchers. Usually after two or three at-bats against the same pitcher, the batters will know what the pitcher is going to throw and will get ready for it. After paddling around, catching a couple of waves, a surfer figures it out: right location, type of wave to look for, steepness of the take-off and number of waves per set. I moved inside and stayed put when waves were cresting on the outside and waited until they reformed and jumped up when they hit the Patch reef.

In the last forty-five minutes of my session I caught five great waves. One set wave was breaking when I turned to go for it. With two strokes I was into it, I dropped down the face of an overhead wave, cut left, climbed to mid-swell, and braced myself as a ton of water slid down from the top of the wave in front of me. I drove under the white water, climbed back up the swell, cruised through a fast section, cut-back into the breaking part of the wave, turned left again, stepped to the middle of the board and hummed through another long section. Later I connected on my longest right wave of the year. Everything came together. I took off, swung right, stayed high in the swell, stalled to let the wave build up, leaned into it to gain speed, stalled again, dropped into an inside section, crouched down and watched the wave unfold in front of me for a hundred yards. When I pulled out I was thirty feet from dry sand. I thought about going in since I was so close to shore. No, that was too much fun, I wanted another one of those.

Novato Pete and Susan who always wears sunglasses in the water came out to join David and I. I watched Susan catch three long rights. Later a set wave approached, I moved to paddle over it as Susan went for it. I thought she would never catch it, but to my surprise she glided into it, swung left and worked it all the way into the shallow part of the reef.

“David, at what time did you come out this morning?”

“A little after eight. I stood around trying to decide whether to go out or not. I finally decided to come out here.” I asked him that at twelve noon as we sat outside waiting for the next set. Shortly after that I went in, changed and went into town to buy a coffee. David was dripping wet, board in hand and just getting to his truck when I returned from town. He was in the water for four and half hours. I could never last that long.

Again it was another warm, beautiful Marin morning, but this one was highlighted by the first Maverick’s size swell of the season.

November 1, 2010 Monday

Bolinas	Channel & Groin
9:40 am to 11:20 am	2' to 3', sets to 3'
High dropping tide	Slight offshore breeze to light onshore breeze
Bright sunny and warm morning	Frustrating session

“Now that was a good morning,” Marty said as we exited the water after our session at the Groin.

“I know surfers would never admit that they wasted their time, but Marty that was as close to a waste of time as you can get.”

Marty laughed, “I got some good rides. I worked on walking to the front of the board on those small mushy waves.” I’m glad he found it worthwhile. Before we went out we spent an extended period of time trying to decide whether to go out or not. Finally the warmth and beauty of the morning pushed us out there.

“Marty, we must have sat outside for half an hour without catching anything.”

“You’re right.”

When we paddled out the ebb flow from the lagoon had just begun. It increased over the next hour creating a ripple path across the surface and knocking down the waves. A perfectly formed three-foot peak greeted us when we reached the line-up. It feathered at the top, I turned to go for it thinking I was too late and that it was going to break on me. But I missed it. “How could I have missed that one?” I asked myself. The frustration had just begun. David who rides the Becker board had been out for two hours, Frank the stand-up guy was also there, and so was Bob from San Anselmo who Marty knew. All three abandoned the outside peak at the Channel and moved way inside near the Groin wall. Marty and I remained outside where the last set of waves had broken. We were optimistic more sets would come, but we were wrong. For thirty minutes we sat out there, paddled around and tried for one flat swell after another and missed them all. The current had pushed us out and to the north. Checking my two navigational points, the gray house on the bluff above the Patch and the house at the end of Wharf Road, the current was strong and we were moving like corks in a river.

David, Frank and Bob were catching waves. Marty and I gave up on the non-existent outside peak and paddled in to join the others. Finally I managed to catch a few waves. They were slow and mushy. After the initial peak would break, I would cut back into the white water hoping the wave would build up again into a good inside curl. It never happened, the bottom didn’t allow it. The waves broke over a shallow island of a sandbar and peeled into deeper water and promptly died. My frustration continued.

In hopes of connecting with faster waves I moved way inside and north of the Groin wall to catch waves that worked into the shore break. Finally I had some success. I caught five waves that had peeled from the Channel and reformed in front of the Groin Pole. I would catch the peak at the Groin Pole, jump up quickly, turn left into a small shore break wall, step to the front of the board and cruise for a second or two before the wave collapse on the sand. Fast but short curls.

I had high hopes for waves this morning even though the Internet forecast was mediocre at best: 5 ft NW swell at 11 seconds, light winds and a high tide. Last week’s rains had passed, a low overcast sat over Mill Valley but on the other side of the mountain, the skies were sunny with no fog and a calm, smooth ocean as far as the eye could see. The Internet sites were predicting the arrival of the season’s first Maverick’s size swell for tomorrow (14 to 15 ft at 20 seconds). I was hoping that first edge of the swell would arrive today; it never happened. When I turned into the parking area, Marty’s car was there with his board inside the car. Further down was Hans’ SUV with his board still strapped to the top, not a good sign. I found them standing on the seawall checking the surf. A couple of minutes later Jaime joined us. We stood there disappointed. The surf didn’t look good.

Our talk quickly turned to the San Francisco Giants, who last night had taken a 3 to 1 lead over the Texas Rangers in the World Series.

“Hans, you bought a new Giants hat?” He was wearing a brand-new Giants cap, that still had that new car smell on it.

“No it’s not new. I’ve had this cap for four years.”

“And you have only worn it four times right?” Han’s cap was symbolic of the Giants’ fortunes and their fans. All the Giants paraphernalia has been stuffed in the back of closets these passed few years until the Giants’ miracle turn-around in September and the play-offs. Nowadays everyone proudly displayed the Giants orange and black, including myself.