May 20, 2011 Friday

Bolinas	Channel and Groin
10:00 am to noon	3' to 4', sets overhead
Low upcoming tide	Slight onshore breeze
Overcast with high fog	Great session

I had high expectations for surf this morning. Stormsurf.com had tracked swell #1S (meaning first major south swell of the season) for over a week and predicted it would arrive Wednesday (5/18) at 2 ft at 20 seconds, build to 4.5 ft at 20 seconds Thursday and drop slightly to 3 ft at 20 seconds for today. The San Francisco buoy confirmed Stormsurf’s prediction: 7 ft at 15 seconds, a combination of a 4 ft west wind swell mixed with a 3 ft south swell (180 degrees) at 20 seconds and a 10 knot wind. Only negative was the minus tide at 8:30 am. My strategy was to wait an hour to let the tide turn. The surf would be better with an incoming tide.

All the parking places along Brighton Ave were taken when I arrived at Bolinas. The Internet at work again, the swell data was out and the crowd was in. Russ and Frank, the standup guys, had just completed their sessions. They reported that the surf was better earlier and with the tide going out the waves had died. Doug and Creighton had just exited the water and gave me the same report. There was a strong under lying swell but the waves were bumpy and mushy. The crowd was out at the Patch, including Marty, David who rides the Becker board, Robert the Terra Linda carpenter and Mark the archaeologist. The minus tide had exposed all the rocks of the Patch reef, and the waves were slow and infrequent.

I walked down to the Groin with my camera in hand. I had attached the big 400 mm lens that Jacek had loaned to me a couple of weeks ago. Hank, Cazardero Cathy and Laura were just finishing their sessions. Hank had the same report as the others. He had high expectations for today but was disappointed. The set waves were sizeable but were slow and crumbly. Martha was at the peak just south of the Groin wall while three others were out at the Channel. The waves at the Channel were hard breaking peeling lefts that were breaking a little too fast. These guys flew down these walls and were then buried in white water. I noted that they struggled to get back outside due to the force of the incoming waves. Martha on the other hand had it figured out. She was selective, patiently waiting for waves with an edge. I watched her drop down three fast breaking lefts and make all three of them. After each one, she quickly paddled north to get around the impact zone and thus had no problems getting back outside. That’s her in the above photo on the last of her good waves.

I paddled out at the Groin peak to join Martha and followed her pattern of going around the impact zone after each wave. Just as I predicted the waves improved as the tide came in, and the peak half way between the Channel and the Groin filled in forming these ideal fast high in the curl lefts. I connected on one long fast ride after another. After awhile, Martha left and David had paddled over from the Patch to join me. For an hour, David and I dominated this peak. Soon I was feeling it in my arms, thus to conserve energy I paddled outside, waited for the sets and only went for the biggest waves of each set. This strategy worked, the shape of the bottom and the deeper water from the upcoming tide forced all waves to peel to the left. I would paddle at angle, jump up early, sharply cut left before dropping down the face, stay high in the curl, step to the middle of the board, lock the inside rail just below the lip of the curl, lean into the wave, crouch down and sail down the line.

After two hours the sun finally broke through the clouds, the onshore wind picked up and my arms were spent. Time to give it up, I rode one to the shore and went on in. After that great session I took a long, well deserved nap later that afternoon.

May 18, 2011 Wednesday

Bolinas	Groin
10:10 am to 10:45 am	2' to 3', sets to 4'
Low upcoming tide	Stiff NW breeze
Sunny with high clouds	Fun session

I didn’t have much time. Marty couldn’t make it this morning, thus I had to drive the water samples for Surfrider’s water testing program to the Branson School by twelve noon. That meant I had to be out of the water and on the road by eleven, and since it was already ten in the morning, I had thirty minutes to catch some waves.

I had high expectations for surf. Per Stormsurf.com the first major south swell of the season was going to arrive today, peak tomorrow at 4.5 ft at 17 seconds and last through the weekend. Internet data reported a 4 ft west wind swell at 8 seconds combined with a 3 ft south swell at 20 seconds. The rain of the past two days was gone and bright sunshine had returned. Judging by the cars the regulars were out in the water when I arrived. I grabbed my camera, attached the big 400 mm telephoto lens that Jacek had loaned to me and headed for the Groin. The south swell had arrived; well-formed three-foot peaks were peeling at a peak between the Channel and the Groin. Jacek, David who rides the Becker board and Novato Pete were out there. That’s David in the above photo on a small wall. I quickly took five photos, hustled back to the car to suit up and headed back to the Groin to join the others.

I paddled out to the line-up and saw some nice looking peaks coming through. Time was short; it was now ten-fifteen, thus I set a goal for myself, three waves by ten-thirty. Three waves in fifteen minutes, that’s the length heats in the Kahuna Kupuna surf contest. So this would be a workout for next August’s contest. I tried for two waves and missed them both. I caught the next one and it turned out to be a clean curl ride. I paddled back out and checked my watch, ten twenty-two, thus eight minutes to catch two more waves. A set came through; I stroked into the first wave and dropped down a second clean fast curl that went on and on. Six minutes left. Luck was with me. Paddling out another small well-formed peak appeared in front of me. I turned and went for it. I caught it as the wave was breaking, jump up to my knees, cruised through the first section, got up on my feet and flew down a second section. Time check: ten twenty-five, five minutes left. Mission accomplished, I had caught three waves in ten minutes and all three were decent rides.

In the short time that I was out there, the others connected on some good waves. Standing in waist deep water I watched Jacek sail down a set wave in few feet in front of me. With the top of the wave above his head, Jacek stood erect mid-board three-quarters down the face of a large wall, calmly cruised along and waved as he passed by me. It was a picture for a magazine. Next time I was paddling back out to the line-up, I saw Pete drop down the face of a four-foot wall with his back to the wave, crouched down on one knee on the back half of the board, holding the outside rail, screaming along just ahead of a fast breaking left curl.

My time was up, and I headed in and quickly changed, jumped into the car and managed to deliver the water samples on time to Jamie at Branson on time. I even had time to have lunch in the school cafeteria with my wife Kate. All in all it was a great morning.

May 13, 2011 Friday

Bolinas	Channel
9:50 am to 11:00 am	1' to 2', sets to 3'
High dropping tide	Stiff NW cross wind
Sunny with high clouds, cool	Frustrating session

By the time I entered the water, everyone else had left, only one stand-up surfer and I were at the Channel. Six surfers were out when I walked down there to take pictures. This included Cazardero Cathy, Ray the Petaluma fireman, Hank, Laura, Paul and stand-up regulars Frank and Russ. That’s Ray in the above photo.

When I arrived I grabbed my camera, attached the 400 mm lens that Jacek had loaned to me and headed for the beach. Jeff from Mill Valley was suiting up and planned to head to the Patch, even though no one was out there. He was going for those inside rights that he loves so much. By the time I took photos and suited up, Jeff was out of the water and changing, job obligation he said. Ann did the same. She suited up while I headed to the beach to take photos. She too went to the Patch and was gone by time I suited up.

At the Groin I took a picture of Hank on his last wave. He rode it all the way to the beach, wrapped his leash around his new board and headed for the cars. He claimed there were a few decent waves. I chatted with Cathy when she exited the water. She hadn’t surfed in two months thus this morning’s session felt good to her. I also took a photo of Paul on his last wave.

“Paul, I just got here and you’re getting out.”

“I’m cold. The water is freezing and I have no feeling left in my toes.” Paul wasn’t wearing booties or gloves. The San Francisco buoy reported forty-nine degree water this morning. The big winds of the past two days had stirred up the bottom and bought the cold water to the surface.

I waved to the stand-up guys Frank and Russ as they were paddling back to the ramp. While I was taking pictures at the Groin, Laura got out of the water, ran back to her car to switch boards and re-entered the water, and by the time I entered the water, she was long gone.

After taking photos I met Steve the Bolinas local at the top of the ramp. After much thought, Steve decided he would go to the Patch simply because he likes the Patch better than the Groin. Steve waved to Grant who was suited up and briskly heading for the beach. When I reached the Groin wall suited up and board in hand, Grant was leaving.

“The sandbar is starting to become uncovered and the lefts are getting good. It was too deep while I was out there, but now with the tide going out it will get better.”

That sounded great, my expectations rose and I thought I was in for some good curls. But it never happened. The current was now pouring out of the lagoon and ripped right through the only peak at the center of the Channel. My strategy was to sit on the north edge of the impact zone and catch the lefts that broke over the shallow sandbar and peeled into deeper water. On my first wave I paddled at an angle into a left wave, dropped down a slow three-foot face, cut back, turned left hoping the wave would build up, it didn’t, I cut back again and turned left. The wave didn’t build up. I kept repeating the cutbacks and left turns until my skeg hit bottom in six inches of water. I didn’t do any better on my second wave. I took off late as the wave was breaking. To not lose momentum I remained prone. The wave hit the sandbar, sucked out, and the nose of my board went straight down and sent me tumbling.

I could feel the current pulling me outside and noticed that on the north side of the current the water was smooth. Little by little I worked my way over there. Good move, I connected on a couple of small lefts. But I caught them late and rode them lying down. On my best wave, I stroked into a late wave, jumped to my knees, cut left and shot through a nice section. I had executed by Josh the Bolinas fisherman move. I paddled around some more and caught a couple more non-descript small waves.

The wind picked up, white caps filled the horizon and the cold set in. I caught a good one that I rode until my skeg hit sand. That was it, and I was out of here. I rode soup to the shore and ended up twenty yards south of the Groin wall. By now the wind was howling and blowing my board all over the place. But I out smarted the wind. By walking in calf deep water, I held the nose of my board and let the tailblock float in the water. That way I was able to walk back to the ramp without having the wind blow my board and me all over the beach.

Invigorating exercise and warm clothes gave me that after surf session glow. Though the surf was frustrating, it was another beautiful Marin morning.

May 4, 2011 Wednesday

Bolinas	Channel
10:15 am to 11:45 am	2' to 3', occasional 4'
Low upcoming tide	Slight onshore breeze
Bright sunny day	Fun session

The others had taken the first wave in the set. I paddled over it and was greeted by a four-foot well-formed peak that was about to break. I decided to go for it, turned around quickly, paddled at an angle, jumped up, stood on the tailblock, dropped down the face as the wave broke, climbed back up the face, set my inside rail under the lip of the curl, crouched down and cruised through a perfect curl. The wave kept building in front of me and I kept sailing along. On and on I went, three-quarters up on the board just standing there frozen in the curl. Finally the wave ran into deep water and died. What a great ride, my first and best wave of the day. Right after that I connected on two more similar waves.

The waves were much better than I expected. The buoys reported a mediocre swell: 8.4 ft at 12 seconds from 319 degrees, with a 1.5 ft south swell at 14 seconds. The north swell was too north and didn’t wrap into Bolinas or Stinson. Only the underlying south swell appeared at our beaches.

I stopped at Stinson this morning to take a water sample for the Surfrider water-testing program. Creighton walked up the beach shirtless, bare-foot and in trunks.

“You don’t have your board thus it must be lousy,” I greeted him.

“Look at the ripples! It’s flat. I went out and caught a few drops and I got out to go for a jog on the beach just to get some exercise. But I got more waves here than I would have at Bolinas.”

“You checked Bolinas?”

“Yes, there’s nothing there.”

What a dedicated surfer. Creighton was up before dawn, drove thirty minutes to Bolinas, then drove to Stinson, suited up and went out. He decided it wasn’t worth it and went for a jog instead, and all this before going to work.

At the parking lot in Bolinas Mary was getting into her car to leave. She had surfed for an hour and a half and reported that the weather and sunlight were so beautiful it was worth it. I noted that she didn’t mention anything about the quality of the waves.

Walt the photographer and I walked down to the Groin wall to check the surf. We met Marty who had just exited the water. Yesterday Marty had returned from a three-week trip to the Netherlands, and this being his first day back he was going out no matter what the conditions. Seven surfers were bunched together at the Channel, including David who rides the Becker board, Novato Pete, and Dexter the Bolinas local. The waves were small and the sets were infrequent.

While standing there with my camera in my hand I pumped Walt for some photography tips. Walt is a professional who is still adjusting to the impact of digital photography. I was taking a photo class and looked on this as an opportunity to learn from a real photographer. Walt was kind enough to give me some techniques for determining the correct aperture setting for shooting the water. He had just returned from a week shoot in South Carolina. A development company of a new high-end housing project hired Walt for some promotional shots.

“A week shoot! That’s a lot of time. How many shots did you take? Two hundred per day?”

“I took over five thousand frames.”

“Five thousand! Did you process all of them through Photoshop?”

“No, using Lightroom (another Adobe software package) I scan them and got it down to sixteen hundred. I gave them a disk with the raw files and JPEG equivalents, and if they want more post production work it will cost them.” Bottomline, Walt was ready to go out regardless of the conditions. Since the weather was so good, I decided to join him.

Jim the jazz guitarist pulled up as we were changing. Jim is another dedicated surfer. At 5:30 am this morning Doug picked Jim up and they drove to Dillon Beach. It was small and blown out. They then drove to Salmon Creek (not a short drive). It was blown out and huge. Doug kissed it off because he had an appointment to get his car fixed at noon. Back at home, Jim jumped in his car and headed for Bolinas. “There’s always something at Bolinas.”

The three of us entered the water together. The waves were small but conditions had improved as the tide came up. David sat on the north edge of the impact zone picking off some good inside left curls. David had already been out for three hours, thus I was sure that he had figured it out, so I paddled over to join him. Walt on his stand-up and Jim went over to the Seadrift side to go for the rights. From a distance I saw both of them glide down some well-formed walls.

A big guy on a stand-up board, who obviously was just beginning, was struggling. After he nearly ran me over, he mumbled to me that if he was on his normal board he would have made that wave. We clashed a couple of more times, and then a large set came through. He was in position so I backed off and paddled over it. The wave was cresting and he was frantically trying to turn his board around. The wave was going to break on him. At the last second, he lay down on his board, turned it around with his arms and stroked into the wave lying down. I looked back and this guy was up and streaking left down a nice head-high curl. It was his best ride of the morning.

Jim and I exited the water at the same time. We were feeling good about our sessions. Ideal conditions were in this morning: sunny heat-wave weather, crystal clear water, slight on-shore breeze, mellow crowd and gentle old-man waves.

May 2, 2011 Monday

Bolinas	Channel
10:20 am to 11:30 am	1' to 2', sets to 3'
Mid upcoming tide	Stiff west breeze
Overcast with patchy sunshine	Fun session

This morning I connected with Scott the chairman of the Marin County Surfrider Foundation at the Parkside Café in Stinson Beach. We were feeling good about Surfrider’s successful art show this past weekend at Studio333 in Sausalito. We had talked about having an art show for months and we finally pulled it off. Given how quickly it was thrown together and how unorganized we were, we were amazed and relieved how successful it was. Scott handed me the proceeds to deposit in the bank. We took in a considerable amount from donations and calendars sales. Our objective was to just bring people together; we didn’t expect to make money on the show. We attributed the show’s success to fabulous art, holding it in a professional art gallery, a great poster and the extensive email network of Marin’s surf community. Surfrider, Proof Lab, 2-Mile, Livewater and artists Tom, Mary and Nick got the word out. Scott estimated that over one hundred people came to the artist reception Friday night.

I moved onto Bolinas to check the surf. The weather had turned and was moving into a warming trend. I wore shorts for the first time in months. But the surf conditions weren’t good: 13.5 ft NW swell at 8 seconds and a 1.5 ft south at 15 seconds. Seven surfers were bunched together at the Channel, the only place that was breaking. Out there were Mary, DB the Safeway checker, David who rides the Becker board, Dexter the Bolinas local, Ray the Petaluma fireman and Russ on his stand-up board. The waves were small, flat and inconsistent.

I quickly wrote it off and decided to take pictures instead. I had started a photo class (Photo Essentials 1) given by Image Flow in Mill Valley and my photo skills had greatly improved in two short weeks. With this morning’s overcast the light was perfect. I decided to take some close up shots of the stenciled figures of famous images with a surfboard added painted on the side walls of the ramp. Have you seen them? There are twelve of them. Figures like the soldiers raising the flag at Iwo Jima, but instead of the flag they are raising a surfboard, or the famous shot of Raquel Welch from the movie 10,000 BC holding a surfboard. While shooting, Jacek the tattoo artist showed up to check the surf. I showed him what I was doing. He was interested. After I finished we walked back to the cars.

“I don’t think it’s worth it this morning. I’m going to take off,” I said.

“What do you mean? It’s always worth it. It will fill in and get better.”

“You’re going out?”

“Of course!”

Just then the sun burst through the clouds and sent a blanket of warmth over the hold area. “You know he’s right. The weather is warm, I need the exercise, and so I’ll go out for an hour.”

Walking down the beach with my board in hand, I met Mary who had just exited the water. Mary was one of the artists in our show with two fabulous paintings of water, foam and sunlight. She enjoyed the show and appreciated the exposure. Spoken like a true artist, she commented that my photos of her paintings that I had posted online had too much contrast. She was right; via Photoshop I had cranked up the contrast and heightened the colors. She also reported that the waves were fun. The sets were infrequent, but when they came there were five to six waves.

I ran into Dexter exiting the water. He too had attended our art show and enjoyed it. He mentioned there was another local Bolinas artist, Llewellyn Ludlow, who painted incredible waves and that we had to get his work into our next art show. Dexter confirmed Mary’s report that the waves were better than they looked. He also warned me about a strange side-wave on the inside that broke north towards the Groin wall.

As I entered the water I saw what Dexter was talking about, a one-foot breaking wave cruised by due north, perpendicular to the normal waves. On my first ride, the wave broke in front of me and I rode the white water with DB about ten feet in front of me. All of the sudden a side-wave swept me up and pushed me along. The slow wave had become a fast one as I rode on. Walking back to the line-up, I noticed that where the inside waves broke the water was only six inches deep, an island of sand sat in the middle of the impact zone. Pulses of energy that followed the contour of this island formed the side-waves.

Further outside a good left peak formed around a sandbar. Lines came through, broke at the apex of the sandbar and peeled continuous to the left. After a couple of rides, I figured out that the best waves peaked north of the sandbar, and I could turn into the peak and the wave would hold up due to the change in water depth as the wave broke along the sandbar. I would coast down small flat waves that would stand up when they hit the sandbar and I would cruise left off the sandbar into deeper water. I managed to connect on several good, fast, long left peeling waves.

So did Jacek, David, DB and one other shortboarder. For over an hour, we shared the waves and enjoyed another beautiful Marin morning.