October 14, 2011 Friday

Bolinas	Channel
9:20 am to 11:00 am	2' to 3', sets to 4'
Mid upcoming tide	No wind
Sunny and warm - heat wave	Fun session

"Jacek, what's that? A kneeboard?" He was waxing up a small thick, pointed nose, double tailed board. It looked brand new. Jacek has a quiver of sixty boards, and depending on conditions he often brings a different board to the beach. This board looked like the one that Chuck the local kneeboarder uses.

"No, I stand up on it. Here check out my other one." He pulled out another similar small board out of his car. "Both shapers were protégés of Skip Frye. These boards originated in San Diego. They are CLASSIC FISH boards," he proudly announced. Ship Frye was a renowned shaper from San Diego in the sixties. Both boards had two points in the tail with a big Vee between them and six inch glassed on wood fins positioned on each point. They were also thick (nearly 3 inches) and wide - 22 inches.

"Jacek, this board looks brand new." It didn't have a mark on it. "No it's not." He flipped it over and pointed to the year penciled in the stringer along with the other dimensions. "See, 2004! It's seven years old, but it has hardly been used."

Jacek certainly didn't have any problems riding his fish. He did his usual thing of sitting at the furthest peak and waiting for the sets. The waves were small, flat on the take-off and peeled continuously to the left. To me these were longboard waves. Jacek waited until the waves were cresting, then he dug hard with his head hanging over the tip of the nose, jumped to knees when the waves picked him up, pushed the nose over the edge to insure he was in them, jumped up to his feet and then cut up and down the curls as if he was on a skateboard. Yes he had no problems with this board. That's him in the above photo on his fish.

Back home after my session I looked up "fish" in Matt Warshaw's The Encyclopedia of Surfing: Stumpy, blunt-nosed surfboard design invented by San Diego kneeboarder Steve Lis in 1967, featuring low-rocker and a split tail and later adapted for stand-up surfing that was recognized as a small wave speed machine. Jim Blears of Hawaii used a 5' 10" fish to win the 1972 World Champions - held in sloppy surf in San Diego. In 1976, Australian world champion Mark Richards modified the design to produce a version of the twin-fin that became a surf world best seller.

The weather was the story today - a classic October Indian Summer day - heat wave, clear skies, warm water (57 degrees), no wind and tabletop glassy smooth surface. Only negative was the red tide. The water had that Te Java ice tea look. It was the same red tide that has been hanging around for the last two weeks. The swell was 5 ft at 12 seconds, which resulted in two to three-foot waves at the Channel. While taking photos I watched David who rides the Becker board and Marty catch some nice clean left curls. Mary and Mark the archaeologist were on the far side of the Channel going for the rights. No one was at the Patch.

Back at the cars, Hans was changing after his session at the Patch. He had a great time and had it all to himself. He didn't understand why no body else out there with him. Work had kept him from surfing for a couple of weeks and it felt great to be back in the water and his arms were feeling it.

I paddled out to join Professor Steve and David at the north edge of the peak. Both of them immediately caught waves. I looked outside and a set was approaching. I stroked into the second wave, jumped up to my knees, leaned on the nose to push into the wave, jumped up to my feet and cruised down a long mellow left curl. What a good start to my session.

The regulars were out there and all of them glided into several mellow waves. Marty caught his share. David as usual just continuously paddled into one wave after another and was still out there when I exited the water. Francine sat on the inside and connected on several waves. Mark drifted back over to our peak and cruised down several long lefts.

Annette and her partner were out there on their stand-up boards. These two know what they are doing and they were all over the place. They drifted over from Seadrift, riding waves all the way. Today conditions were ideal for stand-ups - gentle, flat take-off waves, frequent sets and long rides. They worked their way over to the apex of the furthest peak to join Jacek, drifted over to our peak for several waves and then reversed course. When I exited the water they were a half-mile down the beach at Seadrift.

What a beautiful day. After an hour and a half I ran out of gas and went in. Mary and Marty were back at the cars. After three-hour sessions they were talking about going out again. It was just talk; they didn't do it. But it was that kind of day that makes you consider staying out all day.