January 13, 2012 Friday

Bolinas	Channel
10:00 am to 11:00 am	2' to 3', sets to 4'
Mid upcoming tide	Strong offshore wind
Sunny, clear and cold	Fun session

Wind was the story today - strong SE winds blowing against the waves, putting chop and white caps on the surface. The trees at Four Corners, the top of the hill above Mill Valley, were whipping around. A high-pressure ridge was still stationed over the East Pacific blocking the storms from Alaska and causing cold temperatures and offshore winds for all of Northern California.

I had not checked the Internet this morning, so I had no idea what to expect. As I turned onto Brighton Ave at Bolinas I saw David who rides the Becker board's truck parked in its usual spot, but his board was sticking out the back. Not a good sign. The surf fanatic, who always arrives early and surfs in all kinds of conditions, was not in the water. I pulled up to the parking area by the tennis court and saw that Mark the archaeologist was standing by his truck with his board still strapped to the roof. Stand-up guys Russ and Frank were out of the water and were putting their boards into their vehicles. Marty's board was still in his car and Mary was sitting in her car tuning her ukulele. Dexter the Bolinas local was standing by his van eating a bowl of oatmeal and chatting with Martha. Only Hank was suiting up.

"Hank, what gives? You're suiting up and everybody else is standing around."

"I'm going to get wet. Besides I think it's going to get better. The wind has died down, the tide is coming up and I saw a couple of nice waves out there."

All of them had been standing around for an hour waiting for conditions to change. When the tide turned and the wind dropped a little opinions changed. As soon as one started heading out, everyone else did the same. David came back from checking the waves and stated he was going to join Hank. Martha started to suit up and so did Mary and Mark. Matt pulled up, said hello and immediately changed into his wetsuit. He had not surfed in a while and was determined to go out.

I got out my camera and walked with Marty to check out the waves. No one was in the water, neither at the Patch nor at the Channel. David and Hank stood at the base of the ramp suited up with their boards in hand trying to decide where to go. It was not an easy decision, both breaks were flat and then both sprang to life when sets of three to four-foot waves came through. They decided to head for the Channel. Mary, Martha and Matt went to the Patch. Seeing these sets, Marty headed back to his car to suit up. I walked to the Groin wall to get some pictures of David and Hank. That's David in a vertical drop in the above picture. After seeing them on a couple more decent waves, I too headed back to suit up. The Channel was definitely the call.

By the time I zipped up my wetsuit, the wind had picked up again. It blew me down the beach to the Groin. The waves were difficult to catch due to the force of the wind lifting your board out of the water and then blasting you with a rain of spray into your face. Near the end of my hour session I caught two great lefts. All the previous ones were frustrating. On my best wave, I took off late, paddled hard with my body close to the nose, pushed my weight forward and jumped to my knees to make sure I was in the wave and not to lose any time by standing up. I turned the board with my hands and looked down a straight line of water with spray blowing off the top. After shooting through the first section, I jumped up to my feet, leaned into the curl and stepped to the front half of the board to pick up speed. The wave stood up in front of me. I climbed to the top of the swell locked my rail under the lip and stepped closer to the nose. By now I was nearly free falling down the face. I was so parallel to the wave I felt for a brief instance the tail block lift out of the water, swing out toward shore and then swing back in. And on and on I went until the wave closed out near shore in two feet of water. This ride made my whole session.

The others caught good rides also. Marty caught several steep fast curls, as did David. I watched Mark drop down a four-foot wall crouching down with his back to the wave and turning the board with his hand that grasped the outside rail. Once I had passed over the wave I looked back - Mark was calmly standing in front of the breaking part of the wave with the curl up to the small of his back and arches of spray blowing off the top. He sailed on for several yards and then sharply straightened out. I complimented him on his ride when he returned to the line-up. He said he was moving along when suddenly there was Larry standing broadside directly in his path. Mark quickly cut back and dove off to avoid hitting Larry.

After an hour the cold was setting in when I connected with my second best and final wave. It was another good nose ride that took me near the shore. Marty had just completed a good wave and was heading in, and I decided to do the same. The wind was still blowing hard making it difficult to walk up the beach. But as always, it felt great to be in the water and to enjoy the elements of Marin's beautiful coastline.