March 9, 2012 Friday

Stinson Beach	Right out front
10:00 am to 11:45 am	2' to 3', sets to 4'
Mid upcoming tide	Slight onshore breeze
Sunny and warm	Fun session

This morning Bolinas was F L A T - zero feet with sets to six inches. The NOAA weather radio reported 4 ft north swells at 11 seconds - and that was consistent for all the buoys from Point Arena to south of Monterey. Thinking that Bolinas might be small, I stopped at Stinson first to check the waves. Stinson had some nice two to three-foot gentle, old-man waves. If Bolinas was flat, I would return to Stinson.

Rounding the bend by the post office on Brighton Ave was my first indication - David's truck was parked in its usual place with his Becker boarding sticking out the back, not a good sign. I parked and was greeted by Mark the archaeologist who was suiting up.

"Loren, there's nothing out there."

"So why are you suiting up?"

"Just to paddle around."

DB the Safeway checker and Dexter the Bolinas local just came back from a long walk to the point at low tide. They didn't bother to go out. David walked by suited up and carrying his board; he had changed his mind. Jaime the starving artist cartoonist had been sitting around and he too decided to go out.

I walked down to the Groin wall to take my obligatory photo of the conditions. Eight surfers were sitting in the middle of the Channel. They were way inside, either even with the Groin pole or inside the Groin wall, as you can see in the above photo. The Bolinas regulars were there: Mary, David, Jaime, Mark, Cazardero Cathy, Shu-Shu from Dogtown and stand-up surfers Walt and Russ. Mary, Mark and Shu-Shu caught waves - small slow peaks that quickly died, that settled it, I was going to Stinson.

Why? The waves were three times larger and the tide was coming up, thus shape would get better. Also, the weather guys predicted that starting Sunday we would have four days of light rains and strong south winds. So today was my best opportunity for waves for the next week.

Good call - Stinson was a lot of fun. Consistent, nice knee-high curls, my kind of waves. It took me about forty-five minutes to get into my groove. At first I missed a couple of waves and then I caught one that closed out in front of me. I tried to lean into the wave in an attempt to drive past the white water and back into the swell; I almost made it. My second wave was a good right. I hung high in the curl and the wave continuously peeled to the right up to the shore. Then I connected on a good left. I got into the wave early, positioned myself high in the curl, dropped over the edge and hung on the side of the wave's face. I stepped to the front of the board - within one foot of the nose - and stood there frozen for what seemed forever. Now I was in the groove, using the technique I used with success on Monday, I would wait for the peak of the swell, dig hard and would glide into the wave early and would be up and high in the wave when I dropped over the edge. For thirty minutes I caught one good left curl have another, and then it all stopped or maybe I was just tired.

After thirty minutes, a shortboarder came out to my peak and he was good. He went for the rights and I got all the lefts, thus we didn't impact each other. Only once did we take the same wave. I went right and so did he, but being a skilled surfer he remained far ahead of me. We both got good rides and this wave brought us together. He apologized for taking off in front of me and I said, "good wave." This guy was amazing. He was on a potato chip of a board, so short that when he sat on his board he sank up to his armpits. But he seldom sat; he was in constant motion. Catch a wave, paddle back out, turn around and catch another one. Between sets he would move inside to catch a small wave or two and then quickly paddle back out to be in position when the sets came. I caught my share of waves, but this guy caught three times the number of waves that I did.

Out in the water I spotted a "Sweeper" (a stand-up surfer) far to the north in front of the houses of the Calles. Scott the chairman of Surfrider Marin had told me that John the owner of the Parkside Café and excellent surfer had taken up stand-up surfing and loved it. I thought that maybe that was John, but it didn't look like him. The more I watched him moving around the Sweeper looked more like John's close friend Pete the owner of the Livewater Surf Shop. The Sweeper took off on a set wave and skillfully glided left down a nice wall. He was goofy-foot and so is Pete. Like all stand-up surfers, this guy moved around. He drifted near our peak and then I could confirm that it was Pete. He waved, caught a few waves and drifted back north. He was half way down the beach at Seadrift when I exited the water.

The shortboarder exited the water also, but not to end his session. He dropped his board in the sand and ran down the beach to greet Nate the co-owner of the Proof Lab Surf Shop and his woman and their new baby, Currin, who was born last week. I too gave Nate congrats. He glowed with excitement and proudly announced that this was Currin's first time to the beach.

I wrote this sitting in the sun at a picnic table in the Park with a bowl of clam chowder and a small local green salad that I purchased from the Lunch Box. I briefly chatted with owners Lee and Rachel - great people who made a good healthy lunch. What a great way to end another beautiful morning in Marin.