May 16, 2012 Wednesday

Bolinas	Channel
10:00 am to 11:00 am	Consistent 3', sets to 4'
High tide (4.1 ft at 10 am)	Slight NW cross breeze
Overcast	Fun session

"Be sure to be here Tuesday or Wednesday!" Russ the stand-up guy emphatically told me Monday as he was driving off. He stated that conditions were going to change and that Tuesday and Wednesday would be "primo" surf days. A strong south swell was coming in and the wind would turn northwest. That was good news because conditions on Monday were terrible - no swell, south wind, and a choppy blown out surface. I didn't bother to go out.

Russ was right. This morning at 6 am the San Francisco buoy reported 4 ft swells at 17 seconds, 10 knots north wind and 53-degree water. Stormsurf.com had the swell as a combination of NW wind swells at 7 seconds mixed with a 2 ft south swell at 17 seconds. The result was a clean, left peeling peak at the Channel with a slightly textured surface.

I arrived at 9 am and the early morning crew was leaving. I passed Jaime the starving artist cartoonist and Mary on the road coming into Bolinas. DB the Safeway checker was packing up her car, as was Don my Kahuna Kupuna surf contest buddy. Russ had already left for the day.

One glance and I knew I was going to the Channel. Marty, Hank and one other surfer were at the Patch. The waves looked slow and with the high tide were dying in the deeper water. I headed to the Groin to take some photos. David who rides the Becker board, Phil, two other surfers and one stand-up guy were at the Channel. So was Bill in his white kayak. After a long wait a set of good-looking waves came through. There were two peaks: one at the Channel and the other straight out from the Groin pole. This peak was appealing when a couple of "Malibo" rights appeared and the lefts looked steep and fast as they peeled across the front of the Groin wall. That's one of the other guys on a good right in the above photo.

"Hank how's the water temperature?" Marty and Hank returned from their session at the Patch while I was suiting up.

"I don't know what happened. But it must have been that wind last night because it is definitely colder than yesterday." Marty confirmed Hank's statement. The water was cold, thus I took their warning and wore my gloves and I was glad that I did.

Only David and Phil were at the Channel and both of them caught waves as I paddled out to the far Channel peak. But they returned to the other inside and to the north peak. I knew that David always had a good sense about waves conditions and take-off points. My first couple of waves were ok -- nothing special. After a half-hour I figured it out; the waves were flat on the take-off and thus difficult to catch. I moved inside and over to join David. A young woman on a huge longboard paddled out to the far peak. I watched her as a set approached. She paddled for the first wave and missed it. I quickly turned around and stroked into it as the wave broke. I jumped up, cut left, drove under the white water and climbed back into the swell. The wave built up again and I cut across the face through the inside section and hung on until it closed out twenty feet in front of the Groin pole.

Now I had the pattern down -- wait inside and north for the big sets, take off as the waves were breaking and position for a good curl ride when they reformed near shore. I managed to connect on five such waves in the last thirty minutes of my session. The woman surfer had a good session. I was surprised by how easily she caught the waves. She sat way outside and to the south of David and I, and thus became my indicator. Whenever she moved further out, I knew a set was coming and I would get ready to jump on the wave when she missed it. But she only missed one, and I had to wait and hope there was another wave in the set.

At 11 am the wind was picking up, the water felt colder and the current starting pouring out of the lagoon. David agreed with me that it was lunchtime.

"Heat sounds nice right now," David said. One more wave and we would go in. I was in luck; a set wave came through. I dropped into a head-high curl, drove under some white water, climbed back into the swell as the wave jumped up. I leaned into the wave, stepped to the middle of the board, crouched down and cruised through a steep section. The wave kept building and I kept driving across the face until it closed out near shore. What a perfect ending to a good session. David was on the wave behind me.

"Time for my lettuce and cheese sandwich and the car heater," David said as he waved good-bye and drove off.

It was just another great morning in Marin.