Bolinas
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Groin
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9:15 am to 10:45 am
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Consistent 2' to 3', sets to 4'
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Low tide (2.1 ft at 10:00 am)
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No wind to slight onshore breeze
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Sunny and warm - start of a heat wave
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Good session
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Today
was my first day back in the water at Bolinas after my two-week trip down
south. I surfed five times - C Street in Ventura, twice at San Onofre and twice
at Torrance Beach. All were good sessions, but the swells were small and I was
snaked on two days due to high winds. Monday, Kate and I made the beautiful
drive from Morro Bay up Highway 1 to Mill Valley, and due to strong NW winds we
viewed white caps for the whole two hundred mile journey.
But
this morning as soon as I saw the nice clean lines of left peeling waves at the
Groin I knew I was in for a good session. Data from the Internet gave the
possibility of some waves - 2.5 to 3 ft south swell at 17 seconds, NW wind at
10 knots, warm weather and water temperature at 55 degrees. Six surfers were at
the Groin and I knew five of them - Jacek the tattoo artist, Marty, Hank,
Professor Steve and David who rides the Becker board. The Patch looked ok and
Mary and Walt on his stand-up were out there. But the fast peeling lefts were
my choice. That's Hank on the inside wave and Jacek on the outside one in the
above photo.
While
paddling out I saw Jacek on a good one. He was riding his 9' 6" classic,
glassed in single fin Murphy (a San Diego shaper) longboard. He easily stroked
into a glassy four foot wall, cut left, crouched down, grabbed the outside rail
and hung on through the first section. He cruised under the white water and
back into the swell, climbed high in the curl, stepped to the nose and calmly
stood there as he hummed down a long continuously peeling left curl. On he went
until the wave finally closed out near shore. That's how it's done, I thought
to myself.
The
sets were infrequent and we all sat there patiently waiting for the waves. I
was anxious to catch one and thus went for the first bump in the water that I
saw. On my first two waves, the curls peeled a little too fast and closed out
in front of me. On my third wave, I connected. A set came in and the others
went for the first two, leaving me in position for the third wave. I paddled
towards the peak, glided into the wave, jumped up and cut left as the curl was
standing up. I stayed high in the wave, stepped to the middle of the board,
crouched down and shot through the first section. The wave paused for an
instant and then jumped up again. I leaned into the curl, climbed to the top of
the wave, stepped closer to the nose, locked the rail under the lip and hung
there on the side of the wave shooting through a paper thin curl. I could feel
my skeg lifting out of the water as the curl collapsed in front of me. What a
great ride.
All
of us were amazed at how ideal conditions were - warm, sunny, plate glass
smooth and crystal clear water. The waves were clean ground swells that would
start breaking in front of the Groin pole and peel continuously down the line.
We were sitting twenty yards to the north and would watch them breaking towards
us before turning to paddle for them. By being to the north, we could connect
with the inside shore break curls. I watched David get one long ride after
another from this position.
What a beautiful morning and what a good session. It felt great to be back at my home
break.
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