February 27, 2013 Wednesday

Bolinas	Patch
10:15 am to 11:20 am	2’ to 3’, frequent 4’ sets
Mid upcoming tide	Slight north cross breeze
Warm sunny day	Fun session

Yesterday Hank sent out a broadcast email stating how good the Patch was and that missing in action were Marty and Loren. What, a challenge? How dare he. Marty shot back that we would be there the next day, Wednesday, the day that Marty and I collect water samples for Surfrider’s water testing program, of course we would be there.

Hank was right; today’s conditions matched yesterday’s and the whole crew was on it, including Marty and I. Conditions were good: a new swell had arrived (8 ft at 14 seconds), again very north resulting in small lines at Bolinas that stretched across the impact zone of the Patch. The overcast disappeared around 9 o’clock, and the sun came marching out, warming up the air to 60 degrees. A good swell and warm temperatures brought the crew out.

Martha and her son Woody were there with their classic Dewey Weber longboards. Woody is a member of the Dewey Weber surf team. I hadn’t seen Woody for a couple of years and he had grown. Per Martha he is 6’ 5” – tall and lanky. After graduating from my alma mater, UCSB, Woody worked two years in Santa Barbara and had recently taken a new position with Merrill Lynch in Mill Valley. Thus we will be seeing a lot more of him at Bolinas.

Jack the Dave Sweet team rider came up the ramp. I hadn’t seen him since my operation last August. He had just returned from a trip to Florida where he did a little fishing (Jack is an avid fisherman) and a whole lot of relaxing. The weather was warm and sunny and demanded wearing of shorts and Aloha shirts. Jack had to show all of us the three-foot long crack he just put in his transparent, light green classic Dave Sweet board. He claimed he was weaving around the rocks at the Patch when he collided with a mean old nasty one. He told us not to worry because he has patched boards all of his life and would quickly fix this one.

When I went down to the seawall to take some pictures, no one was at the Channel and ten surfers were spread across several peaks at the Patch. Marty connected on a good long right wave before I could focus my camera. He rode the curl right up to the shore and exited the water. He told me he had a good session and that he scored several good lefts on the north side of the Patch. That sounded good to me.

I saw Hank catch a couple of good ones. He claimed that today was better than yesterday. Mary also stated that she had a good session way outside and to the north of the crowd. Jaime the starving artist cartoonist was just finishing his session before opening up the 2-Mile Surf Shop. Jaime said that earlier he connected on two head-high lefts. DB the Safeway checker exited the water as I was entering it. She was having a good session but had to leave to rescue Dexter’s dog, which she was baby sitting while he attended school in Santa Cruz.

“I was going in but it got better,” said Jacek the tattoo artist as I greeted him at the exposed outside rock. “The wind died and the waves cleaned up, look!” He waved his hand at an approaching four-foot wall of water, turned around and glided into a long right peeling wave.

David who rides the Becker board was with Jacek and I at the outside peak. He slowly drifted his way inside and south, a good right peak was forming there. After several good waves I began to tire and moved inside to join David.

“What happened to all those four-footers that were rolling in?” David asked after an especially long lull between sets.

“It must be the tide,” I said. Yes those good sets dropped off around 10:45, and that was when I started working my way down the beach to go in. On the inside, Rob, Mr. Malibu, paddled out and immediately started dominating the peak.

While changing after my session, Susan who always wears sunglasses in the water pulled up. She made several comments about why she was arriving at eleven o’clock. Basically she was squeezing in a brief surf session into her busy schedule. Sunday she had a good session and was hoping for the same today.

I too had a good rehab session. I caught eight waves in one hour, stood up on most of them and felt that my arms were getting stronger. “It’s going to happen,” I said to myself. “I am going to get back to my old level of surfing.”

February 25, 2013 Monday

Bolinas	Patch
9:15 am to 10:20 am	2’ to 3’, sets to 3.5’
Mid upcoming tide	Offshore north breeze
Warm sunny day	Good rehab session

Here was the Bolinas Surf Report from the 2-Mile Surf Shop, written by Jaime the starving artist cartoonist: “With the upcoming tide there is still a bump rolling through the Clam Patch as well as at the Snags. This is all thigh-to-a-very-occasional-waist high slide. Six folks on longboards over at the Clam Patch are discussing last night’s Oscars right now.”

The Oscars were last night and Argo won best picture, Daniel Day Lewis won best actor for Lincoln and Ang Lee won best director for The Life of Pi.

Marty, Mary, Hank, Jaime, David who rides the Becker board and one other were at the Patch when I took my daily photos of conditions. As stated in the 2-Mile surf report, the waves were small. At 8 o’clock the San Francisco buoy reported 8 foot swells at 14 seconds, direction 320 degrees and water temperature at 49 degrees. The direction was too far north to come into Bolinas, and we had just a small wind swell on top of a remnant of this past weekend’s south swell, resulting in weak and infrequent two to three foot peaks at the Patch.

“Hey have a good time.” Jaime drove up in his truck, rolled down the window and greeted me. He was on his way to open up the 2-Mile surf shop.

“How’s the water?” I asked.

“Cold!” Then Jaime paused and thought about it. “Let me re-phrase that. It’s BLOODY cold!” and off he drove.

Only David was at the Patch when I entered the water. Shu-Shu came out a few minutes after me. All the others had left. Jaime was first. Mary was walking up the ramp as I came down. Hank exited the water as I walked across the top of the first seawall and Marty went in a few minutes after I had paddled out to the peak. Thus David, Shu-Shu and I had the Patch to ourselves on a warm sunny morning with small, no-fear waves in freezing water.

My surf rehab was going well. In one hour I caught eight waves. My best ride was a good right curl that I rode on my knees. I locked into the wave, ducked under the lip of the curl as it pitched over my head and maneuvered the swell all the way to shore.

As usual, it was another beautiful Marin morning.

February 22, 2013 Friday

Bolinas	Patch
10:15 am to 11:20 am	2’ to 3’, occasional 4’
Mid dropping tide	Slight NW cross breeze
Warm sunny day	Fun session

Another surfer was walking several yards ahead of me as I headed for the Patch with my board in hand. My friends were out at the far peak near the outside rock. This guy was old school – a single fin longboard with a thin nose, no leash, no booties and no gloves. He paddled out to the inside right peak and immediately stroked into a wave. I didn’t even think about going out to this peak. While I was putting on my gloves, this guy caught another good one. He calmly paddled towards the peak as it jumped up over the rocks of the Patch reef, glided into the top of the wave, drifted left, pulled a huge fish-tail turn to the right, dropped down the face with his knees slightly bent and one hand in the air, cruised under the white water and climbed back into the swell. He quickly ran to the nose, wrapped five toes over the nose of the board, stepped back, switched stance (yes, right foot forward), and hung a big left turn as the wave collapsed on shore.

Yes, Rob, Mr. Malibu, was back.

I remember him from last summer when we had a string of south swells that formed a beautiful left peak north of the Groin. Rob has the Malibu style, which is the ability to hang five on a six-inch wave. Most of the time Malibu (at least 300 days of the year) is less than two feet. Due to crowds, all the good surfers learn to rip up tiny waves. As it turned out, Rob did learn to surf at Malibu and frequented all the other right point breaks along that stretch of the California coast. I hadn’t seen him since last summer; he was back and he ripped it up.

With Mr. Malibu dominating the inside peak, I decided to join the Bolinas regulars at the outer peak. Besides I was anxious to get some of the left waves that Mary and Marty were riding on the north edge of Patch reef.

“So Mary what would you write about this morning’s session?”

She thought about it briefly. “The fact that we waited for the tide to turn. That was a good move. The waves got better as the tide dropped.”

“What time did you get here?”

“Seven am.”

“But you didn’t enter the water until nine. That’s two hours. So what did you do for two hours?”

“Oh it was no problem. We sat around and talked.” High tide was 8:30 am (5.7 ft). The others who also waited were: Marty, Mark the archaeologist, Hank, Jaime the starving artist cartoonist and Bill from Berkeley.

I’m glad they did because I had a fun session and enjoyed chatting with them at the outside rock between sets.

February 20, 2013

Bolinas	Patch
9:20 am to 10:00 am	2’ to 3’, sets to 4’
Mid outgoing tide	North offshore breeze
Overcast to bright sunshine and cold	Fun session

“Help me out with today’s blog, what would you say about this morning’s session?” I put this question to Hank and Marty during our after session breakfast at the Parkside Café in Stinson Beach.

“What got me was how cold it was when we arrived,” Hank said after thinking about it for a second. “There was no sun and the wind was freezing cold. The temperature was in the thirties.” Hank’s car has a thermometer that gives the outside temperature. Hank and Marty arrived around 7:30 and were in the water at 8 am. “The sun was behind a cloud cover and it was still dark. The wind blew down Brighton Ave, but it was not on the beach and the sun came out as we entered the water. Five people were out at the Patch and the waves were bigger earlier. It wasn’t that cold out in the water. But you sure felt the cold when you came up the ramp and hit that cold wind again.”

It was a cold morning. I had to pull out my Wisconsin badger ice scraper that my son gave me ten years ago when he was a grad student at the University of Wisconsin that I keep in the front door pocket of my car to scrape ice off my windshield in Mill Valley. Kate warned me to watch out for black ice on the road driving over the mountain. When I hit the top of the ridge above Mill Valley, at Four Corners, the sun was out, the air was much warmer and the road was dry.

Last week the three of us planned to have an after surf meal at the Parkside, thus I didn’t want to hold up the show. Shortly after I enter the water, Hank went in and Marty followed him in a few minutes later. So I had a short session, but given the cold air and my weak arms, forty minutes was plenty. But I had a good session. In that brief time I caught six waves, popped up on three of them, rode two on my knees and the last one lying down to work it all the way to shore.

The waves were good. The swell had come up from Monday. Per Stormsurf, a gale in Japan had set off a sizeable swell that arrived on Monday, peaked on Tuesday and was declining today. The SF buoy read 8 ft swells at 14 seconds. The waves at the Patch were a consistent three feet with occasional sets to four feet. On one wave I connected on a good inside right. I took off late, popped up, cut right, and hung high in the curl as the wave broke in front of me. I hung in there, maneuvered under the white water, climbed back into the swell and continued a long ways until the wave died near shore. For a brief second I felt like my old self, my spirits were up and I was looking forward to my next session.

February 18, 2013

Bolinas	Patch
9:00 am to 10:00 am	2’, sets to 3’
Mid outgoing tide	NW cross breeze to stiff wind
Cloudy, overcast and cold	Fun rehab session

 “Mark how was it?” Mark the archaeologist was changing out of his wetsuit as I was heading to the beach to take some photos.

“It was good, lots of fun size curls at the Patch. But you better get out there before the low tides kills the waves. That’s what happened yesterday. There was a window of great waves then they disappeared as the tide dropped.” Mark enthusiastically talked about his good sessions yesterday and today. “So don’t spend a lot of time taking pictures. Just get out there,” he called to me as I headed for the ramp.

Mark was right. The morning crew was at the Patch going for these clean long lines of small waves. Out there were: Mary, Marty, David who rides the Becker board, Hank, Russ the stand-up guy and Bill on his water ski. The waves at the Channel were closing out, thus only a couple of surfers were out there. The tide was low enough for me to walk in front of the two seawalls to take photos standing on the beach in front the Patch. The waves were infrequent, but when they came Mary, Marty, Hank and David managed to connect on long rides. In the above photo, that’s David in the shore break at the end of one of his better rides. Watching them compelled me to suit up and go.

“Mary, why did you get out so early?” Mary was back at her car as I headed for the beach with board in hand. She usually stays out for two to three hours and exits around 10 or 11 am.

“High tide was about 5:30 this morning, so I got here early to catch the high tide.” Dawn patrol! It was still dark at that time. That’s surf dedication for you.

Hank, Marty and David were at the inside peak just south of the rocks of the Patch reef going for the rights. The rock pile was beginning to appear. Another peak formed way outside, beyond the Patch reef and two surfers were there. I paddled out to join Hank, Marty and David. After my first wave, Hank and Marty went in, leaving the peak to David and I.

My surf rehab progressed today. I caught five waves in one hour, stood up on three of them, took one on my knees and came in lying down on my last wave. I was encouraged, my arms felt strong and I easily stroked into my first wave. The wave jumped up, creating a gentle incline making it easy to pop-up. I was up and cruised down a well-formed right shoulder for several yards, pulling out before dropping over the edge of the shore break. For a brief moment I felt like my old self.

After thirty minutes, my thin wetsuit, the cloud covered sky and a cold stiff wind put the freeze on David and I. I pushed on for another thirty minutes until my arms were losing strength and my fingers were turning numb. I headed in. After numerous times dealing with the cold, I knew to keep as much rubber on as long as possible and then to change into dry clothes as fast as possible. Today I managed to unlock the car with my gloves on. I pulled off my gloves and immediately started taking off my booties. The cold wind blowing over wet hands causes them to stiffen up. And once numb, I lose strength in my fingers and have trouble gripping anything, including the tops of my booties to stretch them over my heels. I was proud of myself today; I managed to pull off my booties and wetsuit before I lost the grip in my hands, which did occur while lacing up my shoes. But on the drive back over the mountain, with my thick hoody sweatshirt on and the heat on high, I felt great; nothing like cold water, fun waves and friends to invigorate the body and your spirits.

February 11, 2013 Monday

Bolinas	Patch
9:30 am to 10:20	3’ to 4’, sets to 5’
Mid upcoming tide	Slight onshore breeze to stiff NW wind
Warm sunny day	Fun re-hab session

Today the waves were big and powerful. Per Stormsurf, a date-line swell from Japan was hitting California. It arrived this weekend and was still sizeable but decreasing today, resulting in 7.5 foot swells at 17 seconds. A high pressure front was holding 600 miles offshore and was pushing out low pressure sitting over the Sierras, creating a pressure gradient that set up offshore winds and warm temperatures for the entire state.

Nobody was out at the Channel; the waves were too walled up. The crew was out at the Patch: Mary, Marty, Hank, David who rides the Becker board, Jacek the tattoo artist, Ray the recently retired Petaluma fireman, Creighton, Russ the stand-up guy and a couple others. Everyone was connecting on long rides, especially Jacek. As usual, he sat fifty yards further outside that everyone else and patiently waited for “the big ones,” and his patience paid off. I watched him from the side as I paddled over a set wave calmly dropping down the face of a head-high wave, a wave he rode a long ways up to the shore break. Mary claims she is “re-learning” to surf after having missed a few weeks due to a bad back. But I saw her tucked in a tight crouch ducking under the curl of a fast inside wave. David also caught several long rides. That’s Ray in the above photo cutting across the face of a four-foot inside wall. Marty and Hank managed to catch their share of waves.

My “surf re-hab” continued and I made some progress. I caught four waves in 45 minutes. Three of them I took on my knees and managed to stand up at the end of the ride on two of them. On my second wave, while lying down and dropping down the face of a four-foot wave, I dug a rail, instantly rolled and tumbled into the white water.

Marty was going in, so I decided to follow after him. I caught my last wave and looked for Marty. Getting in was not going to be easy. The tide had come up and the waves were now pounding against the north seawall; making it impossible to walk in front of it. I watched Marty closely to see what he was going to do. He decided to paddle around the seawall and go in at the playpen (the sand beach between the two seawalls). He was 200 yards ahead and inside of me. I watched him flounder. Marty got trapped between the incoming four-foot pounders and the three-foot backwash rebounding off the wall. The incoming and outgoing waves would collide, shooting water about ten feet into the air. Marty was stuck in the middle of it. Between sets, he struggled to paddle past the wall and to finally come in at the playpen.

Seeing his ordeal, I went straight in to try my luck with the gangplank to walk along the top of the seawall. The end of the aluminum gangplank is tied to a retractable pulley that one pushes on to lower it the beach. I pushed hard and it came down allowing me to walk along its narrow path to the top of the seawall. At the other end are four ladder rungs and one hand grasp bolted into the concrete wall for stepping down to the sand. Climbing down these steps was also precarious, a real challenge for us old guys. I had to lower my board tail first to the sand and gingerly step down the rungs in my wet booties and sand covered gloves. But I made it.

Over coffee, Marty and I sat in the warm sun at the Coast Café and commented on how beautiful it was today and how going out into the water and waves was well worth the effort.

February 6, 2013 Wednesday

Bolinas	Patch
9:50 am to 10:50 am	2’ to 3’, sets to 4’
Mid dropping tide	Slight offshore breeze
Warm sunny day with clouds on the horizon	Fun session

Last summer Jack the Dave Sweet team rider told me that I should not bother to write about all those crappy days in my Surf Journal, that way I could keep current. Well today was one of those days – the surf wasn’t very good and I didn’t catch any memorable waves, certainly nothing to write about. The story this morning was why I went out.

Today was only my fourth time in the water since my return to surfing and only my sixth session in the last six months. Just after over coming my surgery and an internal infection I came down with a nasty cold – the same bug that was affecting most people in Marin, including Kate and my daughter Allison. For all of us the cold just kept lingering. I finally went to the doctor because it was getting worst. I asked him if he was seeing a lot of colds and flus. He quickly snapped that this community had an epidemic of respiratory illness. He prescribed antibiotics that definitely helped.

On my drive to the beach I was trying to talk myself out surfing. I woke up last night at 3 am with a horrible stuffy head and had trouble falling back to sleep. This morning my body felt drained and my arms and legs ached, but I was committed to going to the beach to collect water samples for Surfrider Marin’s water testing program. But to my surprise surfing conditions at Bolinas were ideal. It was ten degrees warmer at the coast and parking area at Brighton Ave was full of surf vehicles with the boards gone. From cars Marty, Mary, Russ the stand-up guy, David who rides the Becker board and Jacek the tattoo artist were in the water.

I went up Terrace Road and stood on the cliff over looking the Patch to take some pictures. Marty, Mary, Russ, David and Bill from Berkeley were out there. That’s Mary in the above photo on a small inside wave. I had to go out; today’s conditions were perfect for my surf re-hab:

• Warm sunshine,
• No wind,
• Glassy surface,
• 2’ to 4’ waves at the Patch,
• Outgoing tide – meaning the waves would improve,
• No hassle getting out or coming in,
• One could walk in front of the north seawall, and
• My friends were out there.

By the time I entered the water everybody was gone. Russ came in while I was taking photos. Marty and Mary left while I was suiting up, Bill greeted me as I walked down the beach, and David had paddled back to the Groin. I always promise Kate that I won’t go out alone, but I had come this far and I wasn’t going to stop now.

I paddled out to the first peak south of the rocks to go for the rights. My arms felt strong and I was able to easily stroke into the waves. On my first wave, which was my best ride, I jumped up to my knees, swung right, positioned mid-swell, locked into the curl, watched the curl come over my head and then stood up for the last section. Now I was energized and no had problem paddling out or moving from peak to peak. In an hour I caught four waves, began to tire and the cold was setting in due to my paper-thin wetsuit, so I came in. The tide had dropped allowing me to walk on sand all the way to the ramp. I was tired but not exhausted and felt that my surfing had improved.

I have said to Kate for years that surfing can knock a cold out of me. Of course she never believed it. This fantasy is part of my romantic view of surfing. Whatever ails me, surfing will cure it – colds, flu, depression, or troubles at work. It’s like today’s Republicans – the resolution to all the nation’s problems is more tax cuts. Well today confirmed my belief – I felt great driving home and I swear my cold was gone. Once again reinforcing my cure to all my woes is to “Surf More.”