March 29, 2013 Friday

Bolinas	Patch
9:00 am to 10:00 am	No waves, sets to 1’ to 2’
Low upcoming tide	No wind to slight onshore breeze
Beautiful summer like day	Exercise session

F L A T !!

That was the story today… no waves, none, zero, zip, nada. After a long wait of ten or more minutes, a series of two to three-foot bumps would appear, and we would get excited, paddle furiously and miss them. Only Mary on her 10’ 6” Mystic board and Walt on his stand-up could catch them. Our optimism about the in-coming tide would give a push to the waves didn’t materialize -- another surf fantasy that proved untrue.

That’s Mark the archaeologist in the above photo standing on the outside rock to amuse himself and entertain the rest of us between sets. Jaime the starving artist cartoonist wearing his Mountain Dew baseball cap sits in background encouraging Mark to jump. Mary took the picture with her waterproof camera that was tethered to her wetsuit. Five of us endlessly sat out there anxiously waiting for a real wave – Mary, Jaime, Mark, Julie the Bolinas local who works in Mill Valley, Walt the photographer and myself.

“Here’s the only thing I ever bought at Walmart.” Jaime had just suited up to go out and put on his last piece of surf gear – a baseball cap (old, faded and weathered) on his bald head. The cap had a Mountain Dew logo on it. He named some unknown small town in New Mexico where the only thing in town was a Walmart, and that was where he bought it. He hasn’t been in a Walmart since.

“Mountain Dew!” I exclaimed. “Do they still make that stuff?”

“Yes they do.”

“That reminds me of a song I learned as a kid at a YMCA summer camp called Mountain Dew. That was years before the soft drink came out.” I proceeded to sing a verse –

Now they call it that good old Mountain Dew

Them that refuse it are few.

I’ll hush up my mug

If you fill up my jug

With that good old Mountain Dew.

“Wow, so when does the CD come out,” Jaime added.

Well that did it. For the rest of the morning I couldn’t get that song out of my head. As I was sitting way out at the outside rock, just bobbing up and down due to the flat conditions, my mind was constantly repeating: “that good old Mountain Dew.”

Here’s a story of the Bolinas surf community in action. After our session, Walt announced to us that he had lost his wedding band. That’s one of those few things in life you should never lose, like car keys, wallets and passports. Mark, Mary and I helped him look for it, but to no avail. Mary suggested that Walt leave a note posted on the fence, which he did. He also talked to the guys at 2-Mile and sent out a broadcast email to the Bolinas regulars. The two days later he followed up with a good news email that Douglas, having seen his note posted on the fence, had recovered his ring and gave Walt a call. Walt was so relieved he immediately drove from his house in Sausalito to Bolinas to retrieve it.

March 25, 2013 Monday

Bolinas	Patch
9:30 am to 10:30 am	3’ to 4’, occasional 5’
Mid upcoming tide	Slight offshore breeze to strong NW cross wind
Sunny with high clouds and a storm front on the horizon	Great session

“Well I passed everyone going to the beach this morning. I wish I was one of them.” Julie the Bolinas local, who works for the Mill Valley planning department, greeted me as she headed to Peet’s for her morning coffee. I was sitting on the bench out front with my two morning coffee buddies, Matt and John. I often see Julie in the mornings in Mill Valley.

“Who did you see?”

“Hank, DB and Mary.”

“Did you go out this weekend?”

“Yes and the waves were good, the weather was perfect and the water was cold.”

Per Stormsurf.com a three-foot south swell arrived this weekend and combined with a three-foot north swell, resulting in some decent waves. But the south swell was fading and this morning’s NOAA weather radio buoy report didn’t mention the south swell. I thought it was over. But I was pleasantly surprised at my first glance of the Patch. Nice long lines of 3 to 4 feet rights continuously peeling from the middle of the Patch to the inside shore break. Fourteen people were out there. They were separated into two groups, one way outside at the apex of the Patch reef and the other on the inside going for the fast right curls close to shore. Within minutes I got shots of David who rides the Becker board, Hank, Jack the Dave Sweet team rider, Mary, DB the Safeway checker and Marty on good long rides. There was no doubt I was going out.

Frank the stand-up guy was back in the water. He recently had a hip-replacement operation and was out of the water for several weeks. On top of that his daughter gave birth to his first grandchild, an event that kept out of the water for a few more days. So Frank, like me, was in rehab. However, I watched him stroke into a four-foot wall, sail down the face, cut back to stay in the wave and work it all the way to shore. He exited the water after that good ride. That’s him in the above picture. In my mind, Frank was back.

“Bill I hear that you really ripped it up in Santa Cruz this weekend.” Bill from Berkeley had entered the All Paddle Craft contest and Marty informed me that he was there on his water ski and he came down a couple of monster waves at Steamers Lane.

“Yeah I ripped it up,” Bill jokingly responded. “I did have a great time. The weather was perfect, the surface was glass and the waves were big.” There was an eleven-foot swell rolling through the Lane that day. “But they were beautiful, easy to catch and easy to ride.” Meanwhile Bill was all over the place this morning. I saw him way out at the north peak, then he was back with us, and later he headed south and ended up surfing the Seadrift peak with the Stinson Beach stand-up crowd.

I had a good session. I paddled out to join David and Hank at the well-shaped inside right peak. On my first wave I took off on a four-foot wall, jumped up, cut under the feathering curl, shot through a second section, cut back, bounced over a series of backwash bumps coming off the cliff, cut-right again into the shore break curl and popped over the top as the wave crashed on shore. That was the first of ten waves that I caught within an hour, all were well-formed fast right curls. The cold water and wind forced me out of the water – not my arms, they felt great.

The wind was the story today. When I took pictures before my session the waves were glassy smooth. When I entered the water, the NW wind had picked up and had put a texture on the surface. But it was a cross wind that didn’t affect the waves and it even held up the curls a little bit. The wind continued to build and the cloud cover on the horizon kept moving towards us. An hour later it was Victory at Sea – stormy and choppy with white caps everywhere. But it was still a cross wind and the waves kept their good shape.

It was time to go in and afterwards I felt great – my arms were not tired and the good waves were invigorating. Today I felt that I was back.

March 18, 2013 Monday

Bolinas	Patch
9:30 am to 10:40 am	1’ to 2’, occasional 3’
Mid to low outgoing tide	No wind to slight NW cross breeze
Sunny to high overcast	Exercise/fun session

Why did I go out? It was flat. There was no swell -- just a few small ripples coming through the Patch. But it was a gorgeous morning, no wind, smooth as glass surface with a few ospreys circling overhead. They would glide high above us, pause in the air by fluttering their wings and then dive for fish.

Hank had just returned from a trip to Florida and hadn’t surfed in a week and was going out no matter what. I hadn’t surfed since last Wednesday and was anxious to get back in the water. DB the Safeway checker and David who rides the Becker board also decided to go out at the Patch. Jacek the tattoo artist and a friend headed for the Seadrift side of the Channel. I decided to join the crowd at the Patch just for some exercise. That’s DB paddling out to the Patch in the above photo to join Hank at the outside rock.

Bill from Berkeley joined us on his water ski. He informed us that he was preparing for a watercraft (any non-motor thing that floats) contest at Streamers Lane in Santa Cruz next weekend.

The waves weren’t anything to write about, but we all exercised our arms and enjoyed the morning.

March 11, 2013 Monday

Bolinas	Patch
9:25 am to 10:35 am	2’ to 3’, sets to 4’, occasional 5’
Mid upcoming tide	North cross breeze
Sunny and warm. Fog had just burned off	Fun session

With every session my arms were getting stronger. This morning in one hour and ten minutes I caught and stood up on ten waves, all of them good.

Today was also the first Monday of daylight savings, thus 9:30 am was last week’s 8:30. The sunlight was dim and the wind was calm. At 10:30 the wind picked up and put a chop on the water, just like 9:30 of last week. The time change had cut into Jaime the starving artist’s surf time. He arrived at his usual time, six o’clock, but it was still pitch black and he had to wait for thirty minutes before going out, and the on-the-deck-fog didn’t help either. But he had to get out at his normal time to open up the 2-Mile Surf Shop.

Several of the regulars were on it this morning: Mary, Marty, Jaime, David who rides the Becker board, Jacek the tattoo artist, DB the Safeway checker, Susan who always wears sunglasses in the water, and Stand-up guys Russ and Walt the photographer.

Mary was suited up and about to go out when I arrived. I handed her a copy of Kate’s latest novel, Blackstone’s Bride. Last week Mary said she wanted to read one of Kate’s books.

Marty pulled up as I was getting my camera out of the car and we checked out the surf together. The fog had just lifted, the wind had died, the surface was smooth and a decent swell was coming in. One surfer was at the Channel where the waves were walled and closing out. Four people were at the Patch: stand-up guys Russ and Walt, David and one other. That’s the other guy on a good left in the above photo.

Jacek, who had arrived shortly before me, claimed there were good small waves at the Patch as he pulled out his “Patch Board” – a 10’ 6”, 23” wide, yellow “Fresh Pineapple” longboard, a real paddling machine.

“Walt, I bet yesterday that you had waffles for breakfast,” I said to him after his session. Walt loves waffles and is an expert waffle chef. Kate and I attended his annual “Waffle Fest” a couple of weeks ago where Walt had three waffle irons going non-stop as he cranked out a ton of perfectly grilled waffles.

“No, not yesterday. My step-son and I had French toast with peanut butter.” I should have guessed as much.

Marty and I entered the water together and headed for the north side of the Patch to go for the lefts. Jacek was out at the furthest outside peak. I caught a good view of one of his classic rides – a long, high in the curl right that he rode all the way to the shore. After that, he stayed at the inside peak with David.

Susan was on the north side of the peak with Marty and I, thus we three goofy-foots (right foot forward) had the lefts to ourselves. What a good move, they were consistent, strong, fast and plentiful. All three of us got several good rides. On my first wave I took-off late on a four-foot wall, jumped up quickly (I surprised myself with that one), dropped down the face as the wave broke, cut underneath the white water, climbed back into the swell, stepped to the middle of the board and cruised. For a second it felt like the days of old.

“Loren you’re back!” Susan yelled. “Nice wave.” That was the first five long lefts.

After forty-five minutes Marty had to go in due to a tutoring commitment. I then drifted in and south to join David, who had the inside rights wired. Three times I saw him locked in a wave, high in the curl, and crouching down under the lip of a fast–breaking wave.

On the inside, the high bluff blocked the wind and the surface turned to glass. A set wave came through and I was ready for it. I stroked into the wave as it was breaking, jumped up, cut right, and blasted under the curl as it pitched out in front of me. I climbed back up the swell, cut back, turned right again into a second fast section. What a good ride. I then stayed on the inside, even further inside than Jacek and David and managed to connect on two more good, clean fast rights.

Jacek and David agreed with me that this morning was special – warm sunny weather (temperature in the mid-sixties), warm water (warmer than last week’s frigid water), and good clean fast waves with only four surfers on the peak. It doesn't get any better than this.