March 1, 2013 Friday

Bolinas	Patch
9:35 am to 10:40 am	2’ to 3’, sets to 4’
Low upcoming tide	Slight north cross wind
Overcast, high fog to hazy sunshine	Fun session

Today was my best session since my recovery began. I caught ten waves in one hour at the Patch and stood up on all of them. My arms and legs were stronger and my endurance was good – though I did run out of gas after an hour.

“Loren there were a few head high waves way out there,” Hank greeted me at the water’s edge. He and Mary had just finished their sessions. “Look at that inside peak. You should go there. Nobody is there and I just got a good right wave there a few minutes ago. As you are paddling out, if a good one comes along, turn and go for it.”

The tide had turned at 7 am (0.6 ft) and at 9:30 the water was still out, most of the rocks were still exposed. Ten surfers were sitting at the peaks way beyond the Patch reef. On the inside, at the spot we call Robinson’s Reef, small consistent lines were breaking over the rocks and peeling to the right along the contour of the sand beach. And yes, no one was there.

Hank was right. I paddled out to the spot that he had pointed out, aligned myself beyond and to the south of a large exposed rock on the edge of the rock pile. This rock became my marker for the morning. A set approached led by a wall of water that stretched across the impact zone that started to break over the exposed rocks and continued peeling down the line towards me. I turned and went for it. With a few determined strokes, I glided into it. The wave was forgiving. It broke next to me but left me with a just forming shoulder allowing me plenty of time to stand up. The shoulder turned into a steep inside curl and I sailed along the top of it, going a long ways before the wave ran out of energy near shore. Hank gave me a high five from the shore. That was the first of ten good waves.

I paddled back out near the rock and within a couple of minutes I was on another one. For my first three rides I was the only on at this spot. An hour later ten others surrounded me. David who rides the Becker board and Jacek the tattoo artist had drifted over from way outside to my peak. Paul who was heading in caught one good right and decided to stay with me for the next hour. Julie the Bolinas local who works for the City of Mill Valley had exited the water when I started my session. After I connected on a couple of good waves she decided to paddle back out for a few more. Martha arrived about ten o’clock and joined us at the inside peak.

Jacek caught a classic wave. A good set came in and he paddled his 9’ 0” Fresh Pineapple yellow board out to meet it. The first wave was breaking, and Jacek turned and caught the white water sliding down the face. He jumped up, glided under the breaking part of the wave and climbed back into the swell, paused a second for the wave to build up and then ran to the nose and stood there as he shot by me and continued on until the wave broke on shore.

Good waves and warm weather brought out the crowd. Several of us commented on the number of cars in the parking area and people in the water. The Bolinas regulars were there, 14 in all, let me list them: The Dawn Patrol – Doug, Ray the retired Petaluma fireman, and Creighton. The Normal Morning Crew – Mary, Marty, David, Hank, Mark the archaeologist and Jaime the starving artist cartoonist. The Gentlemen’s Hour Crew – Jacek, Matt from Santa Rosa (who hadn’t surf in the last few months), Julie, Martha and myself.

All of us had good sessions and felt great. There’s nothing like a jolt of cold water, warm sunshine, vigorous exercise, consistent fun waves and friends to cure what ails you, like: colds, depression, flus, job blues, or general funks.

Note that is Marty on a good one in the above photo and special thanks to Hank for pointing out the classic inside peak.