April 24, 2013 Wednesday

Bolinas	Patch
9:50 am to 11:30 am	Consistent 3’, sets to 4’
Mid upcoming tide	NW cross breeze
High fog to overcast – June gloom like	Good session

The heat wave broke last night at 9 pm. A cold west breeze started up bringing the fog with it. Overcast had set in this morning in Mill Valley. I broke out into bright sunshine going over the mountain and descended into a thick cloud on the road to Stinson Beach. At Bolinas the cloud was a high fog with a cold onshore breeze that put a texture on the surface of the water. June gloom had arrived in April.

A few of the regulars were out at the Patch: Mary, Martha, David who rides the Becker board, Paul, Hank (on the day before heading to London) and Frank the stand-up guy. Jacek was suiting up when I pulled into the parking area. He said there were waves at the Channel and the Patch and that he was going to the Patch because he likes going right. All the waves at the Channel were breaking left. He entered the water while I was taking photos and quickly stroked out to the line-up. Within seconds he was on a nice right peeling wave close to shore. That’s him in the above photo on a steep shore break curl.

While I was suiting up, Jacek returned to his car. Short session – what’s up? He was changing boards. He put his 9’ 4” Fresh Pineapple longboard back into the car and pulled out a small hybrid (7’ 0” my guess). This was a good sign; the waves must be steep and fast for him to switch to a smaller board. When I was walking down the beach towards the Patch, I watched Jacek stroke into a four-foot steep right wave and cut up and down the face like a skateboarder in an empty pool.

Seven surfers were out at the Patch: David and Jacek and five others that I did not know, and these five were all good surfers. All the other regulars had left. To beat the crowd I headed to the north side of the peak to go for the lefts. My first wave closed out in front of me. My second one had good size, shape and speed, but as I stepped to the middle of the board I dug a rail and fell. A few minutes later I connected on a better one. This time I managed to lock inside rail under the lip of the curl and shoot through a fast section. For a brief second I felt that the old form was back.

I connected on a series of good long lefts that put me in the sand area north of the rocks of the Patch reef. This meant I had to paddle back through the impact zone. Twice while paddling out I watched Jacek and David connect of long – long right waves. The rights were definitely better than the lefts, and with the rights you could paddle around the break without having to go through any white water. So I drifted south, caught one good right wave that put me on the right side of the peak. From then on, I went for the rights.

After an hour the crowd swelled to nine surfers, all going for the rights and all of them excellent surfers. David and Jacek were the only Bolinas regulars in the bunch. Then Rob, Mr. Malibu, showed up – another excellent surfer. We were all jockeying for position. Fortunately the waves were consistent. Each set contained five or more waves. I would sit inside and wait for the sets. If someone outside missed a wave, I was on it. Both David and I used the same strategy with great success. By taking off late I was immediately in the steep part of the curl and with luck could blast through the first section, sail out onto the shoulder, cut back, let the wave build up again and drop into the shore break. It was great fun.

From the side, I marveled at Rob’s rides. On wave after wave he would take off late, glide into the top of the curl, sharply cut right, run to the nose and literally plant five toes over the tip of his board, run back, switch stance (putting his right foot forward with his back to the wave), and hang a sharp left turn as the wave collapsed near shore.

I was feeling good and having fun so I pushed myself to stay out for an hour and a half, like I used to do before my operation. I hit my goal, but my arms were feeling it and I had to go in. Both David and I felt it was a great day and were looking forward to doing it again.