January 10, 2014 Friday

 

Bolinas	Patch
10:15 am to 11:20 am	2' to 3', sets to 4'
Mid dropping tide	Slight offshore breeze to no wind
Sunny and warm with high wispy clouds	Disappointing session

I had high expectations for some good waves this morning. All week the beach crowd was talking about an approaching swell for Friday. Last night the NOAA weather radio had 5 ft at 15 seconds at the San Francisco buoy and this morning it was 8 ft at 14 seconds, west swell with light winds. Yesterday Kevin tried to talk me into going with him to Santa Cruz today. I waffled because a trip to Santa Cruz is an all-day event. When I heard that the swell had come up, I was convinced that it would be good at Bolinas — nice clean waves and no crowd for a good session at my local beach. I called Kevin at 7 am to talk him into joining me for a half-day session at Bolinas. He didn't buy it. He had looked at the web-cams for Pleasure Point and the Hook and the surf looked epic. He was going to Santa Cruz.

All the parking spaces were filled on Brighton Ave in Bolinas, a good sign. I got the last spot.

"So, how was it?" I asked Frank the stand-up guy who was toweling off.

"It's ok. But it was better earlier."

"Doug how was it?" He too was changing after his session.

"When we first went out, we caught some great rights at the Channel, head-high and fast. But as soon as the tide turned and the current starting coming out the lagoon, it died."

Ray the retired Petaluma fireman confirmed Doug's assessment. "It was better earlier."

From the seawall at the base of the ramp, I saw two surfers and two sweepers (stand-up surfers) at the Channel. The current had created a well-defined path of ripples through the middle of the break. With the tide going out I figured that it would just get worst.

The white lines of a set showed some promise at the Patch. Six surfers were out there, including Mary, Hank, Mark the archaeologist and Susan who always wears sunglasses in the water. I patiently stood there with the camera ready watching the infrequent waves. Finally a rideable wave came through; Hank caught it, dropped down a four-foot face and turned into a soft shoulder. He hung on, but the wave did not build up and slowly died on the inside. Then another set came through, bigger than the previous one, and a surfer on a wave-ski connected on a good left. That's him in the above photo. Watching his good ride convinced me to head to the Patch, to be out there with my friends and to drop into some neat little left waves.

It didn't happen. While I was suiting up Mary, Mark, Hank and Susan got out of the water. I chatted with all of them. "Yes, there are some good waves left, but they were better earlier," Hank informed me.

What a disappointment. The above photo turned out to be the wave of the day. I didn't see anything as rideable in the one hour that I was out there. I caught a small left that slowly propelled me forward. I milked it for all its worth and cautiously stepped off into six inches of water. With the outgoing tide, the water had become shallow and the larger rocks were exposed. Going left was no longer an option. After a couple of other slow waves, I moved way inside and south to go for the inside rights. I had some luck with a couple of shore break waves that had broke right and held up for a few brief seconds. Then it went flat again and after paddling for and missing several waves, I called it a morning and came in.

The waves were disappointing, but as always the exercise felt great and it was another beautiful morning in Marin.