April 14, 2014 Monday

Bolinas	Patch
9:30 am to 11:00 am	2' to 3', sets to 4'
Mid upcoming tide	Slight NW cross breeze to no wind
Overcast to patchy high clouds	Good session

My third wave was my best ride. I maneuvered through three well-formed sections. I was out at the Patch near the outside rock, which was submerged with water swirling above it. A set wave approached and I was in position. David who used to ride a Becker board and DB the Safeway checker were inside paddling out after good rides. I took off late, jump up to my knees, froze there for a second to insure I was in the wave. I got up to my feet as the wave was walling up in front of me, stepped to the center of the board and cruised through the first section. I swung around left to let the wave build up, cut right again, climbed high in the curl, stepped 3/4 the way up the board and froze. The wave curled over the nose of the board, I shot through the white water and cruised back into the swell. I stalled a moment, dropped into the shore break, cut right, hung high in the curl, stepped to the nose and ploughed into the foam from the wave collapsing on shore in one foot of water. What a great ride. It made my day. In the next hour and a half I connected with several more long, fast peeling right waves.

As soon as I saw the waves this morning I knew I was in for a good session. No body was out at the Channel and seven were out at the Patch and I knew all of them: Mary was north at Lady's Left, DB was between Mary and the pack at the Patch, Kathy the biology teacher, Hank and stand-up guys Frank and Russ were at the far peak. David was way inside going for the good right curls. Only David caught anything in the ten minutes I was there, that's him in the above photo. Conditions were ideal for these beautiful inside right curls – west swell (4 ft at 15 seconds from 297 degrees), clean lines, a bottom that forced all waves to the right, slight NW cross breeze and an upcoming tide that caused the waves to improve.

When I entered the water only David and DB were out there – meaning perfect little right waves and only three people in the water. Later Rob (Mr. Malibu), a friend, and Bill on his wave ski joined us, and conditions improved – the wind stopped, the sun broke out and the shape of the curls got better. After my only left wave and while standing in waist deep water, I turned around to see Rob on a classic blue-green wall. He stepped to the nose, hung there for two seconds, then put his outside foot on the tip of his board and shot through crisp steep curl. For an hour we shared these frequent nice peeling waves. 

When my arms gave out I worked my way in and called it a day. For the rest of the day I had that surfers' glow from vigorous exercise and the satisfaction of beautiful classic curls.