April 28, 2014 Monday

Bolinas	Patch
9:40 am to 11:10 am	3' to 4', sets to 5'
Mid upcoming tide	Slight NW cross breeze to no wind
Bright, warm, sunny - start of a heat wave	Good session

"Martha, Robinson's Reef will be good in 20 to 30 minutes from now." I had just come up the ramp from checking out the waves when Martha pulled up. Robinson's Reef, which is the inside right breaking peak at the Patch, is Martha's favorite spot. The upcoming tide was filling in the exposed rocks and soon the rights would connect with the shore break over the sand.

"Martha, I was right." I called to her an hour and a half later coming up the ramp after my session. She was strapping her board to the roof of her car. "You got some good waves, I saw them."

"Yes I had a great time. The conditions were ideal."

I saw her on good one. I was south and inside of her when a four-footer peaked right in front of her. She stroked into it, swung right, planted her inside rail under the lip of the curl, stepped to the middle of the board and calmly stood there as she glided pass me on a long ride to the shore.

Conditions were exceptional, as I knew they would be - 3.6 ft south swell at 17 seconds, upcoming tide, no wind, glassy, mild mellow crowd and heat-wave weather. Per Stormsurf.com the first major south swell of the season arrived Saturday, peaked on Sunday and would begin to fade today. A huge gale in the southern Pacific blew up consistent 40 ft seas that generated a giant swell aimed at Peru with side bands pointed at California.

When coming out of the forest on the Panoramic Highway, I saw big V's of white water at Seadrift and the Patch. From the bottom of the ramp no one was out at the Channel and the Groin and ten surfers were spread across the entire Patch reef. The waves were breaking way out there – several yards beyond the outside rock. Some good right curls came through on the inside, but the tide was too low and the rocks were still exposed. But I could tell that in a short while the tide would fill in and the waves would improve.

I was excited about getting out there – the sun was out and the day was warming up. I debated about not wearing my gloves. I paddle faster without them, but being old I'm now into comfort in the water. I quickly suited up, locked the car, grabbed my board and realized that I had forgotten my gloves. Well, I wasn't going dig out the key from inside my wetsuit and unlock the car to grab them. "I'll go without them." At first when I dunked my hands in the water, my hands burned. "What a mistake." But in a couple of minutes my hands got accustomed to the water and I was easily cruising out to the line-up. The cold water didn't bother me and as long as this heat wave lasts I will go out without them.

My first ride was a good one. I had just paddled out, said hello to Bill from Berkeley and there it was – a four-foot wall peaking a few feet south of me. My last few times here the bottom had forced all the waves to break continuously to the right. Counting on that, I stroked into it, jumped to my feet, cut right into the peak and it held up. I flew under the curl, swung around left to let the wave build up again, swung back right, hung high in the curl and cruised through the second section. I stalled a moment to drop into the shore break and stepped to the middle of the board and pulled out over the top as the wave broke on shore. What a great ride and what a long paddle back to the line-up. That was the first of several good rides.

Today was stand-up day. Seven SUPs were at the far peak when I entered the water. One guy dominated the waves. I had seen this guy before – a person with lots of long board experience who has taken up stand-up surfing. He was on least one wave of every set. That's him in the above photo. After an hour he paddled in, fifteen minutes later he was back on a different board and back to dominating the waves. The waves were ideal for the SUPs. They would peak way out there and the stand-up guys could catch them. The waves would break, die, reform and break again. The good SUP riders would use their paddles to stay in the waves after the initial break and with luck would work into the reforming peaks to cruise across the inside waves, where Martha, Bill and I caught our waves.

One guy who I didn't know was really good. He wore a baseball cap and rode a long red board. He was north and further out where it was really shallow. Time after time I watched him paddled towards the peak, jump up, cut a huge right turn, calmly walk to the nose and hang there for four to five seconds.

Bill and I shared waves for an hour until he decided to try his luck at Seadrift. We could see a few surfers out there. Bill paddled off. After my session I asked him how it was. "Great! Bigger, faster, less people and exciting, big fast breaking lefts. You had to be selective, most waves were close outs. But the ones you made were really good."

I had to go in because arms gave out. But my good surf session kept me on an energetic high for the rest of the day.