February 24, 2014 Monday

Bolinas	Patch
9:20 am to 10:40 am	2' to 3', occasional 4'
Mid dropping tide	No wind to slight NW cross breeze
Bright, warm sunny day	Fun session

"Loren, I'm going to put this brown paper bag on your car. Don't forget it," Frank the stand-up guy announced to me just as I had paddled out to the line up.

Frank was heading in, but I knew what he was referring to. For years I have preached to anyone who would listen that the "best bakery in the world" is VG's Donuts and Bakery in Cardiff by the Sea. Frank's daughter and new grand child live in the San Diego area, so Frank frequently travels down there. At my urging he did try VG's and agreed with me. In January Frank emailed me that he was at VG's Donuts. I emailed back requesting that he buy me a buttermilk bar (they're really good). So what if it's a couple days old, it will still be delicious. Frank and I didn't connect at the beach, so he put my donut in a Tupperware container and stuck it the freezer. Six weeks later he was finally delivering it. And you know what? It still tasted great. I split it with Kate in the afternoon and she too enjoyed it. VG's (which stands for Very Good) is the BEST bakery on the coast – bar none!

The weather was about to change so I had to go surfing today. High pressure and heat wave had returned after the major storm of two weeks ago. Today it was sunny and warm with no clouds, but the weather guys were predicting two approaching storms – one would arrive Wednesday and a bigger one for Friday bringing over two inches of rain and a ton of south winds. So the only day with decent weather was today.

The NOAA weather radio predicted a west 3-foot swell at 15 seconds with light winds. No one was out at the Channel. The current was already pouring out of the lagoon creating a path ripples through the middle of the impact zone. The Patch looked good – small well-formed lines peeling right across the Patch reef. Five surfers were out there and I knew them all – Mary, Hank, David who used to ride the Becker board, Phil from Corte Madera and Frank on his stand-up. I watched all of them connect on good rides. That's Frank in the above photo. There was no question about going out and where I would go.

All five were still out there when I entered the water. Frank went in shortly after I arrived. Hank exited a few minutes later and so did Mary. Twenty minutes later Phil went in. Soon only David and I were at the peak and for over an hour we had it all to ourselves. The waves were great and we both scored on several classic right peeling curls.

It was an ideal day and an ideal session.