May 19, 2014 Monday

Bolinas	Patch
9:30 am to 10:30 am	2' to 4', sets to 5'
Low tide (-0.9 ft)	Stiff NW cross wind
Air temp: 64 degrees	Water temp: 51 degrees
Sunny, clear and breezy	Frustrating session

Humbled again by the ocean!

I had high expectations of good waves, but it didn't happen. NOAA weather radio reported 4 ft 17 seconds south swells. Per Stormsurf today's swell was the second pulse of three south swells aimed at California. The first happened last week, the second arrived last Friday and will fade tomorrow and the third will arrive Friday (May 23). However, two negative conditions prevailed: low tide and high winds. A minus 0.9 ft low tide had the waves breaking 30 yards beyond the outside rock and strong winds yesterday, last night and this morning put a texture on the surface and white caps out at sea.

When I pulled up, Scott who only surfs on Wednesdays was putting on a dress shirt and freshly pressed slacks after his session. He is a child psychologist and was getting in a surf session before this day's appointments. Scott, who proudly admits that surfing is an important part of his mental health, had switched to a short board a couple of years ago. So there he was with a board that was several inches shorter than his 6' 2" frame. He went out at Seadrift near the recently set channel buoy. The same spot I was at last Thursday. Scott reported the waves were fast breaking lines, difficult to catch, but when he did connect, they were fast and clean.

Stand-up guys Frank and Russ said earlier the waves were good and clean at the Patch. Mary walked up the ramp as I passed by with my board in hand and stated the waves were good and that I would have a good time. Hank exited the water when I reached the Patch. He too had a good session. "Typical south swell," he said. "They come every ten minutes or so but there are four to five waves in every set." He was at the far peak, 30 yards beyond the outside rock.

Five positive reports from friends and I was looking at these small clean lines breaking way out there, but it just didn't happen for me.

Today I really missed my bigger board. I was on my 9' 2" Haut, which is heavier than my 9' 4" Becker. It took me ten minutes to paddle out to the line-up (that was a long time). I had problems catching waves. The take offs were weak and flat. Everyone around me was easily catching the waves, but I just couldn't push into them. Taking the white water was my solution – catch set waves that had broken, go straight until they reformed on the inside. This strategy only worked once when I managed to connect on one good long ride.

Next I tried moving way inside to go for the shore break waves. Again, I only got one good one. Most of the time I paddled around looking for the right takeoff point. After an hour I caught a reformed set wave, jumped to my knees and milked it all the way to the sand. Being a few feet from the beach, I called it quits and went in.

After changing I walked to the 2-Mile Surf Shop to chat with Jaime, who related a good story about how quickly he was able to sell his classic Gordon & Smith 1964 longboard. I then made a stop at the Lunch Box in Stinson Beach to treat myself to one of their outstanding BLT sandwiches, which I enjoyed with a beer in the sunshine on my deck in Mill Valley.

Of course it was another beautiful morning in Marin.