June 27, 2014 Friday

Bolinas	Channel
10:00 am to 11:00 am	2', occasional '3
Mid upcoming tide	Stiff NW cross breeze
Lifting fog to sunny with high clouds and fog on the horizon	Exercise session

Wimpy waves with no size and no push – by the time I got up the ride was over. In an hour I caught four to six waves and only stood up on two of them. The rest I rode on my knees – leaning on the nose to stay in them.

I should have gone to the Patch. I spent a long time trying to decide where to go. Monday and Wednesday I had fun sessions at the Channel when a three foot 15 second south swell was creating some nice peeling lefts at the Channel. The south swell was still in and the sets looked good. The Patch showed promise. Mary and Mark had gone to Ladies Left (north of the Patch reef) and connected on a few good, long rides. Martha and Susan who always wears sunglasses in the water were heading out there. Bill from Berkeley had just exited the water carrying his wave ski.

"Where did you go?" I asked.

"All over. I started at the Patch and there were some good ones and then it died. I paddled over the Channel and then to Seadrift. Seadrift is your call."

That did it; I headed in that direction and paddled out to the furthest peak at the Channel. I didn't want to make the long paddle to Seadrift. The waves were frustrating and slow. I spent 30 minutes paddling around before I caught a wave. On Wednesday my hands froze, so today I wore my gloves – good move.

After our sessions, Martha claimed the Patch was good at first and then it died. "The last twenty minutes I just sat there."

When I entered the water Professor Steve got out and sat on the beach to watch his nine-year-old son Johnny, who is quickly learning how to surf. When I exited the water, Steve was still sitting there and Johnny was still in the water near the Groin pole going for the Malibo rights. I saw him connect on a good one. He took off by the pole, pushed into a right curl, jumped up and trimmed mid-board across the face of a long right peeling wave, and on he went until it collapsed on the sand at the entrance to the lagoon.

Steve and I chatted about the latest Shakespeare performances. He is a tenured professor of Shakespeare and poetry at Mills College. Both of us had read the New York Times review of Kenneth Branagh's Macbeth, currently playing in New York – a graphic production staged in a warehouse where the audience sits on a battlefield of dirt and fake blood flies into the crowd during battle scenes. It sounded great and we would love to see it. Steve is into all the Shakespeare movies; in fact in his course this past year he incorporated several movies and led discussions on the directors' interpretations of the plays.

The fog had lifted and the sun was out when I headed for home. The surf was lousy, but the scenery was good and the exercise and companionship were excellent.