September 11, 2014 Thursday

Bolinas	Groin
9:15 am to 11:15 am	2' to 3', sets to 4'
Low upcoming tide	No wind, none, nada!
Air temp: 73 degrees (heat wave)	Water temp: 63 degrees
Overcast to sunny and warm	Good session

I entered the water at 9:15 and by 9:30 I had caught three good waves. The first was a long right from the peak just north of the Groin pole to several yards south of the wall. The second was a fast left that jumped up and held all the way to shore break, and the third was another strong left that I took off late and rode on my knees until it cashed on the sand. Then I knew I was in for a good session.

The NOAA weather radio reported a 3 ft 14 second south swell. Per Stormsurf another significant south swell was on its way and should be here in the afternoon, but fortunately it arrived early this morning. Only a few cars were parked on Brighton Ave when I pulled up, not a good sign. Russ the stand-up guy was toweling off after his session. He claimed that he had scored on a few good ones outside of the meeting rock at the Patch, but the tide was coming up quickly, the rock was now covered and the waves were dying.

I walked down the ramp to check out the waves and no one was in the water, neither at the Groin nor the Patch. But a few rideable waves came through the Patch and some better-looking curls broke at the Groin. Since this was my last chance to surf before my surfer ear operation (scheduled for Monday, Sept 15), and conditions looked good (glassy surface and warm water) I had to go out. Besides it was a spare the air day for the Bay Area with warm air and no wind. Tuesday I had a fun session at the Patch riding the inside rights, but today the lefts at the Groin looked good and I decided to head out there. What a good decision. As noted above I quickly scored three good ones and continuously connected on wave after wave for two hours.

Two women surfers suited up just ahead of me and headed for the Groin. As I walked down the beach I saw them south of the wall exiting the water. They stepped over the wall to talk to me.

"Getting out so soon?" I asked.

"We wanted to warn you that we saw something in the water?"

"A shark?"

"We think so. Thus we thought we would sit out for twenty minutes to see for sure. We wanted to warn you."

"Thanks. I will keep an eye out for it," and I entered the water. I suspect they saw one of the several harbor seals that were near the shore this morning. I did keep scanning the surface, but never saw anything.

I was the only one out and I had not seen such glassy conditions in months – a spare the air day heat wave with absolutely no wind. For thirty minutes I had this beautiful glassy peak to myself.

Finally two others came out and one of them was an excellent surfer. My tactic was to sit outside to catch the waves early. This other guy sat way inside and caught them as they broke. One time I paddled hard for a set wave and missed it. This guy was inside of me and skillfully glided into the wave as it broke. I sat and watched him from behind. He cut right, climbed high in curl, shot through a section, cut back, swung right again, glided through another curl, cut back again and on and on he went. He had connected with the inside right curl that we call Malibo and ended up way inside the cove in six inches of water.

We were in a period of extreme tides – from a low of 0.3 ft at 6:30 to 6.3 ft at 1 pm. As the tide came up the waves changed. Slowly the lefts faded away and the rights moved in closer to shore. I kept trying for the lefts until they were non-existent. When I switched to the rights the crowd had filled in. Ten surfers were now brunched just south of the Groin pole going for the Malibo rights. After trying for a few and missing them, I kissed it off and paddled around the Groin pole and into shore. Another two-hour session and my arms still felt fine.

On my way home I purchased sunflowers for Kate, green beans and strawberries at the farm stand and a loaf of olive bread at the Parkside Cafe (the best bread in Marin). For the rest of the day I had that surfer glow from classic small waves and vigorous exercise.