January 23, 2008 Wednesday

Stinson	In front of restrooms
9:30 am	3’ to 4’, sets head high
High up coming tide	Strong offshore wind (17 mph)
Sunny, high clouds with rain	Cold water & cold wind, I didn’t go out

The above photo is my hard-ass friend Doug, retired economics Petaluma High teacher and part time carpenter, locked into a tight curl at Stinson Beach. He makes this section to pull out on the very inside. Doug was the only one out.

When the alarm went off this morning at 5:30 am, it was raining. “Oh no, rain! And cold, another miserable day,” I said to myself. The weather prediction is rain all week. Stormsurf was predicting northeast winds at 5 mph for this morning and then strong south winds for the rest of the week. If I was going surfing this week today is my best chance. But with rain already I hesitated. I went downstairs to view the latest buoy forecast: east winds at 17 mph, water temperature 50 degrees, air temperature 45 degrees and wind chill factor at 35 degrees. That’s cold!

Last night late I emailed my surf buddies that today is our best chance for surf. Also on Wednesdays I take water samples to Branson as part of Surfrider Foundation’s water testing program. Last Wednesday’s test showed Bolinas with an elevated e-coli count, enough to give it a yellow status. Therefore it’s important to take another test this week to see if the high count persists. After rains we expect to see the e-coli counts to go up due to the runoff from the land. Kate was almost ready to go and I don’t want to hold her up. I rationalized that I don’t have to bolt to the beach every morning at 7:15 am. I can go down later in the morning. So I rode into Mill Valley with Kate to get our morning coffee together.

Afterwards I walked home and threw my surf gear into the car. I was of the mindset that I would not go out. I would gather the water samples and take a leisurely drive to Branson. If I’m going to drive to the beach I will take my board just in case it’s good.

Over the mountain I drove through mist and light rain. Once on the coast side of Pantoll I broke into bright sunshine. The rain front was definitely on the eastside of the mountain. The ocean was covered with small white caps from the strong east winds, but the surface was smooth at Stinson and Bolinas.

At Stinson the waves were beautiful. The winds held up the curls and with the high tide the waves had shape. There was one lonely surfer out. I watched him with the camera ready. He tried for several waves and missed them. Finally he got one, which held up for a long way. The board looked familiar.  It was a gray longboard with red markings. That looks like Doug’s epoxy Hobie board. I took a closer look. I think that is Doug. To prove it, I went back to the parking lot to see if one of the two pickup trucks in the lot was Doug’s. There it was, a white full size pickup truck with a “Spring Training” license plate frame. Doug’s a big Giants fan and goes every year to spring training in Phoenix.

I watched Doug catch a great left wave and got three shots of him on this one wave. I called to him, “Aren’t you freezing?”

“No, the water is warmer than the air.”

“You’re here at Stinson, that means Bolinas was flat. Right?” I asked.

“There wasn’t a thing there, totally flat. The tide is too high. The water is pushing all the way up the ramp. Aren’t you coming out?”

“No it’s too cold.” The offshore wind was freezing.

Jim who I had not seen in months showed up to check out the waves. Jim and I surfed all those good waves at the Bolinas Groin last September. I had not seen him since. He’s my age and a very good surfer. I reintroduced myself to him. Jim grew up and still lives in Stinson beach. He’s a contractor. I would see him in the mornings paddling on his knees from Seadrift over to the Groin. He too was hesitant about the cold. “If I see another good set, I’m going.” A couple of minutes later a solid set of four five-foot waves came through. “I’m going.”

I gathered water samples from Stinson and from the ramp at Bolinas and headed for Branson. Marty, who lives near the school, told me he goes north on Highway 1 to Olema and turns onto Sir Frances Drake. I decided to give it a try. What a beautiful drive through the hills of west Marin to Olema, through the thick redwood forest of Samuel P. Taylor State Park, pass the ranches of Lagunitas, over the ridge to Fairfield into San Anselmo and finally to Branson. The drive took me 50 minutes. I usually spend an hour going from Stinson to Branson. I dropped off the samples, met Kate and had a big tuna salad for lunch.

So this morning I did a big loop, no surfing, just driving. From Mill Valley to Stinson to Bolinas to Olema to Lagunitas, Fairfield to Branson and back to Mill Valley. Let’s call this a quick tour of Paradise.