September 12, 2008 Friday

Bolinas	Channel
9:00 am to 10:45 am	2' to 3', sets 4'
High upcoming tide	Slight offshore breeze
High fog, overcast, gray	Another fun session

It is well known that September is the best month for surf in Northern California and this year September is off to a great start. Last week was heat wave conditions, sunny and hot with little or no wind and warm water. This week the high fog has returned, but yesterday and today there was no wind producing glassy conditions. Thus far, the surf gods have delivered constant south swells, beautiful well-formed ground swells that come right into Bolinas. Today the good blessings continued: glassy conditions and a good left peak at the Channel. The waves were inconsistent, long lulls between sets, but with patience every ten minutes another set of four to five sizeable waves would come through.

Jim was suiting up when I arrive. Jim, who is learning to surf, recently retired and is into jazz. Yesterday his combo performed at an outdoor mall in Santa Rosa that went well. The crowd was into their bossa-nova while little kids danced. Tonight they will play at a big Italian restaurant in Napa. I checked out the surf with John, one of the owners of the 2-Mile Surf Shop, who had just returned from two trade shows; one in Salt Lake City and the other in Southern California where John scored good waves at Swami’s and Moonlight State Beach in Encinitas. At 8:30 am Doug was just ending his session he started at 6:15 am. He reported he connected with several good lefts at the Channel and was coming in early because he and his partner are in the middle of a remodel.

I entered the water at the Channel. Marty was getting out to move down to the Patch where Mary and Cathy were. Good move. He caught some sizeable lefts that allowed him to maneuver up and down the swell. He stayed out there until the high tide caused the waves to die. I asked Cathy, who lives in the Russian River area, about Salmon Creek. With a good south swell and no wind, Salmon Creek had to be good. She said it was glassy with good lines of swell creating eight to ten foot boomers, a little bigger than she cared to handle.

Out at the Channel I paused and looked around. Here I am again in this beautiful setting, glassy smooth surface, good waves and only three of us out there: Jim, another guy and myself. Like yesterday, I lined up with the white house at the end of Wharf Road and caught several long lefts. After a half hour, the crowd increased to ten. I drifted more towards the center of the Channel to separate myself from the others. Ann, a passionate surfer who I use to see in the water every weekend, was out there. I mentioned to her that I hadn’t seen her because I’m retired and don’t surf on the weekends. Here she is on a Friday. She had taken the day off to catch the good south swell.

Ken was out at the Channel. “You’re back to get the good waves,” he said.

“Yes, I had to,” I responded. “This is five days in a row for you. Your arms must be tired.”

“Naw, when the waves are good there’s no problem,” he stated.

“What gives you the opportunity to surf five days in a row?” I asked.

“I work graveyard shifts. I come home, take the kids to school and head for the beach,” Ken, who must be in his mid-thirties, stated.

“When do you sleep?”

“Later,” he shouted and moved to catch a wave. I take it he doesn’t get much sleep.

Like yesterday the set waves looked walled but the sandbar forced them to continuously break left. I would take off late as the wave was feathering, turn sharply left, lock just under the lip of the wave, crouch down to push my weight forward, travel a long ways until encountering the breaking part of the wave from the peak straight out from the Groin wall. I caught one after another and totally exhausted myself. My arms were feeling the strain of four days of surfing this week. After an hour and a half I was completely spent. I worked my way north of the Groin wall and rode white water into the beach. Thoroughly satisfied with a week of great surf, I vowed to connect with all of the excellent surf days of September.