October 1, 2008 Wednesday

Bolinas	Groin
9:00 am to 10:30 am	3' to 4', sets to 6'
Low upcoming tide	Slight onshore breeze
Sunny, blue skies, high white clouds	Fantastic session

“What’s this? A crack in the rail, I don’t remember getting hit.” I’m sitting outside at the Groin and a big set had just rolled through. It’s a beautiful morning with some fantastic waves. I got off the board and flipped it over. A straight crack in the fiberglass crossed the mid-point of the board and up and around both rails. How did this happen? Another ding in my favorite board.

Surf prospects looked good this morning. The NOAA buoy website reported 5.6 ft west swells at fourteen seconds, no wind and 62 degree water. Stormsurf.com had a five-foot west swell with a two-foot south swell at fourteen seconds. West and south is a good combination for Bolinas. Coming over the hill on the Panoramic Highway, I saw clean swell lines marching into the Stinson-Bolinas bay. Several cars were parked at Bolinas indicating that others were watching the Internet and responding to the good conditions. Marty, Matt and Doug’s vehicles were there. Walt was suiting up and couldn’t decide whether to go to the Groin or the Patch. Lou the boogie boarder arrived. I hadn’t seen him in weeks. He didn’t even bother to look at Palomarin; he knew it would be good here. I followed him out into the water.

Marty, Matt and couple others were at the Patch. Doug and five other surfers were spread across the Channel and the Groin. Walt was stretching on the beach, studying the surf and still trying to decide whether to go the Patch or the Groin. For me there was no question, I would go for the harder breaking waves at the Groin. The low tide had just turned and the waves were not clean. They broke in peaks, one or two in the Channel and one on the inside north of the Groin wall. I’ll go there, I had good luck there Monday lining up with the brown wood framed house on the cliff.

The waves were bigger than they looked from shore, a consistent three to four foot hard breaking waves with sets to six feet. I paddled into a four-footer, peered over the edge, down the line of a steep drop; I pulled back and let it go. I paddled for others but missed them. I finally got my fortitude up, pushed myself into a sizeable one, stood up, put my weight on the tail block, dropped down a head high curl, turned, traveled a long ways with the wave peeling over the middle of my board until the wall of water exploded and knocked me off. OK now I’m into to it. On my next wave, I climbed high in the curl and shot through a steep, fast section, a great ride. That was the first of several fast curl rides.

Paddling out I got a good side glimpse of Lou on his boogie board locked into a fast four-foot curl with the lip pitching over his head. I saw Walt coast down a well shaped left peeling line. A good set came through and Doug was in position. We encouraged him to go for the first one, a five-foot beauty. As I paddled over the second wave I looked back and watched Doug’s head sail in front of the fast breaking curl, he made it through this section, cut back and shot into the shore break. It was a great ride. Mr. Throwback (whose name is Barry), with no wetsuit or booties, was at the far Channel peak. The waves were softer there. He slowly worked his way down to the Groin break with us. I assured him that the walls were makeable. He caught one good one after another.

I had discovered that these walls were holding up. There was a definite edge to the break. When the wave would first break, there would be a moment where it slowed up allowing one a split second to position the board high in the curl and pick up speed through a left peeling section. Knowing this I watched an approaching wall and thought, “this will be tight, but I think I can.” I stroked into it, caught it, quickly stepped to the middle of the board, crouched down and shot through a head-high section. The wave slowed up for an instant, I climbed higher in the curl, stepped to the nose (really ¾ of the way) as the wave built up for the next steep section. I stood there and cruised. I worked up and down the wave by shifting my weight over my feet, stalling a second, dropping a little down the wave and then leaning on my lead foot to climb back up to the top of the curl. On and on I went right up to the shore break, the wave began to close out, I cut back and coasted down it. The shore break was shoulder high (four feet). That was one of the longest nose rides of my life.

After an hour I was sitting on the inside to take off late. I had to be careful not to get caught inside. I saw a set coming way out there. I gingerly paddled out. I didn’t want to get too far out. A huge wave approached. “Wait until you see the wave before going further out,” I thought to myself. I finally saw it. The wave was thirty yards out there and feathering at the top. I started digging to get over it. There was no thought about catching it; I was too late, and I wasn’t going to get over it. I abandoned my board and dove under the white water that was sliding down from the top of the peak. Under water, the surge of the wave pulled me back, for an instant I thought I was going over the falls. I pushed through the turbulence and came to the surface. The wave engulfed my board, and the leash was stretched tight for several seconds before my board popped loose. Lou shouted over to me, “man, that had to be six feet plus.” I thought it was bigger.

Afterwards I was sitting outside and felt a ding in the rail. I flipped the board over and saw the crack that went across the bottom of the board. Wow, that wave must have landed on top of my board and nearly snapped it in half. What am I going to do? The crack looked repairable. What about this great swell and the new one that is going to arrive on Friday? I have another board, my big wave board, it is solid and I have used it to ride small waves, thus I can keep surfing. I caught a good wave, stood in the curl just like all the others. The crack wasn’t impacting the performance of the board. Good I will continue picking off these good waves.

In came a big one, I went for it, stroked into it, maneuvered to the middle of the swell, crouched down and hummed across a four-foot wall. I heard a faint clunk, a rip, my board instantly stopped and I flew off the front of the board. It felt like something had slammed on the air brakes. “This can’t be good,” I thought to myself under water. Standing in chest high water, I retrieved my board, flipped it over and was greeted by two sheets of fiberglass flapping in the breeze. The force of water passing under the board had gotten under the crack and ripped the fiberglass from the crack in the middle of the board to the fins. What am I going to do now? I’m finished for today. With the bottom flapping loose I couldn’t paddled in. I waded to the shore with my wounded board. The guys in the parking lot got a good hoot out of my ordeal. In the above photo, I’m standing there with the fiberglass flapping. I felt like throwing it in that “Dump Runs” truck. Well, it’s time to buy a new board.