October 14, 2008 Tuesday

Bolinas	Groin
8:50 am to 10:30 am	3' to 4', sets to 6'
High upcoming tide	Slight offshore wind
Bright sunny day	Good session

The first north swell of the season hit this morning. The 5:50 am NOAA buoy report had 6.9 ft swell at fifteen seconds from the northwest (287 degrees). Mark Sponsler at Stormsurf.com predicted the arrival of this swell seven days ago. He’s his analysis:

Dateline Gale: A semi-tropical low pressure was off Japan tracked north and joined forces with a cold low pushing through the Bering Sea on Wednesday (10/8) producing a small fetch of northwest winds over the dateline barely south of the Aleutians generating 20 ft seas. On Thursday AM pressure dropped to 976 mbs with the core of the gale in the Bering Sea generating 23 ft seas aimed down the 300 degree path to NCal. Friday AM increased winds were blowing from the northwest tracking east with 30 ft seas aimed right down the 297 degree path to NCal. Some form of moderate period swell (15 – 17 secs) in the intermediate class size range is expected to push into exposed breaks in Central California starting after sunset Monday (10/13) peaking overnight at 6.5 ft @ 15 – 16 secs – 9 ft faces and holding well into Tuesday AM from 297 – 300 degrees.

Mark was spot on. Coming out of the forest on the Panoramic Highway, getting my first glimpse of the Stinson-Bolinas Bay, I was greeted by a spectacular sight: clear view to the horizon, Farallones islands in plain sight and lines of swell marching in from the northwest. At Bolinas two groups of surfers were in the water, one at the Channel and the other at the Groin. Sets were head high, walled, barely makeable and separated by long lulls.

I ran into Kathy, the biology teacher, exiting the water. She had to rush off to school but reported the waves were good but closing out. While suiting up, Doug came up from his early morning session, raved about his last two waves, big fast lefts, and waved as he headed off to a remodeling project.

I paddled out to the peak at the Groin. A strong ground swell combined with a rippling wind swell to form flat thick waves with small peaks on the top. The ground swells were peaky, not solid lines across the impact zone. I had to take off late, as the top peak was breaking, push over the edge of the ground swell and cruise down the face. Though I caught several good waves, they were powerful, but slow. My strategy was to position myself north of the others and inside of them for late take-offs. The skill level of the three guys outside was good. They caught all the set waves and left few for the rest of us. I caught the ones they let go by and those that came through after these guys had picked off their waves.

A big good one came through, I stroked into it as the top portion was breaking. Another guy took off in front of me. There was room for both of us. He stayed on the shoulder and I was able to stay high in the curl about ten feet behind him. We cruised down this beautiful wave for a long ways. He finally pulled out over the top and I straightened out, coasted down a head high wave and became surrounded by a ton of white water. I hung on in front of a mountain of foam and cruised along enjoying watching the contours of the bottom through the crystal clear water. As the high tide slowly came in, I moved further north and inside. For the last thirty minutes, I caught one fast, well-formed left curl after another.

After an hour and a half, I was exhausted and called it quits. I sat in the warm sun and watched others sail down these beautiful waves. Bright sunshine, clear skies, blue water and peeling left waves; it’s just another wonderful morning in Marin.