January 21, 2009 Wednesday

Bolinas	Groin
9:15 am to 10:45 am	3' to 4', sets to 6'
High dropping tide - 5 ft	Shifting wind - offshore to onshore
Overcast, storm approaching	Good session

I Love My New Board

Sitting out at the Groin, I saw a left wave approaching, wind ripples crossed the face of the swell, the offshore breeze sent spray off the top, I turned and went for it. The waves had come up from Monday, the heat wave had broken, the wind had turned back to its normal NW pattern, a high cloud cover had moved in and the waves came in long fast breaking lines. One had to be selective to connect with makeable waves. My new board responded perfectly to this wave. I stroked into this wave, caught it early, turned into a beautiful left curl with picturesque spray arching off the top, climbed high in the curl, stepped to the middle of the board, leaned into the wave, locked the board just under the lip of the wave, crouched down, shot through the a fast section and cut back into flat water. What a great ride.

I was surprised by the conditions on the Internet. I was going to the beach no matter what to collect water samples for Surfrider Foundation’s water testing program. The NOAA San Francisco buoy reported six foot swells at 14 seconds out of the west (285 degrees) producing four to six foot waves at Bolinas. From the ridge at Pantoll the ocean was smooth, lines of swell marching in and a large triangle of white water at the Bolinas Channel. When gathering a water sample at Stinson, sets of overhead walls came crashing in. “Bolinas is going to be good,” I said to myself.

Vehicles of my surf buddies were parked at Brighton Ave, with surfboards gone. Doug and Jim went out to the Groin while Marty and Russ went to the Patch. From the seawall I watched Doug, Jim and two others out at the Groin going for four to five feet, clean, fast breaking lefts. Most were close outs but there appeared to be an edge of makeable waves straight out from the Groin pole. Here was a chance to test my new board in some good challenging curls. I headed there.

“There’s some good waves, Loren,” Jim greeted me. Jim is new to surfing but has the passion. He comes often, stays out for three hours and goes for everything, no matter how dangerous. A couple of months ago he cracked a rib from being hit by his own board from a wipeout on a sizeable wave. Doug and I marveled at the number of huge walls, close outs that Jim paddled into. Some he successfully rode and others tossed him like a rag doll and sent his board flying. Jim, who was the last one of us to come in, claimed he loved it and had a great time.

Doug and I were being very selective. I caught another great left curl like the first one and went down a few head high walls that closed out. I was on another fast left that I almost made. From the bottom of the wave I stood near the tail block with the curl of the wave breaking over the nose of the board. I tried to gain speed to break out into the swell but to no avail; the wave collapsed into a curtain of white water and sent me flying.

Doug had been out since 7:00 am and had caught several good waves. After our session he stated that his last wave was his best one.

“Is that the one I told you to go right on?” I asked.

“Yes. I went right, it held up and I rode it to the beach,” he responded.

As he was paddling for this wave, I saw that it was peaking north of us and setting up for a good right wave. “Go right Doug, paddle hard and go right,” I shouted to him. He caught it, angled right and the next time I saw him, he was on the beach wrapping his leash around his board.

The tide and wind was changing causing the waves to become bumpy and walled. Jim and I caught a couple more but nothing special. I did get one good left across a bumpy surface that reformed for a good fast inside section. After that I worked my way to the ramp thinking I would pick up one more wave. It didn’t happen and I had to straighten out on a small wall to come in.

After our session, Marty, Doug, Jim, Russ and I were feeling good about the morning. Of course the waves, the elements and the exercise caused our euphoria. But I think there was another intangible adding to our joy, and that was the inauguration of Barack Obama the day before. The evil Bush and Chaney were gone, and the new man had just delivered a pep talk to the nation that lifted everybody’s spirits. And on top of this, I love my new board.