May 14, 2009 Thursday

Bolinas	Channel
8:50 am to 10:15 am	6 inches to 1', sets to 2'
Low tide	Offshore wind
Heat wave, sunny and warm	Exercise only session

“If the swell was two feet bigger, the waves would be perfect,” I said to a young surfer out at the Channel this morning. We were the only two out.

“These waves remind me of Lake Michigan,” he replied.

“You have surfed Lake Michigan?”

“Yes,” he said. “I grew up in Chicago. Only when there’s wind are there waves.” He mentioned choppy conditions, cold water and snow on the beach. To him, these six-inch waves at the Channel were good.

I had no expectations this morning, only hopes. “No swell of interest” was Stormsurf’s prediction. Low tide and no swell, what was I thinking? An email from Marty yesterday mentioned several people had gone out, got some fun waves and that he was coming today. The parking lot was empty when I arrived, no Marty and no others. From the Seawall the Patch was flat and the reef was exposed. The only waves were ripples breaking in the Channel where the out flowing ebb tide met the ocean.

The sand was back. The Groin wall was completely buried. Only a couple of months ago the top of the wall was four feet above the sand. A finger of sand extended from the Groin pole out 75 yards along the edge of the Channel. The out-flowing current was a good four knots. I walked out to the end of the sand bar to observe perfect lefts, six inch ripples peeling continuously along the contour of the finger of sand.

“The bottom is shaping up for some ideal lefts,” I thought to myself. “If we only had some swell, it would be perfect.”

I stood there for several minutes and observed two sets of two-foot waves, perfect little curls being held up by the offshore wind. I’m the king of the knee-high curl; I could ride those waves. Thus I decided to give them a try.

The waves were too small even for me. On my first wave, the curl was breaking several feet ahead of me by the time I stood up. The water was clear and shallow; I could see all the ripples of sand on the bottom. One second of riding the white water my skeg dug into the bottom and I executed a perfect spread eagle belly flop into six inches of water. I floundered around on several waves without any success. My Chicago companion didn’t do any better. We moved to mid-Channel but the out-flowing current and strong offshore wind coming out of the canyon above the lagoon pushed us out beyond the breaking waves. We moved back and continued to flounder. On my two best rides I belly-boarded them. I stroked into these curls and remained laying down not to lose time or momentum by standing up. With my eyes at board level I caught a glimpse of a curl ride.

During the long lulls I soaked up the incredible scenery of the day. The birds were out: high cruising pelicans, squadrons of cormorants, and terns hovering in search of fish. Three vultures circled overhead. “They’re land birds,” I thought to myself. “If they drop into the water they will never be able to take off.” The strong offshore wind was pushing them out to sea.

After an hour we both gave up. To get some exercise I started paddling from mid-Channel to the Ramp. Halfway there I met Professor Steve paddling in the other direction. He was out for his morning exercise.

“We’re like two ships passing in the night,” he greeted me.

“I’m just following your lead to get some exercise,” I said. He agreed that the finger sandbar was set to produce some perfect lefts. If we would only get some swell.

A surfer never admits he wasted his time. I got wet, it was a beautiful morning and I got some good exercise.