February 22, 2010 Monday

Bolinas	Patch
9:00 am to 10:30 am	3' to 4'
Low dropping tide	Slight cross breeze
Sunny with high clouds	Fun session

Matt, Dexter and I stood on the seawall at the base of the ramp at Bolinas looking at some unimpressive waves this morning when Mark the archaeologist arrived grinning and boasting about his recent trip to Hawaii.

“Honolua Bay!” he exclaimed.

“You went to Maui?” I asked. Honolua Bay is the best break on Maui, a long Malibu like point break on the NW corner of the island. I had surfed there a few years ago on a sunny December morning with consistent 3’ to 4’ lines peeling for hundreds of yards from the point to the cove. To me the waves were beautiful, but for the locals it was considered flat and they didn’t bother going out.

“Yes,” he replied. “The twelve foot faces were a little intimidating. But the next day it was smaller, more my size, and though crowded I managed to connect on several good ones.” He obviously had a good trip and was glad to be back to his home turf.

This morning the recent rains had stopped, it was sunny and clear, I hadn’t surfed in a week thus I had to go out. I had no expectations for waves, though the buoy report was favorable: 9 ft NW swells at 15 seconds. The inland fog was thick and cold in Mill Valley but it was clear on the ocean side of the mountain. Coming down the Panoramic Highway the Farallon Islands peaked up on the horizon, a line of white water stretched across the Duxbury Reef and Vee patterns from breakers appeared along Stinson Beach and Seadrift, all good signs.

Mary, Doug and David who rides the Becker board were suited up and heading for the water when I pulled up.

“When will you get off January 28th?” Russ greeted me. He was referring to Lorenzo’s Surf Journal, which I had not updated for three weeks.

“Soon,” I replied.

Russ had a lower back problem that bothered him and impacted his surfing. He had difficulty jumping up, thus he would initially ride on his knees and stand up later in the wave. He told me he had been searching the Internet about back problems and of course he found a ton of stuff. He demonstrated a stretching exercise that seemed to work. He spread his board bag on the street, lay down on his back with his knees bent and then slowly raised and lowered his abdomen. He claimed this really helps.

From the seawall I took photos of Doug and David out at the break in front of the north seawall, the one with all the graffiti on it. Mary was barely visible at the far outside peak at the Patch. Doug and David had trouble catching the waves and when they did the waves were walled and the rides were short. The above photo is Doug on a good one. Matt and I paddled out to the far peak at the Patch to join Mary. Mark and Dexter headed for the inside break with Doug and David. I figured that with the tide dropping, this peak, which was already walled up, would soon begin sucking out.

The waves were rough, not clean; wind swells that would combine together on top of small ground swells. The set waves had some size and force and fortunately the sets were frequent. The waves would break on the outside and reform on the inside. On my first ride, I caught the white water sliding down the peak of a four-foot swell, coasted into a reforming curl and cruised left over the shallow reef for a long ways. The waves were better than they look from the shore. For over an hour Mary, Matt and I managed to connect on a few sizeable set waves that produce long enjoyable rides. It felt good to be back in the water again and we all agreed that despite the chop and the rough surface the few good long rides made it all worthwhile.

February 17, 2010 Wednesday

Bolinas	Inside Patch
9:20 am to 11:00 am	3' to 4'
Low upcoming tide	Slight onshore wind
Low fog to bright blue skies	Fun session

The movie company arrived at Bolinas this morning. A white van, several cars and fifteen to twenty people pulled up and unloaded expensive video equipment, wet suits, a small boat and other props. They marched down the ramp, climb up the steps to the north seawall, walked back and forth, chatted and waited; too much fog. An on-the-deck fog hung over the water; one could not see but could hear the waves. The movie crew had to wait for the fog to lift.

“Loren, go take a picture of the shark’s head,” Mary said.

“Shark’s head?”

“Yes, they have a fake shark’s head sitting on the seawall,” Mary exclaimed.

“What’s this?” I said to myself, “a low budget remake of Jaws?” Above is a photo of their shark prop.

“What are you filming?” I asked a young woman with a huge digital camera hung around her neck.

“We’re with the Discovery Channel,” she said. “We’re filming a documentary about shark attacks.” I immediately assumed they were investigating shark attacks here in Bolinas.

“Oh, you should film on the Seadrift side of the Channel,” I replied. “That’s where Lee Fontan was hit a few years ago.”

“Where’s that?” she asked.

“On the far side of the Channel,” I said. I could see in her eyes she had never heard of the Channel and that this was her first time in Bolinas.

“Did he die?”

“No. He was bit in the leg. 120 stitches, he lived and is alive and well today,” I replied.

But they were not here to film about shark attacks in Bolinas. Of course all of us were too focused on getting some waves to bother hanging around watching the filmmakers. Wave conditions were fair: a nine-foot swell at 12 seconds, a slight NW wind, a low upcoming tide and a thick low fog. Several of the regulars were there: Mary, David who rides the Becker board, Doug and Scott who only surfs on Wednesdays.

“I still work,” Scott announced. “So if I am going it has to be now.” I walked with Scott down to the Groin.

“Scott, this looks terrible,” I said. The waves were tiny, mushy and bumpy.

“I don’t care,” he said. “I’m going to get wet.” And off he went. I decided to go to the inside Patch peak were the others were. Good choice, with the tide coming up and the water filling in, a good right peak formed and David, a woman from Santa Cruz and I connected on several good fast walls.

After my session, the filmmakers were still there. A few had on wetsuits and boards under their arms and a couple were in the water straight out from the ramp. The fog had lifted and blue skies and bright sunshine poured out, a beautiful spring day. The production crew had a small dingy out beyond the breakers with a cameraman and a soundman standing in the stern holding a long microphone pole. They were filming two surfers sitting near the boat and conversing with active arm gestures.

“Hey, what are you filming?” I asked one of the crew who was standing on the seawall.

“We’re re-enacting a shark attack,” he replied.

“One here?”

“No, one that occurred in Oregon,” he said.

Well that explained it. We’ll have to watch for the next Shark Week on the Discovery Channel for the re-enactment of an Oregon shark attack here in Bolinas.

February 10, 2010 Wednesday

Bolinas	Just south of the ramp
9:30 am to 10:30 am	3', sets to 4'
High outgoing tide (5.9 ft at 8:40 am)	Slight offshore breeze
High overcast with chance of rain	Fun session

Matt had just suited up as I pulled up this morning. He had not been surfing for five weeks. Why? Work, bad weather and bicycling. He was anxious to get back into the water. Hans was about to enter the water when Matt and I walked down the ramp. Hans introduced us to Terry, a Stinson Beach local who was here this morning because his wife was at a Yoga class. Terry and I watched from the seawall as Matt and Hans paddled out. A nice peak had formed just south of the ramp and was breaking in both directions. Doug, Jim, Frank and a couple others were out there. The Channel looked mushy, Groin was flat and conditions had groomed a new peak in front of house and seawall on the south side of the ramp. Last January a good peak formed right in front of the ramp, and then it disappeared in February and was just now starting to reform. The storms move out tons of sand and the peak reappears. I saw Jim get a good left, Frank cruised down a long right on his standup board and Doug turned into a fast right wall. To me it looked like fun.

“Well Terry, are you going?” I asked.

“Yes, it looks ok,” he said. “I’ll go for an hour to get some exercise.”

The waves were thick and hard to catch. I had to wait until they were breaking on me to push into them. My first ride was a good one. Jim and I stroked side by side for a four-foot wall. The contour of the bottom forced the wave to break left. We both caught it; I dropped down the face and turned at the bottom. Jim was locked in the middle of the curl cruising left twenty feet ahead of me. I slid under the white water coming down from the top of the wave; swell was forming under the white water allowing me to smoothly plough under it to climb back into the swell. The wave reformed on the inside and the shore break crashed on both of us. It was a good start to the session.

Matt got a good wave. I was paddling out as he stroked into a set wave right in front of me. He jumped up, cut right and streaked down a well-formed face. I paddled through it and looked back. Matt was crouched down in the middle of his board locked into the fast shore break.

“That was great,” he said when he paddled back to the line-up. “I had forgotten how fun this is. Never again will I go five weeks without surfing.”

Between sets we had some good conversations going. Hans was the manager of the Corinthian Yacht Club in Tiburon for several years and still sails with friends. I asked him about the America’s cup race that was going on in Valencia, Spain. He mentioned that they had postponed the race for a second day, first for lack of wind and yesterday for too much wind; multi-million dollar yachts and they couldn’t sail them unless conditions were perfect. Hans had to comment on what a king size jerk Larry Ellison, owner of the BMW-Oracle trimaran, was. He did not show up at the opening ceremony to shake the hand of the owner of the other boat. In the early 90’s I worked at Oracle for three years and the only time the troops ever heard from Larry was when he sent out a broadcast email informing them that executive X (fill in the name) had just “elected to seek opportunities else where.”

I asked Doug about the new truck he just bought, a man-size, big carbon-footprint Ford 150. His mechanic warned him that his old truck, which had over 200,000 miles, was about to need some major repair, like a new transmission. Cathy and Clark set him up with a friend who sold cars online. Doug saved at least $1500 but $26,000 seemed like a lot. It was more than he paid for his house (30 years ago).

For Jim the music gig at the Hilton Hotel in Santa Rosa continues. In these tough economic times steady work for a musician is hard to find. The Hotel people love him. Jim performs on Fridays and twice on Sundays.

Everybody was feeling good after their sessions. We had squeezed in some good rides between rainstorms, saw some beautiful scenery and connected with friends. It was just another great morning in Marin.

February 2, 2010 Monday

Bolinas	Patch
8:45 am to 10:15 am	3' to 5'
Low upcoming tide	Slight onshore breeze to no wind
High overcast - threatening rain	Fun session

The surf was bumpy, not clean, just wind swells on top a small ground swell. The buoy report had 6 ft swell from the west at 12 seconds. The weather forecast called for possible rain and fog in the morning. However, a big storm was approaching and should arrive tomorrow afternoon bringing a big swell and south winds. So if I was going to surf this week, it had to be today.

From the cars parked at the tennis court on Brighton Ave, I could tell that Mary, Russ, Ray the Petaluma fireman and David who rides the Becker board were already in the water. Great there must be waves I thought.

David was at the peak in front of the ramp. In an email yesterday, Marty related he and a few others were at this peak and for thirty minutes it was great. Then the tide came in and the waves died. The change was sudden; within a few minutes the waves slowed down and then disappeared. I stood at the seawall for five minutes and David didn’t catch any waves though he tried for several of them. The bumpy wind swells did not look inviting. The others were at the Patch. I walked down the beach to take some photos of them. The wind swells would peak, break and then die. The set waves would reform on the inside and build into decent right waves. Mary, Robert and Ray all caught good waves that reformed into fast, long curls. The above photo is Mary on one of the good inside curls. These waves looked like fun and my friends were out there, I’m going.

A petite young woman in a Mercedes sedan with board inside pulled into the spot next to me while I was suiting up.

“How’s it look?” she asked.

“Small but fun,” I replied.

“I thought I would wait awhile and finish my crossword puzzle.”

“I would go now because you never know what the wind is going to do,” I said. “And besides it should it get better, the tide is coming up.” That did it; she decided to join me. She was from Boston and was vacationing in San Francisco where she grew up.

“Do you surf in Boston?” I asked her.

“Yes.”

“Where?”

“Maine and Cape Cod,” she replied. “My husband also surfs in Rhode Island.” After her session she said she caught a few good waves was glad she took my advice.

The waves were difficult to catch and I only caught four of five of them in my session. The wind swells had little punch. To catch them I had to be right at the peak when they first broke. I learned that the hard way after paddling for and missing countless waves. I finally caught one; I dropped down a head-high face, turned right, cut back and jumped on the nose of my board to push it over the ledge of a reforming wave. Mary was having more success though she too paddled for several waves and missed them. She moved around looking for the best take-off point and always managed to catch at least one wave of every set. I observed her location closely because she seemed to have a good sense of where the waves would break. The impact zone was shifting due to the upcoming tide.

Ray sat way, way outside waiting for the big ones, which came through once every fifteen minutes. On one good one, Ray stroked into a head-high peak, faded to the right, straightened out, cut back into the white water, pushed himself into the reforming inside wave, dropped into it, cut right again and cruised for another fifty yards. It was the longest ride of the morning.

“You know what I liked about Costa Rica,” Mary said between sets. She had recently returned from two weeks of surfing there. What could that be I thought: warm crystal clear water, blue skies or spectacular sunsets?

“The number of waves,” she exclaimed. “There were always several people in the water, but it was never a problem. There were plenty of waves for everyone.”

After an hour I started moving inside toward the beach to call it a day. I paddled for wave after wave and missed them all. After missing one, I turned around and a four-foot wave was cresting in front of me. I turned and went for it. I dropped right down steep face, drove into a flat shoulder, cut back towards the peak, went left for a few seconds, swung back right into a reforming fast inside section. The surface was smooth and I raced along a steep curl. “Finally!” I said to myself. Then I saw the exposed inside rock right in my path. I cut behind it and came within a foot of colliding with it. My familiarity with this reef helped. I knew this was the only sizable rock in this part of the reef. Thus going around it was a safe maneuver. I traveled on for another twenty yards and thus ended my session with my best ride of the morning.

Afterwards Mary, Robert and I agreed, as all surfers do, that we got wet, got some exercise, saw some great scenery and connected with friends, thus it was another fun surf session and time well spent.