March 19, 2010 Friday

Seadrift	Ten houses in from the Channel
9:30 am to 11:30 am	2' to 3', sets to 5'
Low upcoming tide (0.2 ft at 9:00 am)	Offshore (east) breeze to no wind
Bright sunshine - a beautiful day	OK session

Barry the management team builder, Mark the archaeologist and I stood on the seawall at Bolinas for twenty minutes trying to decide whether to go out or not. The swell had dropped and the waves were tiny. The buoys reported 5 ft NW swell at 11 seconds with a 2 ft south swell underneath. We watched three beginners at the peak straight out from the ramp going after six inch to two-foot ripples. Six surfers were out at the Patch waiting near the exposed outside rock for the three-foot set waves that looked promising when they peaked but were slow and quickly died after breaking. We moved to the overlook above the Groin for a better look. One surfer was out at the Channel scratching for the occasional left wave. We were disappointed because weather conditions were perfect. The waves were clean, the surface was glassy and an offshore breeze held up the curls and sent a fine spray arching off the tops of the waves as they broke. All that we lacked was swell. Surfers are optimists and we imagined that the waves would improve with the incoming tide. Occasionally a decent right wave peeled just north of the Groin pole or a rideable left would break in the Channel. The ebb flow out of the lagoon was slowing down and would soon stop.

We thought we saw some decent waves on other side of the Channel in front of the houses at Seadrift. I commented that when coming down the Panoramic Highway this morning I saw swell lines coming into the Bolinas Bay and they were directed at Seadrift. Barry finally decided that he would explore for peaks at Seadrift and he took off to suit up. Mark and I hesitated and continued watching the small waves at the Channel and the Groin. We finally convinced ourselves that conditions would improve with the tide, either the rights at the Groin or the lefts in the Channel would get good and we left to suit up.

When I got to the water’s edge with board in hand, Barry had paddled across the Channel and was walking along the beach at Seadrift. Mark was out at the Groin trying for the small right waves. When I entered the water, Mark had already given up on the Groin and was working his way over to the lefts at the Channel. I joined him. The waves were small, infrequent and walled. Together we watched Barry who was a quarter mile south of us catch a sizeable long left. That did it. We decided to head for Seadrift. Mark had ridden a wave in as far as he could and waved to me to do the same.

We walked down the beach at Seadrift and decided to try a peak straight out from the tenth house. By now Barry had drifted further south in search of the elusive peak. The beautiful perfectly smooth blue-green waves here were twice the size of the ripples coming through at the Groin. We kept imagining that we saw a peak, a shoulder or something that would provide a good fast ride. We were mistaken, it didn’t happen. Mark and I caught several 500 nanosecond rides, promising waves that instantly morphed into crunching walls. We didn’t give up and kept trying. I caught one brief fast left that convinced me that there would be others. But they never came. Barry drifted back to join us and all three of us continued our quest to connect on a decent wave. But it never happed.

Barry had more success than Mark and I. He had the ability to get into the wave early while the swell was still flat, to jump up quickly, turn, set the rail under the lip of the wave and gain some speed before the wave would collapse. I tried to do likewise without success. By the time I stood up, the ride was over. How does Barry do it? I observed him wave after wave and zeroed in on his technique. First Barry is in good physical shape with strong arms for paddling. He would sit outside of Mark and I and watch for the set waves. As a swell approached, he would start paddling well ahead of the wave, gaining board speed, and as the wave would lift him up, Barry would inched his body forward closer to the nose and switch into high gear. With his head leaning over the nose of his longboard and all his weight forward, Barry would burst into rapid swimmer strokes, and I mean rapid, like five strokes a second and would glide into the wave, quickly jump up and turn all in one motion. Despite all his skills, the walled waves limited his rides to brief drops down the faces into crashing white water.

The waves were frustrating but the day was beautiful: bright sunshine, blue sky with high puffy clouds, no wind, smooth as glass surface and lines of blue-green waves. The exhilaration of warm sunny conditions after weeks for rain kept us going for two hours. It was a joy just being in the water and part of this magnificent scenery.