March 22, 2010 Monday

Bolinas	Patch
9:00 am to 10:50 am	3', sets 4', occasional 5'
Low dropping tide (0.1 ft at 11:00 am)	Stiff offshore wind (NW)
Sunny and cold due to the wind	Fun session

A perfect left wave approached as I sat at the Patch at low tide 100 yards beyond the outside rock. The waves improved as the tide dropped, the offshore wind held up the curls and the lefts became steeper and faster as the water depth decreased over the rocks of the Patch reef. I paddled towards the peak, spray was coming off the top of the wave as I glided into it, I jumped up, swung quickly left dropping down a steep curl, white water broke in front of me, I drove under it and climbed back into the swell. A hollow line formed in front of me, I locked the rail mid-swell in the pocket formed by the curl and the peeling lip of the wave, I crouched down in the middle of the board and froze there for a good five seconds flying down the line just in front of the white water curling over the tail block. The wave eased up, I cutback into the breaking part of the wave, swung left again, stepped to the middle of the board and stood there for another three seconds cruising down a smaller but fast inside curl. I saw patches of seaweed and water boiling around rocks as the wave ended in two feet of water. What a great ride. Doug the psychologist gave me the thumbs up when I paddle back out.

Expectations for surf were fair this morning. The Internet sites predicted a 6 ft NW swell at 11 seconds with a 1.8 ft south swell at 20 seconds underneath with stiff NW winds. The weather forecast for the week was shifting to spring conditions with early morning clouds, sunshine, NW winds and no rain. In my first glimpse of the ocean coming down the Panoramic Highway I saw blue skies, clouds on the horizon, white caps out to sea, glassy conditions in Bolinas Bay and lines of swell marching directly towards the Patch. With the tide going out I knew the Patch would be the call. With camera in hand the low tide allowed me to walk along the beach to the Patch. David was at the peak in front of the graffiti wall going for small closeouts. Creighton and Marty were at a clean peak on the inside edge of the Patch. I saw Creighton stroke into three small but decent waves. Marty connected on a long left that put him close to the exposed rocks of the Patch reef. Despite the cold offshore breeze, the waves looked like fun. I had to go out.

“I’m coming out here to connect with you and you are leaving,” I said to Marty. He was leaving as I was entering the water.

“I was ten minutes late to my last two 11:00 am meetings,” he replied. “Thus I’m leaving earlier to make sure I’m on time.” Marty has a consulting gig at his old school to help develop the science department curriculum and thus has an 11:00 meeting every Monday. “I wish I could stay. It’s sweet out there.” And off he went.

I figured with the tide going out, the lefts would get good over the shallow reef and I was right. After catching a few I zeroed in on the peak out and north of the outside rock, which became my marker for the morning. The waves picked up and I managed to connect on five four-foot long fast lefts. By now David had given upon that other break and paddled out to join Frank the stand-up guy, Doug the psychologist and I. From the side, I watched David take off on a good left peak, spray arching off the top, sunlight dancing on the textured surface of the wave as he dropped down it. I paddled over it and looked back. With his back to the wave, David cruised down a waist high wall just ahead of the breaking lip of the wave with spray arching back all long the length of the curl. While paddling out I watch a young surfer on a hybrid board (a thick short board) crouched down locked in a beautiful curl right in front of me. He cruised for a long ways before the wave finally broke all over him.

After an hour and 45 minutes my arms were giving out and I’m five hundred yards off shore.

“David, I’m out of gas and look at that long paddle in,” I said.

“Just catch one all the way in,” he replied. Easier said than done. A set wave approached, I went for it, turned left and another surfer was coming down the wave right, I swung around, cruised right until the wave broke in front of me. The wave had power; I straightened out and decided this was the one to take me to the shore. It got me most of the way there and I rode soup the rest of the way.

While I was drying off, David came by dripping wet and board in hand.

“I was out there for one hour and fifty minutes,” I commented to him. “And you were already out there when I arrived and you stayed out there after I left. You must have been in the water for three hours.”

“I would like to stay out there longer,” he replied. “But my arms can’t hold up any longer.”

Now that’s what we call “The Surf Passion.”