May 26, 2010 Wednesday

Bolinas	Channel
10:00 am to 12 noon	3' to 4', occasional 5'
Mid upcoming tide (4 ft at 12 noon)	Onshore breeze to no wind
Sunny with high clouds	Fun session

“Loren, take this one, it’s yours,” Marty yelled at me as I paddled out to the line-up. I didn’t hesitate. I turned around, stroked into a three-foot wall, dropped down the face, and briefly connected some left curl before the wave collapsed in front of me. One thing was obvious: these waves had power.

Finally some decent waves had arrived after months of lousy surf. The morning buoy report looked good: 5 ft NW swell at 12 seconds combined with a 2 ft south swell at 14 seconds with an upcoming tide (0 ft to 4 ft by noon). The weather had turned; yesterday’s rain had passed and by 7:00 am the sun was out at Mill Valley.

Remnants of last weekend’s south swell were still with us. The swell that Stormsurf had been predicting for a week came in late last Friday, peaked on Sunday (4.5 ft at 17 seconds) and was fading by Wednesday. I came out on Sunday with son Kevin and his friends. The swell was strong as predicted but so was the wind, a fierce cold NW cross wind with a minus low tide and 48-degree water. We went out at the Patch and froze. I caught one decent left wave and vowed to invest in a new wetsuit.

Today was different, the sun came out and the wind stopped. Six people were out at the Channel when I arrived. Frank the standup guy was getting out. Russ was already out and changed. Marty, Andy the other standup guy, Jeff the Dillon Beach boat mechanic and David who rides the Becker board were in the water. That’s Andy in the above photo.

“Marty, finally some waves with size and power.” I quickly paddled back out and prepared to catch another one. The waves were on the edge between makeable and close outs. My strategy was set: I would follow Barry’s example of getting into the waves early through board speed, moving up closer to the nose and frantically paddling when the momentum of the wave first picks up the board. My strategy worked and as the tide came in the waves improved and the wind died.

Marty went in and for a half-hour Jeff, David and I had the waves to ourselves. David joked about how crowded it was. I connected on four good left waves. On the first one, a four-foot wall, I turned into a fast forming curl, stepped to the middle of the board, crouched down and hummed across a fast peeling face. I hadn’t had a ride like that in months. In rapid succession, I stroked into three more like the first one. After this classic thirty minutes more surfers arrived. We soon had eight others with us at the Channel peak. Fortunately there were plenty of waves for all of us. David scored on several rights and Jeff and I picked off the lefts.

“Jeff how’s business?” We chatted between sets. “I bet it’s good. Salmon season had just opened.”

“It couldn’t be better.” Jeff’s customers are weekend warriors from San Joaquin Valley who trailer their boats to Lawson’s Landing to go fishing. Jeff helps them tune up their engines and any other mechanical problems that might come up.

After an hour and a half my arms were beginning to give out, and when I get tired, I have trouble jumping up quickly.

“David, when did you come out this morning?”

“About 7 o’clock.” He was pushing four hours in the water.

“You must be tired.”

“Yes, one more and I will go in.” He caught one more, went in, quickly changed and drove off. He’s not one linger, like I do. I wanted to ask him if he took naps in the afternoon, like I do, after long surf sessions. After this good session I took a long nap.

Earlier I ran into Professor Steve who had just finished his brief morning exercise session. He alerted me to the lead article in West Marin Citizen, which I had read yesterday. Steve had just received his first copy from his new subscription. The article was about a property next to his house on the Mesa. The absentee owner of this large parcel had a bulldozer grading the property. The owner claimed he was clearing brush for fire safety. The neighbors didn’t believe him. They thought he was preparing the land to build something big on it, and they knew he did not have a permit for construction. Steve was one of the concerned neighbors watching how this one plays out.

Also in the Citizen was an article about the West Marin “Costal Coins,” a new currency for raising money for non-profits. A couple in Dog Town came up with this idea and they commissioned Keith Hansen, the birdman of Bolinas, to design the coins. After my session I walked into town and before buying coffee I passed by Keith’s studio next to the Bolinas museum. He was in and I bought three coins from him. They cost three dollars apiece and may be used as currency at the local stores. Keith enthusiastically stated that after only five days they had sold over a thousand coins. To test them out I purchased a large bottle of Te Java at the market and handed the cashier a shinny new West Marin coin. She immediately took the coin, put it in her register next to several others and gave me change. It worked. What a great idea. It’s similar to purchasing a pre-paid card at Peet’s. I plan to buy a stack of these coins and use them for after session coffee and snacks.

It was just another interesting morning along the coast of West Marin.