October 20, 2010 Wednesday

Bolinas	Groin
10:00 am to 11:30 am	2' to 3', sets to 4'
High dropping tide	SE cross breeze to no wind
Overcast with high fog	Fun session

This was my first session since my accident last Monday when I hit my shoulder and head on a rock at the Patch. I was ending a ride over shallow water and stepped forward to push into a reforming ripple. We’re talking small here, an inside one-foot swell. The nose went down and I tumbled over the front of the board. A thought instantly flashed into my mind, never fall over the front of your board, always fall back into the wave. Then: BOOM – BOOM! My shoulder and then my head hit a submerged rock. I hit hard and was stunned.

I popped up. Fearing a concussion, I quickly ran through a series of questions. What day is it? Monday. Where are you? At the Patch in Bolinas. What’s the date? October 18th. What time is it? Eleven AM.

I ran my hand over my head checking for blood. Fortunately, there was no blood. My shoulder and arm were throbbing. I lifted my arm and rotated it. Everything moved properly. I should immediately go in and ice down my shoulder to prevent swelling. But what better way to ice it down than to stay in the cold water. For the next twenty minutes I treaded water, slowly paddled around and caught three more waves before going in. Back at the car I asked Robert the Larkspur carpenter to check me out.

“Oh, there’s swelling behind your ear and a little blood. But it’s nothing to worry about, you’ll be ok.”

Easy for him to say, of course I worried about it and so did my wife Kate. By the next morning the swelling had gone down. I went for a long walk and then sat in the spa at the Mill Valley Rec Center. Fifteen minutes of blasting hot water at my shoulder did it a world of good.

So I was apprehensive about going out this morning. I immediately ruled out the Patch. No more rocks for me, even though the waves looked good and six people were out, including Mary, Jaime the starving cartoonist and the Robinsons, Martha and Jim. I walked down to the Groin to take some pictures. From a photographer’s perspective conditions were good: glass smooth surface, and a high tide that formed a peak near the Groin wall close to shore. Several of the regulars were there: Marty, David who rides the Becker board, Ray the Petaluma fireman, Novato Pete, and Susan who always wears sunglasses in the water. Standing there I decided to go out. My friends were there, the waves looked like fun, I could use some exercise and there were no rocks.

However while suiting up, most of my friends got out of the water. Ray came up board in hand claiming the rights on the Seadrift side were good but now the tide was too high. The Robinsons got out, packed up and waved as they drove off. Mary came up saying there were still plenty of good waves at the Patch. Marty returned reporting it was great an hour ago and that due to the tide the waves had died. Jaime came up the ramp and razzed me that we never surf together because I always arrive so late.

“Hey, I was collecting water samples for Surfrider’s water testing program.”

“Ok, you’re excused.”

All my apprehension instantly disappeared once I entered the water. I have experienced this several times before. Feeling tired, sore, or fighting a cold, all this melts away once I’m in the water and stroking out to the line up. My shoulders and arms felt great, and I had no difficulty paddling.

The waves at the far peak were difficult to catch. They had to be breaking on you to get into them. But when you did catch one, the glassy surface, the slight offshore breeze resulted in a smooth, classic longboard ride. Paddling out I got a great view of David coming down a four-foot fast peeling left. As I pushed over the top of the wave I glanced down at David. He was standing mid-board, leaning into the wave with the lip of curl pitching over his right shoulder. Once over the wave I looked back to see him going on and on with his head just in front of the breaking curl, and on he went until the wave died near the Groin wall. What a great ride.

After forty-five minutes David and I moved inside close to the Groin. What a good move. We both connected with several well-shaped fast small left waves. On one I was locked into a steep small curl heading straight for the Groin Pole. I thought I was going to hit it. I kicked out just in time and ended up five feet from the Pole.

The tide had shifted and the ebb flow was pouring out of the lagoon forming a rippling river through the impact zone. The strong current pushed us north of the Groin and the waves were dying. Time to go in. I connected with one more fast curl, ended up near the north side of the wall, and decided to call it a day.

The exercise, the good rides and the cold water was just what I needed to get my body going and to break out of the doldrums of Monday’s accident.

October 13, 2010 Wednesday

Bolinas	Patch
9:15 am to 11:00 am	2' to 3', sets to 4'
Low outgoing tide	Slight offshore breeze to no wind
Bright hot sunny day, heat wave	Fun session

Here’s a good story of will and determination.

Walking up the ramp after taking some photos of the Patch, I met Jeff the Dillon Beach boat mechanic and his wife. Jeff was still recovering from a serious boating accident that he had two months ago (see September 13th).

“Jeff, how are you feeling? I have seen you out in the water twice.”

“Better but it still hurts.”

“What does your doctor say?”

“I saw him yesterday. He said I’m one of those few who heal quickly. He was surprised and told me that he doesn’t need to see me again unless I’m having problems.”

“That sounds like determination and strength of will to me. You said that as soon as you could zip up a wetsuit you would be back out there.”

“That’s right and it feels good to be back in the water.”

“Are you doing any special exercises?”

“I’m going to physical therapy. The trainer there has been helpful. He realizes I’m an athlete who is anxious to get healed. He pushes me, which is just what I need. My insurance will cover a few more sessions with him that I’m going to take full advantage of. After that I will exercise on my own.”

“So now I take it you will think twice about going 80 mph on a speed boat.”

“No way! I will get back to that as soon as I can.” Jeff was racing a small hydroplane going 80 mph when he hit a bump in the water and went flying. Jeff’s resolve extends beyond surfing. Despite his numerous injuries from his accident, he is determined to get back to racing hydroplanes. Jeff and I were out at the Patch enjoying the mellow waves. I lasted for nearly two hours and Jeff was out for three hours, another sign of his rapid recovery.

Today was a heat wave. The Weather Channel on my iPhone forecasted a high of 94 degrees in the afternoon for Mill Valley, that’s hot. The State Park Service had closed the Bootjack parking lot and the road to Mt Tamalpais due to fire danger. I’ll have to get into the water just to cool off. The Internet surf forecasts were positive: 10 ft NW swell at 11 seconds, a 3 ft south swell at 14 seconds, light NNE winds and an outgoing tide. From the cars parked at Brighton Ave Mary, Jaime the starving artist cartoonist, David who rides the Becker board, Martha, Scott who only surfs on Wednesdays and stand-up guys Frank and Russ were already in the water. Six surfers were at the Groin but the ebb tide current was knocking down the swell. The Patch looked better. While taking photos there, Jaime connected on a long mellow right wave, that’s him in the above photo, and Mary managed to catch three waves in the ten minutes that I was standing there.

I paddled out to the far peak at the Patch thinking about going left over the shallow reef. Mary, Jeff, Robert the Larkspur carpenter and Scott were there. Conditions were extreme mellowness: bright sunny sky, hot weather, no wind, glassy surface, long smooth rides and no fear factor. Strategy this morning was to be patient, wait for the set waves, take off when the waves were breaking and enjoy the ride. I sat of the left side of the crowd convinced the lefts were breaking harder than the rights due to the shallow reef. I caught a series of good ones where I managed to climb high in the curl, lock the rail of my board under the lip the wave and cruise down these long sections. The rides were long, slow and consistent. A set of good waves appeared every five minutes.

“Scott, what is Robert waiting for? A tsunami?” Robert was sitting way, way outside. The rest of us had moved inside and sat in the white foam from the previous set of waves. As soon as I had commented Robert was waiting for the impossible, the impossible appeared. A big set wave was feathering a 100 yards outside. Robert stroked into a head high wall while the rest of us were frantically paddling out. Robert jumped up, faded to the right as the wave broke in front of him and then swung around left. The wave lined up for him. He stepped to the middle of the board, crouched down and cruised through a long, long section. I had a perfect view of him humming down this wall as I ducked under the white water sliding down from the top of the wave.

After two hours I was ready to call it a day. My last ride was a good one. I stroked into a late breaking wave, cut right, centered in the middle of the board and stood there frozen through a long section. I cut back, turned into another good section and ended up twenty feet from the shore. I headed for shore instead of making the long paddle out to the peak. As I looked back, the beauty of the day hit me: blue seas on the horizon, a few white caps in the distance, long mellow lines of surf coming through the Patch and me with that glow of satisfaction from another invigorating session in the water.

October 6, 2010 Wednesday

Bolinas	Groin
9:55 am to 11:30 am	2' to 3', sets to 4'
High upcoming tide	No wind, glassy conditions
Warm sunny day	Fun session

“You’re late!” Marty greeted me as I paddled out to the Groin. “What took you so long?”

Good question. Why did it take me so long to get out into the water? Was it age? At 7:15 I said good-bye to Kate in front of Peet’s in Mill Valley. I chatted with Matt the financial guy while I ate my breakfast, one oatmeal bar. Matt is a big Giants fan and is part owner of some season tickets with a group of friends. We discussed their playoff possibilities, which look real good. Matt had tickets for Friday night’s game and he hoped to take his six-year old son.

I drove to Bay Front Park in Mill Valley to gather a water sample from Richardson’s Bay for Surfrider Foundation Marin County’s water testing program. Bay Front Park was next to the outflow of the Southern Marin Sewage Agency’s plant. Two years ago they had a serious spill that dumped millions of gallons of partially treated sewage into the Bay. The EPA fined them $1.6 million for this little “opps.” Ever since then we have been testing the water there. Gathering the sample involved putting on rubber gloves, gingerly stepping over the mud and gravel at the water’s edge, filling a Whirl-Pak plastic bag with bay water, twisting off the top, rinsing the bag with fresh water and putting it in a container filled with ice. Onward …

I drove over the mountain to Stinson Beach, parked near the Post Office and gathered another water sample. This involved taking off my shoes and socks, walking across the sand and wading out into knee-high water (I had shorts on) to fill another Whirl-Pak with seawater.

On my way back to the car I chatted with John the owner of the Parkside Café. John is a big supporter of Surfrider Marin. He wanted to help out with beverage discount coupons for the beach cleanup we were doing Sunday as part of the Project 10-10-10 day. John also asked if he could help out with the surf movie at the Lark Theater. Surfrider Marin had teamed up with Bernice the manager of the theater to put on a performance of a rock band followed by a new surf movie, Waveriders. Pete the owner of the Livewater surf shop drove up and joined the conversation. He too was excited about the surf movie and planned to attend.

I drove to Bolinas, parked by the tennis court and surveyed the cars to see who was already in the water: Mary, Marty, David who rides the Becker board, Jeff the Dillon Beach boat mechanic, Matt, and standup surfers Frank and Russ.

Walking down the ramp to check the surf I ran into Robert the Oakland fireman who just exited the water. I had not seen him in a long time. Last time I saw him he had just gotten married. This time he proudly announced that they had a fourteen-month old daughter. No wonder I had not seen him. He reported that he had a fun session and that it felt great to be back in the water.

I walked down to the Groin and took some pictures of the six surfers who were there, including: Marty, Jeff the contractor, David and Robyn from Fairfax. Mary, Matt, Russ and Frank were at the Patch. While on the Groin wall, I lay down and scooped up a water sample.

“Loren I have something to show you. It’s my Facebook.”

Mary came by still in her wetsuit while I was suiting up. She handed me a small photo album. She had told me about this project several weeks ago. Mary had been quietly taking close-up shots of all the Bolinas regulars. Last week she was nursing a bad back, not surfing and thus had time to put the photos in an album, draw a colorful frame around them, each page had a different hand-drawn frame and hand print their names at the bottom. I was impressed. We were all there and it was well done.

Jaime the starving artist cartoonist joined us as I was going through Mary’s album. Jaime had just completed a good session and was telling us about it when Oliver drove up and parked.

“Oliver, great timing. I was concerned that I would be in the water when you arrived.” Oliver is the manager of the German Hiking Club on the Panoramic Highway. The club sells refreshments for hikers, and being a German club it has an extensive selection of German beers. Last Monday Oliver paddled out to the Patch near the end of my session. I chatted with him about the club.

“Oliver, how had the club weathered the recession?”

“We have a recession proof business.”

“How’s that? Memberships? Fees? Donations?”

“No beer sales. We’re expensive, twenty dollars a pitcher. But people often come in, order three pitchers and throw down a hundred dollar bill.”

I informed him that my son and I were brewing beer and we wanted to learn more about German brews.

“Do you need any bottles? I can give you any number you want of half-liter bottles.”

“Great we’ll take them.” Oliver and I had made arrangements this morning to pick up bottles. So the timing was perfect. We transferred two boxes with twenty bottles each to my car. Forty bottles, that will take care of us for a while.

Oliver and I suited up and headed out. I introduced him to Mary and Jaime and out in the water to David, Marty and Jeff. Oliver laughed: “Who are you? The governor?”

So after all of that I finally made it out to the surf, yes at 9:55 am.

The surf was fun, three to four-foot glassy peaks that peeled towards the Groin pole. Conditions were ideal: warm, sunny, glassy, consistent fun waves and only six surfers were out. It was just another beautiful morning in Marin.

October 4, 2010 Monday

Bolinas	Patch
9:00 am to 10:30 am	3' to 4', sets 5'
High dropping tide	Stiff NW cross wind
Patchy sun with dark clouds on the horizon	Good session

On my way to the beach to check the surf I ran into the father and son team of Dan and Dan Jr. Dan and I have surfed together here for twenty years. Dan Jr., who is in his early thirties, is an excellent surfer, graduated from UC San Diego a couple of years ago and has been life guarding for San Diego County. They were suiting up to go out.

“Dan, I have to ask you, as I ask everyone I know who surfs in San Diego, have you been to the world’s best bakery? It’s located in Cardiff by the Sea,” I asked Dan Jr.

“You mean VG’s Donuts?”

“Yes! You have been there?”

“Of course. I always go there. Glazed chocolate donut is my favorite.”

“Mine is the buttermilk bar.”

I told them about my idea for a Surfer Eatery blog and that VG’s had to be one of the entries.

“Pipers! You have to include Pipers.” Dan Jr. liked my idea and immediately offered Pipers as a great after session eatery. “Pipers is a block north of the center where VG’s is located. Great surf history photos and huge breakfasts.” I’ll have to look for it the next time I’m down there. And off they went. Dan Sr. headed for the Patch and Dan Jr. and his very short board went to the Groin.

“Wind,” I said to myself this morning watching the trees at the Pantoll ridge swaying back and forth as I drove by. The NOAA weather radio last night forecasted sizeable NW swells all week due to a major cold front moving in that would set up a wind gradient. Don’t you just love the term “gradient?” It sounds like a long steep downhill. In a way it is, high pressure flowing into a low-pressure zone. Forecast was for big swells and breezy conditions, 30 to 35 mph winds starting Monday afternoon. Breaking out of the forest and getting my first glimpse of the ocean, I saw white caps everywhere, from close to shore to the horizon, except at Bolinas. The entrance to the lagoon and the Patch were plate glass smooth. They sit in the wind shadow caused by the Bolinas Ridge.

The cars of a few of the regulars were parked on Brighton Ave as I pulled up. “There must be waves.” In the water were Marty, David who rides the Becker board, Jack the Dave Sweet team rider and Frank and Russ, the stand-up guys. The Patch looked better to me, it had longer lines and longer rides than the Groin. I wondered where Jack went; he’s the expert, I’ll go where he went. Russ exited the water and I chatted with him. He told me Jack was at the Patch. That confirmed it for me, the Patch it is.

While strapping on my leash I watched a surfer take off on a head-high wall at the far Patch peak. He turned into a great right line-up, moved to the middle of his board, crouched down, hummed through a long section, cutback and turned into an inside section. Now I recognized him; it was Jaime the starving artist cartoonist. Jaime continued through the inside section. I raised my fist giving him the high-five great wave salute. He waved back and continued on, right up to the shore where he pulled out over the top.

As I paddled out the waves looked good. Jack came flying down a long right wave, he cutback and worked the wave all the way to the shore. Jack waved as he paddled back out on his knees.

“Loren, I would give today an ‘A’. I have caught one long nose ride after another. I’m talking five seconds on the nose.” Coming from Jack, I believed him.

“Jack how are the lefts?”

“Oh the lefts are junk. But the rights are great.”

A set wave approached and I turned to go for it. “I’m going left Jack.” I stroked into it, dropped left down a four-foot face, drove under some white water, climbed back up into the curl and went on and on.

“Hey that was a good left.” Jack had to admit the lefts were not junk after all.

“One more big one and I’m going in,” Jack announced. He had come out at 7:30 and had already caught a ton of waves. Another big set came in, and Jack and I positioned ourselves to go for the second wave of the set.

“I’ll go left Jack.”

“See you in the water again soon.”

We both took off. I dropped left down a head-high wave. The face jumped up and a perfect oval curl formed in front of me. I climbed to the middle of the curl, crouched down and flew across a steep section. I stalled an instant by shifting my weight to my back foot, the curl built up again; I leaned into the wave and shot through another fast section. On and on I went until the wave died over the shallow reef. I stood in waist high water, looked south and saw Jack three hundred yards down the beach still riding the same wave. He worked it all the way in and then paddled to shore.

Now there were only two of us out there. A younger surfer had joined Jack and I. He was thin, wiry, in good shape, in his thirties was my guess and was a good surfer. He caught wave after wave. Between sets I commented to him how ideal the situation was: beautiful morning, offshore cross wind, consistent three to four foot waves, only two people out, one who goes for the lefts and the other prefers the rights. For one hour he and I shared the waves.

We chatted after our session and he agreed that it was ideal. “So what gives you the opportunity to surf here on a Monday morning?”

“Conditions were so good I took a personal day off.”

“What do you do?”

“I’m a school teacher. I teach the fourth grade. Both my wife and I teach and we surfed all summer and I had to keep it going.”

“Where do you teach? Is it a public school?”

“Yes. I teach in Windsor.”

“You mean where the big water slide used to be?”

“Yes. It’s not there anymore. They had an incident and some kid drowned and they closed the place after that.”

“Too bad. I remember taking my kids there. I even tried it a few times. But if you live in Windsor, you must surf Salmon Creek.”

“Once in a while, but I don’t like that place. I’ll get one or two good rides and then get pounded. I prefer Dillon and sometimes I go to Doran Beach.”

Doran State Beach and Campground is tucked just inside of the Bodega Headlands. As he explained to me, Doran only breaks on big north swells. That’s the only time the waves can get in there. But it is well protected from the wind. He was just there yesterday and had a great session; small three-foot fast right curls.

As I drove off the wind had picked up and had shifted direction. The high bluff was no longer protecting the break and white caps were everywhere. Jack, the young Windsor surfer and I had scored the best part of the day.

October 1, 2010 Friday

Bolinas	Groin
8:50 am to 10:30 am	Consistent 3' to 4', sets overhead
High dropping tide	NW cross breeze to hard wind
High fog to patchy sun	Good but frustrating session

I got up late this morning and didn’t have time to check the buoy reports on the Internet and thus I had no expectations on conditions. Breaking out of the forest, coming down the Panoramic Highway I got my first glimpse of the Bolinas – Stinson Bay. I was surprised by the amount of white water at the Channel; big V patterns covered the entrance to the lagoon and the Patch reef. A morning offshore breeze put a slight texture on the surface and sent plumes of spray arching off the peaks. It looked big. I later discovered the swells were the last remnants from tropical typhoon Malakas off the coast of Japan. The swells today registered five-foot at 17 seconds at 300 degrees.

Big well-groomed walls greeted me as I stood at the Groin with camera in hand. Ten surfers were out, including Marty, Doug, Ray the Petaluma fireman, David who rides the Becker board and Creighton. The waves were breaking hard and fast, and the crew in the water was having difficulty catching them. David connected on three fast ones during the ten minutes I stood there. That’s him in the above photo. Creighton and Doug caught good ones also. Classic surf magazine waves, I had to go out.

The crowd swelled to sixteen by the time I entered the water. Mark the archaeologist, Paul and Dexter had joined in. The waves were beautiful and the rides were fast and short. I was ready for a great session. I did sail down some big fast walls, thus my session was good but frustrating. I knew from watching the others from the shore that the waves were difficult to catch and that they quickly closed out. I tried for several waves and missed them. I moved around, first closer to the peak at the Channel and then way inside. Hard breaking waves mean only one person to a wave. Two or more on these waves would be dangerous. I kept an eye on the others making sure I didn’t take off in front of them. Finally a steep four-foot peak appeared. I stroked into it, but it took too long to get into it. By the time I stood up I could only drop to the bottom of the wave as it pitched over in a twenty-foot curtain of white water. I returned outside and tried for and missed several more. Another promising wall approached. It was feathering at the top when I turned to go for it. I stroked into it but I was late. My board and body hung at the top; I stood up on the tip of the tail-block, my board free fell, the nose speared the water and I went ass-first over the falls. The force of the wave drove me to the bottom and then sucked me into its washing machine of turbulence. It held me down. “Get to the surface,” was all I could think of. After what seemed like an eternity, but was in reality was only a few seconds, the wave released me. I had not been thrashed around like that in months.

I finally caught a good one. On my fourth wave, I took off on a four-foot peak as it was feathering ten feet down the line. I jumped up quickly and turned left before dropping down the face. At the bottom I leaned into the wave, climbed back up the swell, stepped to the middle of the board, positioned the rail three-fourths up the face of the wave and froze while screaming across a fast breaking left. I stalled an instant to drop into the shore break and stepped to the nose to cruise through the inside section. I forced the nose underwater as the wave collapse on the sand. I ended up a few feet from the Groin pole. What a great ride.

All of us were having our frustrations with the hard breaking waves. Mark told me that yesterday he had a great session here catching both lefts and rights and that he had high hopes for today. Since the waves were steep he came out on his short board, but he was having difficulty connecting. He went way inside and caught a few as the waves were breaking. After thirty minutes I saw Mark walking up the ramp with board in hand. Ten minutes later he paddled out on his trusty nine-foot Hobie. He had switched boards. The change helped. I saw him come down some sizeable walls at the far Channel peak.

Like me, Marty had a mixed session. He connected on some good fast curls and got clobbered on some of the bigger hard breaking walls. After his session, Doug told me the same story: a few great rides and some horrible wipeouts. David also said he had some great rides and got pounded on several others. But David did the best of all of us. He has a good sense of where to position himself; meaning he was good at finding the “edge,” that point in a hard breaking wave where it pauses a second before breaking hard again on the inside section. If one can catch the wave at the edge there is an extra moment to position the board high in the curl to shoot through the next section. David managed to do this on wave after wave.

On one wave I did the ultimate in surfing, I got barreled. That means the lip of the wave comes completely over surfer and he continues a short distance in the “tube” and comes out cleanly and continues on. To the observer, a sheet of water covers the rider so only his silhouette appears. I did it today – lying down. A well-formed left shape wave approached. As it was feathering at the top I stroked into it. But I was late and I didn’t want to lose time or momentum by standing up, so I remained lying down. I turned sharply left, the wave was steep and fast, the curl hallowed out, the lip pitched over my head and I saw the “oval.” I was inside the tube shooting toward an oval of light. It’s the same shape as the Surfrider Foundation logo. My momentum carried me through the tube and back out to the swell. I stalled briefly and turned into the shore break curl. I shot along the face, my outside rail dug in and I went tumbling holding onto the nose of my board, all this while lying down. It was a great ride.

The swell got bigger and the low tide and current coming out of the lagoon caused the waves to suck out. Four to five small swells would pile on top of each other and the out-flowing current would cause them to fold over with a crushing force. David, Mark, Paul and I paddled around and around trying to connect with a rideable wave without any luck. Some huge sets came through, definitely overhead that broke as continuous fifty-yard curtains of water. Time to go in. I caught one more and called it quits.

On shore wrapping my leash around my board I looked back at the peak. Paul dropped into a four-foot wall, swung left, crouched down in the middle of the board with his back to the wave and screamed across a fast peeling curl. It was a wave worthy of a photo in a surf magazine. I gave him the raise fist salute to acknowledge his good ride.