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.