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.