January 31, 2011 Monday

Bolinas	Groin
9:30 am to 11:00 am	3' to 4', sets overhead
High dropping tide	NW cross wind to no wind
Low fog to overcast - cold	Fun session

Last time I surfed was a week ago Monday, a beautiful sunny day with mellow waves. Last Wednesday the surf was small and I didn’t have much time because I had to drive the water samples for Surfrider’s water testing program to the Branson School. I grabbed a sample from the base of the Groin wall and Thursday evening Marty sent out a warning message to the Bolinas regulars that the water was contaminated. Two weeks ago (January 16) a sewage pump in downtown Bolinas failed and raw sewage spilled into the lagoon. The sewage crew immediately repaired the pumps and the surrounding pipes, and the county took down the contaminated water signs after a couple of days. But Marty’s note gave the results from the last two weeks of Surfrider’s tests – “Off the Charts!!” a thousand times over the safe limit. Thus the water in the Channel for the past two weeks was contaminated. Marty stated that he was going to skip surfing on Friday due to the water situation. I took his advice and kissed it off also.

This morning the weather had changed. For three weeks high pressure had settled in bringing in dry conditions, sunshine to the coast and tule fog to the inland areas. Saturday afternoon low pressure moved in bringing cold air and rain. We had 1.5 inches of rain Saturday and Sunday.

This morning high pressure had returned bringing with it a new swell (7 ft NW swell at 14 seconds). Marty was in the water when I arrived meaning the water quality must be ok. Mary and I checked out the surf at the Patch. Jaime, Ray the Petaluma fireman and stand-up surfers Frank and Russ were out there. We stood watching for ten minutes and no one caught a wave; the tide was too high. We moved to the overlook above the Groin. Six surfers were out there including Marty and David who rides the Becker board. The waves were infrequent, big and difficult to catch. I decided to head to the Groin and Mary opted for the Patch convinced the waves would improve as the tide dropped.

As I paddled out to the Groin, David connected on a good one. He dropped down a left wall that kept reforming and on and on he went. I watched Marty fly down an overhead wall. He cut left, dropped down the face and braced himself as the wave pounded in front of him. He continued on fighting the white water trying to push back into the swell. He eventually had to straighten out as the wall collapsed all along the impact zone close to shore. The swells were big and were pushing a lot of water in front of them. They would build and build and finally break in fast peeling lefts on the inside. Having trouble catching the waves, I kept moving in. David and Marty remained outside. Did they know something I didn’t? I paddled for several waves and didn’t catch any of them, but the others did.

After twenty minutes I finally caught one. It was a big wall that stretched across the impact zone. I thought for sure it would close out in front of me. I paddled hard, the wave picked me up, and I hung at the top and kept paddling to get into it. I jumped up, went straight pushing my weight forward, and hung at the top of a five-foot face hearing the roar of the wave breaking behind me. Finally I pushed over the edge and dropped down a steep fast head-high face. I trimmed across the middle of the swell for several yards before it broke in front of me sending me flying. All right, not a bad start to a session.

David, Marty and I had to move around due to changing conditions. The current started flowing out of the lagoon and impacted the shape of the waves. It kept moving us out to sea. I constantly checked my two navigational points: the gray-white house above the Patch and the pole on the end of the Groin wall. The speed of the current steadily increased, cold air moved in, the water got colder and ice cream headaches struck every time I ducked under a wave. After an hour my toes and fingers were turning numb.

My last wave was a good one. I had drifted way inside when a sizeable set came through. I went for one that breaking. With two strokes I was into it. I turned left, dropped down a head-high face. The wave broke over the front of my board, and I leaned into it trying to work back into the swell. I almost made it. I cruised along the bottom of the wave with the curl breaking over the nose of the board. I never got back into the swell, but I was close. I hummed along for several yards until the wave broke in front of me. I straightened out and milked the white water all the way to shore. Not a bad way to end a session.

Walking down the beach I looked back to see David on another good one. With his back to the wave he worked through a tight curl that was slapping him on his back as he hung onto the outside rail. He coasted out to a smooth shoulder and hummed cross another section for thirty yards. David was into another one of his marathon sessions. He went out at 7:30 am and got out four hours later. The cold and hunger finally brought him in.

It was just another adventurous morning in Marin.