February 23, 2011 Wednesday

Bolinas	Groin
9:20 am to 10:20 am	1' to 2', sets to 2.5'
Low tide (0.5 ft at 10:10 am)	Offshore breeze to stiff onshore wind
Sun with high clouds - a cold day	Exercise session

“Loren, I bet if you had been here by yourself, you would have never gone out,” Mary commented after our session this morning. Mary was right, if it had not been for my friends going out, I would never had done it. There’s a lot to be said about joining your buddies in the water. A little camaraderie and a few waves is a lot of fun. That describes this morning because the surf was terrible.

As I pulled up at 8:15 am, I saw David’s truck with his Becker board sticking out of his camper shell, not a good sign. The surf fanatic who always goes out no matter what the conditions was not in the water.

“It must be flat for all of you to be standing around,” I greeted Jacek the tattoo artist, Jeff from Mill Valley, Novato Pete and Mary.

“There’s not much there,” said Pete. “Maybe when the tide turns.” David with wetsuit on and board in hand walked by and announced he was going for it. Pete and Jacek went to check out the waves and Jeff and Mary continued practicing strumming techniques on their ukuleles.

“Well are you going to do it?” I asked Jacek and Pete when they returned. “There are a couple of waves out there. I’m going,” Pete said. Jacek decided to pass.

“That does it, I’m going too,” Mary announced. “We have to go out this morning. The weather is about to change. Rain is coming tomorrow and they are predicting snow for Friday.”

“Mary, you’re from Maryland. You must be used to snow.”

“No I hate it, that’s why I moved out here.”

I walked down to the Groin with camera in hand. David and stand-up surfers Frank and Russ were out there. The surf was almost non-existent, but every once in a while a rideable well-formed left peeling wave would come through. I haven’t been out in over a week, I needed the exercise and my friends were out there, thus I decided to do it.

The waves were tiny and with all of us bunched together at the only peak, we constituted a crowd. There was David, Jeff, Mary, Novato Pete and stand-up guys Frank and Russ.

“Jeff, I haven’t surfed in over a week and my arms are feeling it,” I commented to him when I paddled out to the line-up. “The first things to go are your arms.”

“And they are the first to return,” he responded. “After a couple of sessions you will be back to normal. The second things to go are your stomach muscles.” He was referring to the necessity of lying on your stomach. To gain paddling force and to lift one’s chest off the board when jumping up, surfers tighten their stomach muscles and when they are out of shape, the stomach muscles tire quickly.

Pete got the best ride this morning. He was at the apex of the Channel peak when a good set wave came through. He stroked into it, angled left, locked the rail under the lip of the curl, crouched down in the middle of the board and cruised a long ways before the wave finally closed out on the inside in front of the Groin wall. A few moments later while paddling out, I saw Pete do it again on his next wave. Pete was riding his brand new Johnny Rice longboard. He showed it off to us back at the cars. It was beautiful: 9’ 4” in length, three stingers, one single large fin, wide in the nose and 3 1/8 inches thick. Pete’s previous board was 8’ 6” and now on this longer paddling machine he was catching everything he tried for. Pete loves it.

David managed to connect on a couple of good rides. A set wave came through and we both went for it. I caught it as it was breaking and remained laying down. I cut left into the white water trying to work back into the swell. From there, I had a water level view of David locked into to this small curl, crouched down mid-board with spray coming off the lip over his shoulder. It only lasted a couple of seconds but for today it was a great ride.

Mary, Pete and I gave up after an hour. The wind had turned straight onshore with some force. The chop was getting worst, the waves were not improving and the cold was setting in. Only David remained in the water. We had changed and were soaking up some sun when David finally came up the ramp.

“Time check!” I yelled checking my watch. “It’s ten thirty-eight and the surf fanatic has come in. Proof that the surf is lousy.” David usually stays out for three to four hours and comes in when he is completely exhausted and hungry.

“David, what brought you in? The lousy waves or the cold?”

“Both! If there were waves I could stand the cold.”

Back to Mary’s original point: I exercised, soaked up the elements and the beauty of the morning and rode a few waves with my friends. It was a good morning.