April 4, 2011 Monday

Bolinas	Patch
8:50 am to 10:30 am	1' to 2', sets to 3'
Low upcoming tide	Slight offshore breeze
Sunny clear morning	Exercise session

Marty and I stood at the base of the ramp looking at a flat ocean, Marty in his wetsuit and board in hand and me with the camera at the ready. The view was discouraging. Two surfers were at the Groin, and they sat and sat there. We never saw them catch a wave. Five surfers were at the Patch including Mary, Jaime the starving artist cartoonist, David who rides the Becker board and stand-up guys Russ and Frank. We saw Mary catch three waves. She had it figured out, the take off point, timing and board speed to coast into these tiny waves. That’s her in the above photo maneuvering around the rocks of the Patch reef. The others tried for waves but missed all of them.

“I guess I’ll go to the Patch,” Marty said with a disappointed look. The Internet data for this morning was not good: 10 ft NW swell at 10 seconds, basically a big wind swell, only a small slice of it wrapped into Bolinas. As Marty paddled out I walked down to the Groin for a closer look. By the time I got there, one surfer had exited the water and was wrapping his leash around his shortboard. The other was leaving and walking across the mouth of the Channel towards Seadrift. There were no waves, only ripples.

“Russ, please tell me it was great!” I had suited up and headed to the ramp. Russ had just come up it.

“An hour and half ago it was better, two feet, clean and long rides. Frank and I were the only ones out. But now it is funky. The waves are flat but the conversation is good.”

Russ had nailed it. I paddled out to the Patch to join Mary, Marty, Jaime and David. The waves were small and breaking way inside in shallow water over the Patch reef. The conversation was good and the morning was beautiful: warm, clear, patches of kelp floating on the surface, exposed rocks inside, high clouds overhead and plenty of low flying cormorants. After paddling around for an hour Marty and I headed in. Of course it was great to be out in the water, and we hoped for better conditions on Wednesday.