July 12, Tuesday

Bolinas	Patch
9:00 am to 10:30 am	3' to 4', sets to 5', occasional 5'
Mid upcoming tide	Stiff NW cross breeze
Overcast to patchy sun	Good session

I hadn’t surfed for twenty-five days (since June 16) and was anxious to get back into the water. Why so long? Kate and I took a ten-day trip to Martha’s Vineyard and New York City. We returned on Saturday July 2nd, went to a friend's barbeque on Sunday and stayed home on Monday because it was the Fourth of July holiday. Tuesday July 5th I headed to Bolinas for some waves and to see my friends. I traveled from bright sunshine in Mill Valley to cold on-the-deck fog in Bolinas. No body was at the beach, not even the surf fanatic David who rides the Becker board, conditions were terrible: fog, south wind, four-knot current coming out of the lagoon and a six-inch swell. I didn’t bother going out. These conditions lasted all week.

The stats on the Internet were excellent this morning, 3 ft south swell at 17 seconds, five-knot NW wind and an upcoming tide. All the parking spaces were taken when arrived at Bolinas. David's car was in its normal spot with his board gone. He was in the water that was a good sign. From the seawall with my camera in hand I saw six surfers at the Channel and a much larger crowd spread across the Patch. The south swell was in and both breaks had sizeable waves.

Jaime the starving artist cartoonist and Jack the Dave Sweet team rider had just finished their session. Of course they reported that I had missed it; the waves at the Patch were perfect an hour earlier. They had connected on several head-head bombs at the outside peak that went on forever. But as the tide came up the waves had gone flat, infrequent and difficult to catch.

I walked down to the Groin for a closer look. The set waves were slightly over-head, steep vertical walls that peeled left. The six surfers out there had trouble making them. They would drop down these steep faces and then the waves would bury them in a ton of white water. The exception was Josh the Bolinas fisherman. I saw him catch three great waves. Josh rides the waves on his knees and thus doesn't lose any time or momentum standing up. He would stroke into a peak, quickly jump to his knees, lock the inside rail under the lip of the curl and shoot down the line. That's him in the above photo on a good one.

Since I hadn't surfed in awhile I decided to go for the mellow waves at the Patch. While walking to the break with my board in hand I met Hank and Dan exiting the water. Hank assured me that there were still some waves left. I asked them where they went, inside or outside. All over they said, conditions would change and they would move with the changes.

From the shore I watched one skilled, tall, thin young surfer hang five, yes a real five toes over the nose, on a three-foot inside curl. Within a few minutes he repeated this feat and continued repeating it all morning. Wow I would try for that. My strategy was to sit inside, within the foam of previous waves and go for the inside rights. My strategy worked. On my first wave I watched two guys way outside paddle for it and miss it. The swell kept coming and building. I went for it as it was feathering at the top, glided into it, turned right, stepped to the middle of the board and trimmed down a long well-formed curl. What a good start to my session. The skilled young surfer and his buddy dominated the peak, but they shared the waves with the rest of us.

Though the bottom was causing the waves to break right, I did connect on one good left. The incoming swell stretched across the impact zone and was cresting. I stoked into it as it was breaking, jumped up, turned left, dropped down a head-high face, and leaned into the wave at the bottom. I could see the swell forming in front of me, if I only could get under the white water and back into the curl. I stood just behind the center of my board, the wave was breaking over the nose, and I sped along the bottom just behind the breaking curl. On and on I went. I finally managed to climb back into the swell. I stepped to the middle of the board and sped through a long inside section until the wave finally died near shore. I had traveled a long ways and ended up in sand north of the Patch reef. It was a long paddle back to the line-up but what a great wave.

Matt was out at the furthest peak and when the sets came through he would connect. I could tell it was him by his unique style. While paddling out I noticed that Matt had moved further out and to the north to be by himself. The next time I saw him he was crouched down screaming across an inside curl north of the Patch reef. Matt later exclaimed that he had a great session. Lucky for him, he was between projects at work. What perfect timing, a good south swell arrived between job assignments.

A stand-up surfer, who I had never seen before, had an outstanding session. He caught everything and milked them all the way to shore. He would be the furthest guy out waiting for the big sets. Time and time again, he would stroke into a set wave, fade left to let the wave build up, swing right into a well-formed wall and then cruise on and on until the wave crashed onshore. Near the end of my session I was sitting on the inside peak trying for the fast peeling rights of the shore break. Several times I saw this guy come blazing by on his big stand-up board riding it like a shortboard. He even hung five a couple of times. He was out there when I entered the water and was he was still there when I left. After my session I changed, went into town for a coffee, returned to the seawall for one last look at the waves. This guy was still there and still screaming down the fast shore break curls on his big stand-up board.

After an hour and a half, the wind was picking up and my arms were spent, time to go in. I caught a good right that I worked into the shore break. I looked around to watch a shortboarder come down another perfect shore break curl. I couldn't stop yet; I had to go for one more. I paddled back out and caught two more great inside curls. What a perfect way to end a good session.

Boy, did it feel great to be back in the water.