August 3, 2011 Wednesday

Pacifica	Linda Mar - out front
8:00 am to 9:00 am	Consistent 4', sets overhead
Low tide (8:40 am)	Stiff west cross wind
Patchy sun with a fog bank on the horizon	Frustrating session

Humbled! I only caught three waves in one hour. This was suppose to be my final tune-up for the Kahuna Kupuna Surf Contest this coming Saturday. The contest rules called for at lease three rides in fifteen minutes. By this morning's performance I would be skunked.

I had made arrangements to meet son Kevin here for a before work session for him and contest practice for me. If I wasn't in this contest I would have never gone out - the surf was terrible. Kevin and I were discouraged watching wall after closed-out low-tide wall crash on the beach. Kevin suggested going to Montara; he had two good sessions there last week. No, I was here to practice for the contest. I don't get to choose the time of day, tide or peak; the contest officials decide that. The contest runs the entire day, thus I could be surfing at low tide with strong onshore winds and chop. I had to be prepared for anything. So we stayed here and headed out for a short one-hour session.

At 7:20 am I arrived at Linda Mar and only one surfer was out front and conditions looked bad. I grabbed my camera and headed towards the south end. Three surfers and a boogie-boarder were at a peak just past the Taco Bell. The surfers were beginners and didn't catch anything. The boogie-boarder knew what he was doing and connected on one steep curl after another. That's him in the above photo.

Kevin arrived and we suited up and headed out front. Then the frustration started. I walked out as far as I could then a big set came in. Linda Mar has the unique feature of multi-wave sets - like ten or more in a row. I stood there holding the nose of my board and pushing through wave after wave. A lull finally came and I quickly paddled out to join Kevin.

I watched Kevin sail down a head-high wall for a brief second before the wave detonated around him. I tried for several waves and missed them all. They were deceptive and difficult to catch. They would crest and start to feather at the top but would just keep coming and building. I knew I had to take off late, right when the wave was breaking. Easier said than done. I would stare at these walls that stretched across the entire impact zone. It's tough to build up the courage to stroke into an obvious wall that offers no direction - the only direction was straight off. I finally caught one - a head-high left. I dropped down the face, cut left, rode for a brief second and straightened out as the wave collapsed around me.

Kevin and I drifted inside to catch the smaller waves, risking being caught inside when the big sets came. On my second wave I was inside and an outside set came through. The first wave was big but the second wave was bigger, and I knew I could never make it over the second one. I turned around quickly and dug hard to catch the first one. I felt the wave lift me up, I turned right, skimmed across the top of the wave for several feet until it started to break in front of me, I turned to straighten out and hung on through a vertical-elevator drop down an over-head wave. I made it, and I survived.

I scratched into one more wave, which was similar to my first one. By now it was time for Kevin to head off to work and I went in with him. As Kevin changed into his Silicon Valley business casual attire, Hank pulled into the parking lot. He jumped out, said hello and then waved to David who rides the Becker board as he headed with board in hand for the water. Hank said that Bolinas was awful due to strong south winds, chop and fog. He couldn't believe how sunny it was at Linda Mar. After changing I walked down the beach to watch Hank and David. They too were into frustrating sessions - having difficulty catching the waves and dropping straight down big walls when they did catch one. Now I didn't feel so bad. All of us Bolinas guys struggle with those huge Linda Mar walls.

I set down the details of this session while having breakfast at Denny's across the street from the beach. Denny's ultimate skillet breakfast of two eggs and roasted vegetables was healthy and filling. What a good way to end a frustrating session.